Bound Volumes

March 7, 2024

185 YEARS AGO

Action is necessary, spirited action, on the part of all those opposed to any and all of the projects to divide the County (Otsego County). Some among many reasons which go to oppose a division are that in small counties, the burden of taxation is heavier than in large; and that proximity to the county courts is calculated to increase litigation. Remonstrances, we understand, are in circulation, or about to be, which all are requested to sign who are opposed to a division.

March 4, 1839

160 YEARS AGO

Summary of News—A new telegraph line has been established between this place and Herkimer. It is already completed to Springfield Centre, and the wires will be extended to Cooperstown as soon as the frost is out of the ground. For this new enterprise we are mainly indebted to certain go-ahead gentlemen at Richfield Springs.
Income Tax—Persons who have an income above $600 per annum, should make out a statement of last year’s receipts, and be prepared for the call made by the Assessor.

March 4, 1864

60 YEARS AGO

Double tragedy struck the home of a Toddsville family on Monday morning. Mrs. Priscilla Wright, a 44-year-old hospital nurses’ aide employed at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, and a mother of three, is believed to have shot to death her 19-year-old son Gordon and then taken her own life with the same .244 rifle. The double shooting took place in a second floor bedroom in the Wright home in Toddsville. Mrs. Wright’s husband Reginald had departed on a business trip to Brooklyn, and their youngest son Mark, age 16, had gone to school in Cooperstown.

March 11, 1964

35 YEARS AGO

Graham Jones of Boy Scout Troop 7 in Fly Creek, and Bob Cook, president of the Cook Foundation, recently discussed plans for a nature trail to be constructed this spring on Brookwood Point, part of the Brookwood Estate on Otsego Lake just north of Cooperstown. Jones is planning and organizing the project as part of his Eagle Scout Award. Brookwood was donated to a nonprofit foundation in 1985. The grounds, formal gardens, and garden house have been open to the public on a limited basis for the past three years.

March 8, 1989

20 YEARS AGO

Bassett Healthcare has established the Mithoefer Center for Rural Surgery to improve general surgery training and patient health in rural communities in the U.S. and abroad. In December of 2003, the Robert Keeler Foundation of Cincinnati committed $1 million over five years in memory of Dr. James Mithoefer, a general surgeon who practiced at Bassett in the 1950s and 1960s. Educated at Harvard Medical School, Mithoefer (1914-1963) was an experienced and skilled surgeon, an outstanding clinician and a stimulating teacher. Starting his career at Bassett in 1950 as a general surgeon, Mithoefer developed an Orthopedic and Plastic service, established a Tumor Registry, and was devoted to teaching and research investigation. At the peak of his career, Mithoefer died in 1963 in a tragic accident. The Center for Rural Surgery will address the shortage of general surgeons practicing in rural communities. Nationwide, just 10 percent of the practicing general surgeons serve 24 percent of the U.S. population who reside in rural areas. Rural areas also lack specialists and general surgeons are called upon to perform many different types of surgery.

March 5, 2004