It just appeared to be a good time to stay indoors around Delhi during January 1936.
For a brief time, that’s about all you could do. As the Delaware Express reported on Jan. 24, “Delaware County got its first 1936 taste of real winter weather this week, staring with the heaviest snowfall of the year on Saturday and Sunday and extreme cold and high winds Wednesday night and Thursday. It had one saving grace, however. Post cards from visitors in Florida complaining of cold weather now sound rather hollow.
“Snow fell all over the county to a depth of from one foot to eighteen inches over the weekend. That wasn’t the worst of it, however. After fairly comfortable weather on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the mercury took a sudden plunge Wednesday night and high winds appeared. Most of the work of plowing out roads and shoveling sidewalks that had been cleared Sunday and Monday had to be done all over again into deep drifts, disrupting traffic everywhere and delaying mails for hours.
“Gangs of WPA workmen took less than two days in clearing the huge snowpiles away from the county seat’s business section. This is a far cry from the days not long past when the snow remained on Main Street until it melted into ankle deep slush.”
With the snow and cold keeping many indoors, one thing you could do is turn up the thermostat and not feel worried doing so, because the Express of Jan. 10 reported, “The New York State Electric and Gas Corporation has filed a revision of residential rates with the Public Service Commission to be made effective in the Otsego division of the company’s territory, and which is estimated to save consumers $41,500 annually. The new rates will mean reductions in all bills in excess of the minimum charge.”
Local residents weren’t completely homebound in January. In that same edition of the Express, readers learned, “After verging on insanity for nearly an hour, 300 basketball fans went completely daffy Tuesday night as Charlie Haefele dropped in a hurried shot from near the foul stripe to give the Delhi Merchants a 36-34 victory over the Cobleskill Alumni at the State School gymnasium. There was less than a minute to go when Charlie stepped clear of a hectic skirmish under the basket to make the crucial shot.
“The victory puts the Merchants only one-half game behind the Tri-County League leaders and marks Cobleskill’s first league defeat this year.
“Tuesday’s struggle left nothing to be desired. It was a slam bang affair from first to last and only the capable handling of the situation by Referee Everett Hubbard kept the lads from committing mayhem. As it was, the game was relatively clean in spite of its high speed. The addicts who packed the stage, gallery and sidelines had the time of their lives. There was little wear and tear on the seats, hardly anyone sat on them, preferring to stand on their feet and howl.”
The aforementioned WPA was busy around Delhi that year, and things were set to get busier, as the Express of Jan. 31 reported, “There will be more than 750 Delaware County persons employed on Works Project Administration projects next week, Jerome J. Farrell, county administrator, said yesterday. This number will include one hundred women who will be at work on new projects, announced Monday as having been approved.
“Nine road and street jobs, which had been in operation, are being held in abeyance until Spring, Mr. Farrell said, and, the 320 men who had been transferred to the 10,500 acre game preserve project in the lower end of the county.
“Improvements to the State School of Agriculture, Delhi, are included among projects having been approved. The work at the school, for which $42,216.95 has been allotted, includes the completion of the partially built structure to house the farm mechanics and construction trades departments and grading and landscaping of the grounds around this and the new homemaking department building which was opened for use last week.”
One hundred women took part in another newly-approved project in sewing rooms in Colchester, Deposit, Hancock, Sidney, Walton, Middletown and Delhi, to manufacture and repair clothing.
On Tuesday, a look at our area’s life and times in the early months of 1991.