It is practically a rite of autumn for high school students, or college students looking to transfer to a different college.
That is the college fair, as many institutions of higher learning set up tables and a representative from each place is on hand to speak with prospective students about what their institution has to offer.
Although it was held in the spring, Oneonta had a truly unique college fair of its own in April 1912. The site was at the D&H Railroad depot, today's Stella Luna Ristorante. What was called a "Farm Train" pulled into Oneonta on Wednesday, April 3.
This train was coordinated with the D&H by what was then called the State Agricultural College at Ithaca, part of Cornell University. It arrived at 1:30 p.m., consisting of several cars, used for display spaces. The baggage car, for example was transformed into a cow stable.
Passenger cars were exhibit spaces for the college's school of domestic science, or for insect specimens, charts and photograph displays, or useful information on feeds for poultry farmers.
A crowd at the station was waiting for the farm train, and according to The Oneonta Star was "speedily surrounded by a crowd interested in the exhibits, hearing the lectures and witnessing the demonstrations."
Once the daylight hours ended, an evening meeting with four lecturers from the Farm Train took place at 8 p.m. at the Municipal Building, today's 242 Main St.
Prior to the lectures, the Oneonta High School orchestra "rendered a short musical programme" while the audience was gathering. Mayor Frank D. Blodgett opened the evening thanking both the State Agricultural College and the D&H Railroad for making this train possible and for visiting the city.
According to The Star, the meeting "was attended by a crowd that overtaxed the seating capacity of the hall."
"A conspicuous feature of the evening addresses was the fact that the speakers did not arbitrarily give rules but rather threw out suggestions calculated to arouse thought and suggest the most approved methods. In fact the underlying the idea in all the talks and addresses of the day was assistance to self help and aids to working out problems by ones self."
In closing, it was a Professor Tuck who said he hoped the visit would result in developing closer relations between the people and the college. The train left Oneonta that evening and was set for similar displays in the next few days in Cooperstown, Worcester and Cherry Valley.
This wasn't the last Oneonta would hear from the State Agricultural College at Ithaca in 1912.
The Star reported on Monday, Dec. 30, that the "agricultural extension school arranged for the residents of this section opens this morning, at 9 o'clock at Municipal hall, and will continue daily until Friday afternoon."
Attendance was reported as "fair" from area farmers, as "all expressed attention and desire to absorb all knowledge brought up.
Discussions were held, thus affording the men an opportunity to have cleared any phase not quite clear to them." Topics such as "clean milk," incubation and tree growth were among the topics offered during the week.
Four professors from Ithaca came to Oneonta for this first farm school.
The State Agricultural College at Ithaca was staring to get some competition from new schools in our region, specializing in agriculture. Morrisville started a college in 1908, followed by Delhi in 1913 and Cobleskill in 1916. These three later became part of the State University of New York system in 1948.
On Monday: News from a busy month of March 1982.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or email him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/marksimonson.
Mark Simonson
Useful advice for farmers came to the area in 1912
- Mark Simonson
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Otsego County woman drove her way to success
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'Robber baron' helped provide landmark church in Roxbury
Jay Gould was called a lot of things in his day, and not much of it was flattering in the business world, such as "robber baron." In the 21st century some might call him a "one percenter."
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Bridge workers found toxic surprise in Neahwa Park in 1988
Plans were in place to build a permanent bridge over the millrace to enter Neahwa Park from Gas Avenue in Oneonta in June 1988. That roadway is known today as James Georgeson Avenue.
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Oneonta became a movie set in June 1918
In "real life" Oneonta, you'd never have found an automobile plant manager facing a crisis of having his young daughter kidnapped by two disgruntled employees. However, it would make for a good movie plot, and that's exactly what took place in Oneonta during June 1918.
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Local marbles players sought national championship in 1948
Louis Parisi and Eugene Platt of Oneonta had good aim when it came to the game of marbles. So good, in fact, their skills earned them an all-expenses-paid trip to Wildwood, N.J. in June 1948.
- Saturday, June 1, 2013
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Samuel Morse's telegraph plans perfected in Cherry Valley
In late May of 1988 Cherry Valley received some welcomed news that the village had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A most fitting designation, considering its history dates back to 1740 and all that happened here during the Revolutionary War, for starters.
- Saturday, May 25, 2013
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Blackmail scheme failed to hurt Richfield Springs resort season in 1888
The timing simply couldn't have been worse. Thousands of visitors were making plans for their summer vacations to Richfield Springs in 1888 when a bombshell of a newspaper article hit the newsstands of New York City. The article appeared in The New York Sun that stated typhoid fever and diphtheria had a "heavy presence" in the resort village, known and respected worldwide for its cleanliness and good health.
- Monday, May 20, 2013
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General Clinton Canoe Regatta got a new home in 1972
Ever since 1963, when Charles Hinkley and a group of Tri-Town businessmen came up with the idea for what we know today as the General Clinton Canoe Regatta, people lined the shores of the Susquehanna to watch the canoeists as they made their 70-mile trek from Cooperstown to Bainbridge.
- Saturday, May 18, 2013
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Sunday movies in Oneonta finally shown in 1934
You know an issue is divisive when a vote to resolve it is quite close. In Oneonta during the early 1930s there were probably plenty of discussions or arguments at the family dinner table or sermons from the pulpits on Sunday mornings, regarding whether or should be able to see a movie in Oneonta on Sunday.
- Monday, May 13, 2013
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Politics, fitness and landmarks dominated local news in May 1968
Area residents mulled over the idea of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller as their next President of the United States. New fitness opportunities emerged for all ages. One area landmark was saved while another was razed. It was only a part of our life and times in May 1968.
- Saturday, May 11, 2013
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Local people sought income in many ways in 1933
In the economy that was the Great Depression, there were times people would do what it took to try to earn some money.
- Monday, May 6, 2013
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Local windstorm in 1983 caused tense moments
I realize I've got the wrong month in mind when I say "May came in like a lion." However, that's what happened in 1983 as a number of twisters moved through our region, leaving plenty of damage behind in their trails. Add some melting snow and heavy rain, and scenes of cleanups were widespread 30 years ago this month.
- Saturday, May 4, 2013
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Disaster, expansions put people to work in May 1913
- Monday, April 29, 2013
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Job opportunities abounded in area 45 years ago
If you were looking for a job in April 1968 in our area, or perhaps looking to change your employment situation in the near future, opportunities were pointing in your favor.
- Saturday, April 27, 2013
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Oneonta greeted an aviation giant in 1928
An early aviation superstar came to Oneonta in 1928.
- Monday, April 22, 2013
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Area saw its own armed standoffs 30 years ago
This past Friday, we watched how the Boston area went into a lockdown during a tense search for the last suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. Had I still been living and working in that area, as I was in the early 1990s, I would have had a day off from work Friday, as police scoured the city of Waltham.
- Saturday, April 20, 2013
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U.S.S. Maine explosion, war drew much local sentiment
For most people in our area in early 1898, a growing conflict between two distant nations probably didn't get much attention, other than some glances at the newspaper. When a young Oneonta man was one of many injured or killed in an explosion of a battleship he was aboard, the local attention increased markedly to what was soon to become the Spanish-American War.
- Monday, April 15, 2013
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Oneonta river walking path came from a surveyor's daydream
Leon Kalmus of Oneonta spent a lot of time surveying land near the Susquehanna River in the early 1970s around the time Interstate 88 was being planned and built in this area. What he saw along the shores of the river, he called “pristine,� and soon had an idea for some kind of walking or hiking pathway along the shores of the river in the town of Oneonta.
- Saturday, April 13, 2013
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Decline of Prohibition led to return of beer in April 1933
“I think this would be a good time for a beer,� remarked President Franklin D. Roosevelt, when he signed the Cullen-Harrison Act on March 22, 1933. This marked the beginning of the end for Prohibition that year.
- Monday, April 8, 2013
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Dietz Street shifted from residential to commercial through the years
By taking a walk along Dietz Street today, heading north to Walnut Street, one can see a lot of businesses and the recently refurbished parking lot on the east side of the street. It would take some imagination to see this street lined with houses and a church, but prior to the late 1940s, that’s what was there.
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