Clark Sports Center To Double In Size
By JIM KEVLIN
COOPERSTOWN
This fall, 15,000-square-feet will be added to the Clark Sports Center, “to almost double our capacity,” Jane Forbes Clark announced during a Tuesday, May 27, address to the Cooperstown Rotary Club.The construction is intended to strengthen what Miss Clark described as a tradition of community investment going back to her great-great grandfather, attorney Edward Clark, partner in Singer Sewing Machine Co.
Already, she said, the multi-purpose gym on Susquehanna Avenue has grown to more than 4,000 members, and is supported with a $2 million annual contribution from the Clark Foundation.
Most of the work will be underground and behind the current building, she said, in order to minimize any visual impact.
In addition to the sports center initiative, Miss Clark said her Clark Foundation is also underwriting an experiment in sustainable farming at Mohegan Farm, aimed at producing enough to meet “the current needs of the present population.”
In her half-hour talk, Miss Clark traced her family’s tradition of “civic duty, preservation and conservation” to the founding father, a lawyer from Hudson who married a local girl and settled on Apple Hill after making his fortune.
The three entities that carry this forward are the Clark Foundation, founded in 1931, the Scriven Foundation, founded in 1975, and — the only for-profit entity of the three — the Leatherstocking Corp.
The Clark Foundation is mostly known for its scholarship program, which she said has spent $79.8 million over 50 years, providing college scholarships to 9,946 students in 10 Otsego County communities.
However, the horticultural program is also substantial, begun simply enough when her grandmother, Susan V. Clark, hung four baskets of flowers in the vicinity of the flagpole at Main and Pioneer.
Soon, poinsettias were being provided to the village’s five churches at Christmas, and lilies at Easter. Then, tulips were planted in the spring and geraniums in the summers. The annual beautification contest begun by her grandmother continues today.
The Scriven Foundation assists non-profits, distributing $1.5 million to 36 non-profits countywide in 2013 alone, including such organizations as Springbrook, the Otsego Land Trust, the SPCA and the library board.
The Leatherstocking Corp. operates The Otesaga and the Cooper Inn, Miss Clark said. She pointed out that beyond the foundations and the corporation, the family is involved in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Bassett Healthcare, The Farmers’ and Fenimore museums, and the Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home.
In all, the entities generate $450 million annually, employing 4,098, people, including 3,032 fulltime, and distributing $9 million a year in charitable support.
