One doesn't really think of Oneonta as a business convention destination in the 21st century, but given the many nice surprises we keep hearing about from Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center, one never knows what may be brought to this city in the future.
Oneonta was indeed a convention center in June 1922. First it was the electricians and then the undertakers in back-to-back weeks.
According to The Oneonta Star of Monday, June 12, "With many delegates and their wives already in the city and scores of others arriving this morning, a record attendance is expected at the sessions of the fifth annual convention of the New York State Association of Electrical Contractors and Dealers which opens in this city today. Elaborate plans have been made by the local committee for the event and many features of interest planned for the instruction and entertainment of the several hundred men and women who will come to Oneonta from all parts of the state.
"This morning the ladies of the party will be taken on an auto trip about the city and will be entertained at luncheon at the Country club. The convention session will start at Municipal hall (today's 242 Main St.) at 1:30 p.m. with the address of welcome by Mayor C.C. Miller, a member of the executive committee of the state association."
There were business meetings during the afternoon, but by 4 p.m. they adjourned to take in a baseball game at Neahwa Park field, followed by a dinner and dance at the Elks lodge, found where 99 Main St. is today.
The Tuesday morning business session was supposed to be pretty high-tech for its time. I can't tell you the number of times I've been present for a modern-day PowerPoint presentation at a meeting when something goes wrong. For the Association of Electrical Contractors and Dealers, they were set to be addressed by a radio broadcast from New Jersey. However, as the Star reported, "Old Man Static and other imps of the air were too much in evidence," and the company that installed the radio saved the day by reading a copy of the address the audience was supposed to hear, from far away.
After other business meetings, the convention wrapped up at noon, and the members then took an automobile trip to Three Mile Point on Otsego Lake for a clambake and afternoon of leisure.
Only days after the electricians left, Oneonta was ready by Tuesday, June 20, for the 43rd annual convention of the New York State Undertakers' Association. More than 200 undertakers and their wives attended. The Oneonta Hotel served as the convention headquarters, with business sessions held at what was then the New York State Armory. Some were open to the public.
"Seventeen exhibits of caskets, vaults and undertakers' supplies will be displayed at the State Armory … by as many companies who have reserved exhibit space from the Chamber of Commerce committee. Included in the exhibit will be the most expensive casket ever displayed in the United States. The citizens of Oneonta are invited to see these exhibits during the convention sessions."
I.J. Bookhout was the chairman of the committee on arrangements and was in charge of the programs. Herbert A. Lewis and Samuel R. Dibble was in charge of entertainment, and Ralph S. Wyckoff took care of decorations.
The nonbusiness agenda was quite similar to the electrician's convention, such as the baseball game, banquet at the Elks' lodge and an open house at the Country Club. During the banquet, attendees were shown a motion picture, "Making California Redwood Caskets." A dance at the Armory followed. An afternoon automobile trip to Cooperstown was also part of the three-day event.
On Monday: A longtime major Norwich employer pulled up stakes in 1992.
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
Oneonta became convention central for two weeks in June 1922
- Mark Simonson
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
- Saturday, April 6, 2013
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Oneontans voted for a 'dry' city in 1918
- Monday, April 1, 2013
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Future city historian kept family busy for Easter and April 1958
- Saturday, March 30, 2013
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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
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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
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Free mail delivery began in Oneonta 125 years ago
- Monday, March 18, 2013
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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
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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."
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