August 6th marks the anniversary of the 1777 Battle of Oriskany. Fought as an American relief column marched to aid the besieged Fort Stanwix, about 800 Tryon County militiamen and 60 allied Oneida warriors under Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer were ambushed by British, Loyalist, and Indigenous forces (including Mohawk and Seneca warriors). [Read more…] about August 6th Marks 1777 Battle of Oriskany Anniversary
Little Falls
Owen D. Young: WWI Statesman, GE Radio & TV Pioneer
On a warm, sunny day amid the winding hills of Herkimer County, the world descended on Van Hornesville, a small Mohawk Valley community, without a train station but home to a global, widely respected statesman of commerce and international finance.
Ninety-five years ago this June, Owen D. Young (1874-1962), architect of the Young Plan on Germany’s fiscal rehabilitation after World War I, and longtime chairman of General Electric Company, presided over graduation ceremonies for the town’s newly built seven-room schoolhouse replete with a swimming pool, a playground, and an auditorium “wired for talkies.” [Read more…] about Owen D. Young: WWI Statesman, GE Radio & TV Pioneer
Erie Canalway Launches “Revolutionary Experiences” Tours
As America marks its 250th anniversary, the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor is launching Revolutionary Experiences, road trips along New York’s historic waterways.
These self-guided itineraries invite participants to explore the people, places, and ideas that helped shape the nation. [Read more…] about Erie Canalway Launches “Revolutionary Experiences” Tours
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire & The Little Falls Textile Strike
National tragedies have historically been the catalysts for massive shifts in matters such as culture and law. One such tragedy in the twentieth century was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911.
An example of the gross negligence from factory owners so prominent in the industrial field and disregard for anything but profit, the Triangle Fire’s impact was so immense that it would ultimately serve as one of the primary catalysts that resulted in a massive labor strike in New York’s Mohawk Valley over a year later. [Read more…] about The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire & The Little Falls Textile Strike
Immigration and Labor in Little Falls, New York
The rampant industrialism of the Gilded Age and early Progressive Era eventually took root in Little Falls, NY. The city and the surrounding Mohawk Valley had served as a hub for immigrant and migrant labor for a significant time. The construction of the Little Falls Canal and the Erie Canal during the 18th and 19th centuries attracted a multitude of predominantly Irish laborers.
In the latter half of the 19th century, as industrialism took hold, the mass construction of railroads attracted even greater numbers of immigrant workers to Little Falls in search of jobs within the burgeoning factory apparatus. [Read more…] about Immigration and Labor in Little Falls, New York
The Little Falls Textile Strike: New Scholarship Brings A New Book
J.N. Cheney, an independent historian focusing on the labor movement, radical politics, and community action where he lives in the Mohawk Valley has published Women, Immigrants, and the Working-Class Battle in Little Falls, New York: The Textile Strike of 1912-1913 (Algora Publishing, 2025).
This is the first non-fiction book to provide a comprehensive recounting and analysis of the largely forgotten Little Falls Textile Strike, one of the most important events in New York State’s labor history and one with national significance. [Read more…] about The Little Falls Textile Strike: New Scholarship Brings A New Book
Strike! 13 Strikes Every New Yorker Should Know About
Today the state of Minnesota is engaged in the first General Strike in nearly 80 years. There have been thousands of strikes in American history, but only about a dozen General Strikes. One of the first strikes took place in the city of New York in 1677. Afterward a dozen cart-men (one-horse cart operators) were criminally prosecuted “for not obeying the Command and Doing their Dutyes as becomes them in their Places” and fined.
About 80 strikes in the U.S. have involved over 100,000 workers. Here are 13 strikes every New Yorker should know about: [Read more…] about Strike! 13 Strikes Every New Yorker Should Know About
New York State’s Canal Heritage: An Engineering Family Tree
The canal system of New York State is a complex network of natural and man-made waterways that connect two of the Great Lakes that border the state with the Atlantic Ocean. The canals also incorporate Lake Champlain and the Finger Lakes. The development of this system bridges several generations and gives the canal system a genealogy of its own. [Read more…] about New York State’s Canal Heritage: An Engineering Family Tree
Dwight James Baum: The World’s Most Famous Architect from Little Falls
My grandfather Dwight James Baum (DJB) is Little Falls, Herkimer County, NY’s most-famous architect and one of its most-famous sons. While I may be partial to that view, it’s shared by many experts.
In the 2008 reissue of The Work of Dwight James Baum, edited by William Morrison in 1927, Ron McCarty, Curator and Keeper of Ca’ d’Zan (a Mediterranean revival residence on Sarasota Bay in Florida designed by DJB) noted that “in 1923, the Architectural League of New York awarded the Gold Medal to Dwight James Baum. Aged 37 and practicing independently for a mere eight years, Baum was the youngest architect ever to receive the coveted honor. [Read more…] about Dwight James Baum: The World’s Most Famous Architect from Little Falls
200 Years of Erie Canal History (1825-2025)
In 2025, New York State commemorates the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Erie Canal from Albany to Buffalo. This event was transformative for both the state and the nation, linking the Great Lakes with the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean in an unprecedentedly efficient waterway.
During the bicentennial, we are offered an opportunity to reflect on two centuries of rich and complex history and discover how that period’s impacts allow us to explore and enjoy the Canal today. Here is some history, and tips for enjoying the canal. [Read more…] about 200 Years of Erie Canal History (1825-2025)
Arphaxed Loomis: Anti-Slavery Democrat & Little Falls Law Reformer
The man with the unique name of Arphaxed (or Arphaxad) Loomis was an important constitutional law reformer in New York State. His biblical name is from Arphacshad, the grandson of Noah. It means healer or releaser. Arphaxed Loomis was a healer not of individual people, but of an entire state’s legal code.
Loomis was born in Winchester Connecticut in 1798 to Thaddeus Loomis, a devout Presbyterian and Lois Griswold. The family then moved to the town of Salisbury in Herkimer County, New York about 1801. [Read more…] about Arphaxed Loomis: Anti-Slavery Democrat & Little Falls Law Reformer
New Interactive Video Displays Interpret NYS Revolutionary History
The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced that the first of 20 planned interactive video displays highlighting New York’s history in the American Revolution is installed at Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site in the Hudson Valley. [Read more…] about New Interactive Video Displays Interpret NYS Revolutionary History
When Vikings Traveled The Hudson River & Erie Canal
In June of 1893, young and old alike came out in droves to see a strange-looking craft as it made its way westward along the Erie Canal. What had brought them out on those summer days was a replica of a Viking ship that had recently crossed the Atlantic on an epic journey whose story had begun one thousand years before.
Sometime around the year 900 a Norse ruler died and was buried in a king mound that over the hundreds of years that followed became known as Gokstadhaugen outside of Sandefjord, Norway. Though the name of the king was lost over the ages, legends concerning the site were passed down from generation to generation. [Read more…] about When Vikings Traveled The Hudson River & Erie Canal
A New Little Falls History Book: Beyond Our Bicentennial
Beyond Our Bicentennial (Little Falls Historical Society, 2023) is a compilation of seventy-seven articles authored by thirty-nine different Little Falls residents past and present. It is dedicated to two groups of individuals, the founding members of the Historical Society and all Little Falls military veterans. [Read more…] about A New Little Falls History Book: Beyond Our Bicentennial
New York’s Forgotten Aeronaut & Diver: William Warren Rulison
When seventy-eight-year-old William Rulison passed away in August of 1931, the only newspaper in Upstate New York that carried the news was Cooperstown’s Otsego Farmer. In this obituary, he was noted only as a “pioneer in balloon flying in this part of the country,” and a man who went by the title of Professor. This report of his passing left much untold, and in the material that follows I hope to give a complete account of his full and varied life. [Read more…] about New York’s Forgotten Aeronaut & Diver: William Warren Rulison
Aeronaut Carlotta Myers In The Clouds Over Saratoga
It was a quiet September afternoon at Saratoga Springs’ Grand Union Hotel, with families and small groups gathering to relax and be seen by Saratoga’s high society. As the clock struck 4:30, a hush fell over the hotel’s piazza and every eye was drawn across Broadway to Congress Spring Park where a huge net shrouded sphere slowly rose above the trees.
When the giant ball had cleared the treetops, hanging below it was a small figure standing suspended in an open wire cage waving a handkerchief to the onlookers below. The crowd that day in 1884 witnessed a gas-filled balloon ascension by female aeronaut Carlotta Myers. [Read more…] about Aeronaut Carlotta Myers In The Clouds Over Saratoga
In Little Falls, An Old Bank Building Survives and Thrives
The wisdom of historic preservation has not always been a given. The desire by some to preserve old buildings and places is at times pitted against those who would rather “start over” with new construction.
In the early 1970s many residents of Little Falls, Herkimer County, NY wanted to tear down the old Herkimer County Bank, the county’s first. Some hoped it was be transformed into a parking lot, while a handful of preservationists fought to preserve the Greek Revival architectural treasure and a community resource. [Read more…] about In Little Falls, An Old Bank Building Survives and Thrives
3,300 Acres Protected Along East Canada Creek Tributary
The Open Space Institute (OSI) has announced the permanent protection of more than 3,300 acres in the Herkimer County towns of Salisbury and Norway. The tract is comprised of hardwood and softwood forests and significant wetlands within the Mohawk River watershed.
OSI purchased the Spruce Creek property for $3 million from Datum 9 Forestry LLC. [Read more…] about 3,300 Acres Protected Along East Canada Creek Tributary
George Lunn: The 1912 Socialist Victory in Schenectady
Schenectady County Historian Bill Buell’s new book George Lunn: The 1912 Socialist Victory in Schenectady (The Troy Book Makers, 2019) looks back at Schenectady socialist George Lunn, and his life in politics.
An Iowa native, George Lunn came to Schenectady in 1904 to become senior pastor at the First Reformed Church in the city’s Stockade Neighborhood. He entered politics in 1911 and was elected mayor of Schenectady as a member of the Socialist Party of America. [Read more…] about George Lunn: The 1912 Socialist Victory in Schenectady
Indian Castle Church 250th Anniversary Celebration Set
Historic Indian Castle Church is set to celebrate its 250th anniversary with a variety of activities on June 14th through 16th at its 109 Dillenbeck Road location in Little Falls, NY.
The Indian Castle church was erected in 1769 by Sir William Johnson on land donated by siblings Joseph and Molly Brant, two prominent Mohawk in their village of Canajoharie, located on the south side of the Mohawk River. [Read more…] about Indian Castle Church 250th Anniversary Celebration Set