HOMETOWN History

April 10, 2020

50 Years Ago

The changes taking place on the surface of our Earth with which the hand of man has nothing to do are very remarkable.

The Islands of Jersey and Guernsey are slowly sinking. People anxious to see them need not be in a hurry, but their places will, perhaps someday, be marked with lightships anchored to what is now fertile soil. Meanwhile, new islands rise in another hemisphere and Chile and Sweden are being slowly elevated to attain a height no man can guess.

To these changes man contributes nothing, but he has a hand in effecting changes which, it is speculated, may alter the features of an entire continent. We have read something lately of the desire of the British government to preserve the forests of India. Deprived of them India would soon become a desert like Sahara. But should Sahara become covered with forests, what would be the consequence to Europe?

April 1870

125 Years Ago

In an address before the New York East Conference at Stamford, Connecticut, Chancellor Day of Syracuse University heartily favored college athletics and particularly football, which, he said, trained young men to sound judgment, lightning activity, and made physiques with which to work out the mental ambitions.

The scare over serious injury Dr. Day said, was absurd, in view of the fact that out of 140,000 students in our universities, only four or five had been seriously injured at football. Bicycling, rowing, and other athletics might be abolished with as good reason as football.

The bill has become a law which requires that every public school building shall be provided with a United States flag and flagstaff.

April 1895

100 Years Ago

“House That Jack Built” Instructive – Trainman’s Hall was well-filled last Saturday night with the wives of D. & H. conductors, trainmen, engineers and firemen when the motion picture “The House That Jack Built,” was presented by J.E. Long, Superintendent of Safety on the D. & H. The picture was for the purpose of emphasizing “Safety First.” After witnessing it one is impressed with the many helpful hints along this line that the film conveys. The “House That Jack Built” should have a wide showing.

Have You Seen Breeze’s Smile? An excellent likeness of smiling Henry T. Breeze, the well-known worker, who
appears in the window of the City Drug Store, attracting considerable attention. The photo is captioned: “Current Events” Oneonta New York “Breeze Blows up Main Street.”

April 1920

60 Years Ago

Eight “Fine-O-Meters” have been installed in Oneonta. The “Fine-O-Meter” is a device for paying for parking violations. The new parking tickets, red in color, are actually envelopes. Now, when a motorist gets a ticket he can slip his fine money into the ticket-envelope and place it in the fine-o-meters. Collection of the fines will be made daily and turned over to the City Court. City Judge Ronald E. Rowley, who has championed this method of paying fines since he was inaugurated last January, said “the method is more convenient for the violator.” The new ticket urges violators to pay the fines within five days. Two “Fine-O-Meters” are located in the municipal parking lot. Others are installed in front of the Oneonta post office, the Woolworth’s store, Hoffman’s dry cleaners, the Army and Navy store, near Brown Park and Huntington Library.

April 1960

40 Years Ago

The sound is deafening. Huge diesel presses pop railroad wheels from their axles with a piercing metallic scream. “It takes about 9,000 tons of pressure to get one of those wheels off, D&H Shop Supervisor Edward Burns shouts over the din. For the railroad buff, a visit to the Delaware & Hudson Railroad’s repair shop in the Oneonta yard is like going back stage at a play. The illusion is gone. But, some of the awe remains. The Oneonta yards, the major railroad car shops, for the entire line, repair about 1,200 cars annually. Last month, the railroad completed the refurbishing of 80 freight cars under a $240,000 New York State grant. The grant meant that some 16 otherwise slated for layoffs kept their jobs.

April 1980

20 Years Ago

In his introduction, the moderator described Christian Evangelist Josh McDowell as “a white Bill Cosby,” and a “hundred percent daddy.” The 60-year-old McDowell opened his speech by talking about his family. He’s
been married 29 years and is a father of four, including a 19-year-old blonde-haired daughter who is a student at Auburn University in Alabama. He recalled warning one of her dates against considering sex or anything that might be construed as such. “I said, ‘Don’t you ever think of touching my daughter or I will become your worst nightmare,’” the evangelist told an audience estimated at 3,200 assembled Monday night at the Alumni Field House at the State University College at Oneonta. Then, using two students from the audience, McDowell got to the heart of his message – the importance of truth, love, honesty, righteousness, and purity. “These morals,” he said, “must be adhered to absolutely. The very personal character and nature of God is truth. Lying is wrong because God is truth,” he said. About 80 local churches combined to sponsor McDowell’s appearance. Perhaps the size of the crowd served as the strongest testament to the power of McDowell’s message, said Treadwell resident Julie Shea, one of the organizers. “McDowell helps young people and adults understand there is an absolute truth and it’s not moral relativism anymore,” Shea said.

April 2000

10 Years Ago

Even while growing up on a farm just over the Delaware County line, Meg Hungerford was always “playing bank.” “I always knew what I wanted to do,” she said Monday, April 5, the day before Common Council was expected to appoint her permanently to the job of city chamberlain. “I get excited to go through numbers and have them come out right in the end,” said Hungerford. After a retirement, two new hires and two resignations, City Hall must be equally excited about having its top financial position filled with a candidate who has been proving what she can do since her provisional appointment last September.

April 2010