Little Falls Historical Society Museum Events
This day in history: July 28
1892
A public spirited citizen, Mr. P. W. Casler, having watched hundreds of boys swimming in the river from the point of Hansen Island, has generously donated some bath houses to be located there. In the name of decency and cleanliness, a small fee might be charged for the use of bathing suits and towels.
1895
It is said that Little Falls has more pneumatic tired carriages than any other place of even double its size in this section of the state.
1921
A grateful community turned out at St. Mary’s church for the funeral of Deloir A. Marco, the first of its boys to make the supreme sacrifice on the battlefields of France, and the first whose body was brought home to its final resting place.
This day in history: July 29
1913
Stones, undoubtedly the walls of the 1796 Octagon Church, were unearthed by workmen employed on a drainage and heating system project for the Church Street School.
1923
The Italian Roman Catholics in Little Falls now have their own parish. The wood-framed church at the northeast corner of East John and South Mary streets was opened today under the leadership of Rev. Anthony Spina.
This day in history: July 30
1783
George Washington toured the upper Hudson Valley, the Saratoga and Lake George areas, and the Mohawk Valley to thank the citizens for their steadfast support and efforts during the Revolutionary War. At the little falls, he allegedly spoke about the need to build a canal to facilitate the movement of men and materials around the rapids. A decade later, the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company canal was built.
1825
Joseph Bonaparte, brother of the famous Napoleon Bonaparte, arrived in Little Falls accompanied by his daughter and her cousin, the young Prince Murat, and the usual train of attendants. They stayed at the Little Falls Hotel. Murat and one of the attendants attended church.
1835
The bridge across the Mohawk River at Mr. Finks, which has been under construction, is now ready for use.
1867
Ceremonies were held with the laying of the cornerstone for the new Universalist Church with the Rev. L. Holmes of Orange, Massachusetts installed as the new pastor. A glass jar containing various articles was deposited in a niche prepared for it.
1901
Whether it was the increase in the price paid for cheese, great weather, a bumper hay crop, or something else, the farmers had big night in town. The stores as well as the saloons did a large business. There were many fights and nineteen arrests were made, thirteen by policeman James “Dusty” Long.
1915
The city still has a night watchman, a man who goes around and sees that all the doors are locked: In fact he is the one who “closes up the town.” Sylvanus “Pop” Holmes, a retired Little Falls policeman, is paid by the store owners, and has been on the job for many years.
1916
In a letter to Little Falls Mayor Abram Zoller, Chief of Police James Long listed 23 individuals (including two women) who had entered three Main Street saloons on this Sunday date. Information included time entering and leaving the saloon, and the individual’s addresses.
1968
In a joyous reunion, Mrs. Anthony Lamanna of Little Falls was reunited here with her brother, Vincent Perna of Monteleone, Italy after 53 years. Perna came to Little Falls at age 11, attended Jefferson Street school, but he returned to Italy when he was 18 years old. He has many friends in our city.
2002
Speeders beware – the Little Falls Police Department is testing a new laser radar gun that can track a speeding car 3,000 feet away. According to a police spokesman, “A ton of tickets have been issued in the past three days.”
This day in history: July 31
1856
The boiler exploded at the Little Falls Cotton Factory. Mr. Thomas Stevenson who lived nearby and was having dinner, heard the explosion, went to his door and was crushed to death by the falling boiler. Several women and children were also hurt by falling debris. A Grand Jury determined the cause to be a faulty boiler operated by an inexperienced boiler man.
1885
The water in the Eastern Park reservoir is so impure that the fish in it have all died. This stagnant pool is liable, during the existing hot weather, to breed disease among those who live in the neighborhood.
1908
Frank Gregorka has invented a water bicycle without any plans or drawings, and is testing his odd craft on the canal in Little Falls. The power is supplied by a bicycle frame connected to a 13” propeller by means of bevel gears. The body has two 6 ½ foot floats fastened 3 feet apart.
1929
A count showed 633 out-of-state automobiles went through the city in six hours – a rate of nearly two per minute. The survey was taken for one hour each day for six consecutive days. The states which led the totals were Michigan (92), Ohio (91), Massachusetts (88), and New Jersey (56.) Cars were also from many other states and California, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, D.C., and the Panama Canal Zone.
1942
WW II Era – Two Little Falls garages, Whitcomb on West Lansing Street and R.G. Smith on West Main and Third Streets, went out of business because of restrictions on the sale of autos and the rationing of tires and gasoline.
1963
No One was injured in an accident on the New York Central this afternoon, at milepost 216.30, in which eighteen cars were derailed just east of Second Street in this city. The engine and the first six cars remained upright on the track.
LITTLE FALLS HISTORICAL SOCIETY ANNOUNCES 2022 WRITING SERIES
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumThe officers and directors of the Little Falls Historical Society are proud to announce that their 2022 writing series will be dedicated to former Little Falls social studies teacher Helen Dunteman.
The Old Bank Building Survives and Thrives by Pat Frezza-Gressler
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumThe wisdom of historic preservation has not always been a given. The desire by some to preserve old buildings and places is at times pitted against those who would rather “start over” with new construction.
Palatine Germans in Search of a Land to Call Home by Ginny Rogers
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumJanuary 17, 2022 marks the 300th anniversary of the Burnetsfield Patent.
The earliest European settlers in the Mohawk Valley came from what is now southwest Germany. Under near constant threat of destruction, whether from multiple wars, invasions, or the plague, in the near hundred years leading up to the 18th century, the southwest German population experienced extreme hardship.
MISS HELEN DUNTEMAN
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumHelen Dunteman was a highly respected social studies teacher in the Little Falls school district for many years, retiring in 1962. Helen was both a lifelong Little Falls resident and a graduate of Oneonta State Normal School. She passed away in 1984.
Growing up on the South Side from the early 1950’s through the late 1960’s By Donald F. Staffo
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumIn the 1950s and 1960s, Little Falls was a bustling blue-collar mill town of about 9,000 people with many hard-working citizens employed in its numerous factories. Most of the factories were on Mill Street which ran parallel to the railroad tracks on the southern side with a few factories on the other side of the tracks. My parents, and most of the parents of my friends, worked in the mills. None wore a tie to work.
A Pizza Story by James Papaleo
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumIf you lived in Little Falls in the late-1950s through early-1980s I bet you ate at least one slice of Papaleo’s pizza or one of the delicious hoagies (subs) that came out of the family restaurant owned by my parents Anthony (Tony) and Grayce Papaleo.
Even today, 40 years after the restaurant closed, people still tell me and my sisters how our Dad’s pizza and hoagies were the best they have ever eaten. I might be biased, but I agree because I have never found another pizza or hoagie like Dad’s.
South Side Cigar Stores by Gary Staffo
/by Little Falls Historical Society MuseumThis article came about as part of the research started for the Southside Veteran’s Recognition Project, which was displayed during the September 2013 Southside Reunion. It covers the period from the 1930s through the mid-1970s and the role three Southside cigar stores played in the lives of the young men who grew up hanging out around them.