BOUND VOLUMES, December 12, 2013
200 YEARS AGO
Advertisement: Dancing School – Mr. Shepherd, respectfully informs the Gentlemen and Ladies of Cooperstown and Cherry Valley, that, not having met with the success in Johnstown which he expected, he has returned and intends to teach one Quarter more in each of the above places. During this quarter, Mr. S. will introduce several handsome sets of Cotillions, and if any of the Ladies who were taught the last quarter should attend again, he will teach them some elegant fancy dances, of which he has a variety, adapted for young ladies. Mr. S. embraces this opportunity of returning his sincere thanks for the encouragement he has already received, and hopes by strict attention to his business still to merit and receive the liberal patronage of the people of both places. The school will commence in Cooperstown on Monday, December 20, at Mr. Munn’s, and Wednesday, the 23rd inst., at Mr. Wright’s. Cooperstown, Dec. 11, 1813.
December 11, 1813
175 YEARS AGO
(Ed. Note: The following passage is a pre-Darwin meditation on the origins of mankind. Lord Monboddo b. 1714, d. 1799 was a Scottish Judge, scholar and philosopher, and an early proponent of evolution as a theory explaining the origins of mankind) Did man spring full-formed in all his bodily and mental energies from the hand of his Creator; or, are the dreams of Lord Monboddo true, that he was originally of the monkey tribe – becoming gradually and in the long lapse of ages what he now is, by the aids of experience and the faculty of speech? Was he originally from one pair or of one race, and has he become as various as we find him, from the influence of climate, food and other physical and fortuitous circumstances; or were the different and marked varieties we now behold – with perhaps many others that have become extinct – inherent and existent in his original formation?
December 10, 1838
150 YEARS AGO
A Flying Ambulance Corps – The Sanitary Commission have organized a “Flying Relief Department,” under the supervision of Dr. H.R. Baalan, similar to the plan so successfully in the Russian Army in the Crimea, before the battle of Inkermann in 1854, and afterwards in both the English and French armies. This department will consist of two four-horse wagons, each wagon attended by one relief agent, two assistants and one driver. The wagons are loaded with supplies needed on the battlefield – refreshments, medicines, bandages, and a hundred little articles that come in use just when they are most badly needed and most difficult to get. The agent and assistants will be mounted on saddle horses. Two of these wagons have been stocked preparatory to going to the Army of the Potomac.
December 11, 1863
125 YEARS AGO
Local: It is suggested that the Literary Society of Cooperstown take the initiative in organizing the Otsego County Historical Society.
The law against coasting on the sidewalks should be enforced. If those who have icy walks in front of their premises will take the proper means to do away with the danger often resulting therefrom, they will do a good deed.
It is suggested that when the Cooperstown railroad orders new locomotives, they may be of the kind that uses crude petroleum instead of coal for fuel. They are pronounced a great success.
December 14, 1888
75 YEARS AGO
The Baseball Centennial celebration in Cooperstown next year will have an official emblem. The insignia was shown for the first time at a meeting of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues in New Orleans. It is a red, white and blue square with a background of four red stripes, symbolic of the four balls in baseball and three white stripes to represent the three strikes. A blue diamond is superimposed on the stripes and a white baseball set in the center of the diamond. On the baseball, a sketch of a player in uniform completing a swing brings in graphically the action of the game. The date of the founding of the game here – 1839 – is balanced with the Centennial Year numerals on the opposite side. Across the base appear the words “Baseball Centennial.”
December 14, 1938
50 YEARS AGO
Republicans continue to outnumber Democrats in Otsego County by a little better than two to one according to enrollment figures released by the Board of Election Commissioners. Enrolled Republicans number 13,191 compared with 13,715 a year ago while Democrats total 5,973 this year, only three fewer than the 5,976 enrolled for 1962. The Liberal Party has 101 enrolled members. The Conservative Party, which became a recognized party during the 1962 election, has 23 registered voters in Otsego County.
December 11, 1963
25 YEARS AGO
Year-round woes from increased salinity levels in Otsego Lake have caused village officials to pass a resolution to reduce salinization this winter. The resolution was spearheaded by Cooperstown Trustee Hugh C. MacDougall, who drafted it after he heard the issue discussed at the Otsego 2000 Conference at Cooperstown High School last summer. MacDougall said a number of people expressed concern to him about the runoff from snow which the village takes off its streets and stores in a parking lot above Fairy Springs Park. “That runoff, including the salt, is possibly going into the lake,” MacDougall said.
December 14, 1988
10 YEARS AGO
The CCS Elementary School Grade 4 Honor Roll: Alexandra Bayes, Kayleen Campbell, Harrison Clinton, Jeremy Denmeade, Samantha Devenpeck, Haley Hohensee, Linda Kenison, Matthew Kennedy, Jack Loewenguth, Shannon McManus, William Murphy, Margaret O’Handley, Hamad Sagheer, Patricia VanKampen, Alexis Merritt, William Derouin, Kathryn Evans, Jerimiah Ford, Sarah Millea, Benjamin Bauer, Jaina Ghandi, Jarrett Hotaling, Olivia Morris, Benjamin Pierson, Grace Livermore, Amber Rumberger, and Meghan Vann. Grade 4 Honor Roll: Victoria Anania, Jenna Bloss, David Bonderoff, Samantha Borgstrom, Christen Dutkowsky, Erica Freund, Davin Gaviria, Natalie Grigoli, Laura Harmon, Robert Katz, Cynthia Kent, Anna Kramer, Julia Levandowski, Noble Mattson, Shyah Miller, Joshua Olmstead, Molly Pearlman, Samantha Race, William Reis, Anna Sams, Emily Senif, Jessica Shelton and Caitlin Soraci.
December 12, 2003