About 30 people celebrated the first of a series of planned historical marker unveilings in Oneonta at Center Street School on Friday, June 13.
The Center Street School marker commemorates the school as the oldest standing public school in Oneonta.
The school opened Oct. 25, 1897, and the building has served various educational purposes since. In 1906, the village of Oneonta leased the school to the Oneonta State Normal School, which used it as a training site until about 1933.
The school was renovated in 1948, and an additional wing was added in 1960. The school closed in 2012 and currently houses the Oneonta City School District offices.
The school building “remains a significant piece of Oneonta’s history,” said Greater Oneonta Historical Society Executive Director Marcela Micucci.
Micucci recognized the contributions of the William G. Pomeroy Foundation’s New York State Historic Marker Grant Program, Superintendent of Schools Thomas Brindley, District Clerk Reggie McGuinness, and the city Public Works crew that installed the roadside marker.
Oneonta Mayor Mark Drnek said the markers celebrate the history of various neighborhoods.
“This school was the heart of this neighborhood for such a long time,” he said. “Having that designation here for all to see is one of the great additions.”
Brindley said that the school stood at the heart of education in the community.
“They don’t build them like this anymore,” he said. “Although its purpose has changed over the years — from once a school shaping young minds, to now our district office building — the work continues, and that is of supporting learning and growth in our community … It’s a tribute to the generations of students and educators and community members who have passed through these doors with great hope, with great purpose, and with great Yellowjacket pride.”
McGuinness and John P. Cook, retired principal of Center Street School from 1984 to 2010, took the lead in removing the covering from banner.
Upcoming events
The distinctive yellow and blue roadside markers commemorate places of historical significance and the community’s efforts to preserve them.
According to a GOHS news release, the Pomeroy Foundation funded the purchase of the markers in Oneonta for the school and the historic Red Caboose in Neahwa Park.
With the help of the Unitarian Universalist Church, the Schumann Foundation, the Future for Oneonta Foundation and private donors, GOHS also has funded three historical markers for the Sixth Ward, the Ford Mansion and McDonald Tavern.
The marker at the Red Caboose honors Oneonta’s railroad history and the founding of one of the first and largest labor organizations, the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen (later Trainmen) in 1883.
The Sixth Ward marker commemorates the Sixth Ward neighborhood, its diverse community of immigrants, and the social and civic institutions they created.
The marker at the Ford Mansion, once home to abolitionist Eliakim Reed Ford, recognizes Oneonta as a reputed stop on the Underground Railroad. The marker will stand at the former location of the stone mansion, which was torn down in 1929 near the corner of Ford Avenue and Main Street, where Community Bank now stands.
The final marker remembers McDonald Tavern, razed in 1961. It was one of the first operating taverns in Oneonta and the reputed birthplace of acclaimed photographer of the West, Carleton Watkins.
Throughout the summer, public unveiling ceremonies will be held for each historical marker as follows:
The Red Caboose, 15 James Georgeson Ave., at 1 p.m. Tuesday, July 1The Oneonta Boys & Girls Club, 70 River St., for The Sixth Ward, at 2 p.m. Friday, July 25The Ford Mansion (now Community Bank, 245 Main St) at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13The McDonald Tavern (now Stewart’s Shops, 47 Main St.) at 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28
All historical marker unveilings are free and open to the public.