BOUND VOLUMES • April 11, 2019

200 YEARS AGO

From official documents transmitted to Congress during the last session, it appears that the total amount of gold, silver and copper coinage of the mint of the United States, from the date of the establishment up to the end of the year 1807, was $14,183,768.36; and that the amount of gold coins made during the year 1818, was $242,940; of silver, $1,070,427.50; of copper, $52,,320, making a total amount of $1,365,687.50 – which added to the aggregate of coinage in former years, makes the amount coined up to the first day of the present year $15, 549, 456.06. It further appears, that the net amount chargeable to the coinage of gold, silver and copper, from the commencement of the institution to December 31, 1818, including the cost of lots, buildings and machinery, was $514,046.

April 12, 1819

175 YEARS AGO

The meeting of the Otsego Democratic Association on the evening of Tuesday last, in commemoration of the birthday of the illustrious Jefferson was well-attended and went off with a great spirit. As the time for the meeting of the Democratic National Convention nears, the attention of the electors is more particularly directed to political considerations, and the democratic principle warms into active exercise. Such an influence was manifest on this occasion, when the speeches of Messrs. Starkweather and Bowne were applauded to the echo. The right spirit is awakened here – let it be diffused throughout the county by organization for effective political purposes connected with the spread of information. The Whigs have been busy for months with their Junius Tracts, Tribunes, &c., in answer to which let Truth and Facts be laid before the people with the same industry. That’s all honest men want, for they repudiate the federal sentiment that “the people are their own worst enemies.”

April 8, 1844

150 YEARS AGO

People are now talking of a park. Some gathering place, pleasing and cheery would be very desirable. But, for pity’s sake, do not let us call it a park! Let it be a “Green” or a “Common,” as more appropriate to our modest extent as a town. Nothing should be called a park under 50 acres. As well might we call Otsego Lake an Ocean! But, a “Green,” or a “Common,” or a “Playstow,” or “Playground,” of some acres, well planted with trees, flowering shrubs, with beaches, arbors and neat walks would be very pleasant.

April 9, 1869

125 YEARS AGO

Local – Edward S. Clark and Walter C. Flanders sailed for Europe on Saturday last. They are to be gone until early next autumn.
Andrew J. Seymour, said to be the world’s greatest mind-reader, human thought magnet, and spirit medium, is to appear at Bowne Opera House next Wednesday evening.

April 12, 1894

100 YEARS AGO

A New Feature in The Freeman’s Journal – “In the Realm of Womankind” – Here’s a little department just in its infancy, to be sure, that should grip every woman reader of The Freeman’s Journal – snappy little articles that range from the latest quirks in needle art to the great things the women of the United States are doing. Later on there’ll be a weekly fashion letter, and perhaps a pattern design. And for next week there’ll be a brand new newspaper in Cooperstown. It will be Cooperstown’s guests – the patients at the U.S. Aviation Hospital. A certain portion of page two of the Journal will be roped off for their little news hangar. Lieutenant E.C. Miller, an old newspaperman from Nashville, Tennessee will be editor.

April 9, 1919

50 YEARS AGO

The Law Day Committee of the Otsego County Bar Association announces that Mr. Stephen C. Clark, Jr., of Cooperstown has been selected for the annual Liberty Bell Citizenship Award for outstanding community service. The award will be presented to Mr. Clark by Supreme Court Justice Joseph P. Molinari at a dinner at the Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown on May 1. During a major part of each year, Mr. Clark, like his father before him, is seen in Cooperstown and the surrounding countryside, analyzing and helping to guide the many activities of the organizations with which he is connected.

April 9, 1969

25 YEARS AGO

Who says you can’t go home again? Don’t tell that to Christine McBrearty-Hulse who graduated from Cooperstown High School in 1984, went away to college, and then returned to work as a counselor at Cooperstown Elementary School. Not only has she succeeded at her job and initiated many new programs, but she was also selected as the New York State Elementary School Counselor of the Year by the New York State School Counselor Association. In her five-year tenure at Cooperstown, McBrearty-Hulse has started up and initiated many programs in the elementary school. Among these are LINKS (Linking Interested Notable and Kind Students), Pickle Pals, Banana Splits and the Lunch Bunch, New Student Groups, CATS (a chemical awareness team), Caring and Sharing Week, and the
Primary Mental Health Project.

April 12, 1994

10 YEARS AGO

Ted Spencer, who came to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum from a corporate communications position in Philadelphia 29 years ago, has announced his retirement as Curator at the museum. Spencer will be succeeded by Erik Strohl, a CGP alumnus, who will take the title Senior Director of Exhibitions. During his tenure at the Hall, Spencer applied his corporate experience in developing the Grandstand Theater. Spencer is also noted for his work to document the contributions of “Women in Baseball.” Spencer plans to volunteer time in retirement to sorting through 60 years of letters and documents that have never been organized.

April 10, 2009