Pioneer Park in Cooperstown is a busy place these days, as youngsters from the area flock downtown to visit Santa Claus or hear stories by Mrs. Claus. The park is all decked out for the holidays. The rest of the year it is busy with inquiring tourists at the information kiosk, or those just taking a break from the work day.
Fifty years ago, that area was quite a different place than what we know now. At that time it was a not-so-attractive vacant lot, no thanks to a fire that had struck a month earlier.
"Flames, which started on the ground floor, early this morning burst through the roof of the Freeman's Journal building in Cooperstown and threatened adjacent business places," reported The Oneonta Star on Saturday, Nov. 11, 1961. The building was at 76 Main St., at the northwest corner of Main and Pioneer streets. Another building, considered a total loss, was on Pioneer Street, next to the present Tunnicliff Inn.
"Hundreds of spectators thronged the streets, with many volunteers, including youngsters, aiding in carrying out what equipment and records could be saved," the Star reported. "Sub-freezing temperatures resulted in icy streets, hampering the work of the three fire companies fighting the blaze in spite of coats of ice sheathing the firemen, the buildings, fire trucks and hoses."
The fire was stubborn, as firefighters from Cooperstown and area volunteer fire departments were on the scene in shifts for 48 hours.
The Freeman's Journal was 153 years old in 1961, and Rowan D. Spraker, chairman of the board of directors of the Freeman's Journal Corp. said Sunday, Nov. 12: "We will not miss an edition. We never have."
The Fort Plain Standard printed the coming week's edition, although The Oneonta Star had offered to help.
The Freeman's Journal Corp. had been at 76 Main St., also known as the Taylor Block, since 1935. The newspaper had moved to this site from the Hotel Fenimore. The Taylor Block dated back to the mid-1860s, built after a pair of disastrous fires struck the downtown Cooperstown area in 1862, destroying a total of 57 buildings.
The Freeman's Journal soon found a new home, after the Cooperstown Village Board approved rezoning of a property at 62 Pioneer St. for new offices and a printing plant. It had been a residence owned by the Bowers family. The site is now home to a branch of NBT Bank. The printing office was built in the rear of the property.
The remains of the buildings destroyed by the fire on Main Street were razed, creating a vacant lot for the time being. It was reported in the Wednesday, Sept. 12, 1962, Oneonta Star that, "A park with appropriate landscaping, walks and resting benches will be created" on the site. The Scriven Foundation, a domestic membership corporation partially based in Cooperstown for the purpose of creating public parks in and around the village, purchased the properties and gave them to the village of Cooperstown. The village was then responsible to create and maintain the park.
By 1964, work had begun on the park's creation, to be called Pioneer Park. Preliminary plans had been published in the Star on May 13. The park was developed under the direction of the Lake and Valley Garden Club.
This weekend: A golf celebrity, at the level of today's Tiger Woods, visited Oneonta in 1927 in a special motorcade to promote tourism.
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 e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/marksimonson.
Mark Simonson
Fire leaves present-day Pioneer Park in Cooperstown vacant lot in 1961
- Mark Simonson
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A Main Street facelift for Oneonta in the 1920s
It has been just a little over 30 years, 1980 in fact, that Main Street in Oneonta went through a major transformation in appearance. Even now I'll hear mixed comments about the changes, which included antique style lamps, trees, planters and brick trim. Some liked the changes while others liked the wider street with the even-sized sidewalks.
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Perfect attendance by Saturday’s Bread for 20 years in Oneonta
Oneonta became a settlement and has been a place to do one's "trading," whether it was the 18th century, or 2012, because of the five valleys that converge here. Only the places of doing the "trading" have changed a bit over the last 100 years, and Oneonta remains a place that attracts visitors and has always been a decent place to live and work.
100 Years Ago -
Recalling the Hindenburg, John D. Rockefeller in May 1937
A young person of 75 years ago may still recall where they were or what they were doing in the month of May, as two big news events took place. They were the Hindenburg disaster and the passing of billionaire John D. Rockefeller. There were some local connections with both news items.
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Oneonta residents had diversions aplenty in the spring of 1952
It is always good to keep up with current events. However, it is starting to become an unwritten requirement to seek some diversions from staying up to date on news, as for some it can become overwhelming or depressing.
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Damaschke essential to ensuring Oneonta baseball in 1927
Oftentimes, in the distant past, the place you worked for became a social nucleus in the village or town. Employees at large companies such as Endicott-Johnson Shoe Co. or IBM in the Binghamton area took part in activities after work such as sports, music and theater, both in and out of town, to represent their company.
- Monday, May 7, 2012
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Area tunes to WONT in November 1972
As a youngster growing up in the area and having a fascination with radio broadcasting, I used to consider it a part-time hobby to put the earphone into my transistor radio and go exploring what was out there to listen to, up and down the dial. It was indeed a long-distance journey at night when listening to AM radio, as you could hear live and locally staffed stations from Chicago, Windsor/Detroit, Atlanta and New Orleans, to name a few cities. I never spent a lot of time listening to FM radio 40 years ago, simply because there wasn't the same "excitement" of the long-distance journey. Little did I realize, things were changing locally on that "other" band of radio frequencies that included decimal points.
- Saturday, May 5, 2012
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Congressman Fairchild added downtown growth in 1912
Another case of wandering imagination struck this historian recently, while learning about the building at 244-248 Main St. in Oneonta, storefronts for the Autumn Café and Razzle Dazzle. This structure is known as the Fairchild block, and it turns 100 this year.
- Monday, April 30, 2012
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From no TV to saving eagles, it was life in April 1982
No television. No place to pay the phone bill. No more Spaulding's baked goods. Possibly no more Center Street School. While these were some of the noes in the news of our area in April 1982, there were some yeses as well, including a new structure at Corning Inc. of Oneonta and help to save bald eagles.
- Saturday, April 28, 2012
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A daily newspaper for Oneonta was an achievement in 1887
Depending on the electronic device you have these days, accessing news can be made nearly as soon as something happens. Oneontans of 125 years ago got their news on a weekly basis, courtesy of The Oneonta Herald.
- Monday, April 23, 2012
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Area saw Hollywood stars up close in April 1952
It has been a mighty long time since Greer Garson, Victor Jory, Don Taylor and Audrey Totter drew big numbers of people at the box office of our local movie theaters. Make it 60 years, in fact. Now generations removed from popularity, some are still able to remember the names of these four movie stars who paid a visit to our area in late April 1952.
- Saturday, April 21, 2012
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Spring tree plantings were numerous in 1927
None of my calendars at home or at my other workplaces show that April 27 of this year is Arbor Day.
- Monday, April 16, 2012
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Nuclear weapon debates were plentiful in April 1982
Plan for a nuclear war -- or seek a nuclear weapons freeze. That was a frequent debate going on in our region during the month of April 1982.
- Saturday, April 14, 2012
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A Titanic survivor stopped in Oneonta days after disaster
Edward Bean was one amongst the lucky one-third of the passengers aboard the Titanic who lived to tell about the disaster of the ill-fated ship that sank after hitting an iceberg on April 15, 1912. Only about a week after the disaster, Bean was in Oneonta, on his way home to Cincinnati.
- Monday, April 9, 2012
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Simonson: April 1952 brought educational developments in Oneonta
There were some interesting new developments in education in Oneonta during the month of April 1952. These took place in the public and private schools, as well as on the Hartwick College campus.
- Saturday, April 7, 2012
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Oneonta's first automobile exhibition took place in April 1917
An automobile show as large as those in Albany or Utica. That was the heady claim of the organizers of Oneonta's first such show, set for early April 1917.
- Monday, April 2, 2012
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Thruway bridge collapsed 25 years ago into Schoharie Creek
I had just started my evening music shift at a Binghamton radio station on Sunday evening, April 5, 1987, with a network newscast at the top of the hour.
- Saturday, March 31, 2012
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Oneonta responded to declaration of World War I
"President Asks For War."
- Monday, March 26, 2012
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Devastating fire, loss in sports status, education made major area news in March 1982
A fire destroyed a foundry in Morris, Hartwick College basketball dropped a division level, two schools considered a merger, and a local Odyssey of the Mind was born. These news items and more made for a busy month in March 1982.
- Saturday, March 24, 2012
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Useful advice for farmers came to the area in 1912
It is practically a rite of autumn for high school students, or college students looking to transfer to a different college.
- Monday, March 19, 2012
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St. Mary's Church of Oneonta dedicated 55 years ago
"With solemn, historic pageantry, the Most Rev. William A. Scully, bishop of Albany, yesterday dedicated the new St. Mary's Church."
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A Main Street facelift for Oneonta in the 1920s
