Bound Volumes, Hometown History

July 16, 2026

90 YEARS AGO

Dr. Francis E. Townsend, founder of the Townsend Old Age Pension plan, assailed the Roosevelt administration’s “crazy orgy of spending” and told the second annual Townsend Plan convention that his movement has the support of other groups who seek a new era of “social justice.” Townsend’s Plan has the backing of the National Union for Social Justice, the Share-The-Wealth-Movement, and other groups of unhappy dissatisfied voters opposed to the New Deal’s “crazy orgy of spending.” He approved the principle of a constitutional amendment to make the Townsend Plan effective. Townsend convention headquarters announced tonight that the Rev. Charles E. Coughlin, Detroit priest, would address the convention delegates at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

July 1936

70 YEARS AGO

July 1956

50 YEARS AGO

It is part of each generation’s duty to preserve some of its past for the future,” Oneonta Mayor James Lettis said. Last Saturday, Mayor Lettis and the Bicentennial Commission did just that at ceremonies conducted on the grounds surrounding the Swart-Wilcox House, the oldest surviving structure in the City of Oneonta. Mayor Lettis declared the structure and the site “a living memorial—a living example of Oneonta’s heritage. The Rev. Margie Garhart taped the benediction for the ceremonies from her room in Fox Hospital where she has been confined for the last month. “Turn us away from too much absorption with past mistakes,” she said as an audience of more than 500 bowed their heads. “Water the tree that is really America so it may bloom and its blossoms grow pleasing to your sight.” Rev. Garhart called on Oneontans to direct their efforts toward these ends “so that we may become one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

July 1976

20 YEARS AGO

As of Thursday night, the American Red Cross shelter at Little Hall at the State University College at Oneonta was scheduled to close today. But shelter manager Keith Mortlock said that could change as one family of six still has not found housing. “As long as they are actively looking, we will consider staying open,” Mortlock said. Otsego County remains under a declared “State of Emergency” until 1:45 p.m. this coming Monday. State Office of the Aging has alerted Otsego County senior citizens to be on the alert for scam artists posing as Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives.

July 2006