HOMETOWN History
July 26, 2019
150 Years Ago
The Otsego County Medical Society made itself ridiculous over the application of Mrs. E.D. Pope, M.D., and Mrs. M.A. Bassett, M.D. for membership in that honorable body. The ladies had been informed that a statute law required all legalized, practicing physicians to apply for admission to a County Medical Society, or be denounced as quacks. The matter after an hour’s disgraceful fussing was put over to the next meeting, and the “Regulars” went home satisfied. Time and the good roundabout common sense of the people will regulate these “regulars” by and by. Talent, tact, knowledge and experience will be appreciated, and women will practice medicine and surgery.
July 1869
125 Years Ago
From the Morris Chronicle: “Eugene V. Debs of ‘strike notoriety’ formerly lived in Oneonta, and organized the American Railway Employees’ Union two years ago.”
The above statement is not quite correct. Mr. Debs was never a resident of Oneonta. He was, however, in correspondence with Union man Osterhoudt at the time the Order or Railway Brakemen was organized and gave many valuable suggestions to that gentleman. In his honor the Oneonta Lodge of the Order was named the E.V. Debs Lodge, No. 1, a name which was dropped and that of D. Hopkins substituted when a few years ago the Brakemen’s Brotherhood was merged in the Order of Railway Trainmen.
Inez Mecusker, who appeared in Oneonta two years ago in the comic Operetta of “Galatea” and who last winter accompanied Sousa’s great band on its tour to the Pacific coast, will appear in Oneonta in a new operatic comedy “The Prima Donna.” All who have ever heard Miss
Mecusker will be anxious to hear her again.
July 1894
100 Years Ago
Architect M.C. Brewster of Brooklyn was in the city yesterday and delivered the plans for the enlargement and improvement of the Oneonta Theatre to resident Manager E.R. Moore who turned them over to McFee and Borst, who are to do the work. According to the plans the seating capacity of the lower floor will be nearly doubled with new seating throughout the floor. The boxes will be moved back and the entire lower floor placed on the same decline with no steps up into any of the rows of seats. There will be four new exits constructed on the driveway side, two at the rear and two on the north side into the vacant lot. The stage is to be enlarged and be made 38 feet deep and its length also enlarged. All of the present aerial fly work will be done away with and the fly material being held by the new and modern pin rail method which is operated entirely from the floor. The roof over the stage will be equipped with a modern ventilator to improve the air within the building. The dressing rooms will be located in the basement under the new stage.
July 1919
80 Years Ago
Jules Bledsoe, world famous Negro baritone, whose summer home at Jessie’s Manna Farms near the village of Roxbury, will be the guest artist at the annual mid-summer concert of the Utsayantha Choral Club at the Stamford high school auditorium Friday evening. Mr. Bledsoe is one of the most interesting personalities who have ever made Roxbury their home. His musical career began at the age of five in Waco, Texas when he sang at a Sunday school concert. The song was “Stay in Your Own Back Yard” he recalls. “But, I didn’t do it,” he says. “Instead, I have traveled all over the world. The world is my back yard now.” About ten years ago Mr. Bledsoe came to Roxbury “for a rest” as the climate of the Catskills appealed to him, and bought the farm which he named after his mother who died in 1920.
July 1939
40 Years Ago
There is a group of people in town who may be able to help you if you have a legal problem and do not have an attorney. They are not lawyers but they may be able to give you some valuable information. They’re the Oneonta Legal Rights Guild located in the Project 85 building on Chestnut Street. “We’re a referral and mediation service,” Gwen Pasco, the Guild’s Coordinator said. “People come here because they don’t know what to do or where to turn when they have a legal problem,” she said. Basically what the guild does is give advice and information to people faced with legal problems, she added. “That’s really all we can do. Nobody here wants to practice law without a license,” she said. “But, that’s a lot to people who have never had to worry about the law before.”
July 1979
10 Years Ago
A sixteen-year-old Oneonta boy was arrested Wednesday on felony drug charges after a trooper spotted him pulling into a gas station in a Jeep with no license plates. When the trooper approached the 1995 Grand Cherokee and interviewed him at the State Route 7 Quickway store in the Town of Oneonta, he smelled a marijuana odor. Nearly a pound of marijuana was found inside a bag after the jeep was searched.
The youth was charged with third-degree criminal possession of marijuana. He also faces charges of driving
while ability impaired by drugs. He was ticketed for operating an unregistered and uninspected motor vehicle and driving while ability impaired. The youth was arraigned in Milford Town Court and released on $300 bail. Troopers are investigating how the vehicle was obtained and more charges are expected.
July 2009