Little Falls Historical Society Museum Events

  • This day in history: May 27

    1869

    Mr. and Mrs. General Tom Thumb and Commodore Nutt and Minnie Warren, who have attracted attention throughout the world, will give two entertainments at Keller Hall. It is a rare opportunity for the citizens of Little Falls to see these little people. Admission 25 cents, children 10.

    1906

    The new Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church on Petrie Street was dedicated today.

    1932

    The salaries of rural mail carriers in Little Falls and around the country may be slashed 10%, and many would be terminated if the proposed measure is approved by President Herbert Hoover. 

    1993

    Linda Vincent, president of Canal Place Development Association and Mayor Roger Stock presided over the opening of the walkway over the hydroelectric plant which leads to Moss Island and Lock 17.

  • This day in history: May 28

    2020

    The Little Falls Volunteer Corps, through partnerships with local nonprofits and businesses, has spent more than 120 hours on coordinating and delivering meals to hundreds of residents, providing summer meals for kids, and distributing more than 2,000 masks during the coronavirus outbreak.

  • This day in history: May 29

    1827

    An attempt by Judge Sanders Lansing, who represented the Ellice Estate, to write a second charter in 1826 was aborted. Judge Nathaniel Benton drew up a new, less restrictive third charter, in which a majority of trustees must be freeholders. This was adopted, and at an election on this date at the stone school, Benton was chosen as the first village president. The total to be raised by taxes was limited to $300.

    1920

    All of the members of the Little Falls police department, except for Chief Long, have resigned with several finding other employment. The blue suits were replaced by the gray suits of the state police with six troopers assigned to patrol the city where they are doing splendid work.

    1953

    By a 1,284 to 421 tally, Little Falls area voters approved school centralization. The new district included city districts and 15 districts from surrounding towns. A seven member school board was created.

  • This day in history: May 30

    1755

    A patent issued by King George II of England, bestowed to John Jost Schnell and Jacob Zimmerman 3,600 acres of land north of the Mohawk River across from the General Herkimer home. Much of the land today is still being farmed by descendants of the patentees.

From the Cooney Archives

News and Updates

1974 Milo holding his carved “Smith Bros Circus Red Caboose” alongside Marie, his favorite elephant on the side lawn at the Smith Brothers Farm

AN ELEPHANT NAMED BIMBO AND A FUNERAL by Darlene Smith

Most people usually don’t have an elephant attend a family member’s funeral, but then most other families didn’t have a grandfather who loved the circus the way Milo Smith did.

From left to right:  City Engineer Chet Szymanski, 2nd Ward Alderman and Common Council President Justin Welyczko, Dan Enea of Mohawk Valley Funerals and Cremations, 1st Ward Alderman Tim Lyon, Joan Vogt, 1st Ward Alderman Jonathon Shaffer, Louis Baum, Church Street Cemetery Caretaker Justin Ostasz, Patty Sklarz, David Krutz, Pat Frezza-Gressler, Jeffrey Gressler, and Pat Stock. [Photo by Sarah Rogers]

CITY AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY CONTINUE EFFORTS TO RECOGNIZE AFRICAN AMERICAN BURIAL GROUND

It all began sometime in the early-2000s in the mind and heart of deceased former City Historian Edwin Vogt.

Promotional postcard of Bellcamp the Magician

“Bellcamp” The Magician by Ann E. Schuyler

“Uncle Archie, can you make me disappear?” I asked. “Yes,” he said, “Go in the other room.” I was expecting something like levitation.

My First and Last Train Rides by Ann Eysaman Schuyler

In 1944 I took my first train ride – all the way to Utica, NY. Having lived in Little Falls all my life, some of it on West Main Street at the foot of Glen Avenue, I knew about the railroad.

Civil War Burial Section of Fairview Cemetery outside Little Falls

LOCAL AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY REFLECTED STATE AND NATIONAL EVENTS

The primary purpose of this piece of writing is to chronicle a history of African American presence in Little Falls from the time of slavery up to the 2015 dedication of a monument in Little Falls Church Street Cemetery recognizing what was once known as the “Colored Burial Ground.”

The Underground Railroad In And Around Little Falls

The Underground Railroad (URR) was a loosely organized network of people, (men and women, African American and white,) dedicated to helping people escape from bondage in the slave-holding states of the South to freedom in the antislavery states of the North and ultimately to Canada in the period before the Civil War.

MEMORIAL SERVICE NOTICE FOR ARTHUR WITHINGTON

There will be a Memorial Service for former Little Falls native Annette (Eysaman) Withington’s husband, Arthur, on July 22, 2023, 11am, at the Cornerstone Plymouth Bethesda Church in Utica.