The real beginning of the Village was the activity aroused by the opening of this Plank Road and "Podunk" became "Centerville" in 1896 with two streets running off the Plank Road. The new post office was called the Plank Road Post Office in honor of the novel highway just completed and was located in the Palmer House, which was at 210 South Main Street. The Onondaga Directory of 1868-1869 states:

Centerville (Plank Road P.O.) situated in the eastern part of the Town of Clay contains two churches, one school, a steam sawmill and about 60 houses. From other sources we learn there was a general store, two blacksmiths, three wagon shops, two taverns or hotels, and a physician, L. B. Skinner. There was a Lodge of Masons, a rural cemetery and a union graded school. The Union School, organized in 1869, was a two-story frame building costing $3,000 and comprised several districts in Clay and Cicero. There were 95 students and Charles E. Jewell was the first principal.

The Village retained the name of "Centerville" until about 1880 when citizens requested the Postmaster General to grant a change to its present name of "North Syracuse."

In 1907, the next important event affecting the Village was the completion of the Syracuse and South Bay Trolley line. The first fares were collected on August 27, 1907. This ended the usefulness of the old stagecoach which for many years had carried mail and passengers to and from the city. It still carried mail for a time until arrangements were made with the trolley company to take mailbags, when the old stage was abandoned except to appear on parade as a relic of the past. The Trolley would stop at the Trolley Station on South Bay Road and Church Street before continuing on to Oneida Lake. The Old Trolley Station/Power House has been renovated and is now used as a Community Center and is in constant use by many organizations and groups for meetings, wedding receptions, etc.

North Syracuse was the first Village in NYS to establish a fire district. Our first Volunteer Fire Department was started in 1913 and as equipment it had two hand drawn chemical fire engines. The firemen were called to fires by a huge steel tire off a locomotive, which was hit by a large sledgehammer. At that time all of the apparatus was kept in a building located where the Andrews Memorial Methodist Church now stands on Church Street. Later the Fire Department moved to the site of the old trolley station at the corner of South Bay and Church Streets, and then in 1982 a new building was erected on Chestnut Street, where the fire department is now situated. Station II was built in 1995 on Thompson Road. Today our firemen are highly qualified with NYS training and we have one of the finest fire departments in the State.

The Village of North Syracuse was incorporated on November 30, 1925, an area extending one-mile north, east, south and west from the Village center at Church and Main Street. Mr. Ernest Conway was President of the Village Board and the first Mayor, 1925-1927.

The North Syracuse Free Library was been opened to borrowers in November 1928. It has its charter from the University of the State of New York and offers a wide variety of videos and books for reference or leisure reading. The Northern Onondaga Public Library (NOPL), in its new modern building, was opened in July of 1999 at the site of the Old Trolley Barn at 100 Trolley Barn Lane.