Published: July 28, 2008 03:45 am         

Summer of '58 was busy time in Oneonta city

July of 1958 had plenty of activities going on around Oneonta. Some events were significant, while others were just trivial.

The State University Teachers College at Oneonta was certainly a busy place. It had the greatest number of students enrolled in summer study since 1924. More than 900 were registered to begin classes July 1, and those numbers were expected to rise.

According to Summer Session Director James A. Frost, there were 998 students enrolled in 1924 because the college course changed from a two-year program to three years, and many teachers sought the extra year of training.

Meanwhile, on July 17, it was announced that the SUTC would become one of five schools in the State University system to offer science and mathematics programs for teachers on the high school level. Up to that time, SUTC at Oneonta offered only teacher preparation courses for those entering the elementary teaching field.

The news was greeted enthusiastically, because it permitted a larger number of students to enroll at the college. The major expansion of buildings and enrollment came about four years later.

There was apparently an economic recession going on at the time. Roscoe C. Briggs, owner of the Briggs Lumber Co., was a guest speaker of the Kiwanis Club on July 23. Briggs believed that good selling was a cure for the recession.

"When prosperity comes _ and it will, _ " Briggs declared, "it will be the salesman who hastened it if not created it. We don't legislate our way out of a recession; we sell our way out of it."

"Mr. Fix-It Knows No Recession" was the headline on a article in the July 7 Oneonta Star. It told how busy J. Rex Chamberlain was, who had a shop at 575 Main St. This was Mr. Chamberlain's "retirement" job, as he fixed lawnmowers and bicycles, among other things. The shop was always stocked with peanuts in a shell, because Mr. Chamberlain had his little chipmunk companions to feed.

The Salvation Army was gearing up for a fund drive to erect a building in Oneonta. Eventually, that became the one we know today on River Street. The cornerstone on that building reads 1961. Captain Leo G. Wittenberg said the condition of the present Salvation Army building at 133 Main St. "does not lend itself to the program we want to carry on."

This building once stood at the corner of Grove and Main, where the 125 Main St. building now stands.

The corner of Broad and Main streets became the taxi and bus terminal on July 1. This area is on today's Kim K. Muller Plaza, and the building is presently occupied by Key Bank. B-Line Taxi service vacated its office at 41 Chestnut St. and Oneonta Cab moved its office at 6 Broad St. to here. Some may recall this building as the one-time home of A&W Bakery, Crouch Radio and the Lewis Jewelry Store.

The final hurdles were cleared this month for converting Brown Park into a city parking lot. The park was found where the parking lot for Clinton Plaza is today. The park was started by Walter Brown, who once lived across the street at 97 Main St. The only item remaining from the park today is the Sullivan and Clinton Expedition monument at the corner of Market and Main Streets.

School safety patrols were set to have some adult company in the coming school year. Adult traffic guards were OK'd by Common Council for all five elementary schools. I recall that Milo Ross was the crossing guard at my school, Center Street.

There were plenty of options for dining and dancing that July. First you could start out with a special of the week at The Diana Restaurant at 156 Main St. You could get a broiled club sirloin with potatoes, vegetable, rolls and butter and beverage for $2. Then you could go dancing at The Goodyear Pavilion on Goodyear Lake, the Meredith Inn, Rainbow Gardens in Davenport or Ideal Gardens in Bloomville. If dancing wasn't your thing, you could take in a play at Duke's Oak Theater north of Cooperstown, as "The Matchmaker" was being performed. Phone Cooperstown 413 for reservations.

This weekend: it's county fair time, so we'll journey over to Cobleskill.

City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com.