Bound Volumes, Hometown History
January 22, 2026
110 YEARS AGO
The death of Newton Emmons occurred at a few minutes before 12 o’clock on the night of Tuesday, January 18 at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lester F. Emmons on the Emmons homestead about three miles east of this city. Mr. Emmons was born in the city of Oneonta on January 13, 1870, and was a pupil in his schoolboy years of the late professor N.N. Bull at the Oneonta high school. At the conclusion of his school work he entered the service of the D.M. Miller & Son, with whom he remained for two years. Later he was with the firm of M. & L. Westcott for one year, and thereafter for eight years with the Wilber National Bank. During a portion of the term of the Hon. D.F. Wilber as Congressman from this district Mr. Emmons was his secretary at Washington. Mr. Emmons’ illness doubtless dated from a fall which he received many years ago whereby his right knee was injured. Though always troublesome to a slight degree, its condition did not become troublesome until last July.
January 1916
70 YEARS AGO
Oneonta police yesterday made two “ransacking” announcements. A foray through the Fred H. Bresee home, 343 Main Street, apparently yielded nothing. The Bresees were away in New York City for a meeting of the National Retail Drygoods Association. Before the Bresees returned, the break-in was discovered by a maid who came and cleaned up the mess without giving the alarm. Another ransacking similar to that at the Bresee place was discovered at the residence of Mrs. Emily Kane, 81 Spruce Street. Mrs. Kane has been in Fox Hospital with a broken hip, leaving her home unoccupied. The front door is enclosed by a vestibule which shields it from the view of the street, the same as the Bresee home. In each place, the glass inner door was broken. The Kane pillaging was discovered yesterday morning by Forrest M. Slawson, 41 Maple Street, son-in-law of Mrs. Kane, who went to the house to check it and reported the intrusion to police. Sgt. Howard Canfield, and Patrolmen Ransom Henderson and John L. Corsi, responded. They found little was disturbed downstairs, but the upstairs was in disorder.
January 1956
40 YEARS AGO
Tuition at the State College at Oneonta, the only four-year public college in the area, is $1,350 per year for state residents and $3,200 per year for non-residents. The price of a room is $1,550 a year and board is $1,206 for residents and non-residents. At Hartwick College, a private institution, tuition is $7,975, room is $1,300 and board is $1,625 annually. Across the nation, four-year colleges and universities are getting more expensive. They now charge an average of $4,587 a year for tuition, room and board. That is seven percent more than a year ago. Tuition alone jumped by eight percent for students attending college in their home state and eleven percent for out-of-state students. The average public college bill of $4,587 is still roughly half of what it costs to spend a year at the typical four-year private college.
January 1986
20 YEARS AGO
High winds forced NASA to scrub the launch Tuesday of an unmanned spacecraft on a nine-year, 3-billion mile voyage to Pluto, the solar system’s last unexplored planet. NASA planned to try again today despite an unfavorable weather report calling for thunderstorms, clouds and gusty winds. Once launched, the craft is expected to reach Earth’s moon in about nine hours and arrive in 13 months at Jupiter, where it will use Jupiter’s gravity for a slingshot effect that will shave five years off the 3 billion mile trip to Pluto.
January 2006
