From manufacturing, education and sports entertainment, a healthy area economy was picking up the pace during February, 60 years ago.
While the industry is now long gone, The Oneonta Star of Feb. 1, 1964 reported, “A quiet but steadily continuing program of growth and expansion at Oneonta Dress Company, Inc., at 359 Chestnut St., is one of the brightest stars in Oneonta’s industrial sky.
“Addition of more than 5,000 feet of floor space, now under construction at the Chestnut Street plant will bring that expansion program to more than 20,000 feet of factory space added during the past few months.
“Not only has Oneonta Dress added space, the firm has also added many employees. Currently, according to the plant operator, Mrs. Lillian Creighton, there are 200 employees working the day shift at the area factory.
“This is about 100 more than were employed there in late 1962, early 1963.”
With a dateline of Cobleskill, The Star of Feb. 17 reported, “A big boost for a new industry…to furnish 33 jobs within the year, was provided February 13 when the New York State Job Development Authority put up $40,500 to help finance a $135,000 rehabilitation of the former Remington Rand plant here.
“The refurbishing of the plant is being done for Klein Industries Inc., a firm which builds wooden windows and curtain walls for residential and commercial construction.”
A local college was certainly making an impact on a small town, as the Star of Feb. 26 reported, “Starting this September the Delhi community will have a payroll amounting to approximately $1,000,000 as part of its annual income according to Paul D. Nealon, director of development for the State University of New York Agricultural and Technical Institute at Delhi.
“Mr. Nealon made the statement in his opening remarks to the Delaware County Farm Bureau Kitchen Conference No. 7 at its February meeting.
“He went on to note that by this September the college will employ about 200 persons, not including the many construction workers engaged in the college’s building program.” Like many other SUNY campuses, Delhi was experiencing a major expansion of buildings and enrollment at the time.
The sports and entertainment industry got quite a lift that month, through those four famous words from the world of boxing, “I am the Greatest.”
The Star of Feb. 26 reported, “Cassius Clay scored one of the greatest upsets in fight history Tuesday night when he stopped heavyweight Sonny Liston at the end of six rounds and became the new heavyweight ruler.” Clay was a two-to-one underdog going into the fight, held in Miami Beach. Clay quickly began using that phrase.
Oneonta’s reaction to the victory was reported in The Star’s Feb. 27 edition. John Lough was a columnist at that time, and he had picked the underdog to win.
“He (Clay) also touched off what has become the official greeting in Oneonta — and maybe all over the world.
“‘I am the greatest’ has swept the city, beginning early in the newspaper day when Oneonta automan Jake Green paraded through the newsroom in mid-afternoon, mimicking the redoubtable Mr. Clay.
“Downtown was full of it, especially since a big percentage of Oneontans had gone wholeheartedly with predictions of Clay’s elimination from contention in one to three rounds.
“But to have him win — and on the strength of a fight in which he did everything I had predicted him to do — has brought fresh accusations upon my head.
“Weeks ago my critics asked, ‘Who ever said you knew anything about boxing?’ Wednesday the same critics were hammering away again — this time with ‘You dog, how come you had the inside word and didn’t tell us?’
“Well, I did give them the word and even Oneonta’s onetime fistic great Carl Delberta went along with it long enough to be soundly ridiculed until he finally succumbed to the propaganda of the ‘invincible’ Liston and backslid.”
At that time, there was no pay-per-view television around Oneonta, so many took in a viewing of the fight a few days later at the Oneonta Theatre.
This weekend, a look back at our local life and times in February 1934.
Oneonta City Historian Mark Simonson’s column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area before 1950. His Wednesday columns address local history 1950 and later. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or email him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is oneontanyhistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/opinion/columns/.