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

Help keep community history alive this Christmas

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As 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.

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World War II Exhibit | Little Falls Historical Society Museum | Little Falls NY

The Little Falls Historical Society Honors our Nation’s Veterans

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The Little Falls Historical Museum would like to honor all US Military Veterans for Veteran’s Day, November 11, 2022.

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Main Street circa 1880, looking west from Mary St

1882: The Year of Pestilence, Death and Solutions in Little Falls by David Krutz

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The 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.

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Those Were The Days by John Frazier

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St. 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.

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Broomsticks and Ballots by Ray Lenarcic

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I 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.

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Morgan’s Dairy by Bart Carrig

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“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.

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Upon Turning 80 by Ray Lenarcic

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I 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.

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