Oswego Mayor Rejects Renaming of Lake Ontario to Lake America

This city in New York rejects the renaming of Lake Ontario.

In a rare display of intra-party pushback, Robert Corradino, the Republican mayor of Oswego, New York, a city situated along the southern shore of Lake Ontario, has publicly rejected recent political proposals to rename the Great Lake as "Lake America. " Robert Corradino, the mayor who never lived anywhere apart from Oswego, said he was taking the issue very personally. “The water is part of our identity,” Corradino said. “Not only our identity, but the economy and the history of the lake are tied to the city.” In an interview with National Post, he said: "We can disagree with the current administration's take about renaming Lake Ontario and still support some of its other initiatives. But we're taking the renaming of the lake very personally in Oswego." President Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America in US government records and maps on August 27 -- in his latest snub to Canada. The change has since been adopted by both Google and Apple Maps for users in the US, but Corradino has said that Oswego does not support the renaming and won't be altering any signage, tourism materials or official communications to reflect the new name. "Lake Ontario is in the DNA of Osweganians," he said, adding, "Everything that we are emanates from the lake." "Our tourism from Canada is down substantially. We have stores, we have museums that depend on tourism, and Canadians are a big part of our tourism business," he said.

Where is Oswego?

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. Several Oswego County legislators from both parties approved a resolution rejecting the new name, 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 “recognize the longstanding historical and regional significance of the name Lake Ontario."

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