Watertown, New York
The first people to live in Watertown, Hart Massey, Henry Coffeen, and Zachariah Butterfield, built cabins on the area that is now the public square in 1798 while migrating from New England after the Revolutionary War. When the settlers first surveyed Watertown, the land in the area was rocky and uncleared. The western end of the Public Square was about  higher than the western end. The middle of the square had a depression that was said to be big enough for a big skating rink. The settlers chose to live in Watertown because of the water power that the Black River gave. The area of Watertown was taken from the nearby town of Mexico on March 14, 1800. On March 1, 1801, Hart Massey moved his wife and three children into the cabins. In 1805, settlers cleared out the center of the town to create the public square. Many buildings were built next to the public square in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the public square was made a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places on September 7, 1984. The city became the county seat of Jefferson County in March 1805 when part of Oneida County became Jefferson County. When Watertown became the county seat, it was one of the smallest places in the county. Watertown was incorporated as a village in 1816, and became a city in 1869.