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"The original name was Long Falls, which referred to the series of long rapids in the Black River that ran for almost a mile, which was why a lot of the early industry was on the river bank to take advantage of that. And the term "Long Falls" has real significance," said Lynn Thornton, author of "Around Carthage and West Carthage."

"When they reached the point where Lyons Falls is now, they called that the high falls because there was a waterfall there. When they got to this point, the river dropped some more, but not in a high falls, in a long falls. When you got to Watertown, it became the Great Falls," said Laura Prievo, Carthage Historian.

But the name was changed from Long Falls in 1830 by New York State.

"I don't think that anyone in the actual village of Long Falls wanted to change the name. I think it was in parcel of getting a post office. So I don't think they had any input. As far as I can find, they didn't," said Thornton.

And so the name Carthage was chosen.

"At the state level, there was a move to give classical names to a number of communities they didn't feel had classical names," Sid Thornton.

"If you look around New York State, you'll see Syracuse, Troy, Rome, Utica, Attica, Ithaca, all those places are names, even Cicero, out of classic history. I think they just liked those names," said Prievo.

This Carthage was named after Carthage, North Africa. Yes, a classical name, but its history is one that was wrought with wars and violence, ending in its total destruction. So why name this village in New York after that Carthage in North Africa?

"There never were any real battles in Carthage of any kind, so there's no connection there. Not knowing exactly what happened in the original Carthage probably led to using the name with incomplete background," said Thornton.

The only connection came long after its naming, just 55 years ago.

"There was a movie done on Hannibal crossing the Alps, and in honor of that, they paraded an elephant from Rome, NY to Carthage, NY to publicize the movie. But actually this is the only connection between Carthage and Rome that I know of," said Thornton.

This Carthage in Jefferson County wasn't even the first Carthage in New York State. There was one built on the Genesee River near Rochester, but it has since became part of the city and no longer exists.

There are even several other municipalities around the country named Carthage, in Maine, Tennessee and Missouri. But there's one actually named for Carthage, New York.

"There is one in South Dakota, which incidentally was named for this one because a man named Ward went out there to speculate land and he established the village and named it after his home village. So the Carthage, SD is named after Carthage, NY," Prievo said.

The good news is Carthage New York was spared the carnage that its predecessor in North Africa endured and a faces a much brighter future.