The DeRuyter Museum

The Tromptown Historical Society was founded in 1975 and chartered by the State Education Department in 1978. The group's focus has been collecting and preserving historical materials of DeRuyter and surrounding areas. These are housed in our museum at 712 Utica Street. We offer a number of programs, including assisting with genealogy searches and historical reports, and working with the Yorkers group at the high school. We participate in the Firemen's Field Days and are planning our next Fall Festival.

The Society is actively seeking new members and we always need additional donations. Membership and donations are vital to the existence of our organization. We need members to become involved with our existing projects and welcome new ideas and suggestions for new programs.

The building housing our museum has quite a history of it's own. In the early days it was used as an office for the Sutton Tannery business. In 1864 the building was remodeled for John Rider for use as a bank. In 1870 it became the E.B. Parsons Bank; in 1888 it became H.P Mitchell Insurance; in 1889 is was the Post Office; in 1899 it became the DeRuyter Banking Company. An addition was put on the north side of the building in 1913 and in 1918 the name changed to DeRuyter State Bank. A fire-proof vault and safety deposit boxes were added in 1954. In 1959 the DeRuyter State Bank merged with First Trust & Deposit Company and remained as First Trust for 20 years when First Trust became Key Bank. Key Bank moved to it's current location at the corner of Utica Street and Mill Street in 1986 and in 1987 it was purchased by the Tromptown Historical Society.