The Century-in-Review Project - Step One

HISTORIAN'S NOTE
Susan L. Conklin, County Historian

 

With the millennium approaching, the History Department wanted to create a project that would summarize the 20th century. This project would highlight the daily lives of the citizens of our county and note major events that occurred during the past 100 years. The Daily News began featuring a Year-In Review in 1940 and the History Department decided to have the earlier decades summarized so that the County would have a "Century-In-Review." To accomplish this task, I recruited GCC students from Paul Schulte's History and State/Local Government classes. Students were asked to select three to four months and write a brief description that highlighted one to three stories per day. This project began during the 1998 fall semester and, to date, more than 100 students have participated. Students were given the choice to write a detailed term-paper or assist the History Department with this project. The students that selected the "Century-in-Review" project thought that they were going to have an easy time with little or no work involved. What they discovered was a task that required at least 18 hours of research and that reading old newspapers was a challenge. The students would find days with very little local news or have a difficult time selecting only three stories. The students enjoyed having an opportunity to handle archival records and experience history on a local level. Many times, the headlines paralleled what they were learning in class. After they completed reading their selected months, the students typed their findings and were asked to write a summary. Their reports were collected by the History Department staff and arranged chronologically into notebooks. Once all the decades are completed, a department volunteer will create a topic index that will increase access to this project. The following are some of the stories selected by the students:

1903, April 6 - County Clerk Carolos Hull died of heart failure. On April 10, Charles B. Pixley was appointed County Clerk.
1904, April 8 - Batavia and Le Roy bowlers played their second series of games at Burkhart's Alleys. The locals won by 155, the score being Batavia 4,210 and Le Roy 4,055.
1904 April 16 - A Leap Year party was held at the Frantz Hotel, in Darien. The ladies had to escort their partners and any gentleman crossing the ballroom unescorted was subject to a fine.
1907, March 4 - The seniors of Batavia high school petitioned for caps and gowns for graduation. The Board of Education granted their wish.
1910, February 2 - Women's Suffrage Movement Equality Club held a meeting to encourage women to vote.
1910, February 8 - Alexander closes school due to a Scarlet Fever outbreak.
1910, March 18 - President Taft's train made a momentary stop in Batavia.
1911, September 23 - The Fair's attendance was 8,372, the largest crowd yet.
1912, March 10 - For Rent: Four furnished rooms, for light housekeeping, soft water and gas; also a good garden; $2 per week. (12 Cedar Street, Batavia)
1913, July 7 - Batavia Trolley line was abandoned and would not be resumed. Cars stopped running at one o'clock p.m.
1915, February 4 - The Pavilion Town board gave a gas franchise to Pavilion Natural Gas Company to lay a pipeline and furnish gas to local customers. The price for gas was not to exceed 35 cents per thousand.
1915, March 26 - Stop at the Sydney & Salway dealership, at 2 Exchange Place, to see the fastest motorcycle ever built. Seven new Harley Davidson models are on display with prices starting at $200.
1916, August 3 - "Regulation of the Care and Disposal of Garbage" was the title of the new local ordinance. Garbage may no longer be thrown about one's premises but must be placed in a suitable receptacle that is tightly closed.
1917, August 18 - New York State Mounted Troopers are coming to Batavia. The city was selected for the headquarters of the Western division and will be home for the regiment that protects this region.
1918, May 10 - A tornado hit Batavia and wrecked many buildings.
1918, June 6 - 240 register for war from Genesee County. The Government expected at least 300 and required an explanation.
1929, January 7 - Town of Batavia's tax rate was $14.59 and Pembroke's was the highest at $24.42 (per 1000).
1929, January 19 - The Tonawanda is flooding and is now the highest it has ever been at 889.60 feet above sea level.
1930, April 23 - Batavia Police and Buffalo Dry Agents raided 318 West Main Street and found brewery equipment.
1930, April 26 - The taxpayers have to vote on a new water plant for Batavia.
1930, October 17 - Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke at the city court house park.
1931, Marcy 2 - The price for a quart of milk was 12 cents.
1931, March 31 - The Stafford Country Club (will) officially open on May 1. This is an eighteen-hole golf course.
1932, October 20 - Batavia's first welfare program started.
1932, October 27 - The largest number of registered voters to date in Genesee County at 24,683 (more than 13,000 are men.)
1933, March 30 - Highways between Batavia and Rochester bristled today with State Troopers equipped for riot duty. Armed troopers were riding milk trucks through the area as aroused producers seeking to create a shortage in the Rochester market went so far as to dump milk consigned to New York dairies into the highway.
1936, March 15 - Pneumonia killed a record number of people in Batavia (51).
1936, May 16 - 20-mile-an-hour winds and frost destroyed nearly half the onion plantings on Elba's Muckland at a loss estimated at $30,000.
1938, June 9 - Genesee County Jail is in need of building more cells.
1939, January 31 - A big snow storm dumps 36 ½ inches of snow in Batavia.
1939, July 12 - A meteor struck the earth just north of Batavia.

Anyone interested in seeing this project may do so at the History Department located at 3 West Main Street (the old Engine House).