Excerpted from: Our County and Its People, a Memorial Record of St. Lawrence County, New York, Edited by Gates Curtis, The Boston History Company, Publishers, 1894

THIS was the twenty-sixth town erected by an act of the Legislature passed April 30, 1841. The territory was formerly under the jurisdiction of Morristown and Gouverneur, from which it was taken, and embraces that part of Morristown laying south of Black Lake and that part of Gouverneur north of Beaver Creek, from the De Kalb line to the Ogden tract, which it follows to the Oswegatchie, and then up that river to the boundary of Rossie. A small tract south of the lake was left in the town of Hammond, but it also was attached to Macomb on the 11th of April 1842.

The surface of the town is much broken by ridges of gneiss, sandstone and white limestone, lying parallel with the lake and covering a large part of the town. Fish and Birch Creeks flow into Black Lake and are the principal streams. Pleasant Lake, a beautiful sheet of water, a mile long, is in the western part. Hickory Lake is situated near the eastern bounds of the town and is the source of Fish Creek. There are valuable minerals in the town, such as galena, mica, copper, pyrites, etc., and considerable effort has been expended in the past in mining operations.

The first settlements in what is now the town of Macomb were not made as early as in many other sections of St. Lawrence county. There was not much settlement in what is now Macomb before 1810. For many years the settlements were limited to small neighborhoods on the State road; and no schools were opened until 1818. Timothy Pope moved into the town from Oswegatchie in 1818 and built mills at the point which became and still is called Pope’s Mills

Macomb Post-office is a small hamlet on the State road in the eastern part of the town. A steam sawmill with a capacity of 5,000 feet per day was operated here a number of years. It was burned in 1889. Brasie Corners is a hamlet in the western part of the town, which takes its name from the Brasie family, who settled there.

Considerable effort and large sums of money have been expended in Macomb in attempts to develop a successful mining industry. About the year 1836, a vein of lead, zinc, blende and calcareous spar was discovered near the shore of Black Lake, at a place since named Mineral Point, and somewhat extensive mining operations were commenced.

About the year 1836 a vein containing galena was discovered on the land of Robert Wilson, near the old State road; a company was formed, and a shaft was sunk to the depth of about sixty feet. A few years after lead ore was discovered on the same range, near the road leading from Washburn Settlement to Gouverneur; and in 1850 small mining operations had been commenced.

In 1852 a vein of lead ore was discovered between the Chute and the Macomb mines, which was opened and worked quite extensively by private parties. John Canfield of Morristown, who was present at the time of the discovery, removed with a pick nearly fourteen hundred pounds of pure galena.

Shortly after this the mines were purchased by R. P. Remington, who organized a company for the purpose of working them. Work was carried on for about five years under the supervision of an experienced miner. Nothing has been done at the mines since they were abandoned by the Remington Company.

For a number of years previous to the organization of the town, meetings were held at various places, both in schoolhouses and dwellings, by Congregationalists, Lutherans, Universalists, Mormons and Methodists. A Methodist Episcopal church was organized at Macomb with five members in 1841. The First Wesleyan Methodist church of Macomb, located at Pope’s Mills, was organized with nine members June 9, 1857.