NEWS

This Week in History: Utica parents want school for their daughters

By Frank Tomaino

Special to the Observer-Dispatch

In 1958, the Observer-Dispatch added a third floor extending to Catherine Street to its building on Oriskany Street. The building was erected in 1915 with a front entrance on Catherine Street and a rear loading dock facing the old Erie Canal. The canal was abandoned in the late 1920s, filled in, paved and named Oriskany Street. So in 1930, the newspaper moved to a new front entrance to face Oriskany Street. It was three stories high and dominated by three large, distinctive, round-arched windows. It did not, however, extend to Catherine Street. After 1958, it did. The newspaper’s neighbors, at the time, were wholesale grocers Griffin & Hoxie (on the left and today the newspaper’s employee parking lot) and Field & Start (on the right and today a parking lot facing John Street for employees and visitors).

1837, 183 years ago

Sons and daughters

Parents in Utica send a message that is loud and clear: “We want a school for the training of our daughters which shall be as good as the academy has been for the training of our sons.”

The message is heard by prominent, influential Uticans who begin to take steps to do away with the necessity of parents having to send their daughters away to get a high school education.

The Utica Female Academy is chartered and among its trustees are Horatio Seymour, John C. Devereux, Theodore Faxton, Alrick Hubbell, Alfred Munson and Joshua Spencer. Classes are held in the former United States Hotel at Genesee and Pearl streets (about where the Delta Hotel by Marriott is today). Urania Sheldon is principal and among the courses being taught are English, French, Latin, chemistry, drawing, painting and music.

1920, 100 years ago

Church schools

Utica’s parochial schools register 4,414 students – 3,727 in elementary grades and 687 in high schools. Schools and their enrollments: Blessed Sacrament, 378, Holy Trinity, 440, St. Mary of Mount Carmel, 312, Our Lady of Lourdes, 628, Sacred Heart, 329, St. Agnes, 238, St. John’s Home, 44, St. Joseph’s, 259, St. Mary’s, 103, St. Patrick’s, 289, St. Stanislaus, 115, Utica Catholic Academy, 16 elementary students and 265 in high school, St. Francis de Sales, 576 in elementary and 422 in high schools.

1945, 75 years ago

A special gift

A patient at Rhodes Army Hospital, on Burrstone Road, goes to Washington to present President Harry Truman with the only existing piece of the American flag that flew over Corregidor until the Japanese captured the fort in the Philippines in May 1942 in the early days of World War II. Colonel Delbert Ausmus, of Schenectady, preserved a little fragment of the flag during the 39 months he was in a Japanese prison camp, concealing it beneath a false bandage patch under his shirt.

1970, 50 years ago

Colgate’s first

Twelve students from the area this semester are among the first female students in the 151-year history of Colgate University. They are: from Ilion, Mary Ann Hughes and Deborah Long; from New Hartford, Sandra Grabowski; from Bridgewater, Diane Ciccone; from Rome, Barbara Bara, Sarah Kinison and Barbara Peel; from Vernon, Lindsay Pohl; from Deansboro, Judy Page; from West Winfield, Lois Gigliotti, and from Utica, Lythel Mims and Hazel Blumberg.

In area bowling news, Vi Bonomo fires a 632 series, which includes a 256 game, in the Aurora Bowlaway. She is president of the Utica Women’s Bowling Association. Bob Babiarz rolls a 652 series in the Sunset Major League on games of 224, 212 and 214.

The 12th annual Cotillion Ball in the Valley View Country Club is sponsored by the Octavan Charity Club of Utica. Commentators are Dick Frank and Loretta Johnson. Hostesses are Joyce Bass, Alfredia Brown, Pamela Maddox, Janice Thompson, Toya Harris and Rowena Copeland. Among those attending are Morris Brown, Deborah Harris, Braxter Doles Jr., Dorothy Felton, Philip Benson, Janice Cooper, Theresa Becker, Marilyn Maddox, Lois Walker and Marylinn Paterson.

1995, 25 years ago

‘A good community’

Crime statistics released by the FBI show that the Utica-Rome-Herkimer County area ranks among the lowest in the country in areas with a population of more than 100,000. Dade County in Florida, which contains Miami, has the worst crime record. Johnstown, Pennsylvania, has the lowest crime rate. Michael Arcuri, Oneida County district attorney, says, “We have a good community here. Historically, it is a good place to raise a family.”

The Women’s Christian Association of Utica awards scholarships to four students at Mohawk Valley Community College: Janice Marsden of Poland, Anne Pletl of Marcy, Roberta Graziadei of Clark Mills and Jacqueline Sommers of Rome.

The Oneida Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution award “good citizenship” scholarships to high school students: John Majka of Clinton, Lisa Zeidner of New Hartford, John Monahan of Notre Dame, Shawn Ciecko of New York Mills, Colleen Hughes of Proctor, Ralph Trumble of Sauquoit, Joshua Eisenhut of Waterville and Jennifer Ashton of Whitesboro.

2010, 10 years ago

Parade float

The Oneida Indian Nation will have a float in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this month. It’s the third consecutive year that the Nation has been invited to participate in the nationally televised parade in New York City. The float – called “The True Spirit of Thanksgiving” – represents the creation of the Oneida Indian Nation.

Trivia quiz

Name the two presidents of the United States who served in the military in World War I, the three who served in the Mexican War, the three who served in the Revolutionary War and the one who served in the Spanish-American War. (Answers will appear here next week.)

Answer to last week’s question: Grover Cleveland was mayor of Buffalo in November 1882. In November 1883, he was governor of New York. In November 1884, he was elected 22nd president of the United States.

This Week in History is researched and written by Frank Tomaino. Email him at ftomaino221@gmail.com.