Ask someone the name of a three-ring circus and their response would likely be Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey, or a combination of the two. Ringling Brothers World’s Greatest Shows was established in 1884 and P.T. Barnum’s Great Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Hippodrome had opened in 1871. Predating both was the biggest, most successful, though also the least known of the traveling shows, Adam Forepaugh’s Great All-Feature Show and Wild West Combined, established in 1863. [Read more…] about Forepaugh’s Wild West Show & Circus Enthralled Upstate NY
Clinton County
Isaac Johnson: A Soldier, Quarryman, Master Mason
The Clinton County Historical Association will host the lecture “Isaac Johnson: Slave, Soldier, Quarryman, Master Mason, Contractor” by Cornel “Corky” Reinhart, on Tuesday, July 13th, in Plattsburgh. [Read more…] about Isaac Johnson: A Soldier, Quarryman, Master Mason
Prohibition In North Country Project Supported With Grant
The Clinton County Historical Association has been awarded $7,500 in Grant Funding from the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership for an exhibit and public presentation on the story of the Prohibition Era in the North Country. [Read more…] about Prohibition In North Country Project Supported With Grant
A Visit To The Deansboro, Oneida Co, CCC Camp
During the Great Depression of the 1930s the federal government started numerous programs to provide jobs. One, based on an earlier New York State program established by then Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).
The CCC employed about 3.5 million young men nationwide, with about 210,00 of them at 116 camps across New York State. The camps, for men only, were supervised by the U.S. Army and the Soil Conservation Commission. [Read more…] about A Visit To The Deansboro, Oneida Co, CCC Camp
No Helmets, Seatbelts: Teen Killed, Others Injured In UTV Crash
On May 16, 2020, at approximately 4:58 pm, State Police responded to a report of an UTV crash at 659 Fuller Road in the town of Peru, Clinton County. [Read more…] about No Helmets, Seatbelts: Teen Killed, Others Injured In UTV Crash
Wally Foote: ‘The Most Handsome Man in Congress’
The Plattsburgh Daily Press in late 1894 fact-checked the boasts of M.W. Howard, age 32, of Alabama, and George M. Southwick, age 31, of Albany, who each claimed to be the youngest member of the incoming U.S. House of Representatives.
Actually, it was local Representative-elect Wallace T. Foote Jr., who would still be 30 when he took office, that would have the distinction. Foote represented New York’s 23rd District, which included Essex, Clinton, Franklin, Warren and Washington counties. [Read more…] about Wally Foote: ‘The Most Handsome Man in Congress’
John H. Moffitt’s North Country Political Biography
Constituents in New York’s 21st Congressional District, unlike U.S. Rep. Constantine B. Kilgore, D-Texas, didn’t get caught taking summer naps, joked The Plattsburgh Sentinel on April 5, 1889.
Kilgore, better known by the nickname “Buck,” had persistently blocked Republican John H. Moffitt, who represented New York’s North Country, from securing a $10,000 appropriation to construct a road through the military reservation in Plattsburgh. [Read more…] about John H. Moffitt’s North Country Political Biography
How William Beaumont Changed Medical History
In 1822, a fur trapper named Alexis St. Martin was accidentally gut-shot by a shotgun in Mackinac Island, Michigan. Near death, he was treated by William Beaumont, an Army physician who for much of his career had practiced medicine in Clinton County, New York. What followed was a remarkable chapter in medical history, one that resonates today. [Read more…] about How William Beaumont Changed Medical History
Remember Adirondack Dumps? And the Bears?
Remember that long-ago weekly ritual, the trip to the dump with Dad? I’m talking about the 1960s, and maybe in some cases the 1970s. If you’re not old enough to look back that far, you’ll be amazed (appalled) to see how trash, garbage, and another-man’s-treasures were disposed of by most folks.
It was a part of small-town life that we can now look back on and be thankful it has largely vanished. From a child’s perspective, the dump was a mysterious and somewhat scary place that you couldn’t wait to visit, and soon enough couldn’t wait to leave. [Read more…] about Remember Adirondack Dumps? And the Bears?
Holiday Open House at Clinton Co Historical
The Clinton County Historical Association (CCHA) is set to hold its annual Holiday Open House on Saturday, December 7th, and Sunday, December 8th, from 10 am to 3 pm each day.
The Open House, a holiday tradition, provides an opportunity to visit the Museum and find unique gifts for family and friends. The first 25 Open House visitors each day will receive free gifts, one per family. [Read more…] about Holiday Open House at Clinton Co Historical