Little Falls Historical Society Museum Events
This day in history: September 9
1873
The Modoc base ball club of Canajoharie came to Little Falls to play the local “White Stockings” and were “scalped” by a score of 53 to 13. Williams and Selcer each scored 10 runs for the locals.
1917
The banner read – “A war to end wars!” That’s what the first 14 young men from Little Falls thought as they were sworn into the service of the nation and departed for army training camps. They would join millions of humans across the seas locked in a death grip with their foes in World War I.
1987
Work crews tearing up Garden Street between Waverley Place and Salisbury Street unearthed wooden water pipes from a water delivery system that had been discontinued from service over 100 years ago. Several years ago, similar wooden pipes were found during excavation for Shopper’s Square.
This day in history: September 10
1886
The parochial school connected with St. Mary’s church opened with nearly 300 pupils, with their instructions being furnished by four lay teachers. The average for each teacher is too large for the best results, but no more than for Union schools. The large number in students is due in part to child labor laws in our mills.
1889
The new bell for the school house on Church street, weighs 387 pounds. It can be heard nearly anywhere in the village.
1908
The old Gem Theatre in the Beniens block has been closed and the new Gem theatre, with a capacity of 425 on the ground floor and first balcony, has been opened. The natty little new playhouse has been crowded at each of the three nightly performances.
This day in history: September 11
1898
Some boys playing in Foley’s gulf above German Street (Flint Avenue) found curious items in a cavity beneath a large rock. Lumps of silver and babbitt metal, hammers, kettles, ladles, and molds for casting 10, 25, 50, and one-dollar coins. The nature of the find indicated the genuine counterfeit equipment had been in the ground for a long time.
1917
The contractor building the new City Hall, George Willis Company, declared bankruptcy. James Hallinan was engaged to complete the project.
1922
The Little Falls Military Band showed cash receipts of $212.81 and disbursements of $134.41 for Pavement Dances held during the summer of 1922. Four concerts were held with 1,989 tickets being sold at 10 cents each. Popcorn and ice cream sales amounted to $13.91.
This day in history: September 12
1839
President Martin Van Buren arrived in Little Falls in a barouche drawn by four white horses to the applause and cheering of a large crowd of citizens. After a speech and festivities, Van Buren spent the evening at the Lansing residence at 22 Church Street. He left behind his red night cap which is now a treasured souvenir of the Lansing family.
1914
Before a large gathering, the cornerstone ceremony was held for the majestic Masonic Temple to be built at the corner of Prospect and Church Streets. The architect, William Neil Smith, cited the French Medieval Period as his inspiration for the structure on a hillside overlooking the beautiful Mohawk Valley.
1959
Today has been proclaimed as “Francis J. Bellamy Day” in honor of the author of our National Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, who served as a Baptist minister in Little Falls from 1879 to 1885. A Bronze tablet on a boulder was placed in the park named for him on East Gansevoort Street.
2015
Ted Wind, a lifelong Little Falls resident, and mayor of Little Falls for over 30 years and a Herkimer County Legislator for 10, years passed away. He is remembered most for helping to keep Little Falls Hospital open and a part of Bassett Healthcare, and spearheading the development of the Veterans Memorial sports complex. He was on the LFHS undefeated 1948 football team.
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.
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.