Written by: Virgie B. Simons, former Rossie historian
David Parish, early north country landowner, sent Danel W. Church to the head of Black Lake to look for water power. Church found a very promising site on the Indian River about one mile from the lake. In the early summer of 1810, Mr. Church and his group built the first house in what is now Rossie village.
Nearby is the site of the first iron blast furnace in northern New York, built in 1813. In 1817 President James Monroe, on a tour of northern New York, stopped at Rossie to inspect the furnace and the iron mine as a guest of David Parish.
Near the blast furnace is located the foundry built in 1848-49. Probably the first business was potash and cauldron kettles. Then came box stoves, mill machinery, plows, and waterwheels. The first casting for the northern railroad were also made here. A machine shop stood on the bank of the river next to the foundry. Across the river is a grist mill which was built in 1850, and at the right of the grist mill stood a large sawmill where the last of the lake boats, the “Oswegatchie” was built in 1904 by Arthur Storie.
The Rossie Hotel was built by David Parish in 1811. In 1813, Rossie village was captured by the British, who stayed at the hotel overnight. A gang of horse thieves made their headquarters at Rossie, making raids in various directions but chiefly into Canada. They stole horses and hid them in the rocky ravines of the Rossie area until they could sell them. The raids became so frequent that it was time to put a stop to them. With that in mind Colonel Frazier and a company of British regulars came over by way of Morristown. The “invading army” surrounded Rossie village and captured it, but because no horses could be found, the soldiers marched back the next day.
On the hill is the Parish cottage behind which was a large coach house. Here George Parish stayed overnight and changed horses on his way from Ogdensburg to Antwerp. Madame Vespucci was often his guest at the cottage. Their love affair has been told by Walter Guest Kellogg in his novel “Parish’s Fancy.”
A short distance toward Hammond is the Laidlaw House, built in the early 1870’s and the scene of the famous Burns Festivals which were originated by the Scotch settlers of Rossie, in honor of the Scotch poet, Robert Burns. Among the names on the registers of the Laidlaw House were President Grover Cleveland, General Newton Martin Curtis, famous hero of Ft. Fisher, and Jay Gould of New York City.
About a mile from Rossie toward Oxbow stands the Victoria Lead Mine Chimney, where lead was discovered by the nine-year old Eliza Jepson in 1830. She received a calico dress for her rich discovery and her father, Joel Jepson, was given 40 acres of land, a team of oxen, and a barrel of salt pork.
Because of the lead mining and the other industries there came to Rossie a wave of building which created much work and brought in many skilled labors. But in 1865 the connection of the Parish family with the North Country ended, and with the closing of the mines, which had been thought to be inexhaustible, ran out. The little village of Rossie had had its days of glory.