Origin of the term "Upstate"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 5/18/2011 04:03 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>I just learned from a native (of the town, not the prison) that the
>town housing the prison was itself originally called Sing Sing but
>was later renamed "Ossining" as a kind of taboo avoidance.  (This
>information isn't in Ossining's wikipedia entry, but I have no reason
>to disbelieve it.)

I read the same about the name change in a newspaper at the time
someone in the NY State Government (Cuomo himself?) was proposing
saving money by closing Sing Sing and moving the prisoners ... um,
further upstate.  There were conflicting opinions -- loss of jobs in
Ossining, or perhaps a modern mall and housing that would attract
uptown -- no, upscale residents instead of lower class, low income
prison employees who couldn't afford to live in Ossining; more jobs
for the underemployed of upstate, etc., etc.

Joel

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