Little Falls Historical Society Museum Events
This day in history: February 10
1842
The warm rains caused the ice on the Mohawk River and West Canada Creek to break up and come down the river in large masses causing significant damage to the Railroad, Canal, and buildings in Little Falls. The water was estimated to be 25 feet above low water level. One house was swept away nearly to the Fink ferry bridge.
1902
Four of the eight aldermen purposely “went on strike” and did not attend the Common Council meeting. Since business could not be conducted and bills audited, police officers were sent out by the mayor, with search warrants, to look for the absentees. They were not found. Five members are needed for a quorum.
1963
Changes continue in the Cherry- Burrell Company and its ties with Little Falls grow fewer and fewer. David H. Burrell 3rd, Edwin Fisher, and Anthony Wening resigned as directors, and representatives of the investor group which recently bought into the company were elected to succeed them.
2000
Numerous area residents had an opportunity to meet and talk with first lady and U. S. Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton at her campaign stop at the Ann Street Deli in Little Falls.
This day in history: February 11
1891
James Tappan, better known as “Hunkey” Tappan, was arrested by Officer Holmes at the polling place in Skinner Hall for being drunk, and disorderly, and for trying to vote twice. He was discharged with a reprimand.
1916
For a week or more, the water in the city reservoir was lowering six or eight inches a day. A resident noticed that Furnace Creek was unusually high, and a big break was found nearby in the dead line in Skinner Woods which was repaired.
This day in history: February 12
1916
Weber and Fields appeared at a stage show at the City Theatre.in Little Falls.
1898
Opposition has arisen to the Academy project of building a new $65,000 schoolhouse at the site of the current academy at the corner of East Main and Alexander streets. A movement has started to build the school on West Main Street with the claim that this would be more convenient for the 141 students who live in that general area, but many of them attend St. Mary’s.
This day in history: February 13
1913
Thirty year-old Zaida Zoller was appalled by the condition of the horses in a circus travelling through the area in 1912, and had the owners arrested and the horses confiscated. On this date, through her work and strong public reaction, the Herkimer County Humane Society was incorporated.
2016
Born in Little Falls, of Italian immigrant parents, John J. Riccardo, former President of Chrysler Corporation (1970-1975) and Chairman & CEO (1975-1979) died in Birmingham, Michigan. Active at LFHS, John was a World War II veteran, and graduated with degrees in economics at the University of Michigan. He quickly rose through the ranks at Chrysler.
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.
Morgan’s Dairy by Bart Carrig
/by Little Falls Historical Society Museum“Around the back and up the stairs…” That’s how our mornings began.
The first time I heard that instruction, from my Uncle Morgan Carrig, it was about 5:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning, circa mid-June 1964. My older brother Kevin, who had previously enjoyed all the benefits and privileges of employment as a milk delivery boy for Morgan’s Dairy, was “unavailable” – no doubt due to a Friday night dance at Filipski’s bowling alley on the South Side.
Upon Turning 80 by Ray Lenarcic
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumI never thought about turning 80. Because I hadn’t. But now that I’m about to, I was asked by a friend if there was one word that could describe how I felt about becoming an octogenarian.
Little Falls: Cheese Capital of the World by Diane Ptak
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumSheltered in a deep curved gorge along the main transportation route across New York, Little Falls became a manufacturing leader in the latter half of the 19th century.
The Military Road and the War of 1812 by Pat Stock
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumAfter the American Revolution, many New Englanders moved to New York State – specifically to the Royal Grant that had belonged to Sir William Johnson.
Reflections on the 245th Anniversary of the Battle of Oriskany and Beyond by Jeffrey Gressler
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumTwo years into the Revolutionary War, the British three-prong campaign of 1777 sought to seize New York’s waterways and thus divide New England from the rest of the colonies.
The Quirks of Fate – Battle of Oriskany by Ray Lenarcic
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumI was asked recently my a friend- “Who are your heroes?” I answered based on my understanding that a hero is a person(s) whose effort or achievement goes way beyond the expected to the point of deserving to be memorialized for decades or even longer.