BOUND VOLUMES, June 28, 2012

200 YEARS AGO
Advertisement – Ran Away – From the Subscriber, on the 25th of June, instant, a servant boy, by the name of Stephen Scudder, aged 18 years, the sixth day of April last. It is expected he will enlist into the United States Army at Otsego. I forbid all persons harboring or trusting him on my account; any person apprehending him, and returning him back to me, shall have one cent reward and no charges paid. Henry Cable, Maryland, June 25, 1812.
June 27, 1812

175 YEARS AGO
A Poem titled “To Cooperstown” – There is a lovely, quiet vale, Around which hill and verdant dale, And sunny lake, combine Their magic influence, to impart A lustre, which mere human art Could never cause to shine. Yet not alone has the fair face of nature’s works, been left to grace This favor’d, happy spot: Here many a dome and church spire gleams In Sol’s bright rays, or Cynthia’s beams, With humble, lowly cot. Tho’ lovely thou to mortal ken, Tis not thy beauty that will win A name for thee in story With Abbottsford; or in the ranks Of that famed town, on Avon’s banks, And seal thy future glory. But thou art the home of one whose name is graven on the scroll of fame In characters of light – That till all else shall fade away, and earth itself sink to decay, will e’en as now burn bright.
June 26, 1837

125 YEARS AGO
Governor Hill has signed an important bill with reference to the distribution of public school moneys. The new bill leaves the distribution by the State, based on the number of teachers employed, just as it is, that the weaker districts may not be discouraged; but it provides that the portion distributed by the school commissioners shall no longer be divided, but shall be apportioned on the basis of aggregate attendance of scholars during the preceding school year. School population will no longer have anything to do with it. All will depend upon attendance, and in the calculation every day will count. The new law does not take effect till the apportionment of 1889, which will be based on attendance reports from the school year ending in August 1888.
July 1, 1887

100 YEARS AGO
The graduating class of the Cooperstown high school opened the week with the baccalaureate sermon given by the Rev. Frank S. Squyer at the school’s assembly hall on Sunday afternoon. Mr. Squyer said in part: “The graduates of our high school are among the choicest young people. In our public school system the higher the grade the fewer the pupils. Out of 100 pupils who enter public schools only 25 stay long enough to learn to read and write; only 20 out of 100 stay longer than the fifth grade; less than one out of 100 who enter our public schools graduate from high school; a small proportion of high school graduates who enter college remain until graduation.”
June 26, 1912

75 YEARS AGO
Richard Archbold’s seventeen-ton flying boat in which he intends to explore the interior of New Guinea, rested at anchor at North Beach airport, New York City, on Saturday, after a non-stop flight across the United States. Mr. Archbold’s mother, Mrs. John F. Archbold, who has taken the Spaulding estate at the head of Otsego Lake for the summer, is now with her son in New York City and is expected to arrive here on Thursday. The trip of the young scientist from San Diego was completed in 17 hours, 3 minutes and was the first transcontinental trip of a flying boat. Mr. Archbold is a research associate of the American Museum of Natural History. Mr. Archbold’s New Guinea trip, to be taken in about two months, is to be over the Pan American clipper ship route via the Hawaiian Islands, Midway Island and Guam. While news dispatches from San Diego stated that he planned to fly from New York City to Canadarago Lake, local people are wondering if in fact he will land in Otsego Lake, which is at his mother’s doorstep here.
June 30, 1937

50 YEARS AGO
Smith-Cooperstown, Inc. has been franchised by Willys Sales Corporation to handle the Jeep family of vehicles and approved special equipment. The firm will market the full line of Jeep vehicles and equipment in this area. The dealership will also offer complete parts and service facilities for the famed “go anywhere” vehicles. Jeep models serve a wide range of purposes from six-passenger family vehicles to the roughest kind of off-the-road hauling with gross vehicle weights up to 8,000 pounds.
June 27, 1962

25 YEARS AGO
The “Roosevelt Special,” a traveling museum filled with artifacts, memorabilia and photographs of the FDR era, is in Cooperstown through Thursday of this week and is available to the public free of charge from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The museum, housed in a 40-foot trailer, is located behind the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce office at 31 Chestnut Street. Its contents were selected from the collections of the Roosevelt Library and National Historic Site in Hyde Park. Additional items have been donated by family members. The exhibit focuses on five main areas – FDR’s personal and family life; FDR’s political life; FDR and the forgotten man; FDR and land; and FDR as a wartime and world leader.
June 30, 1982

10 YEARS AGO
Scottie Baker of Fly Creek recently launched an 1896-vintage wooden canoe named “She” off Mohican Point on Otsego Lake. Baker and her late husband David are well known for their contributions to restoring traditional canoes. Baker hopes that by setting an example with this tranquil mode of recreation, such boats will gain popularity upon the lake. When Baker is paddling about, often dressed in a costume that matches the vintage of the canoe, cars often honk from the roadside and people wave her ashore. One family vacationing from Philadelphia told her that seeing “She” was one of the highlights of their visit to Cooperstown.
June 28, 2002