Bound Volumes, Hometown History

January 8, 2026

110 YEARS AGO

Influenza is spreading over the United States from coast to coast in the most serious epidemic ever known, taking a large toll in lives and causing economic loss by incapacitating workers in all walks of life. In New York the disease is widely spread. There is a marked increase in pneumonia mortality.

B.E. Swart, owner and for years conducting the Windsor Hotel in this city, has leased the property and equipment to Louis Low of Kingston, a man widely known among the commercial men and others in the state. Mr. Low took possession Saturday morning. Mr. Swart has no definite plans other than he will take a rest for recuperation. Mr. Swart is a native of the city and he has conducted a good hotel free from many of the objectionable features which often are found. From the time he first acquired the property to the present he has endeavored, and succeeding to an unusual degree, to cater to the needs of the traveling public in a satisfactory manner.

January 1916

90 YEARS AGO

January 1936

30 YEARS AGO

State Senator James L. Seward (R-Milford) says “The results are in from 1995 and we can say without qualification that taxes are down, welfare is down, spending is down, crime is down, and jobs are up.” Seward is pleased with the changes brought about by Governor George Pataki who he said has “succeeded in bringing about less bureaucracy, tax cuts and welfare reform measures – including statewide finger imaging, requiring recipients to seek work, denying benefits to parents of children who skip school and requiring teen parents to live at home to qualify for benefits.” Seward plans to run for re-election in November. Seward’s number one objective is “to stoke the fires of our economic engine.”

January 1996

20 YEARS AGO

Two Center Street Elementary School students who refused to take state tests last year when they were in fourth grade will be taking them this year. Carli Ficano said her son Ryan, now in fifth grade, will be taking the test this week, although the family continues to oppose the exams. Ficano said her son’s refusal didn’t have an impact on the issue, and the school or teachers might be penalized if he sat out another year. At Time Out from Testing, a statewide group, Jane Hirschmann said the new mandated tests make test scores the focus of the curriculum.

January 2006