ALL HOMETOWN HEROES SPOTS CURRENTLY FILLED. Waiting list available in the event the program is expanded.
GOHS Announces Next Big Project, the Hometown Heroes Program
This spring, the Greater Oneonta Historical Society (GOHS), in partnership with the City of Oneonta, will launch the Hometown Heroes Program. The Hometown Heroes Program is designed to honor a specific category of individuals who have made a significant contribution to their community and/or country. This cycle, GOHS will honor its hometown veterans.
Each of our hometown veterans will be honored with a custom 18×48” banner, to be sponsored and paid for by anyone who would like to honor a veteran. A sponsor may be a business, a friend or family member of a veteran (or a group of friends or family members), or the veteran themselves. The honoree does not need to be a native of Oneonta.
Each banner will include a picture of the veteran, their name and branch of service, time served, and any medals received. The banners will hang on street posts throughout Oneonta’s downtown, Neahwa Park, and/or various streets throughout the city of Oneonta. The banners will be on display from Memorial Day (May 29) 2023 through Veterans Day (November 11) 2023, at which time the banner will be taken down and returned to the sponsor. Sponsors will have the opportunity to renew the display of their banner each year for a small fee.
The number of banners and their locations are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so don’t miss your opportunity to register for your veteran’s banner! Banner sponsors can purchase and register for their banners by mail (PO Box 814, Oneonta NY 13820), email (directormm@oneontahistory.org
The Hometown Heroes Banners are a wonderful way to foster our local community’s appreciation and respect for Oneonta’s many veterans and heroes, past and present. For further inquiries, contact GOHS’ Executive Director Marcela Micucci at 607-432-0960 or directormm@oneontahistory.
Sharing Oneonta Baseball History - Tuesday, June 6, 6-8pm
Join GOHS’ Bob Brzozowski and Chris Vredenburg as they host a free event at the History Center (183
Main Street) for fans to share their stories of Oneonta’s baseball history. This event coincides with the
opening of Oneonta – On the Road to Major League Baseball, a display exploring baseball’s Major
Leaguers who played for Oneonta teams. The exhibit will be open Thursday, June 1, and close Saturday, September 1.
Oneonta has a storied baseball history, including dozens of major leaguers who played for Oneonta teams. Major leaguers played for Oneonta High School; Hartwick College; SUNY Oneonta; the Canadian-American League’s Oneonta Indians; the New York-Penn League’s Oneonta Red Sox, Yankees, and
Tigers; the Oneonta Outlaws of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, and more!
The display will feature baseball cards of some of those players, including Frank Malzone, Don Mattingly,
Curtis Granderson, and many more. GOHS’ Bob Brzozowski and Chris Vredenburg are curating this
display of baseball cards from the GOHS collections.
History After Hours: All Aboard! - Thursday, June 8, 5-7pm
Returning in June is GOHS’ History After Hours series, which will kick off on Thursday, June 8, from 5:00 – 7:00 pm with our first installment, History After Hours: All Aboard! The program will offer a variety of activities for adults and children of all ages at the Oneonta History Center (183 Main Street) centered around our new D&H special exhibition, including an opportunity to get hands-on with some featured D&H objects from our collection; a chance to taste some of the D&H train car fares from the early 1900s; and children will have the opportunity to craft a miniature, light-up railroad crossing sign and train treat.
Fairchild Mansion Walking Tour - Saturday, June 24, 2pm
Join Bruce Van Buren as he leads a tour through the historic home of George Fairchild, a U.S. Congressman and the first chairman of the Board of IBM. Fairchild’s son Sherman, today considered the father of aerial photography, was the founder of Fairchild Camera and Fairchild Aviation, and funded the founding of Fairchild Semiconductor. This tour is by donation and reservations are not required. We will meet at 2pm at the doors of the Masonic Lodge (322 Main Street).
Trouble Ahead, Trouble Behind: Strikes and Strife on the D&H 1910-1922
A Talk by Dr. John Nader
Saturday, July 8, 1 pm
On Saturday, July 8 at 1:00 pm, GOHS member, historian, and Mayor Dr. John Nader will give a talk at the Oneonta History Center on early Delaware & Hudson labor relations. Trouble Ahead, Trouble Behind Strikes and Strife on the D&H, 1910-1922.
This event is free and open to the public, but GOHS is requesting that attendees please RSVP by Friday, July 7 to directormm@oneontahistory.org or by calling the History Center at 607-432- 0960, to reserve your seat.
Nader is also writing a book on the history of the 6th Ward in the 20th century. He is interested in talking with others who are willing to share documents, family histories or papers, photos, other materials, or recollections. He can be reached by email at johnsnader@gmail.com.
History After Hours: Player Pianos! - Thursday, July 13, 5-7pm
July’s History After Hours event will take place on Thursday, July 13 (5:00 – 7:00pm), and will center on the GOHS’ Player Piano and the history of music and piano manufacturing in Oneonta. History After Hours: Player Piano! will feature our fully restored Shearer player piano, as Ben Gottfried from Richfield Springs will “roll” into town with his story of rebuilding player pianos for people from all over the country for nearly 50 years! The player piano is a pneumatic device fitted into a piano that plays the piano in very human-like way as it works on air flow. They were produced in great quantities starting around 1910 to the late 1920s when
their popularity faded. They became popular again in the 1960s when player pianos once again became top sellers in music stores. The modern era came to an end in 1984 when the last pneumatic player was produced new in this country. We will be playing some great tunes that we have here in our piano roll archives to compliment this rich history of the player piano and more importantly the musical styling of the music on the paper rolls. Singing and dancing encouraged, but not required!
Historic Main Street Walking Tour - Wednesday, August 9, 5pm
Join us on Wednesday, August 9, as GOHS members Bob Brzozowski and Steve Yerly, and Otsego 2000 Executive Director Ellen Pope lead a tour of historic Main Street to coincide with the Preservation League’s designation of the Oneonta Downtown Historic District being on the League’s Seven to Save list. The tour is by donation and will leave from the History Center at 5:00 PM. Reservations are not required.
History After Hours: Hometown History! - Thursday, August 17, 5-7pm
Our final installment of our summer History After Hoiurs series will be on Thursday, August 17 (5:00 – 7:00pm). History After Hours: Hometown History! will feature a talk by Jim Greenberg, co-creator of the new WWII fallen database and website. Also debuting will be GOHS’ printed brochure of Oneonta’s veterans honored on the Hometown Heroes banners found on Main, Chestnut, and River Streets. More details on the August History After Hours to come!
D&H Special Exhibition - April 22, 2023 - November 2023
This spring, GOHS will open our next special exhibition, to open in April 2023. Released in two parts, the exhibition will commemorate the bicentennial of the D&H Canal Company charter, which provided over 100 years of railroad service to the town and city of Oneonta.
Part I, Building Up Steam: The Rise of the D&H Railroad in Oneonta (April 22 – July) and Part II, Leaving the Station: The Fall of the D&H Railroad in Oneonta (August – November) will explore the rise and fall of the D&H Railroad and its operations in Oneonta from the 1850s through modern day, including the invaluable impact the railroad had on Oneonta’s economic, social, and cultural landscape.
On display in the Brzozowski Special Exhibition Gallery and the SUNY Oneonta Alumni and Buckingham windows, it will feature a variety of local D&H artifacts, documents, and photographs from GOHS’ collection.
The exhibit is curated by GOHS’ Executive Director, Dr. Marcela Micucci, and Associate Curator Bhanu Gaur, with the help of a talented team of exhibition designers, docents, advisors, and collections staff. This exhibition was made possible in part by a 2023 New York State Council of the Arts Support for Organizations grant.
D&H Roundhouse Walking Tour - Saturday, May 13, 4pm, Roundhouse Road
Join GOHS’ Bob Brzozowski, Bhanu Gaur, and Gary Wickham as they lead a tour down Roundhouse Road, parallel to the railroad tracks and nearby the former location of the historic D&H Roundhouse, one of the world’s largest. This tour leaves at 4:00pm from the Roundhouse Historic Marker at the corner of Fonda Street and Roundhouse Road. This tour is by donation and reservations are not required.