50 YEARS AGO — 1976
— Plattsburgh State University College is upgrading its computer capabilities this week with the addition of a Burroughs B4700 computer. The B4700 will replace the B3500 computer which has been the heart of Plattsburgh State’s computer operations for the last five years. The newer model is a third-generation machine and a member of the Burroughs medium system family. It will process the college’s computer programs at more than twice the speed of the machine it replaces, and can store nearly 70 per cent more information, allowing it to process a greater number of dissimilar computer programs simultaneously. The college will afford the B4700 for approximately the same monthly operational costs it has incurred with the smaller machine. All peripheral computer equipment attached to the present computer system — including card readers, printers, discs, tape drives, consoles, etc. — is compatible with the B4700 and will not be replaced, according to James Holland, manager of data processing at the College. The new computer will service both academic and business needs at the college. Students at the college use the computer extensively in their computer programming training, and it is essential to the College’s official record-keeping and business operations. The computer center also processes records for Clinton Community College.
— With luck and federal dollars, the city might see the completion of a pedestrian shopping mall by this time next summer. Robert F. Bristol of Saratoga Associates said he plans to apply for newly available funding by the end of August. If approval comes soon and construction can begin sometime later this fall, Bristol said most of the renovations needed for the pedestrian mall could be finished by next summer. “What we are working on now is a physical plan, what the city will have to do with the downtown area, to make street repairs and curb changes and to bring in more utilities — possibly more street lights,” Bristol said. Two large areas which can provide shopping space are the now-empty Montgomery Ward and J.C. Penney buildings. Bristol said these buildings would be ideally used if they could be converted to accommodate indoor shops and stores — an indoor mall to accommodate the pedestrian traffic outside.
75 YEARS AGO — 1951
— Dr. Clayton Steward, state district health officer, has released the results of the Plattsburgh Chest X-ray to the Clinton County Tuberculosis and Public Health Association. Ninety-six per cent of the 5,875 people x-rayed from May 20 through June 8 are happy to know they have healthy chests. These people have already received negative reports. They now feel it was well worth the few minutes it took to go through the x-ray van furnished by the New York State Health Department. It is important to have a chest x-ray every year if tuberculosis is to be found in its early stages. Many years of curing can be saved if the disease is found before it is far advanced. Tuberculosis is not inherited, but is transmitted to a healthy person by an infected person. Of the remaining 4 per cent, about .2 per cent probably have active tuberculosis. None of these cases are far advanced. One and one-half per cent are suspected cases and will have to have further tests. Other abnormalities of the chest, including heart and lung conditions, account for the remaining 2.3 per cent of the total numbers. Assemblyman James A. FitzPatrick was chairman of the successful community project which was manned by approximately 150 Plattsburgh citizens. “Health is everybody’s business” is fast becoming Plattsburgh’s slogan.
— One of the oldest houses of worship in Plattsburgh—perhaps the oldest—which has survived a century and a quarter at least, is the small, beautiful Jewish temple on Oak Street south of the First Methodist Church. It has been remodeled a number of times to meet the needs of the synagogue, which has been its home for nearly 90 years. The building was erected (exact year unknown) by the Universalist congregation which disbanded as a congregation about a century ago. It was used for worship for two years by St. Peter’s congregation during the erection of its present church on Cornelia Street. The building was then occupied in 1866 by Beth Israel congregation and is its home now. Both Beth Israel and St. Peter’s are highly interested to ascertain the year of its erection and so are a number of Plattsburgh residents interested in the history of the city. Any person in Plattsburgh or vicinity descended from any member of the historic Universalist congregation or who knows of any, please contact the editor of the Press-Republican, Rabbi Solomon Schoenkopf or Dr. Roswell A. Hogue.
100 YEARS AGO — 1926
— At the meeting of the City Council last night it was definitely decided that the bridge over the Saranac river on Bridge street will have to be replaced. The present structure is old, built long before present-day automobile congestion was dreamed of; hence, the ever increasing volume of cars, trolleys and heavy trucking bound to and from the railroad freight yards is making this span unsafe. Structural details and estimates as to cost will be discussed as soon as various necessary preliminaries are decided upon. Meanwhile residents of Plattsburgh may be assured that work on the actual bridge will be undertaken as soon as possible. The superintendent of Public Works was also instructed to look into the condition of the curbing, catch basins, etc., on Couch street between Oak and Margaret streets. Various complaints have recently been received that water is draining into the cellars of the houses in this block.
— A pair of new tan shoes on a boy of about eight years, resulted in the apprehension of the alleged thief who broke the seal on three freight car doors sometime Sunday night and stole three pairs of shoes and six boxes of raisins. Early Monday morning, D. & H. Patrolman George Anderson, while making a tour of inspection of the company’s yards, noticed three freight car doors open on a siding in the rear of the barracks. Making an investigation the patrolman discovered that a number of shoe boxes had been broken into and three pairs of shoes missing. In another car, he found a carton of raisins opened with six boxes missing. Near where the robbery took place was found the three emptied shoe boxes and the empty raisin boxes. Working on the theory that it might have been the work of youngsters because of the small footprints near the cars, the D. & H. police have been running down all clues which might tend to point towards the guilty persons. Yesterday afternoon as D. & H. Patrolman James Hanscomb was sitting on the steps of the guard house at Plattsburgh Barracks he noticed a small boy walking by with a brand-new pair of shoes on which the officer said were much too big for him. Officer Hanscomb stopped the boy and after questioning him at length was given to understand that the boy had been given the shoes by a soldier. The boy told the officer that, together with his brother and another boy, they saw a soldier breaking into the box cars and that the soldier gave him a pair of shoes if he would say nothing about what he saw. Officer Hanscomb then secured the services of the military police and with the description of the soldier given to them by the young boy went to Company “A” and placed under arrest Private Cyril Gaushal. He was locked up at the post guardhouse. A warrant was sworn out for Gaushal by Captain LeBaron of the D. & H. Police late yesterday afternoon and it is expected that he will be arraigned in city court this morning.