Little Falls Historical Society Museum Events

  • This day in history: April 3

    1780

    The Rheimensnyders Bush mill and settlement, located east of the yellow church, on the Salisbury Road, just north of Little Falls was burned  by a party of sixty British and Indians, and many inhabitants were carried off to Canada.

    1854

    Little Falls had three paper mills, unfortunately all have been burned down. But Phoenix-like, they have all arisen again with new strength, beauty, and vigor. The Richmond mill is in operation, and the other two mills are nearly complete in construction.

    1908

    The city loses one of its most aged and interesting landmarks in the tearing down of the stone building on Main Street, once known as the McKinster Hotel. The building was recently visited by fire.

    1917

    A great campaign was initiated by Mayor Abram Zoller to have a branch of the American Red Cross in Little Falls. Led by many clubs and organizations, nearly 4,000 local citizens joined. The chapter was housed in the old bank building on South Ann Street after the bank’s move to new quarters in the Burrell building.

    1933

    As the Great Depression continues, the local taxpayers group demanded a further reduction in the city and school budgets, claiming homeowners can no longer afford current taxes. It was suggested that there be larger cuts for higher salaried municipal employees. There were heated verbal exchanges throughout the meeting. The city fathers approved the budgets.

  • This day in history: April 4

    1793

    Before the Octagon Church was built, an agreement was drawn up stating that preaching was to be in German and English on alternating Sundays, and pews were to be sold to the highest bidders.

    1833

    Lawyer Arphaxed Loomis advertised water rights for sale.  About this time the Mill Street raceway was built that supplied power to many industries along the river.

    1904

    Titus Sheard, an industrial leader in Little Falls during the Gay Nineties, passed away today.

From the Cooney Archives

News and Updates

Sometimes Distributing Vaccines Easier Said Than Done by Schuyler Van Horn

With all the buzz about COVID-19 vaccines, it brought back memories of vaccines administered when I was in Vietnam in 1971-72. I was not a Medic but an intelligence officer stationed in a remote place named An Loc. Not far from the Cambodian border, 70 miles north of Saigon, straddling Route 13 (Thunder Road), I was one of 32 Americans in MACV advisor team 47, next to 2,000 ARVN (Army of the Republic of Viet Nam).

Hector Allen by David Krutz

To anyone who walked the halls of Little Falls High School in the 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s and even into the 1990’s Hector Allen was a familiar and respected figure.
Hector taught “Social Studies” – New York State, United States and World History – at LFHS for 34 years. 

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Using a treasure trove at the Little Falls Historical Society Museum, Louie Baum toiled for months creating an over 200-page document to chronicle the historic past of Little Falls.

OLD BANK BUILDING REACHES A MILESTONE | Little Falls Historical Society Museum

OLD BANK BUILDING REACHES A MILESTONE

Photo submitted – National Herkimer County Bank and Presbyterian Church in the background – (Kinney Plaza) circa 1860. by Pat Frezza-Gressler, member of the Little Falls Historical Society Constructed of native stone in 1833 as the first bank in Herkimer County and placed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1970, the Little Falls […]

HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND SUNY ONEONTA COLLABORATION

This article is more about the future than the past.  Although 2020 will be remembered for the succession of crises that changed our lives in many ways, for the members of the Little Falls Historical Society, a group of six students from SUNY Oneonta’s Cooperstown Graduate Program of Museum Studies and their professor, this year […]

Theresa Carrig Children's Center at the Little Falls Library

Expatriate hopes generosity will inspire others

Little Falls native Blaise Carrig (LFHS class of 1969) and his wife Leslie donated $50,000 earlier this year to six Little Falls non-profit organizations. The Carrigs responded to a series of questions for this article from their home in Longmont, Colorado.  “We make a living by what we get but we make a life by […]

HISTORICAL SOCIETY PROJECT SOLICITING COVID-19 RELATED SUBMISSIONS

The Little Falls Historical Society has added a Making History Today repository page to our website This new page is for the purpose of collecting residents’ input and creating a body of work that will help future generations better understand how the greater Little Falls community has been impacted by the pandemic.  Society members, local […]