By: DarlaY
03/24/2023 12:04 pm
The Partial Observer by William Waller
The Village of Cooperstown has changed and is still changing. Fifty years ago, there was one baseball souvenir store and house prices were reasonable. Houses were homes to families; kids walked to school and played in the parks.
Things change and that change brought more and more visitors, capitalizing on the nearby baseball camps, the rise of tourism in the entire region, and the focus on domestic family travel. Families came to Cooperstown to watch their sons, grandsons or nephews play in week-long baseball tournaments near the “Home of Baseball.”
With this influx came a change to regional housing. Short-term rentals for the time that these camps were open became more and more popular. An owner could rent for the summer and make as much, if not more, than a year-long rental. Summer rentals meant less strain on the homes during with winter, less maintenance and the owners could travel away during the off seasons.
By: DarlaY
03/09/2023 5:05 pm
COOPERSTOWN—Miss Puggles enjoys a walk along Willow Brook. Miss Puggles is 12 years old. She is a retired therapy dog owned by Brian and Kathy Clancy. Adopted from the Susquehanna SPCA when she was about 4 months old, Miss Puggles is reportedly a very happy dog who loves everyone she meets, treats, and her mom and dad. We invite you to send pictures of your furry, feathered or finned friends to darlay@allotsego.com. Every week, we’ll select at least one photograph to be highlighted in the newspapers. Photo by Richard Clancy
By: Staff
07/29/2021 1:00 pm
The Old Badger
Originally published in The Freeman’s Journal on Aug. 3, 1977.
Willow Brook runs into Otsego Lake near the foot of Pioneer Street. Its course has been altered to run down the far side of a strip of land there, which is being readied for whatever is going to be built – probably houses. The brook ends at the Lake, but … Where does it begin?
I’ll trace it to its source by going upstream, like an eel. Once it leaves the Lake, the first obstacle is what we call Lake Street – at first it was First Street. This used to be a busy section of town: a tannery, a smithy and a butcher shop on the Lake side of the road with Cory’s coffin factory and Weeks Livery on the other. The brook runs under the road and along the edge of the skating rink behind the Cooper Inn (which Henry Phinney built in 1816 as a residence, calling it “Willowbrook”), under a delicate stone-arched foot bridge and then through a base of a fine stone wall and into a tunnel where it moves diagonally under Main Street toward the space between the banks.
In observer in 1909 wrote that “in front of Slote’s is dug very deep, as they are turning the course of Willow Brook close to the First National Bank, so as to have room to put up the new building of the (Otsego) Farmer (It actually became Crist Publishing Company and later the Second National Bank, then the National Commercial (and now Key Bank). The walls of the stream area made of concrete, and the top also, but what’s going to keep the top from falling in, no one knows.”
By: Staff
10/05/2018 5:00 pm
HAPPENIN’ OTSEGO for SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6
CONCERT – 7:30 p.m. Start performance season with award winning Violinist William Hagen performing Violin Concerto by Felix Mendelssohn with Catskill Symphony Orchestra. Ballroom, Hunt College Union, SUNY Oneonta. 607-436-2670 or visit catskillsymphony.net/news-events/upcoming-events.html
TRACTOR FEST – 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Explore world of tractors, from through exhibits, demonstrations, activities for young and old, more. The Farmers’ Museum, Cooperstown. 607-547-1450 or visit www.farmersmuseum.org/Tractor-Fest
