HOMETOWN History

May 8, 2020

135 Years Ago

The Delaware & Hudson Canal Company held their annual meeting in New York, Tuesday. The old board of managers was re-elected with the exception that Thomas Cornell resigned in favor in favor of John A. Stewart, who was chosen as his successor. A set of by-laws, the first ever possessed by the company, was adopted. The leased lines of the company, the report showed, have shared in the general business depression that marked the year, and show an aggregate loss of $174,489.65, a result which has its encouraging feature in being relatively better than the showing of very many railroad properties. Of the gross receipts, $5,177,353 were from passenger, freight and miscellaneous business on the railroads, and $10,755,137 from the sales of coal, canal tolls, interest, etc.

May 1885

90 Years Ago

A Great New Industry – The roadside stand, where the American motorist buys hot dogs, ice cream cones, green corn and pink balloons while he pauses in his travels, doesn’t look like much of a business, perhaps; yet cold statistics show that it is becoming one of the foremost industries of the country. Dr. Julius Klein, assistant secretary of commerce, reveals that there are now between 110,000 and 125,000 roadside stands in the United States. They are increasing at the rate of 3,000 a year, and more than half of them remain open all year round. More impressive yet, however, is the fact that these stands last year had a total sales volume of fully $500,000,000. A half-billion dollar turnover is not to be sneezed at. The automobile, which has turned American life topsy-turvy in many ways during the last couple of decades, has provided a new business of mammoth proportions here.

May 1930

70 Years Ago

State Comptroller Frank C. Moore says that New York State is “determined to provide the new teachers required for its schools.” Moore spoke at ceremonies last Friday during which the cornerstone was laid for an $800,000 dormitory and student union building at Oneonta State Teachers College. Sheldon H. Close, president of the local Board of Visitors, laid the cornerstone of the new building accepting the trowel from Orlando B. Rowe, former president. Approximately 1,000 persons attended the ceremony. Construction began on August 9, 1949 and it is expected the building will be ready for occupancy by September 1, this year. Moore predicted that the enrollment at Oneonta would increase to about 1,000 in the next five years. Enrollment has increased from less than 400 in 1942 to more than 600 this year.

May 1950

50 Years Ago

Although education is far and away the most costly item of local government in Otsego County, the other public expenditures add up to a sizable figure. They include outlays for such services as roads and highways, police protection, health, public welfare, sewerage, water supply, and general administration and maintenance, among others. According to the latest figures, the annual cost for such services amounts to $136.84 per capita for residents of Otsego County.

May 1970

50 Years Ago

The Lot of Women – Some say that job discrimination against women will be the issue in the 70s that job discrimination against blacks was in the 60s. Certainly, statistics support the need for change. Fifteen years ago full-time women workers’ wages were 63.9 percent those of men. Now, they have fallen to 58.2 percent of men’s earnings. In terms of median income, white men last year earned $7,870, black men $5,314, white women, $4,580, and black women $3,478. In terms of education, women with four years of college earned less than men who didn’t graduate from high school and only half as much as men with the same degree. Whereas ten years ago unemployment was the same for both men and women, by last year, the rate was twice as high for women. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments has begun hearings on an amendment that would upgrade the job and legal status of women. One of the odder provisions of the amendment (first proposed in the 1920s) would require women to register for the draft just like men. And while a case could be made for filling the multitude of supportive jobs with distaff soldiers, one can hardly think of a sphere where women would have a harder time breaking into the chain of responsible
command than the military.

May 1970

40 Years Ago

The Delaware & Hudson Railway Co. is considering expanding its freight service through northeastern Pennsylvania because of significant growth since the service began a year ago. Richard E. Long, D. & H. secretary, said that the carrier showed a profit in March and April, the first time in four years the line has operated in the black. Long credits the north-south corridor service that connect major southern points through the Potomac yards near Washington, D.C. with markets in New England and Canada. The D. & H. began service to Potomac Yard last year and since then volume has grown from 1,250 cars to 2,750 cars a month. “The line shows very significant growth, but we cannot go further unless we put on a second train,” Long noted. Only one train a day currently moves out from Potomac Yard. The D. & H. is awaiting a response from Conrail, the federally chartered rail system, on a proposed agreement to acquire the line, Long added.

May 1980

30 Years Ago

The board of directors for the United Way of Delaware and Otsego Counties, Inc. announces the appointment of officers and new directors. Chairperson for the 1991fund drive will be Dr. Alan Donovan President of S.U.N.Y at Oneonta. His appointment follows a fund drive that raised more than $223,000 for service agencies in Delaware and Otsego counties.

May 1990

10 YEARS AGO

The history of Oneonta Little League resides in one man, Oren “Doc” Knapp, (who’s also a pretty good golfer). So he knew of what he spoke when, after opening ceremonies Saturday, May 1, at, yes, Doc Knapp Field, at the end of Park Avenue, he said: “Oneonta has been very supportive of Little League. I’m very grateful to Oneonta for that.”

May 2010