|
Cooperstown History
Source: Cooperstown
Village Web Site
 Cooperstown was founded in the late 1700's
by William Cooper. William Cooper was a judge, a member of Congress
and encouraged numerous settlers to this area. His mansion, which
burnt down many years ago, stood next to what is now the Baseball
Hall of Fame and the grounds of the mansion are now a park used.
Several of the stone houses that William Cooper built are still
standing in the village.
The son of William Cooper, James
Fenimore Cooper, became one of the best-loved novelists in the
United States and his mark is left upon several features and
monuments of the village. He referred to Otsego Lake, on the
south end of which Cooperstown sits, as the "Glimmerglass"
and the name is still used today.
Cooperstown is the birth place
of the Susquehanna River that winds through New York and Pennsylvania,
connecting to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, which leads to
the sea. The Susquehanna River is the scene each Memorial Day
of the General Clinton canoe regatta.
The Village of Cooperstown was
incorporated in 1812, which at that time had 133 houses, 57 barns
and 686 residents. (Census 2000) The following is a small list
of interesting events that took place in the village of Cooperstown
since it's incorporation:
1901 - First passenger trolley in service
1904 - First cement sidewalk
were built at the village expense
1906 - First ticket issued for
exceeding speed limit through village
1911 - Site of first New York
State agricultural fair
1918 - Nestle Food Company buys
International Milk Products Plant on Grove Street
1919 - Last livery stables replaced
by Auto & Supply Company
1919 - September 29th, Doubleday
property officially transferred to village
1933 - Last Electric Trolley
service
1938 - August 21st., first concert
held at opening of Lakefront park
1941 - Village purchases water
works from Aqueduct Association
1959 - Tom Yawkey, owner of the
Boston Red Sox, gave metal seats along 1st base line to Doubleday
Field
1962 - Village new docks open
for use
1992 - Film location for the
movie "A League of Their Own"
In the year 2000 the Village
of Cooperstown's population has grown to 2,032. June 2001it was
ranked number 3 in New York State, in the Historic Small Town
Index. Well-known residents have included:
James Fenimore Cooper, writer
Abner Doubleday, known as the
father of baseball
Robert L. Gibson, astronaut
Historic sites and museums:
National Baseball Hall of Fame
New York State Historical Association
Farmers' Museum
Fenimore Art Museum
Hyde Hall State Historic Site
For more sites of area interest,
see the Cooperstown
Chamber of Commerce
For more in depth history
details of Cooperstown e-mail Cooperstown Official Village
Historian, Hugh Cooke MacDougall, at coophist@stny.rr.com,
or view his superb James
Fenimore Cooper Society Web Site.
Editor's note: Photo of Otsego
Lake (above) taken by Eric H.
For more information on
Cooperstown, NY, view the Cooperstown
Travel Library, Attractions Resource
Guide, Calendar of Events, Dining and Lodging sections, and photo gallery
|