Antwerp Village Hall is located at 58 Main Street, Antwerp NY 13608.
Phone: 315‑659‑8661.
The Village was incorporated in 1853. Built along the Indian River, Antwerp also borders the Fort Drum military reservation.
Beginnings [1]
The father and founder of this village is Gen. Lewis R. Morris, and it would not have been singular if the settlement had been named Morristown or Parishville, after the next proprietor. On December 23, 1804, General Morris had purchased a tract of 49,280 acres, within the present boundaries of the town, which was more than two-thirds of its entire area, and included the site of the present village. For many years the little village had no more dignified name than Indian River.
The original settlement was probably due to the crossing of the State road over the river, which afforded good water-power, and naturally became the center of business. The first improvement was the construction of a dam in 1805, by General Morris, under the supervision of Lemuel Hubbard, and in the following year, 1806, a saw-mill for Morris was built by Silas Ward, which was the first building erected.
As soon as the mill could turn out the lumber, a small frame house was put upon the site of the Proctor House, and opened as an inn with Gershom Matoon as its landlord. James Constable refers to the town in his diary under date of August 8, 1806.
The land office building was probably the next, with John Jennison as local agent. Dr. Hough says the first grist mill was built under the direction of Jennison, about 1807, on the site of the "old red shop" of J. G. Bethel. The Jennison mill must have been torn down or converted into a clothing mill, for a clothing mill was built there by Church about 1812, which he carried on for 16 years, when Thomas and Ezra Wait became proprietors. They demolished it after a time and built a new building upon the same site, the "red shop." It was operated as a clothing mill until near 1856, when its machinery was taken out and removed to Wegatchie, St. Lawrence County