150 YearsFeb. 13, 1873: About 7 o’clock Tuesday morning (Feb. 11) a fire was discovered breaking out of the roof of Sheriff Brown’s house in Randolph. The proof was of tin, which fact coupled with its early discovery and the energy with which the flames were fought, enabled the citizens to save the house from destruction. The house was damaged to the extent of a couple of hundred of dollars, and it is considered very fortunate that it was saved at all. Insured by H.K. VanRenselaer.
Feb. 13, 1873: Hon. John G. Saxe, L.L.D., the celebrated poet, will lecture in the First Congregational Church, in Otto, on Friday evening, the 14th inst. This will give the people of Otto and vicinity an opportunity of hearing the humorous and talented gentleman, which should be well improved.
100 YearsFeb. 12, 1923: (LITTLE VALLEY —) A Ford coupe resisted the attack of an Erie passenger train and remained “sitting on its haunches, like a bear,” according to one of the passengers aboard the train, which struck the car on the grade crossing on the outskirts of the village of Little Valley this forenoon. In the Ford were D.J. Kilby, owner and driver, and Charles Thomas of Lakewood. They were unhurt and the car was only slightly damaged. Its rear was struck by the locomotive and the machine was whirled about, stopping with front wheels poised in the air and the rear standing on the ground.
Feb. 14, 1923: (SALAMANCA —) The C.F. Nies drug store at 63 Main street is to be enlarged, work starting at once. The store now occupies ground floor space and basement. It will be extended to the second story of the Nies block where a room 40×25 feet will be used as a stock room. A stairway will be built from the main floor to the room above. The room will have shelling to its ceiling, accessible by means of rolling ladders. The store is also to have a new front of dark green marble and copper, with woodwork of mahogany in a natural finish.
50 YearsFeb. 13, 1973: JIMERSONTOWN — An offer from New York State to grant possession of 750 acres in Allegany State Park to the Seneca Nation of Indians to serve as a replacement for land to be used for the Rt. 17 Southern Tier Expressway is under study by the Leasing Committee of the nation.
The offer came in the form of proposed legislation endorsed by the State Dept. of Transportation and was submitted to the Seneca Nation Council Saturday (Feb. 11). The Senecas disclosed that property acquired by the state in the City of Salamanca for the expressway route, where homes have been demolished, has been reclaimed by the nation because the state has failed to pay the lease rentals on the property to the Seneca Nation of Indians.
Feb. 15, 1973: (SALAMANCA —) Mayor Keith L. Reed was authorized at Wednesday evening’s (Feb. 14) Common Council meeting to sign documents in which the city promises to carry out orders of the State Dept. of Environmental Conservation in operating its sanitary landfill or forfeit a $10,000 bond it is required to post for the next year.
The department’s orders were obtained by City Atty. David Franz and Public Works Dept. Supt. Fred Fuller at a hearing in Buffalo Wednesday, the mayor said. The orders, to which the city has agreed, require immediate start of daily cover of six inches of fill at the landfill’s working area and immediate prosecution of violations of state and local regulations.
25 YearsFeb. 10, 1998: CATTARAUGUS — It’s official — two neighboring schools will once again conduct a formal study to determine whether one should be annexed by the other.
On Monday (Feb. 9), the Cattaraugus Central School voted 7-0 to enter into an official annexation study with Little Valley Central School, which approved the same resolution last week.
“Well, our days are numbered,” CCS Board President Bernadine Feuz joked.
Feb. 10, 1998: SALAMANCA — A sawdust silo fire on Rochester Street kept firefighters busy for nearly 12 hours on Monday.
City firefighters were called out at 11:34 p.m. to the silo owned by Philadelphia Furniture, 100 Rochester St. They responded with 16 men, two engines and a ladder truck.
The fire is believed to have started at the bottom of the silo, which contained approximately 150 tons of dry sawdust generated by the company’s manufacture of wood furniture.
Feb. 14, 1998: SALAMANCA — While visitors to the Salamanca Chamber of Commerce Tourist Information Center may be down in the winter months, the mail requests increase as people plan their summer vacations.
However, one unusual request this winter received a grade of A, Caboose Office Manager Judy Emke reported to the Press.
Emke responded to the request for information from a Rochester, N.Y. fourth-grader last November, and last week she received a thank you letter from Josh Jensen along with the accompanying photograph showing his poster of the Salamanca, area, which earned an A from his Social Studies teacher.
10 YearsFeb. 14, 2013: SALAMANCA — Some travel lovers might choose a cruise with glamorous ports of call and luxury accommodations, but former Salamanca social studies teacher Judy Toner spends two weeks each summer visiting and helping some of the poorest people on earth in the mountains of Honduras.
“After I retired I always wanted to work in a third-world country,” Toner said. She’d heard about the NY/Help Honduras program through the United Congregational Methodist Church and made her first trip as a volunteer seven years ago.
Since the Salamanca Rotary Club has been making a yearly $500 contribution to help finance these efforts, she spoke to them at a dinner meeting held Feb. 7 at the Dudley Hotel.
Feb. 14, 2013: SALAMANCA — When it comes to the possibility of opening the Bill Flanigan Ice Rink, if it’s not weather, it’s the political process and if it’s not the political process, it’s the weather.
This year, it has been a bit of both as to why the rink remains closed nearly a month after the Salamanca Common Council approved that the Seneca Nation operate the pond for this current winter season.
Nancy Williams, community planner for the Nation, explained the delay in opening the rink is essentially twofold. First, despite the week-long cold spell that enveloped the region in mid-January, officials have never reached a point where the ice was safe enough to clear snow off the top and ready the pond.
