Today there is a green space with a number of trees, benches and a walking path at the top of Maple and State streets. Twenty years ago, it was an eyesore, with cracked blacktop and three-foot weeds growing out of the cracks, along with vandalism. That all changed beginning in 1992, due in part to an idea for an Eagle Scout project.
That site was a once a playground across the street from the Oneonta Normal School, later to become the State University College at Oneonta, used at first by the students of the school, as well as the Percy I. Bugbee training school. When the Old Main building was torn down in 1977, where the Old Main Apartments are found today, the playground was little-used.
At some point, the state sold the playground lot to the city for $1. In 1988, there had been plans in the works to transform the paved-over area into what we call a green space today. There had been an anonymous donor ready to help make the transition, but that resident moved away before work began.
In late September 1991, Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed fraternity at the State University College at Oneonta cleaned up the playground as a service project. It was a temporary fix for the old playground, and although neighbors continued talking about improvements, the funding wasn't available to make the area a pleasant sight.
That was until Brian Arenella, then a 15-year-old Oneonta High School student, had an idea. Arenella had been reading about the plight of the improvement project in The Daily Star, so on his birthday, July 11, 1992, he came up with the idea to take on the project as an Eagle Scout. Arenella was with Troop 91, based at Greater Plains Elementary School.
"I just figured it would be a good experience," Arenella told The Daily Star on Nov. 14, 1992. He hoped to gain experience in planning, leadership and other skills such as landscape architecture, which he had sights on as a possible future career.
Not much could be done with winter setting in, so the planning began by Arenella and a number of other neighborhood residents.
The real work got under way Monday, April 26, 1993, with a ceremonial tree planting for Arbor Day. Mayor David Brenner also accepted a "Tree City U.S.A." flag for the city's tree-planting efforts going on at the time.
Then in the afternoon, Arenella and several members of Troop 91 started the real dirty work of the project.
"I didn't realize what a huge project this was," Arenella said that day. "At first I thought it would be a couple of weekends' work."
Arenella's part of the work was completed by mid-August, with the installation of the park benches and several shrubs. The neighborhood group that had worked with Arenella put the finishing touches on the grounds. The centerpiece of the park was a donated red oak. Much of the project was completed by monetary donations, local foundations and city funds.
Arenella eventually earned Eagle Scout status for the project. He had said back in April 1993 that he was glad he chose this project.
"I had thrown around some other project ideas in my head, but this one's the best because it's lasting. It'll be a permanent thing for the community. They won't have to look at that black asphalt anymore. Now they'll have someplace they can go relax and enjoy."
This weekend: America was told to wake up in August 1942.
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
Deteriorated Maple Street playground became green space in early 1990s
- 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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