BOUND VOLUMES, October 11, 2012

200 YEARS AGO
Advertisement – Take Notice: Lost some time since, a Note of hand against Benjamin Parker, of eighteen dollars and fifty cents, payable on the first day of October, 1812, with interest, payable to Silas Peet, and believed to be negotiable; this is therefore to warn the public against purchasing said Note if it should be offered for sale, as the same has been paid. Silas Peet, Edmeston, September 29, 1812.
October 10, 1812

175 YEARS AGO
The Common Schools’ Curriculum Questioned – How much of the practical business of life do the children learn in the common schools? What is learned that assists the labors of manhood? What do our common schools now teach that makes the man? Does the young farmer in the district school, and while he is receiving the only education he is ever to get, learn anything of Agriculture – and of the nature of sods and manures? – Anything that teaches him to distinguish the different earths, and their peculiar adaptations to the different grains and grasses? Does he learn anything of the best breeds of stock – of the best manner of raising, keeping, and fattening his cattle, sheep and swine? Is he taught that which makes his profession useful, profitable or honorable?
October 9, 1837

150 YEARS AGO
History of Cooperstown – When this book first made its appearance several weeks ago, we simply announced its publication, intending at an early day to give it a more extended notice. More than half the edition has been subscribed for or sold; and, as it contains considerable matter of interest to the residents of the county generally, as well of the village of Cooperstown it should and doubtless will have a sale throughout the county. The book embraces a great deal of information derived from our oldest living residents, which would have been lost to us a few years hence – also facts and dates gathered from newspapers and other sources, at no small cost of time and patience and labor. For all his trouble in preparing this work for publication, and outlay of money attending its printing, the author, Rev. S.T. Livermore, will receive very slight remuneration when the entire limited edition is sold.
October 10, 1862

125 YEARS AGO
Personal – Horace C. Hooker put his knee out of joint running in a game of foot ball last week and had to be carried home.
Two car loads of poles for the electric light wires arrived at the depot on Tuesday. The work of putting them in position will commence this week.
Build an unventilated cesspool with which to connect water pipes in your house or store, and it is only a question of time when poisonous sewer gas will invade your building. Several buildings on Main Street above Pioneer connect with such cesspools; and will a portion of the property owners in that district now refuse to aid in sewering the same, and thereby endanger the health of many of their business associates? In no part of the village is a sewer more needed, and all the property was taxed for the main.
October 14, 1887

100 YEARS AGO
A demonstration of high pressure road oiling was given on Chestnut Street Monday by the Standard Oil Company of New York. This test was attended by President Barnum (Mayor of Cooperstown) and several of the trustees and citizens. The principal object of it was to show the many distinct advantages high pressure oil sprinkling has over the old gravity, or sprinkling, method of putting oil on streets. In the roads over which this test is satisfactorily made the dust and loose material are removed from the surface. Standard asphaltic road oil is applied under a pressure of about 60 pounds. The result of spraying was immediately absorbed by the street and required no covering of sand or screenings to prevent tracking. In the demonstration Monday the surface of the street was dry enough in a very short time to travel over without tracking or smearing. The Standard Oil Company has applied road oil for cities, towns and country highways for the past three years with the greatest success.
October 9, 1912

75 YEARS AGO
The fifth natural gas well to be drilled by the Sangerfield Natural Gas & Oil Corporation was “spudded in” last week on the Clinton Rehm farm in Pleasant Valley. Starting with a 10 and a quarter inch hole they will go down to bed rock and install an 8 and a quarter inch drive pipe after which a 6 and a quarter inch casing will be used. This fifth well is considerably to the north and west of the four wells previously drilled in the North Brookfield area, all of which are classed as good commercial wells.
October 13, 1937

50 YEARS AGO
A Laundromat known as the “Busy Beaver Laundromat” will open on Friday, October 12 at 5 West Beaver Street, Cooperstown. The new concern, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Gifford and Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Reynolds is located in the building formerly occupied by Meadowlark Dairy. Mr. Gifford stated that the Laundromat will have eight 9-pound washers, one 25-pound washer, and four 50-pound washers, all made by Westinghouse. The dryers have two heat settings and the washers are equipped with both a regular and delicate wash cycle. Refreshments including free coffee and donuts will be served on opening day.
October 10, 1962

25 YEARS AGO
The former Great American supermarket on Chestnut Street in Cooperstown will not be used to house prisoners after all, according to Otsego County Representative Joseph P. Franzese, R-Cherry Valley. The Otsego County Board on Wednesday last made official the purchase of the building and parking area from Great American for an amount not to exceed $525,000. “The county is desperately short of office space,” said Franzese, “and it’s just a question now of which offices to put into the building.” Franzese mentioned the county Office for the Aging, the Planning Department, code Enforcement and the Veterans’ Office as among the departments his committee is considering.
October 14, 1987