Emotions were starting to run high as the calendar was changed over to August 1917, regarding the local preparation of men heading off to Europe for World War I. Some were doing whatever they could to go fight, while many read in the newspapers how others did all they could not to fight. It was a month when Oneonta's Company G sent its first men for military mobilization camp and was given an enthusiastic farewell from our area residents.
Our area read in The Oneonta Star of Aug. 4 how groups of armed men, numbering almost 400,000, had gathered in south central Oklahoma to forcibly resist their selection as soldiers under the new draft law.
Meanwhile in our area there were very few who became draft deserters. Some men could become legally exempt from the draft, if they applied, in cases such as business owners or farmers.
"You need not make out any exemption papers for me," said Lewis Fink of Schenevus on Aug. 2. "I know that I am exempt under the rules, but my affairs can be taken care of and I want to go." Fink was given a physical examination, passed and was ready for the military to call.
Willis S. Warner of Gilbertsville had applied several times for enlistment, but had always been rejected. Warner was a musician and had only one good eye, but begged the board of examining physicians to find some place for him in which he could enlist.
The days were fast approaching for the departure to camp of the men of Oneonta-based Company G. Both planned a military field day to raise needed funds. It was set for Friday, Aug. 10, at the Oneonta Fairgrounds, where the Belmont Circle neighborhood is today.
About 2,500 showed up for a series of track, baseball and wrestling contests. Company D, based in New York City, swept Oneonta's Company G in all contests.
Just a week later, Company G departed for mobilization training camp in Spartanburg, S.C. The men gathered at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 18, at the armory on Academy Street, first for a drill and then a march to the D&H Railroad depot, today's Stella Luna Ristorante on Market Street.
"Early in the day friends from about the county commenced to arrive," the Star reported, "by motor car chiefly but on train and trolley as well, and hundreds if not thousands, including many from Cooperstown, were added to the city residents who turned out enmasse to give them a farewell that attested the appreciation and admiration of their fellow citizens."
The march from the armory and the scene at the railroad station took longer than anticipated.
The men stood side by side in line for nearly a half hour at the station, "and there were more goodbyes, it being impossible to restrain the crowd of friends who could not refrain from a handclasp and other more demonstrative tokens of affection.
"Here and there remained a tear stained or drawn face that watched with loving eyes until the train disappeared beyond the viaduct and the loved ones were gone."
Sidney residents then gathered en masse at the O&W Railroad station, to welcome and cheer not only the Company G men, but those from Company H of Binghamton. From Sidney, the full train departed for New York, making a stop in Walton to pick up Company F men, complete with its 3,000 well-wishers at the railroad depot.
Once in New York, Company G marched through the city streets to its temporary camp at Van Cortlandt Park. After participating in a grand parade of all state soldiers on Broadway on Saturday, Sept. 1, it was off to camp in Spartanburg.
On Monday: Local life and times in July 1987.
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
Men got ready for military camp in August 1917
- Mark Simonson
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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.
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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.
- 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.
- 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.
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Blackmail scheme failed to hurt Richfield Springs resort season in 1888
