Bound Volumes

April 10, 2025

160 YEARS AGO

“Lee has surrendered!” was announced by telegraph to our citizens on Monday morning last. Soon the good news was known throughout the village, and our citizens met in groups to exchange congratulations. Although the news was expected, still it seemed, as many expressed themselves, “almost too good to be true. A supply of powder having arrived in town a few days before, a salute was immediately resolved on, and the “big gun” was brought out, and not a few smaller ones; the bells were rung; and all rejoiced over the prospect of an early termination of the war. A national salute was fired in front of the Journal office, by as lively a company of volunteer artillerists as could be got together on short notice.

April 14, 1865

135 YEARS AGO

The Universalist Church will soon be in the hands of the mechanics who are to make the improvements. They contemplate excavating under the church edifice and finishing a basement with a room 35 X 45 for Sunday School purposes and social meetings, with kitchen arrangement, and other necessary compartments.

The Village Board of Health has been organized with the following as officers: W.S. Basinger, President; Frank Mulkins, Clerk; Dr. W.T. Bassett, Health Officer; Erie S. Collar, Inspector.
It is estimated that about 600 horses are annually brought into Otsego County from a distance, and are sold for upwards of $60,000, and at least $50,000 of this goes out of the county, the rest to the dealers.

April 11, 1890

110 YEARS AGO

A 100-horsepower Curtiss motor and bi-plane will be shipped from Paterson, New Jersey by Charles Gridley for use in the school of aviation to be established in Cooperstown according to J. Arthur Olsen who has been instrumental in the organization of the school. W.H. Minnerly, who at present is exhibiting at Daytona, Florida, will arrive soon it is said, to become the instructor in the school. The construction of two flying boats will be begun in a short time and with this equipment the promoters expect to teach would-be following aviators the tricks of the trade and give exhibition flights themselves. Plans are underway for exhibition flights on Decoration Day, May 30th which would undoubtedly bring a large number of people to Cooperstown upon that occasion. Mr. Olsen is a skilled mechanic and knows the aviation game from start to finish having followed this line of activity for nearly ten years.

April 14, 1915

35 YEARS AGO

Progress continues on the Otsego County soil survey which is being done by the United States Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service. To date, 67 percent of the county’s approximately 649,200 acres of land have been mapped into various soil types. The mapping of agricultural lands to identify highly erodible areas continues to receive the highest priority.

April 11, 1990

20 YEARS AGO

An informal meeting to discuss a proposal for historic district status in Fly Creek will be held Friday, April 15, at 7 p.m. in the Fly Creek Grange on Cemetery Road. Hosted by the Fly Creek Area Historical Society, the meeting will give interested parties a chance to hear and speak with Kathleen LaFrank of the New York State Office of Historic Preservation, which administers the historic status designation.

The Otsego County Historical Association will present an “Evening with John Phillips” on April 14 at the Kinney Memorial Library. Phillips has been collecting and restoring vintage firearms since he was seven years old.

April 8, 2005