HOMETOWN HISTORY

By TOM HEITZ & SHARON STUART

From files of The Fenimore Art Museum Library

150 Years Ago

Home & Vicinity – Moody and Vosburgh are fitting uptheir store in a very neat style inside and out, and will makeit an attractive business place. Their corps of peddlers willexplore every neighborhood of Otsego and Delaware withthe goods wanted by the people, and bring in great lots ofbarter. Their horn blows for success.A.C. Moody and E.M. Vosburgh bought each one ofthose choice lots on Elm Street between those of JohnCope, Jr. and H.N. Rowe. They expect to build on thembefore long, but probably not the present season – price oflots $362.50 each.Alan Scramling will erect this year a large and eleganthouse on River Street. H.J. Brewer is the builder.Mr. W.K. Sherwood is opening a suite of photographrooms over the store of E.M. Myers, formerly occupied forthe same business by A.S. Simmons. The artistic skill of Mr.Sherwood is well known to many of our citizens, and webelieve that many more will avail themselves of his services.

March 1869

125 Years Ago

J.K. and H.K. Bowdish have taken the contract for abrick building on Main Street east of the residence of JamesStewart, and have already begun work for the foundation.The building, which will be 42 by 90 feet, brick veneeredand three stories high, will belong equally to Mr. Stewartand to George B. Shearer, the latter taking the eastern half.On the ground floor there will be two large stores, the upperfloors being divided into flats for residence purposes. Thenew block will be completed by July 1.The Oneonta greenhouses of Mrs. Scott and Mrs. Ackleyare always filled with the choicest flowers, but this year’sEaster display easily surpasses that of previous years. Liliesin profusion, fragrant roses, petunias, and the loveliest andsweetest flowers of every kind which care and skill cancoax to bloom in the wintertime, crowd both greenhouses.Visitors are always welcome at both Elm Street and GroveStreet greenhouses.

March 1894

100 Years Ago

Notice from the War Department has been receivedin Oneonta that Corporal Robert C. Westfall, son of Mr.and Mrs. J.W. Westfall of 5 Park Avenue, who had fallenwounded has been awarded the American DistinguishedService Cross for extraordinary heroism in action. Thecitation states: “Corporal Albert C. Westfall, Company G,107th Infantry – For extraordinary heroism in action nearSt. Souplet, France, October 13, 1918. Undaunted by terrificmachine-gun fire, Corporal Westfall went out into theopen and rescued a British officer who had fallen wounded.Later, after two runners had been killed in trying to locatemissing elements of the battalion, Corporal Westfall assumedthis task, and in performing it four times, crosseda sunken road, which was continuously raked by enemymachine gun fire.”

March 1919

80 Years Ago

Puritan Clothing, which is holding a formal opening ofits Oneonta store at 172 Main Street today and tomorrow,has appointed Ben Levinson of Gloversville to manage thelocal unit and two members of the staff have been selected– Mrs. Marion “Bush” Dillaway of 116 Main Street andMrs. Rose Starr of 32 Chestnut Street. Puritan Stores wereorganized in 1896 and pioneered in the extension of chargeaccounts for working people on clothing purchases. They havesince opened stores in New York State and New England.Fraternity Initiation — Knights of old received the accoladeof brotherhood on the shoulder, given with the flat of a sword blade. Fraternity neophytes receive it with the flatof a paddle received elsewhere. Before initiation rites at thefraternity house, members of Hartwick’s AKE fraternity puttheir pledges through their paces up and down Main Street,causing bewildered amusement on the part of passersby.Those receiving the initiation rites from AKE fraternitybrother Charles Boisvert of North Adams, Massachusettswere John Johnson of Beacon, Willah Mantz, Newburgh,Kenneta Dick, Sherill, Ellsworth Nelson, Cherry Valley andJoseph Casey, Glens Falls.

March 1939

20 Years Ago

She’s probably best known for her performance on thebasketball courts in Oneonta, but after Saturday night TiffanyHurley has something else to be famous for. Hurley,an eighteen-year-old freshman at Hartwick College, wascrowned Miss Otsego County Teen-Ager at a pageant heldin Hartwick’s Anderson Theatre. In her first beauty pageantHurley took top honors over 13 girls entered in the competition– but Hurley almost didn’t enter. “I kind of enteredat the last minute because I was playing basketball forHartwick and I wasn’t sure if our season would be over,”Hurley said. Besides winning two State Class B titles inhigh school, Hurley was named “Most Valuable Player atthe state tournament in 1998.

March 1999

10 Years Ago

One victory separates the Oneonta Yellowjackets’ girlsbasketball team from its third New York State Public HighSchool Class B title and the first over 11 seasons. TheSection Four champion Yellowjackets (25-0) dispatched aphysical but overmatched Section Six squad from Olean,55-21 on Friday morning in a state semi-final at HudsonValley Community College. OHS senior point guard MadieHarlem scored a game-high 20 points, including the firstseven to spark a 12-0 run in the opening minutes. Harlem’syounger sister Leslie and sophomore Sienna Wisse eachcontributed 10 points for OHS which is the top-rankedClass B girls’ team in the state. Oneonta’s last state titlecame during the 1997-1998 season when the Yellowjacketsdefeated Pittsford-Mendon 54-26 led by Krissy Zeh.

March 2009