HOMETOWN HISTORY, April 18, 2014
125 Years Ago
The Local News: Tuesday was moving day at the Oneonta Union School, and though many boys and girls, on passing to new grades and advanced studies regretted separation from the care and instruction of teachers for whom they have formed attachments, yet there was much elation, and new ambitions were awakened. One little fellow, in speaking of the future, mapped out his entire course of study in his present school, and finished with the declaration that he would “then go to an agricultural college.” His mother having in view a possible financial obstacle at about that time, asked, “But how are you going to get there Davie?” And the child, with the utmost confidence answered: “Why, I shall go on the cars.”
The hostler ran Engine 150 into the “pit” at the round house Tuesday evening. It took a gang of men nearly all night to get her out and it will take a lot of money to repair her.
April 1889
100 Years Ago
The last specimens of the large number purchased by Willard Yager in his recent trip among the Indians of the south and west have arrived. They include from 60 to 70 baskets, about 100 excellent works of pottery, and a large number of miscellaneous articles. This makes Mr. Yager’s collection not only the finest collection of archaeological remains from this location anywhere and one of the best collections from any district, but the equal of any practical working collection in the country. Of the 100 specimens of pottery, 70 are from the cliffs and mesas and hence belonged to prehistoric peoples. Among the general articles there is a rare old Apache bow and quiver which had been in an old Spanish family in Santa Fe for about 75 years. There are in the collection two of the rare Pomo burden baskets and one of the magnificent feather baskets of the same people. This last deserves more extended description. Feathers of various birds and in their natural bright colors are woven in the basketry in beautiful and intricate designs. The effect beggars description.
April 1914
60 Years Ago
Postmaster General Summerfield today announced plans for a more colorful mail service. He said the department is starting a program to gradually convert the familiar olive drab mail truck to a flashy red, white and blue. The department has already experimented with these colors for trucks in Miami, Boston and New York. Summefield said the tests showed that the bright colors are easier to keep clean. Eventually, street mail collection boxes will also be painted a matching red, white and blue.
Robert Ellsworth Gardner, known to many as “Professor Bob,” has passed from the scene at the age of 70, but he will not soon be forgotten. For 16 years he was the able leader of the Oneonta High School Band. Under his
guidance, music gained prominence as an extra-curricular activity at the school. To Bob Gardner, an interest in music was essential to any man – and he did not hesitate to say so. But, Bob Gardner was not only a musician – he was also a man who worked through many channels as a force for good in the community.
April 1954
40 Years Ago
The League of Women Voters of the Oneonta area wants to obtain at least 2,000 signatures this week on a petition urging campaign finance reform in 1974. The local drive is part of a nationwide effort to bring pressure on Congress to enact campaign spending legislation. The Oneonta petition drive will run from Wednesday, April 17 through Saturday, April 20. League members will circulate petitions throughout the city and town. Booths will be set up in Hartwick College’s Bresee Hall and Oneonta State’s Hunt College Union. Booths will also be opened at several downtown
locations Thursday evening. “The people want reform,” said Mrs. Lorrie Wolverton, president of the Oneonta League. Mrs. Diana Kang is the drive chair.
April 1974
30 Years Ago
President Reagan has approved a series of measures, including pre-emptive strikes and reprisals designed to get the upper hand on terrorism worldwide, administration officials revealed. One of the key elements of the policy is an effort to switch from defensive action to offensive, partly by increasing the ability of U.S. operatives to gather intelligence in order to stop terrorist activities before they occur. While the U.S. government has been increasingly concerned with terrorism for several years, new impetus to deal with it occurred when 241 U.S. servicemen died in the truck bombing of a U.S. Marine headquarters bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, last October 23. A n anonymous White House official said Reagan did not scrap an existing prohibition against assassination attempts by U.S. government agents.” The general idea is that we don’t allow terrorism to go unpunished,” the source said.
April 1984
20 Years Ago
Cornell West, a scholar of Afro-American studies and the author of the book, “Race Matters,” will speak on Wednesday, April 27, at 8 p.m. in the Hunt Union Ballroom at the State University College at Oneonta. In his book, West argues that the major obstacle to harmonious race relations in the United States is nihilism – a sense of worthlessness that he sees as growing among American blacks. West is co-authoring a new book with Michael Learner titled “Blacks and Jews: Conflicts and Coalescence. West will be leaving Princeton University after the school year to teach at Harvard University where he will divide his time between the Department of Afro-American studies and the Harvard Divinity School.
April 1994
10 Years Ago
President Bush’s efforts to ban gay marriage are driving gay rights activists to plan protests and other attention-grabbing events in New York City this summer during the Republican convention. This is an issue that has really swept the country from coast to coast and is dominating public discussion about civil rights,” said Kevin Cathcart, director of Lambda Legal, a gay rights group. Bush publicly backed a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages after the high court in Massachusetts ruled it is unconstitutional to prevent gay couples from marrying.
April 2004
