by Frances T. Barbieri (Author), Kathy Jans-Duffy (Author)
A village located along the Seneca River, Seneca Falls was incorporated in 1831 and was soon linked to the Erie Canal by the Cayuga Seneca Canal. The women's suffrage movement was born in Seneca Falls when the first Women's Rights Convention, led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was held on July 19 and 20, 1848. Seneca County and Seneca Falls were also part of the Underground Railroad, and prominent citizens such as Ansel Bascom and Henry Seymour worked with freedom seekers in the decades before the Civil War. The town's knitting mills produced socks for the army during the war, second only to New York City in production. Many famous people also came to Seneca Falls to rally around the town's causes, among them are Lucretia Mott, Frederick Douglass, Garrett Smith, and Susan B. Anthony.