2021 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LITTLE FALLS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
In 2021 the Historical Society had a mixed bag of results. On the good side, our virtual footprint was expanded once again and our annual writing series produced nineteen articles by seventeen different authors. Two new historic markers were put in place, a second year of successful collaboration with the SUNY Oneonta Cooperstown Museum Studies program took place, and a second book of writing series articles is about to go to press.
We also maintained our close working relationship with the Little Falls High School Alumni Network and established a membership with the online publication New York Almanack.
On the other hand, museum attendance was limited once again by COVID concerns. Just when it seemed that we might be able to begin more normal operation, the Delta variant struck in early July and renewed caution returned. We all hope for a return to more normal operation in 2022.
Our board directors and officers devote much time at each meeting to museum operation and looking after the health and safety of our volunteers and the general public who might wish to visit the museum. Our small core group of aging volunteers is a bit more cautious than the general population regarding the pandemic. We wish to apologize for any inconvenience that this caution may have caused.
2021 ELECTIONS
There have been no monthly general membership meetings or presentations since 2019 due to COVID concerns. Terms in office expired for all officers and board directors in 2021. Thankfully, our directors and officers all agreed to have their terms of service extended for one year using Article 5, Sections 3 and 4 of Little Falls Historical Society bylaws.
MEMBERSHIP
The Historical Society is fortunate to have a strong membership base that supports our programs and contributions to the greater Little Falls community. At year’s end, Society membership included 236 individual and 30 business / corporate memberships. We have 49 Regular, 53 Family, 45 Sustaining, 89 Patron memberships, and two Memorial memberships.
Historical Society members reside in 36 states, the District of Columbia, and Germany. The 92 out-of-state members are primarily Little Falls natives, expatriates. We do not currently have members in Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi. Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia.
We have set a goal of having members from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Can you help us?
*Accolades to Little Falls Historical Society member Lou Parrotta for being named Oneida County History Center volunteer of the year.
BUSINESS AND CORPORATE MEMBERS
- Adirondack Bank
- Beardslee Castle
- Burrows Foundation
- Chapman-Moser Funeral Home
- David Chlus – Morgan Stanley
- Dick’s Wheel Shop
- Empire Fibreglass
- Enea Family Funeral Homes
- Floor & Furniture Restoration
- Funtech Providers
- George Lumber Company
- H & H Accounting
- Hummel’s Office Plus
- Kress Physical Therapy
- Law Office of George Aney
- Little Falls Dental
- Little Falls Veterinary Clinic
- Luminati – Daniel Preston
- Mike Evans Racing
- One Leaf Genealogy
- Paca Gardens
- PEMS Machine & Tool
- Pohlig’s Enterprises
- RD’s Mountain Trucking
- Read Accounting
- Ruggerio’s Trattoria
- Stewart’s Shops
- Travelodge
- Twin Rivers Paper Company
- Van Meter & Van Meter
- White Rose Bakery
- Little Falls Dental
2021 FINANCIAL
The Little Falls Historical Society remains on solid financial footing. In 2021, income ($33,823) more than doubled expenses ($15,001). This was accomplished solely through the generosity of our membership as the Historical Society receives no public funding. Donations ($24,623) were triple those of 2020 ($7932) and 2021 membership dues ($9130) were up from 2020 ($8195). 2021 expenses were down from 2020 ($16,262). 2021 expenses included utilities ($5514) and website maintenance ($3760). We added most of the 2021 surplus to the Historical Society annuity fund.
Looking forward, the Historical Society is well positioned financially for funding future program projects and for the care and upkeep of our beautiful museum. Thank you, members!
WEBSITE, FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM
The Historical Society’s virtual presence expanded in 2021 beyond our fine website. Our Facebook account was upgraded and an Instagram account was added. Website manager Ginny Rogers reports that our website and Facebook account had a combined total of 21,056 contacts in 2021, up from 8675 in 2020.
EXPANDED RESEARCH COMMITTEE
Our expanded virtual footprint has significantly increased the number of research requests on a wide array of topics. To accommodate this increase, a more formalized research committee was created in 2021. Dozens of research requests were met in 2021.
This committee and other volunteers are also hard at work creating a series of audio self-guided walking or driving tours of significant homes in Little Falls. Nearly 100 houses are being mapped and grouped by proximity. These tours will focus on the historical and architectural significance of each house. The first such tour will be available in 2022.
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
The Historical Society provided valuable assistance to two families in their quests to get their respective houses placed on the National Register. Society members Ginny and Jim Rogers were successful in getting this distinction for their Van Slyke House (1860). The Van Slyke House was important to the operation of the Little Falls cheese market in the late-1800s.
We are also assisting Society member Tom Overmann and his wife Mary Ellen McGillan in their efforts to get their home (1824) built by John Bellinger on the National Register. John’s father was Revolutionary War veteran Adam Bellinger who is buried in Yellow Church Cemetery.
SPONSORSHIP OF VINTAGE BASE BALL TEAM
The Little Falls Alerts took the field during Canal Days Celebration for a three-team, round-robin tournament on field three at Veterans Memorial Park competing against the Bovina Dairymen and the Mountain Athletic Club, two longer-established teams from the Catskills area. Although the local nine lost both of their contests, they showed solid improvement during their two games. It is hoped that additional vintage base ball teams will compete in tournaments during future Canal Days Celebrations. The Historical Society co-sponsors the Alerts along with the Little Falls Youth and Family Center. There are two vintage base ball articles on our website.
SELF-GUIDED CHURCH STREET CEMETERY WALKING TOURS
Our last walking tour of significant graves in Church Street Cemetery was during Canal Days Celebration in 2018. We were close to finalizing plans for a similar 2021 tour, but with the surging pandemic, our directors and officers decided to change plans from a formal live event to informal self-guided tours. We provided programs and cemetery maps which were used by numerous people to make their way around this beautiful cemetery.
HISTORIC MARKERS
During Canal Celebration 2021, formal dedication ceremonies were held for the two new NYS historic markers. The first was for the marker located near the bottom of the west ramp off Burke bridge acknowledging the 1782 gristmill attack and the second was in front of the Old Bank Building Museum commemorating the 1833 building itself. Thank you to the Kasner Family Foundation for funding the second marker and to Society member Harold Blovat and Friends of Mohawk Valley for funding most of the cost of the first marker.
We have also secured funding for a third historic marker through the William Pomeroy Foundation to be placed sometime in 2022 at the site of the guard gate for the 1795 Western Inland Navigation Lock Canal. The Historical Society is also working with City government to help locate another marker commemorating the 1825 visit of Marquis de Lafayette through Little Falls on the Erie Canal. Discussions continue for other historic markers as well.
OTHER SIGNAGE
In recent years, the Historical Society has orchestrated the replacement of three Little Falls Cheese Market pedestal signs on South Ann Street. Plans are in the works to also replace two other deteriorated pedestal signs near the South Ann Street and Main Street intersection, one sign recognizing the historic contributions of the Burrell family and the other being an old-time postcard collage of Little Falls.
ARTIFACTS, ACCESSIONS, AND RESTORATIONS
The Historical Society continues to be the recipient and repository of various Little Falls artifacts donated by many people. Society volunteers also purchased a number of significant items at a June estate sale. Two of these items, one a panoramic photograph of the Finks Basin extension bridge and Mohawk River looking westward towards Little Falls and the other a most unique late-19th century chromatic lithograph print of Little Falls. Both of these important items have been professionally restored and added to our collection.
CHRISTMAS IN LITTLE FALLS
Although we were unable to open the museum for this community event due to Covid concerns, we were able to help with the event by setting up an outside wintertime exhibit on the museum portico. This exhibit included a number of antique winter recreational artifacts, principally an oversized homemade snow sled donated to the museum. Also featured were a large number of vintage wintertime photos of Little Falls. Pictures of this exhibit can be viewed on our website.
2021 WRITING SERIES
2021 was a banner year for our annual writing series which dates back to 2008. Nineteen articles were published in MyLittleFalls.com, on our website, and in the Mohawk Valley Express this year, bringing the 2008-21 total to over 130 articles written by over sixty different authors. The Historical Society is extremely proud to serve as the publication center for quality writing by creative authors on a wide array of community historic topics. The 2021 writing series included:
- 2021 Writing Series Dedication – Hector Allen by David Krutz
- Sometimes Distributing Vaccinations Easier Said Than Done by Schuyler Van Horn
- Patriots Day Honors Those Who Were Not Sunshine Patriots Jeffrey Gressler
- Mayor Hadley Jones: Saint or Sinner? by Louis Baum
- A Sun Shower Without End by Ray Lenarcic
- The Little Falls 1916 Lock 17 Dedication Ceremony by Angela Harris
- A Child’s Memory of World War II by Mary Ann Pellerito Mucica
- Long Ago from a Faraway Land by Jessie Snyder Huberty Thompson
- Dairy Farming in New York: The More Things Change by De Wayne Perry
- “Surviving Childhood” A Memoir And Interview with Jan P. Hollick by Cynthia Hollick Foley
- He Still Sustains: Pitt the Painter’s Studio Loft by Laura Laubenthal
- South Side Cigar Stores by Gary Staffo
- A Pizza Story by Jim Papaleo
- Burwell Street Namesake And Moreland Park Visionary by Jeffrey Gressler
- Growing up on the South Side in the 1950s – 1960s by Donald Staffo
- Every Legend Has a Beginning: The Hubie Brown Story by David Dinneen
- The Magnificent Mile by Louis Baum
- The Palatine Germans in Search of a Place to Call Home by Ginny Rogers
- The Old Bank Building Survives And Thrives by Pat Frezza-Gressler
Once again, we are indebted to the services of Dave and Deborah Warner for publishing our articles in both their on-line My Little Falls newspaper and Mohawk Valley Express electronic and print copy newspaper. In 2021, the Historical Society began submitting vintage newspaper articles to the Mohawk Valley Express. Thank you also to our website manager Ginny Rogers for her artful posting of these same articles on our website. Our 2022 writing series will commence with the publication of articles beginning in late-April.
BOOK #2 – BEYOND OUR BICENTENNIAL
Many of you already possess our TOWARDS OUR BICENTENNIAL book with its fifty-four articles which was published and released for sale in 2013. Since then, our annual writing series have generated an additional seventy-seven articles authored by thirty-nine different Little Falls residents past and present. This 240-page second book entitled BEYOND OUR BICENTENNIAL will go off to the publisher in the near future and will be available for sale in the spring. This book has been dedicated to both the founding members of the Historical Society and to all Little Falls military veterans who have served our nation in times of peace and conflict.
UPCOMING IN 2022
STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP
Some graduating senior from the class of 2022 will be awarded the first Little Falls Historical Society annual scholarship. This scholarship will be awarded to a graduate who will major in history or a related field in college and who has completed some amount of community service work. The amount of this scholarship has not yet been determined.
SUNY ONEONTA COOPERSTOWN MUSEUM STUDIES GRADUATE PROGRAM
We have begun our third year of collaboration with Professor Erik Stengler and his graduate students as they continue their study of the history of the interconnection between Little Falls waterways, science, and industrial development. The 2020 on-line Cabinet of Curiosity student book can be found on our website. The student-generated 2021 audio driving tour of important Little Falls historic locations is also available on our website.
As an interesting side note, all six of the 2020 students from this program who studied at our museum have gained employment at various museums in the year following their graduation.
2022 PATRIOTS DAY AT NORWAY CEMETERY
After a two-year hiatus due to Covid concerns, the Historical Society will partner with the Norway Historical Society to host a May 14, 2022 Patriots Day observance outdoors at the Norway cemetery; military veterans from the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War are interred there.
EAST MAIN STREET HISTORIC ENTRY
Little Falls is fortunate to have many great historic buildings, but unfortunately, many visitors do not see these structures. Most incoming west-bound traffic turns onto South Ann Street and then has to navigate our system of one-way streets. Imagine the change of experience if increased incoming west-bound traffic off Route 5 was encouraged to turn onto an East Main Street historic entry into Little Falls. People would first pass through a well-kept neighborhood and then past Benton Hall Academy, Holy Family Church, Ward Square, the historic district, the public library, Martin Babinec’s Rock City Centre, the former Loomis Burrell mansion, City Hall, and our east end commercial district. A different experience.
Historical Society is partnering with City government to create this historic entry.
The Historical Society is also providing background assistance to Canal Harbor employees and volunteers who are working to create an exhibit in the Rotary Park terminal building focused on the history of Little Falls canals and waterways.
Unfortunately, Historical Society members Barbara Connor, Dora Czernecki, Rear Admiral Thomas Johnson, Father Dan Lanza, Katherine Lyon (past president), Byron Roff, and Donald Sweet all passed away in 2021. These individuals were all longtime Society members whose contributions will be missed.
And so, another year of uncertainty has passed. Our officers, directors and other volunteers hope that 2022 will see a return to more normal operation. Our organization has much to be thankful for, principally the strong support of our loyal membership. Thank you.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Louis Baum – immediate past president
Jeffrey Gressler – president
Scott Kinville – vice-president
Missy Smith
Pat Stock
Maryanne Terzi
OTHER OFFICERS
Anita Dulak– secretary
David Krutz – treasurer
Gail Potter
MEMBERSHIP CHAIRPERSON
Pat Frezza-Gressler
PHOTOS FROM 2020
(Photos clockwise)
Top left: New Historic Marker.
Top right: Closeup of Historical Society Image on Historic Marker.
Middle right; Hansen’s Renett Sign on Loan from David Cassulo and Neil Rosenbaum.
Bottom left: Louis Baum Researching for “This Day in History”.
Bottom right: Old Bank Museum Historical Register Sign.
(Photos clockwise)
Top left: “Artist with Mask” Dr. Oscar Stivala*.
Top right: New Museum Sign in Front Museum Window.
Left middle: “Respect” painting by Joanne Morotti*.
Bottom row: July Board of Directors Meeting at Moreland Park.
*COVID-related art on display in museum front windows.
(Photos clockwise)
Top row: SUNY Oneonta Cooperstown Graduate Students with Historical Society Volunteers.
Middle row: Society Member Dick Gloo (Dick’s Wheel Shop)with Restored 1897 H.P. Snyder Bicycle, Closeup of 1897 Bicycle Insignia, October Board of Directors Meeting at WCA.
Bottom row: Dr. Erik Stengler with SUNY Oneonta Cooperstown Students at Route 167 Overlook.
2020 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LITTLE FALLS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
We hope that this correspondence finds each of you healthy and well in these challenging times.
As was true with other Little Falls non-profit organizations and the business community in general, 2020 was a challenging year for the Historical Society. For starters, our Old Bank Building Museum did not open for the season due to COVID-19 concerns. We also suspended monthly general membership meetings and programs at the WCA in late February. We instead focused most of our energy and resources on creating a strong on-line virtual presence on our website and beyond. We also kept close tabs on building maintenance and security.
As with all communities, 2020 was also a tough year for the City of Little Falls. The Cheese Festival, Canal Days Celebration, the Garlic Festival, and Christmas in Little Falls were all cancelled. Tourism was way off and perhaps most sadly, expatriates did not come back home for festivals, reunions, and family visits. We missed seeing both our in-town and out-of-town members and other visitors at the museum. The Little Falls Food Pantry and Little Falls Community Outreach continue to help needy families and children in our community.
Just as 2020 was an unusual and challenging year for the Historical Society, our 2020 Annual Report is quite different from previous years. This report will hopefully convey the spirit of flexibility and the willingness of our core group to embrace new ideas and programs.
Board of Directors Meetings – The board normally meets monthly at the museum to conduct Historical Society business, but we were forced to change. Once Moreland Park opened to the public in July, we started having our monthly meetings in the park pavilion where masks and social distancing prevailed. More recently, we have gone to ZOOM.
Sadly, our long planned for MAY 2020 PATRIOTS DAY program at the Norway Historical Society was put off until another year. This was to be our eleventh such program.
ELECTIONS
Board directors Mike Smith’s and Pat Stock’s two-year terms expired in 2020. Pat agreed to serve another term, but Mike declined. Fortunately, Mike’s wife Missy stepped up and agreed to be nominated to fill the vacant seat. Both Pat and Missy were then officially nominated and elected by the board. Thanks to Mike for his service.
VIRTUAL PROGRAMS
WEBSITE
Hopefully, most of our general membership has taken the opportunity to visit us on-line at least a few times. This state-of-the-art website includes:
- Many virtual exhibits often related to writing series articles authored by various Historical Society members.
- For the Historian
- Photo Galleries
- Making History Today
- This Day in History
Website designer and manager Ginny Rogers has become an integral part of our core team. It is an understatement to say that Ginny’s efforts have been transformative for the Historical Society. Without her ongoing involvement and dedication, 2020 would have been far less productive. Thank you Ginny!
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
This daily column on our website really began with an inquiry from a Historical Society member about having access to information on Little Falls history in chronological sequence. At that time, no such record existed, but longtime mainstay Louie Baum became a MAN ON A MISSION.
Those of you not familiar with our museum facilities, our main archival research room is called the Cooney Room, named after former City Historian Edward Cooney. Years ago, Cooney created eighty large, thick scrapbooks containing local newspaper article clippings about significant events from our past, thousands and thousands of articles in total.
Using this treasure trove, Louie toiled for months creating an over 200-page document with a chronological listing of summarized newspaper articles from the Cooney Files. None of us were quite sure how this document could be utilized. Then Ginny stepped up and re-organized Louie’s research document into a day by day file so that everything significant that occurred in Little Falls history on any given date could be accessed. The incredible result was This Day in History. It is the first Internet stop for many of us each day when we turn on our computers. Thank you to Ed Cooney, Louie Baum, and Ginny Rogers for the hundreds of hours of work on this incredible decades-long project. Enjoy!
Additionally, Louie Baum needs to be hereby recognized and honored for his longtime and ongoing service to our organization. During his tenure as vice-president and then president, Louie helped transform and professionalize the Historical Society while growing our membership and stabilizing our finances. His mentorship continues to inspire and guide us.
2020 WRITING SERIES – DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF HAROLD TEMPLEMAN
He Set the Bar High by DeForest Tinkler
The Battle of West Canada Creek by Louis Baum
From Fairfield to the Oregon Trail by Angela Harris
Fire Chief Alfred Munger Was a Fireman’s Fireman by Scott Kinville
Early Little Falls Buildings and Organizations by Jeffrey Gressler
The Honorable H.P. Snyder + the American Dream by Jessie Snyder Thompson Huberty
SUNY Oneonta Cooperstown + Historical Society Program Collaboration by Dr. Erik Stengler
Vintage Base Ball in Little Falls by David Krutz
Little Falls and Women’s Suffrage by Jeffrey Gressler
240th Anniversary of the Battles of Stone Arabia + Klock’s Field by Jeffrey Gressler
Centennial of the Little Falls WCA by Mena Cerone and Pat Rockwell
My Vietnam War Experiences by Schuyler Van Horn
50th Anniversary of Old Bank Building on National Registry by Pat Frezza-Gressler
A Child’s Memory of World War II by Mary Ann Mucica
1960’s Rock And Roll in Little Falls by Joe Chapadeau
*Thank you to Dave Warner for publishing our writing series articles on My Little Falls.
Additionally, Historical Society members Harris, Krutz, and Gressler also authored articles for the Herkimer County Historical Society’s book “Murders and Mayhem in Herkimer County.” Krutz also authored an article for the County Historical Society book “Wicked Herkimer County” due out in March.
NEW PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES
SUNY ONEONTA COOPERSTOWN GRADUATE PROGRAM IN MUSEUM STUDIES PARTNERSHIP
A phone conversation with SUNY Oneonta professor Dr. Erik Stengler in September 2019 launched the Historical Society into a collaborative program with Stengler and his Cooperstown graduate students using Little Falls for field study work on the impact of our waterways, industry, and technology on our community’s historic development.
The Old Bank Building Museum became the focal point for student research efforts into this rich history. Stengler and his students and our core group worked collaboratively from mid-January thru late-February when COVID-19 made further work sessions impossible. The 2020-21 school year for SUNY Oneonta is now centered on remote instruction, so initial plans for further joint work have been put on hold, but hopes are high that this will become a multi-year partnership. Please visit our website to view Erik’s writing series article on this partnership.
SPONSORSHIP OF VINTAGE BASE BALL TEAM
In January, 2020, we hosted a meeting at the museum regarding a request that the Historical Society help sponsor a Little Falls vintage base ball team that would compete against other already-established teams in games governed by 1890’s rules.
Team members met with our directors and officers to discuss the specifics of sponsorship. It was eventually agreed that the Historical Society would foot the bill for special vintage base ball equipment, including bats, catcher’s gear, and balls. Unfortunately, a scheduled four-team tournament to be played at Veterans Park during Canal Celebration Days had to be put off until 2021. David Krutz’s article on vintage base ball in Little Falls can be viewed on our website.
NEW YORK STATE HISTORIC MARKERS
As you have seen in a previous e-mail, we have been hard at work on two new NYS historic markers. The blue and yellow signs marking the site of the 1781 Little Falls Grist Mill attack and the Old Bank Building itself are the result. We have even personalized these markers with a likeness of the museum at the top of each. The grist mill marker was put in place in early-November near the bottom of the west ramp off Burke Bridge at the approximate site of the grist mill. Thank you to Mayor Mark Blask, City Engineer Chet Szymanski, and the DPW for their assistance. Louie’s article on the grist mill attack can be viewed on our website.
The Old Bank Building marker will eventually be placed in front of the museum. At some future date we will hold official dedication ceremonies for both historic markers.
THREE NEW MUSEUM SIGNS
In recent years, all three of our exterior museum signs had lapsed into deteriorated condition. An anonymous Society member motivated us to make plans to replace all three signs by steering us to an experienced sign maker from a nearby community who was moved by our Vietnam War exhibit honoring the 136 Little Falls veterans who served in that war. This gentleman hand-crafted three beautiful duplicate replacement signs and donated them anonymously to the Society in the name and memory of all Mohawk Valley veterans of that war. Much thanks to both of these generous individuals.
A NEW BOOK OF WRITING SERIES ARTICLES
Most of you are likely familiar with our “Towards our Bicentennial” book of articles that we published in 2013. This collection includes fifty-four articles written by various Historical Society members and others on a range of topics all related to Little Falls history.
Since 2013, our annual writing series has generated close to fifty additional articles that we have committed to including in a second book of articles that we are now working on getting ready for publication in 2021.
ST. JOHN FISHER PROGRAM ON UPSTATE NEW YORK WOMEN’S SUFFRAGISTS GRAVESITES
In September, the Historical Society was invited by Society members Tom and Mary Ellen Buccafurno to participate in this St. John Fisher College project. We submitted both photographs of women’s suffragist Zaida Zoller’s gravesite in Fairview Cemetery and a written piece on the history of Little Falls residents in events leading to the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. The 2020 writing series article on Little Falls and Women’s Suffrage can be read on our website.
VINTAGE SNOW SLED
Society members Richard and Janet Morgan gifted a large-size 1940’s era “homemade” snow sled to us in October. The sled’s original owner was Eaton Eysaman and it was used in wintertime to propel as many as six or seven people (most likely thrill-seeking kids!) down various city hills. David Krutz worked hard to restore the sled to its original grandeur and we will feature it in some future exhibit. A most interesting artifact.
ROY RICHIE’S “RECOLLECTIONS”
In 2020, History Society member Roy Richie published a 46-page autobiographical book on growing up in Little Falls. The book is an excellent sociological study of time and place. Our editorial staff worked closely with Roy on his book. It can be purchased at the Little Falls Public Library, at the Little Falls Community Co-op, and through Ganesvoort House Books.
Following in the footsteps of Richard Buckley with his book “Unique Place, Diverse People,” Roy has generously donated all of the proceeds from his book’s sale to the Society. Thanks Roy. The Historical Society arranged for several of Roy’s books to be donated to the residents and staff of Alpine Nursing Center.
FINANCES
Thanks to the generous support of our membership, the Historical Society fared well financially in a difficult year. Our income was $16, 553 and our expenses were $16,262, a surplus of $291 was realized. Our primary major expenses were: website reconfiguration and maintenance ($2700), roof maintenance ($1568), security system enhancement ($1275), and museum utilities – heat, electric, internet, water/sewer ($3700). Nearly 100% of our income was derived from membership dues and donations. No gift shop income was generated as the museum was closed. The Society also donated $250 to Preserve Our Past (POP) to help out with their restoration efforts of the Burke Park bandstand.
Additionally, we both refused the usual $1000 from the City of Little Falls and chose not to send out “soft reminders” mid-year to members who did not renew for 2020.
BUSINESS AND CORPORATE SPONSORS
| Adirondack Bank | A.M. Blask Realty | Bassett Health Care |
| Beardslee Castle | Bonita’s Sandwich Chef | Burrows Foundation |
| Canal Side Inn | Chapman-Moser Funeral Home | Copper Moose Ale House |
| David Chlus, Morgan Stanley | Dick’s Wheel Shop, Inc. | Dunteman Corporation |
| Empire Fiberglass Products | Fall Hill Bead And Gem | Feldmeier Equipment, Inc. |
| Floor And Furniture Restoration | Funtech Providers | George F. Aney |
| George Lumber Company | H & H Accounting And Tax Services | Harry And Kevin Enea Funeral Homes |
| Hummel’s Office Supply | Kress Physical Therapy | Little Falls Dental – Dr. Yallowitz |
| Little Falls Veterinary Clinic | LP Services LLP | Mike Evans Racing |
| My Little Falls, LLC | One Leaf Genealogy | Paca Gardens |
| PEMs Tool And Machine | Pohlig’s Enterprises | Price Chopper |
| RD’s Mountain View Trucking | Revella | Ruggerio’s Tretoria |
| Showcase Antiques | Stewart’s Shops, Inc. | Travelodge |
| Twin Rivers Paper Company | Van Meter And Van Meter | White Rose Bakery |
REFLECTIONS
In recent years, the Historical Society has put together a number of meaningful museum exhibits and outside programs.
Our main 2016 main exhibit honoring the 1688 men and 69 women from Little Falls who served in WW II was extremely well received and our 2017 main exhibit on the 1960’s golden age of rock and roll in Little Falls was interesting and cool, but our 2018 main exhibit honoring the 136 Little Falls men who served in the Vietnam War and our 2015 successful effort to place a monument demarcating the African American section of Church Street Cemetery truly stand out. Honoring our community’s Vietnam veterans provided long overdue recognition of their service to country and resonated deeply.
The African American monument provides historical recognition for the dozens of individuals buried in mostly unmarked graves and atones in part for past injustice. What do these three museum exhibits and outside program have in common? Social history, the stories of a community and its people.
IN CONCLUSION, our board directors and officers wish to convey our collective gratitude to our membership for your ongoing support. We are fortunate. 2020 was a difficult year for all Americans. Hopefully, 2021 will bring us a receding pandemic, economic recovery, and a return to more normal times.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
| BOARD OF DIRECTORS | OTHER OFFICERS |
|---|---|
| Louis Baum – past president | Anita Dulak – secretary |
| Jeffrey Gressler – president | David Krutz – treasurer |
| Scott Kinville – vice-president | |
| Gail Potter | Ginny Rogers – website designer and manager |
| Missy Smith | Pat Frezza-Gressler – membership chairperson |
| Pat Stock | |
| Mary Anne Terzi |
Sadly, Historical Society members Louis Colangelo, Dr. Jack Connor, Colonel Anthony Gabriel, Mary Anne George, Christina Plant, and Roger Stock all passed away in 2020.
Little Falls Historical Society Museum Exhibits
Contact Us
Little Falls Historical Society Museum
319 South Ann Street
Little Falls, NY (Get directions)