And in his first term as mayor, Corradino \u2014 a Republican who said he previously voted for President Donald Trump \u2014 said he worries that a distant political feud is threatening to erase part of his city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

In the days following Trump\u2019s executive order renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America<\/a>, Corradino and other mayors in upstate New York said Trump\u2019s decision is \u201cregrettable\u201d and could upset voters in the region \u2014 and even further impact an economy so closely tied to the U.S.\u2019s relationship with Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe water is part of our identity,\u201d Corradino said. \u201cNot only our identity, but the economy and the history of the lake is tied to the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oswego, a city of 17,000, is split between Democrats and Republicans, Corradino said. However, the larger Oswego County is one of the reddest in the state and 61 percent of its voters went for Trump in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n

Yet on Monday, several Oswego County legislators from both parties approved a resolution rejecting the new name<\/a>, out of concern for the cost of the rebrand on taxpayers and businesses. The resolution said it does not intend to diminish the authority of the federal government, rather it aims to \u201crecognize the longstanding historical and regional significance of the name Lake Ontario.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last Thursday night, at Oswego\u2019s weekly summer concert series, Corradino said everyone he interacted with said they didn\u2019t support the name change and they weren\u2019t sure why it was happening. The general sentiment, he said, was frustration.<\/p>\n

Asked about the issues Oswego residents actually care about, Corradino said his constituents are concerned about less immigration enforcement and the war with Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general the consensus I see is it just seems like the country is heading in a direction that we\u2019re not all happy about,\u201d Corradino said.<\/p>\n

The pushback is not isolated to Oswego. Hours after Trump signed the executive order, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who runs the only state that borders Lake Ontario, said in a post to social media, \u201c New York won\u2019t be calling it that<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s been mixed adaptation nationally \u2014 similar to when Trump dictated that the Gulf of Mexico now go by Gulf of America.<\/p>\n

$\"Signs$ <\/p>\n

On Saturday, Google Maps, which uses the U.S. Geographic Names Information System that comes from official government sources, officially changed the name<\/a>. Map users on the American side will see \u201cLake America\u201d while users in Canada will see \u201cLake Ontario.\u201d For users outside of both the U.S. and Canada, they will see both names. Apple Maps followed suit, using the same naming approach as Google. <\/p>\n

But MapQuest \u2014 the once-dominant mapping service of the 1990s and early 2000s \u2014 rocketed up app stores after refusing to use Lake America<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Long before the lake was renamed, Alex Morgia \u2014 a Democrat and mayor of Sackets Harbor, N.Y. \u2014 said his community has been grappling with the deteriorating relations between the U.S. and Canada.<\/p>\n

Sackets Harbor, located along the eastern shores of Lake Ontario, is home to a number of Canadian residents. A village of 1,400 people, it was a major military outpost and naval command center during the War of 1812, when the U.S. clashed with British and Canadian forces.<\/p>\n

Since 1971, the village has hosted the Can-Am festival to commemorate the village\u2019s Canadian-American heritage.<\/p>\n

The festival \u201creminds everyone that it\u2019s not very nice to be at odds with your neighbor,\u201d Morgia said. \u201cHaving good relationships with your international neighbors is important, particularly for people that live along the border on either side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s festival was the first time residents began making floats of maple leaves and Canadian flags to protest the Trump administration\u2019s calls to make Canada the \u201c51st state\u201d and to remind Sackets Harbor residents that there were Canadian citizens among them, Morgia said.<\/p>\n

This year, as Trump has continued to roll out tariffs against Canadian products<\/a>, and relations with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney continued to worsen, Morgia joked that the theme for this year\u2019s parade should\u2019ve been \u201cwe\u2019re sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The overall atmosphere at this year\u2019s parade in July was \u201csomber,\u201d Morgia said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of hoped that the Canadian issue had gone by the wayside, but you know [Trump] seems to bring it up when he needs to,\u201d Morgia said.<\/p>\n

Sackets Harbor is split between Democrats and Republicans, Morgia said. Jefferson County, which encompasses Sackets Harbor, overwhelmingly supported Trump in the 2024 election with 61 percent of its vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a three-hour drive to Montreal, a two-hour drive to Toronto and a six-hour drive to New York City,\u201d Morgia said. \u201cThe biggest metropolitan cities near us are Canadian, and a lot of North Country businesses and people rely on the southern part of Canada. \u2026 I\u2019m hopeful that voters will think about that at the polls in November and in 2028.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the village of Sodus Point, N.Y. \u2014 which is located along the southern border of the Great Lake \u2014 Republican Mayor Pat Nolan said he\u2019s disappointed by the name-change as \u201cOntario\u201d is rooted in the Indigenous history of the region.<\/p>\n

The name Ontario, is largely believed to come from Iroquoian roots, meaning \u201cbeautiful lake\u201d or \u201csparkling water,\u201d according to the Canadian government<\/a>. The Canadian province of Ontario, is named after the lake<\/a>.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

A village of 1,000 people, Sodus Point is located in Wayne County, where Trump received 61 percent of the vote in 2024. Nolan was elected in a write-in campaign last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is that, rather than allowing this decision to become another wedge that further divides people,\u201d Nolan wrote in an email, \u201cit can encourage a broader discussion about the history of this great body of water, the Indigenous people who first gave it its name and the generations of communities that have grown along its shores.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"