Little Falls Historical Society Museum Events
This day in history: November 8
1901
A good start for better streets made this week in Little Falls as paving some of the main thoroughfares with bricks has been started. The first street to be completed was from the railroad tracks to the Mohawk River bridge on South Ann Street.
1918
Leslie Bride has been twice wounded in action in France and is currently in a Red Cross hospital. After capturing an enemy trench, a grenade with a time fuse exploded and shattered his legs. Several of his comrades were killed.
2006
The Italian Community Bake Oven, on the outskirts of Little Falls, built around 1891 by Italian immigrant laborers near their work camp, who were building the Little Falls – Dolgeville Railroad, was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Hundreds of loaves of bread were baked each day. The oven was 16 feet wide, 20 feet deep, and 6 feet high.
This day in history: November 9
1908
The I.O.O.F. Temple (“Odd Fellows”) opened on South William Street. It was the home of the Hippodrome Theatre movie house.
1914
The Board of Fire & Police purchased an Overland car for the fire chief. This was the first motor driven apparatus in the city. It carried two pyrene and two acid soda extinguishers.
1933
Mrs. Katherine S. Goodbread, of Little Falls, passed away at age 93. As a young lady, she joined the Nurses’ corps and served in the Civil War. Her passing brings to an end the 121st regiment of nurses, of which she was the last survivor.
This day in history: November 10
1831
Abijah Mann and his son of Fairfield were crossing the Ann Street bridge over the Mohawk River, when a herd of 90 oxen were driven on it and the structure collapsed. The men were saved by clinging to the tails of the oxen as they swam downstream
1871
The new organized Band was out for the first time and gave a concert in front of the Cottage Hotel of P. J. Casler.
1894
Dr. Stephen A. Ingham, assisted by Drs. Gildman, Garlock, and Douglas, performed the first appendectomy at the Little Falls hospital. The operation was entirely successful and was concluded without any sign of difficulty or uncertainty. The patient, Miss Emma Shear, is having a remarkable recovery.
1900
The Charity Ball, held on the second floor of the new Robert MacKinnon Mill, made thousands with the proceeds going to the Little Falls Hospital. Besides being a great financial success it was an important social event. Rath’s orchestra of Utica provided the dance music. After 11 o’clock a sumptuous supper was served on the third floor. MacKinnon paid all expenses.
1903
Little Falls native, Admiral Lester Anthony Beardslee, died this evening in Maine. A graduate of the Naval Academy, he participated in the Civil War, was Commander-in-Chief of the naval forces in the Pacific, and served under Commodore Perry in Japan.
1928
Phil Darling opened a Chevrolet dealership at the northeast corner of Albany and Mary streets in a building he had erected. The grand opening featured an orchestra. When World War II shut off the supply of autos, he closed his garage and sold the building to the American Store markets.
2013
Legendary Little Falls High School baseball coach Ted Schoff was inducted in the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame at ceremonies at the Hilton Hotel in Troy. Over a 31 year coaching career, Schoff’s Mounties won 533 games, several league and 1sectional championships, and a state title in 1982.
This day in history: November 11
1918
The Cronkhite Opera House on the corner of South Ann and West Main streets burned.
1975
Loomis Burrell, son of David H. Burrell, husband of Louisa Loomis Burrell, died at his home at 659 East Main Street at age 103. Following in his father’s footsteps, he greatly improved dairy machinery, the efficiency of milk processing, and safety in the industry. He was the first Board Chairman of Cherry-Burrell.
1993
The center span of the Little Falls Aqueduct stood for 171 years; it finally collapsed late this evening. It had been more than a century since the last maintenance was conducted on it, a testimony of both the fitness of the original design and the skill of the workmen who built it. The aqueduct was built in 1822 as a feeder from the Western Inland Lock Navigation Canal.
From the Cooney Archives
42 North Ann Street | Chapman-Moser Funeral Home
1826 Viskup - Lansing House | 22 Church Street
Just Ducky, He Cooled Her Off
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumHISTORICAL SOCIETY HOSTS NYS CANAL SOCIETY VISIT
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumAfter weeks of planning, the Little Falls Historical Society welcomed and hosted the NYS Canal Society for a two-day visit.
County Historian Writes: “Iron Horses” Made First Trip Through Little Falls in August 1836
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumFrom the Herkimer County Historian – The New York Central Railroad was like a tree with roots in the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys, and a trunk extending westward to Chicago and St. Louis.
THE ALEXANDER–SNYDER HOME
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumImagine North Ann Street during the early nineteenth century, when Little Falls was beginning to expand beyond its earliest settlement.
HORACE BURCH – FORD TRASK HOME
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumImagine walking along North Ann Street during the first half of the nineteenth century, when Little Falls was growing beyond its earlier canal settlement and substantial brick residences were beginning to appear along the village streets.
THE HERMIT OF BURWELL HILL POSTHUMOUS
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumTwo known pieces of Frances Ledyard Haun published literature were: “Auld Lang Syne”, a short story with the main character being Dudley Burwell, known as the Hermit of Burwell Hill.
THE FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumImagine Church Street in the closing years of the eighteenth century, when Little Falls was still a small settlement surrounded by rugged terrain, scattered homes, mills, and unpaved roads.