100 Years

• June 19, 1925: (SALAMANCA —) The old stone house on the Parker Farm, about three miles south of the city in Allegany State Park and located on the new scenic road from Salamanca into the park, is no more. The “stone house” was built about 18 years ago by the late Melvin O. Parker, who was a pattern maker in the Benedict factory here, and father of C.A. Parker of the Parker Electrical Company. It was a one-story structure with a basement, containing, as originally built, six rooms.
• June 24, 1925: School days for the class of 1925, Salamanca High School, came to a happy climax in the Class Day exercises last evening, when an audience that packed the auditorium joined with the members of the senior and junior classes in enjoyment of an entertaining program consisting largely of references to accidents in the school life of two upper classes. Tonight, the formal commencement exercises will be held. Frequent references were made to the size of the class of 1925 – sixty-six, the largest ever to graduate from Salamanca High School.

50 Years

• June 19, 1975: In keeping with a growing nationwide trend, the Salamanca Public Library is offering art prints that library patrons may borrow in the same manner they borrow books. The library has a collection of forty-four framed reproductions of paintings by well-known artists. Library Director Tom Sharbaugh noted that Salamancans seem to prefer the French Impressionists and representational art. There is little demand for abstract art.
• June 21, 1975: The Salamanca Central High School Class of 1975, which includes eighty boys and seventy-two girls, will receive diplomas during commencement exercises Monday night (June 23). The 152 total graduates this year compares in size with the record 177 graduates in 1965 and 1968. The Class of 1975 has nine more students than last year’s 143-member graduating class.
• June 25, 1975: Clair Wescott, director of pupil-personnel services and a 25-year veteran of the Salamanca school system, was unanimously confirmed by the Board of Education Tuesday (June 24) as the principal of Salamanca Central High School. He will succeed William O. Valent, who will assume duties as superintendent of schools July 1.

25 Years

• June 19, 2000: NAPOLI — A retired Salamanca technology teacher died in an early morning fire Saturday (June 17) at this home on Narrows Road. The body of Edward J. Swiech, 56, was found in the living room of his residence on the grounds of the Little Valley Rod and Gun Club. Swiech had recently been elected president of the club.
• June 21, 2000: SALAMANCA — Ruby Fox, a student in Diane Ukolowicz’s second grade class, has been awarded the 2000 Gram Spako Award at Prospect Elementary School. Given by the Spako family in memory of the late office aide Catharine Spako, the award honors the character trait of politeness, which Spako valued. Ruby received a personalized plaque and her name was added to a second plaque hanging in the school corridor.
• June 23, 2000: LITTLE VALLEY — Little Valley Central School’s final yearbook staff is hoping to make a lasting impression on the community. The group of about 30 elementary and high school students has completed the sale of the final edition of the LVCS Mirror, which was titled “Lasting Impressions,” as the district combines with Cattaraugus Central School next year.

10 Years

• June 25, 2015: SALAMANCA — For area railroad buff Stan Carlson, a love affair with locomotives developed right alongside a love of art. Carlson, who now heads the Salamanca Rail Museum, can usually be found within its walls, ready to tell stories of the city’s railroad heyday. He can also paint you a picture that transports you to a time that once was.

“I always had a passion for trains and would sketch a lot of things out of books as a kid,” said Carlson. “I guess what I like is to paint the things I never got to see — that was really one generation ahead of me.”

• June 25, 2015: GREAT VALLEY — Installation of a new playground began Monday (June 22) behind the Great Valley Town Hall on Route 219. It will replace playground equipment, including swings and a teeter-totter, that had been in use since the 1960s, said Great Valley Supervisor Dan Brown.

“It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for four or five years,” Brown said. “We saved a little here and there, but we received about $30,000 in donations. We figured this was the year to do it.”