Talk:Seneca Falls (CDP), New York

It's A Wonderful Life
I heard from someone (locally) that Seneca Falls is rumoured to be the basis of the town of Bedford Falls in "It's a Wonderful Life". Can anyone verify this (even just verify that the rumor exists?)? -VetteDude 20:15, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

The rumor does exist. There are similiarities between Bedford Falls and Seneca Falls, but the same comparisons can be made with many communities in the area. The connection is made through a story that Frank Capra (the movie's director) visited Seneca Falls once. His biographer, however, states that there was no connection between the real Seneca Falls and the fictional Bedford Falls.

Occasionally you will hear that Seneca Falls is where the movie was filmed. That is most certainly not true. --Martymaven 22:07, 11 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Okay, thanks for the clarification -VetteDude 20:09, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

Photo request
✅ --JBC3 (talk) 01:17, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

The Seneca Falls business district likes this rumor, it is the towns claim to fame.(JohnQposter (talk) 17:30, 17 March 2010 (UTC))
 * Which rumor is that? Powers T 13:10, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

I would suggest that an unlikely connection to a fictional movie is hardly a claim to fame for anyone.

Being the place where the drive for Women's Rights began is a real, important historic event which gives Seneca Falls fame without having to make a "claim" for it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Martymaven (talk • contribs) 15:39, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Village or hamlet
There has been some question in recent edits whether to call Seneca Falls a hamlet or a village.

In New York State, a village is a particular incorporated entity. There needs to be a specific village government in place. A hamlet is a less well-defined entity but generally refers to non-incorporated places that nonetheless have definite place names. According to the article, Seneca Falls was a village up until the end of 2011, after which the village government dissolved, changing the nature of the place to a hamlet. The size of the population is immaterial. Many New York hamlets have populations exceeding 6,000, or even 10,000. WikiDan61 ChatMe!ReadMe!! 04:26, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

Lacking inline citations
The claim under "The growth of Seneca Falls through technology" that "By the mid 19th Century, Seneca Falls was the third largest flour milling center in the world, after Rochester and Oswego," is not denoted by any inline citation, and it is unclear where this information is from. The next inline citation points to a source detailing the history of pumps and does not support the claim about flour milling.

A quick search reveals one scholarly source that makes such a claim. It appears in page 470 of the book Historic Sites and Landmarks That Shaped America: From Acoma Pueblo to Ground Zero  edited by Mitchell Newton-Matza and published in 2017. However, a travel blog post in 2016 (citing no sources) claims that it was the third largest in the state, which would seem to agree with the information "after Rochester, New York and Oswego, New York," as only locations in New York are under question.

So where is this information ultimately coming from? Edit history suggests that this claim was made as far back as 2008. Pkla (talk) 05:36, 3 December 2017 (UTC)