We're once again experiencing "pain at the pump" as we fill our gas tanks. If we're short on cash, we can always get out the charge card and pay at the pump. This form of technology is fairly recent in development, but believe it or not, you could do the same 100 years ago in Sharon Springs, although it wasn't with the plastic card. This was one of a few interesting bits of news in our region during the winter months of 1912.
The Oneonta Star of Tuesday, Jan. 16, 1912, reported that, "Much interest was recently aroused among motorists at Sharon Springs by the public demonstration at the Engle garage in that village of an automatic gasoline vending machine invented by Earl D. Engle of Sharon Center. The machine is so constructed that by dropping a silver coin into a slot and operating a couple of levers the proper amount of gasoline for the coin is accurately measured and delivered into the automobile tank by a flexible hose. An electric signal bell is so arranged that it gives notice when the proper amount has been measured and at the same time shuts off the flow. It is the opinion of those who have seen the machine in operation that is a success and well adapted to present conditions."
A Web search states that the first gasoline pump dates back to 1885, but it wasn't for automobiles, as they hadn't yet been invented. Once the auto came to be, a motorist purchased fuel from a variety of sources, such as pharmacies, until gasoline filling stations began to open around 1905. A search on the U.S. Patent Office database found no information about Engle's invention.
***
G. Theodore Yager appeared before Oneonta's Board of Public Works on Monday, Feb. 19, requesting that Linden Avenue, between Elm Street and Ford Avenue, be accepted as a city street, and a sewer constructed in that area. The board requested that Yager present a petition of property owners in that area for acceptance. No doubt Mr. Yager did. A somewhat shorter Linden Avenue existed at the time, and an Oneonta city directory in 1912 listed it having only four houses. A 1914 directory listed 11 houses, so it appears that section of the city was in a rapid growth pace.
***
The Oneonta Star reported that a Law and Order Union was formed in Otsego County on Monday, Feb. 12, at a meeting held at the Oneonta YMCA, then found on the former Broad Street. Peter VanWoert of Oneonta was elected as the first president of this Union, later called Alliance. Local organizations were also reported to be formed in Worcester, Unadilla and Laurens. Other cities and towns across upstate New York also formed these alliances. Press clippings found online, as well as that of the Oneonta Star, were quite vague about what these alliances did. The Leader-Herald of Gloversville of Feb. 9, 1912, in a letter to the editor, made it clear.
"The purpose of our organization is the enforcement of the excise law, suppression of the white slave traffic, opium joints, gambling machines, lotteries, obscene literature and pictures, closing houses of ill fame, dens of vice and gambling places," wrote George H. West.
***
Most everyone can recall the "Life Enjoyed" slogan and logo adoption for Oneonta in recent years, both in negative and positive reactions. There was also a call for a slogan to identify our young city in an editorial in The Oneonta Star in the early months of 1912.
Under the name of "G. Haw," a letter was shared with Star readers on Tuesday, Feb. 13. Haw claimed to be a former resident, but had a suggestion.
"My idea would be to have a design of a man beating a drum with this inscription on the head of the drum, 'Beat it for Oneonta, N.Y.' This would certainly attract attention to the city and exhort others to 'get there.' If this is not considered adaptable perhaps the simple slogan, 'Come Join our Circle, Oneonta, N.Y.' would be suitable."
Two other slogans were suggested, in a letter sent to the manager of the Oneonta Hotel, Mr. C.E. Young, who then shared the correspondence with the Star. The writer didn't wish to be identified, as "I do not like publicity," he wrote in his letter.
"The slogans enclosed are:
'In Oneonta, Life is good, better, best.'
'Oneonta is the place for you and for me; If you don't believe me, come and see.'"
On Monday: The new St. Mary's Church of Oneonta is dedicated.
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
News in 1912: Pay at the gas pump, street extension, slogan ideas
- Mark Simonson
-
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Disaster, expansions put people to work in May 1913
- Monday, April 29, 2013
-
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
-
Oneonta greeted an aviation giant in 1928
An early aviation superstar came to Oneonta in 1928.
- Monday, April 22, 2013
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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.
- Saturday, April 6, 2013
-
Oneontans voted for a 'dry' city in 1918
- Monday, April 1, 2013
-
Future city historian kept family busy for Easter and April 1958
- Saturday, March 30, 2013
-
Colliscroft became new Oneonta landmark in 1902
If the Oneonta building trade sector of the economy could have awarded a plaque to a most valuable individual customer of 1902, it would have nearly been a shoo-in. That was Edward H. Pardee, who was listed in the Oneonta Directory around that time as a farmer, on Southside.
- Wednesday, March 27, 2013
-
Historic Cooperstown cottage got a new address in 1988
To unknowing tourists seeking information from the tourism information center at 31 Chestnut St. in Cooperstown, they would probably believe that the mid-19th century cottage had always been on that site. It blends in well with some of the grand old houses along that street, and the same tourists might think it has an interesting history behind it.
- Saturday, March 23, 2013
-
Free mail delivery began in Oneonta 125 years ago
- Monday, March 18, 2013
-
Oneonta enacted first building code 60 years ago
There will be no parade, fireworks display or commemorative coins minted for the occasion.
- Saturday, March 16, 2013
-
Area isolated during historic March 1888 snowstorm
Earlier in the week, we recalled the "Blizzard of 1993," which was one containing historic snowfall that fell on our region on Saturday, March 13. It was the largest recorded in a single local snowfall in the 20th century, and ever since another storm dating back 105 years. The latter snowfall was worse than the 1993 storm, falling overnight into Tuesday, March 13, 1888. It was commonly referred to as the "Blizzard of 1888."
- Monday, March 11, 2013
-
Blizzard of 1993 was a local memory maker
-
