A new form of public transit, paved streets and the “Greatest Show” came to town.
That sums up our local life and times around the Oneonta area in May 1901.
Area residents would soon have an easier way to get to and from the Mohawk Valley, as readers of The Oneonta Star of May 8 found out, “Scattered at various points along the Otego valley between West Oneonta and Hartwick, a distance of about fifteen miles, are nearly five hundred employees of the Oneonta, Cooperstown and Richfield Springs railway, and that a trolley railroad between the two points is well on to completion.”
This new railway went through several name changes during its history, last known as the Southern New York Railway. From Richfield Springs the line extended to the village of Mohawk.
It was decision time for some possible improvements in what was still the village of Oneonta. As The Star of May 18 reported, “Oneonta’s future is in the hands of its citizens. It has grown from a small country hamlet to a thriving, prosperous village, largely because its citizens have favored advancement, striven for improvements and new enterprises.
“True, the advent of the railroad and the establishment of the Normal school have given it added impetus, but behind these have been men of push and confidence in the town’s future who have labored at all times to bring these enterprises here. At no time in its history has its future been more dependent upon the citizens than now.
“If residents are to be attracted here, public improvements must be made and the town made desirable. If townsfolk hesitate to issue obligations for improved streets, others will avoid the town. Its position, financially and commercially, demand all paved streets.” What existed was mud and rotted blocks of wood.
Brick pavements were called for, and the plan called for bricks from Luther Street to Third Street, along the length of Main Street, all of Broad Street, and from Main to West Street along the length of Chestnut Street.
Another improvement called for a better method of crossing the D&H Railroad tracks on Main Street, near River. There was no viaduct in place, but that too was reported in The Star of May 24. Prominent citizen Eliakim R. Ford contacted state railroad commissioners to replace the at-grade crossing with a bridge over the tracks. Ford got an engineer from the commission to come to Oneonta and take measurements and draw plans. It wouldn’t be long before the long waits at that crossing came to an end.
The Star of May 16 begged the rhetorical question, “What’s more fun than a circus?
“There is something doing from the time the first section of the circus train arrives in the early morning until the last cars pull out after loading at night. So it was in Oneonta yesterday, when the town broke its bad circus weather precedent and gave to the big Ringling Brothers’ show as fine a day as could be desired.
“The first of the three sections of the train arrived from Scranton, Pa., at 8 a.m. and the unloading, which began promptly, was witnessed by a crowd of people. The other sections followed closely and there was a procession of lumbering wagons, drawn by sleek and powerful horses, elephants, camels and other strange animals, from the depot to the fairgrounds, lasting for several hours. The management decided that the Wilcox lot, which had been engaged for the exhibition, was too wet and the fairground was selected for their use.”
The fairgrounds were found on today’s Belmont Circle neighborhood in Oneonta’s First Ward. The Wilcox lot, a regular area for gatherings like these, was found where today’s Riverside Elementary School and Swart-Wilcox House Museum are. The circus didn’t have to deal with the aforementioned poor pavement and railroad crossing this time.
“Everybody had looked for a big show but all were surprised at the magnitude of the outfit. Those who thought they would be satisfied with seeing the unloading and the street parade found the old desire — their boyhood inheritance — growing within them and decided … to go to the circus.”
On Tuesday, a look at our local life and times in the spring of 1971.