BOUND VOLUMES

July 2, 2020

200 YEARS AGO

Important to Tanners – The patent right for preparing, using and vending chestnut wood for the purpose of tanning and dyeing in the New England states, is vested in the Springfield Manufacturing Company, who will soon have in operation machinery and apparatus for preparing the wood fit for use, and will deliver it to purchasers in large or small quantities, at any place within the above limits, for a sum that will not exceed two-thirds of the amount of the price of the equivalent of oak bark, on a credit of one year. The proprietors have no hesitation in saying that the above material, for the purpose of tanning, is in every respect superior to oak bark. The leather tanned with it is of a better quality, being firmer, less porous, and at the same time more pliable. It is also very neat and convenient in the application. Letters relative to the above, addressed to Benj. Jenks, Agent, at Springfield, Massachusetts, will be promptly attended to. (Ed. Note: This marks the beginning of the end for America’s chestnut trees which, though once numerous as the oaks, had virtually disappeared by the early 20th century. In replacing the oak tree as the preferred source, the chestnut may have saved the oaks from a similar demise.)

July 3, 1820

175 YEARS AGO

(Selected) List of Letters remaining in the Post Office at Cooperstown, June 30, 1845: Miss Polly Ball, Henry Brown. Amos Bissell, Henry Chadwick, Miss Jane Crippen, Marcus Dutcher, Miss Hannah Edwards, Estate of Herman Lord, George Fern, Heirs of Lieut. L. Loomis, Swift’s Continental Regt. Army of Revolution, Miss Mary M. Hicks, Erastus Horth, Joseph Husbands, E. B. Hubbell, Theron Ives, R.S. Johnson, Alver Kenyon, Anna Lum, A.V. and S.S. Moore, Van Booskirk Morris, Mrs. Elizabeth Quackenbush, R.E. Robinson, William Smith, Samuel Tabor, Mark Tomlinson, Walter S. Tunnicliff, Miss Eliza Ann Walker, David Waterman, George H. Webb, Miss Jane Wilcox, Simon Wolf, John Yale.

June 30, 1845

150 YEARS AGO

The Fourth (of July) was one of the most delightful days of the whole year so far as the weather was concerned. There was no celebration of the day at this place, and the “boys” had all the noise to themselves. If they had not commenced quite so early, their powder and crackers would have held out longer. After about ten o’clock “firing ceased all along the line,” and during the rest of the day only an occasional “pop” was heard in our unusually quiet streets. The Lake was the resort of a great many parties and individuals, and the “Mary Boden” had a paying day. In one little circle, at least, the day was duly “observed” after the good old fashion, the orator and poet being the great grandson of a soldier of the Revolution; patriotic songs were sung and toasts were given under the shadow of the stars and stripes, and the usual salutes were fired. In the evening enough fireworks were set off by different families about the village to have made quite an attractive display had they been concentrated.

July 7, 1870

125 YEARS AGO

Local – One of the handsomest horses which we have seen on this corporation in a long time is a five-year-old dark bay gelding whose sire was a famous Kentucky horse called “Banker.” He has the gait of a fast traveler and the action of old “Snip,” the finest horse ever owned in this county. He belongs to Mr. Barclay, the brother and present visitor of Mrs. Constable.
The Journal for this week is issued on “The Glorious Fourth” and it will be rather a quiet day in Cooperstown. In the afternoon there will be a baseball game played on the grounds of the C.A.A. at 2:30 o’clock between the home team and one from New York.

July 4, 1895

75 YEARS AGO

Sunday, when the mercury soared to 97 degrees Fahrenheit, hundreds sought relief in the cooling waters of Otsego Lake. The temperature equaled the former ideal record that stood until it was broken on August 4, 1944, with a reading of 93. Monday, the weather completely changed and became raw, wet and so cold that everyone around the lake had to jump in the water to get warm.

July 4, 1945

50 YEARS AGO

Boyd Bissell, son of Mr. and Mrs. A.H. Bissell, Jr. of Cooperstown, and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire’s Hotel Management School, knocked about on ocean liners for two years before coming home. Finding opportunities limited here, he headed for Paris, France where he landed a job cooking for an American family. After many “digestive” complaints he was “sacked.” He then applied to a cooks’ employment agency in Paris and two days later was told to present himself to LePre Catelan, a swanky restaurant in the Bois de Boulogne. To his surprise, he was hired and given a room to sleep in since he had none elsewhere. Recently he was introduced to Oliver, the renowned chef of LeGrand Vefour where he will work in an underground kitchen beneath the sidewalk of an arcade in the Palais Royal.

July 1, 1970

25 YEARS AGO

Gallery 53, having been under the charge of Interim Director Susan Friedlander since April, will officially welcome back Beth A. Bohling, a former Arts Administrator at Gallery 53, as the new Director on July 10. Bohling has recently been Director of the Pyramid Arts Center in Rochester. “While I was in Rochester, I missed the small town community. Living in a rural area is more for me than living in an urban area. I missed the camaraderie of Cooperstown, and I missed the hills.

July 2, 1995

10 YEARS AGO

It was a 35-day sprint, and Price Chopper crossed the finish line Tuesday, June 6, opening its new Cooperstown supermarket in time for the Fourth of July weekend. “It was an incredibly quick turnabout,” said Mona Golub, vice-president for public relations and consumer services. “To build a store from scratch takes nine months to a year,” she said. Interest was high in this super-market-starved community as 150 people gathered in the parking lot awaiting the 8:30 a.m. ribbon-cutting and opening.

July 1, 2010