History: Oneida County company develops first full-length hybrid bus in the world

Frank Tomaino
·5 min read
​​​​​​​It is the turn of the 20th century and you are standing in front of what is today the Observer-Dispatch building and looking west toward Genesee Street. There was no Oriskany Street at the time and, instead, there was the old Erie Canal.  The canal occupied the site for more than 100 years – 1819 to about 1925 – until it was abandoned, filled in, paved and named Oriskany Street. The canal contributed much to the early growth and development of the Upper Mohawk Valley Region from Rome to Utica to Little Falls. In 1825, when the full length of the 353-mile long canal was opened, more than 42 boats a day passed through the region.  By the season’s end, more than 40,000 people had passed through the area.
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2012, 10 years ago

Let the show begin

Large crowds gather at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute campus in Utica as its six-day festival begins with a Sidewalk Art Show, live music, a classic car and motorcycle show and tours. Joe Schmidt, director of public relations, says there always is a steady flow of people during the day, but once the music shows take the stage in the evening, the “place really fills up.”

The sidewalk show always attracts large crowds. Schmidt says, “There are art works done by people you know. It is art created by the community and we are proud to showcase it.” It is open to artists 18 years old and older who live within 40 miles of Utica. There is a special category for students ages 9 to 12.

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The Clinton Historical Society celebrates its 50th anniversary with a banquet in the Hall of Commons at Hamilton College. Robert Tegart is elected president. Other officers: Barbara Owens, vice president; Richard Williams, secretary, and Daryl Chesebro. New directors are Mary Benson Byrd, Diane Parrish, Rick Heintz, Faye Cittadino, and officers Owens, Williams and Chesebro. They join current directors Wade Lallier, Fran Lallier, Fran Cittadino, Paul Frey and President Tegart.

The YWCA Mohawk Valley seats new board members. They are: Angie Blair of Utica, regional manager of the Multicultural Association of Medical Interpreters; Erika Klar, major gift officer at Hamilton College; attorney Diane Martin-Grande of Rome; and Peggy Piesche of Clinton, professor of German Cultural Studies at Hamilton College.

1997, 25 years ago

Proctor principal

Ron Mancuso is appointed interim principal of Thomas R. Proctor High School. He has been principal of the John F. Kennedy Middle School in North Utica. He replaces Irving C. Jones Sr., who is moving to a high school in Virginia. Mancuso has a bachelor of arts degree from Utica College and a masters from Syracuse University. He has done post graduate work at SUNY Cortland, Elmira College and North Adams State College in Massachusetts. He has taught social studies and language arts.

Philip Vanno is elected president of the Utica Board of Education. Stephen Schiavi is vice president.

Adonal Foyle is drafted — eighth pick in the first round — by the Golden State Warriors in the National Basketball League. The 22-year-old, 6 foot 10, 250-pound Foyle is a former star center at Hamilton Central High and Colgate University.

Orion Bus Industries Ltd. Has developed the world’s first full-length transit hybrid electric bus in its Whitestown plant near the Oneida County Airport in Oriskany. The bus is purchased by the New Jersey Transit of Newark. The cost of the first bus and three additional ones is $2.5 million. Orion employs 570 in its Whitestown plant.

The Genetaska Club of New Hartford elects Nancy Hall as its president. Others elected include: Ellen Boerger, vice president; Barbara Reinshagen, recording secretary; Peg Mullin, corresponding secretary; Joyce Ebensperger, treasurer; and directors Sue Maher, Dorothy Haggerty, Joyce Goggin and Ada Ruhm.

In American Legion baseball, Whitestown Post defeats Spring Valley Post 7 to 1 in an Adrean Post Super Six Tournament game. The winners are led by hitters Frank Cannistra, Bernie Martin and Brent Wengert.

1972, 50 years ago

Boys’ State

Steven Taylor, a junior at Thomas T. Proctor High School, is elected mayor of Boys’ State city of “Delehanty.” More than 1,000 high school students from throughout the state are attending the annual American Legion-sponsored event in Morrisville.  Taylor (who went on to become the first African-American ever elected to the Utica Common Council) is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Taylor of Bleecker Street, Utica. He is sponsored at Boys’ State by Harold Provost, American Legion Post No. 1686 in Utica.

Seven teachers with Whitesboro Central School are honored at a retirement dinner in Orchard Hall: Thelma Reinmann, Mae Fulmer, Dr. John Powell, Kenneth Bailey, Marion Bennett, Edith Lawton and Eloise Christ.

1947, 75 years ago

Church fire

A two-alarm fire sweeps through the rear of St. Anthony of Padua Church in East Utica, destroying the sacristy, an altar and part of the dome over the main altar. The Rev. William Mahaney, pastor, sets the early estimate of damage at between $40,000 and $50,000.

1922, 100 years ago

Auto club

Charles G. Bennett of Utica is re-elected vice president of the New York State Motor Federation at its convention in Syracuse. Bennett is a prominent member the Automobile Club of Utica. He and other club members urge the state to eliminate the 15 miles per hour speed limit on some state highways. They say, “Drivers should be able to keep their eyes on the road and not the speedometer.”

1897, 125 years ago

Independence Day

There are not many Fourth of July celebrations in the Upper Mohawk Valley this year and no one knows why. The Utica Observer writes: “The holiday falls on a Sunday this year yet towns and villages have made little effort to celebrate the 121st anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The biggest event is in Richfield Springs where villagers unveil a soldiers’ monument given to them by Utica’s Thomas R. Proctor.

Trivia quiz

The only U.S. president born on the Fourth of July was (a) John Adams, (b) Chester A. Arthur, (c) Benjamin Harrison or (d) Calvin Coolidge. (Answer will appear here next week.)

Answer to last week’s question: Francis Nixon, father of President Richard Nixon, owned a gas station in California. Jesse Hoover, father of President Herbert Hoover, was a blacksmith in Iowa. John Coolidge, a notary public and justice of the peace, is the only father to swear in his son (Calvin Coolidge) as president. John Reagan, father of President Ronald Reagan, was a shoe salesman in Fulton, Illinois. Alphonso Taft, father of President William Howard Taft, was secretary of war in the cabinet of President Ulysses S. Grant.

This Week in History is researched and written by Frank Tomaino. E-mail him at ftomaino221@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Mohawk Valley history: Oneida County company builds first hybrid bus