Bound Volumes

February 5, 2026

160 YEARS AGO

There are in New York City today several hundred returned soldiers, who are homeless, houseless, and hungry. They have no shelter at night save the Police station-houses; no food, save the cold victuals obtained by begging. It cannot be wondered at, while an army of nearly a million of men many of them foreigners and strangers, has been disbanded by the Government, that a considerable number should find their way to this city. Many of them have been rendered destitute by sickness consequent upon exposure; many, unable almost to speak English, are victims of cruel imposition; many still have claims upon Government for arrears of pay, which, when settled, will make them comfortable, and many doubtless have been reduced by their improvidence and intemperance. All the agencies, which were so zealously efficient during the war, have ceased their operations, and there is no association to which these destitute men can apply for aid.

February 9, 1866

85 YEARS AGO

Cooperstown Selective Draft Board No. 403 will induct nine men, constituting the fourth quota from this area, on Friday, February 14, according to Clerk Newton E.D. Gilmore. Those who have been selected in this quota are: Lyle U. Reynolds, Cooperstown, James H. Kilts, Middlefield, R.D. 2, Willson O. Crounse, Cooperstown, R.D. 3, Narold E. Fowler, Cooperstown, Wm. Skubitz, Burlington Flats, Norman C. Woodbridge, Edmeston, James H. Adsit, Richfield Springs, and Andrew I. Schultz, Cooperstown, R.D. 3.

February 5, 1941

60 YEARS AGO

February 2, 1966

35 YEARS AGO

The Bound Volumes column for February 6, 1991 compiled by Tom Heitz includes the following entry for 25 years ago in 1966: “One of Cooperstown’s oldest buildings changed hands last week. John Gedart of Cherry Valley has purchased the four-apartment house on the northeast corner of Lake and Pioneer Streets. The building was erected in 1797 as the Temple for what is now Otsego Lodge, No. 1238 F. & A.M. It housed the Masonic Lodge from 1798 until it was sold in 1886 to Thomas Murphy. The land was deeded to the Lodge by Judge William Cooper.”

February 6, 1991

20 YEARS AGO

For several days this past week, Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit – a part of it anyway – became a movie set for a filming of “Heartache,” a motion picture production based on a screenplay by Joel Plue. Quinn Bernegger, CCS freshman, plays the lead and local actor Barbara Bayes is the mother in the film.

February 2, 2006