Little Falls Historical Society Museum Events
This day in history: March 23
1928
The Slovenian Home, first formed in 1905 as a cultural, social, and beneficial society, became incorporated under New York State law on this date. The members had immigrated to Little Falls from the Slovenia area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
1984
Leon Dussault, born in Little Falls in 1895, and co-owner of the “Journal & Courier” printing company, died on this date. Mr. Dussault founded the Little Falls Symphony Orchestra in 1927, and conducted the exceptional ensemble of local and area musicians through its final concert in 1971. National and international acclaimed performers frequently appeared with the orchestra.
This day in history: March 24
1791
Elbana Williams offered a resolution to the State Legislature to make a survey around the rapids in the Mohawk River.
1842
As of this date, Little Falls has 3,000 population, 40 stores, 2 printing offices, 5 hotels, 1 bank, 5 churches, numerous schools, – the manufacturies consists of 2 paper mills, 3 paper mills, 2 saw mills, 3 foundries, 1 machine shop, 1 sash factory, 1 axe factory, 1 woolen factory, 1 clothing factory, 1 distillery, 1 brewery, 1 plasster mill, 2 trip-hammers, and numerous factories in the n=manufacture of Copper, cabinets, carriages etc.
1894
A. M. Kinney, dealer in horses, will have two car loads of horses for sale today.
This day in history: March 26
1993
The former Andy’s Grill on Loomis Street, a long-time bar and meeting place in the Manheim section of Little Falls, is no more. As a part of Urban Renewal, the property has been turned into a residence for which applications are being made from first-time home owners.
This day in history: March 27
1885
The “Wang Sing Chinese Laundry,” was started in the Fleming block on the corner of South Second and Albany Streets. Shortly afterwards a second Chinese laundry started in Little Falls.
1907
The first train station in Little Falls will soon be razed. The station is located between West John Street and the railroad tracks near the “Flatiron” building which holds the office for the S.F. Jones Coal Company.
1942
WW II Era – The FBI said 3,637 aliens had registered in Herkimer County including 1,128 “enemy aliens,” 950 from Italy, 146 from Germany, and 32 from Romania and Hungary. The Little Falls Post Office had issued certificates of identification to all aliens of enemy nationalities age 14 and older. Police confiscated radios, cameras, and firearms.
Little Falls Philanthropy by Louis W. Baum
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumWhat did wealthy people do with their money? Some spent lavishly on themselves and their families caring little for their fellow man; others were philanthropic. Over the years, the citizens of Little Falls have greatly benefited in many different ways from the philanthropy of several of its leading residents who lived here in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Bygone Little Falls winters of skiing and sledding by Jeffrey Gressler
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumDecades before there was a Pine Ridge ski center in Salisbury or a Shu-maker Mountain ski area outside Little Falls, generations of Little Falls winter sports enthusiasts skied and sledded down the vertical drops that typify our steep, narrow Mohawk Valley topography.
Help keep community history alive this Christmas
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumAs the holidays are upon us, the Little Falls Historical Society would like you to consider giving loved ones and friends copies of the great book BEYOND OUR BICENTENNIAL as Christmas gifts.
The Little Falls Historical Society Honors our Nation’s Veterans
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumThe Little Falls Historical Museum would like to honor all US Military Veterans for Veteran’s Day, November 11, 2022.
1882: The Year of Pestilence, Death and Solutions in Little Falls by David Krutz
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumThe summer of 1882 was a bad time to be an inhabitant of Little Falls as sickness and death raged throughout the village. In those few months, an estimated sixty people died, with hundreds more sickened – over half of the deaths were of infants and adolescents. Cholera, typhoid fever and “brain congestion”, at the time often lumped together as “malarial disease”, were the culprits. Victims of cholera suffered severe cases of diarrhea and subsequent dehydration, with death sometimes occurring within hours or a few days from the onset of symptoms.
Those Were The Days by John Frazier
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumSt. Mary’s Parish (now Holy Family Parish) had a new priest, and this was his first assignment out of the seminary. He was young, he was friendly, he had an easy smile, most of the girls liked him because he was good looking, and the boys liked him because if there was a basketball game going on, he liked to take off his collar and join the game.
Broomsticks and Ballots by Ray Lenarcic
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumI love Halloween. Always have. My earliest remembrance is dressing up in a cowboy outfit complete with flannel shirt, neckerchief, vest, chaps and the piece de resistance, a pearl-handled, silver Lone Ranger cap pistol.