Mohawk Valley history: New hospital parking garage, remembering local veterans

1891, 131 years ago

Butterfield at Union

Daniel Butterfield, born and bred in Utica, is elected president of the Alumni Association of Union College at a meeting of members in New York City.

He unveils a plan to invite "eloquent and distinguished" speakers to address students and faculty in the chapel at the college in Schenectady. The first to speak in the "Butterfield Lecture Series" will be William McKinley, recently elected governor of Ohio. (Butterfield predicted that McKinley would go far in the world of politics and he was right, for in 1896 he was elected 25th president of the United States.)

Butterfield was born on Oct. 31, 1831 in a house on Lafayette Street — just west of the Busy Corner — the son of John Butterfield and Malinda Harriet Baher. He attended local schools and graduated from Union College in 1849. During the Civil War, the then 30-year-old Butterfield earned the Medal of Honor at the Battle of Gaines Mill in Virginia in July 1862.

He is best known today for having co-composed — with his 22-year-old bugler, Pvt. Oliver Norton — "Taps." It is the military bugle call that signals "lights out" and is sounded as a farewell to the military dead. Butterfield died in 1901 at age 69 and is buried in the cemetery at West Point.

1922, 100 years ago

Movie houses

Utica's 15 movie houses have a seating capacity of 13,185. The Park Theater leads with 1,700 seats. The Gaiety is next with 1,486. Other theaters and the number of seats: Avon 1,400; Colonial 1,350; DeLuxe 1,150; Majestic 1,028; Alhambra 800; Orpheum 740; Hippodrome 700; Highland 500; Family 490; Rialto 490; Corn Hill 462; Lyric 457, and Hibernian 450.

1947, 75 years ago

Skiba rooms

Walter Skiba Post 20, Polish Legion of American Veterans (PLAV), opens new rooms on the second floor of a building on the southwest corner of Bleecker and Nichols streets in East Utica. Co-chairmen of opening ceremonies are Stanley Bogdan and Stanley Kraseski. The post is named for the first veteran in Utica's Polish-Slavic community to be killed in World War II.

1972, 50 years ago

Hospital parking garage

St. Elizabeth Hospital breaks ground for its new $1.2 million, three-level, 500-car parking garage to be built behind the hospital.

Frank Robilotta is elected president of the Utica Zoological Society. William Bashant and Henry Morehouse are vice presidents and Betsy Dugan is secretary.

Charles Casler, of Litchfield, is honored as a 50-year member of Dairylea, Inc., at a district meeting in Sauquoit. He has served as treasurer of the Sauquoit local.

1997, 25 years ago

Veterans remembered

Utica, Rome, Sherrill and area towns and villages honor veterans of all wars with parades, concerts and other ceremonies.

E. Porter Felt dies at age 67. He was president-elect of the Oneida County Bar Association at the time of his death. He has been president of the Clinton school board, chairman of the Utica Area Chamber of Commerce, a charter member of the SUNY Foundation's board of trustees, president of the Presbyterian Home of Central New York, and active in the Utica Symphony Orchestra, Fort Schuyler Club and the Utica Zoological Society.

Three members of the faculty and professional staff at Mohawk Valley Community College receive SUNY's Chancellor's Award for Excellence. They are: Professor Penny Trojan of the Physical and Recreational Department; Professor Dennis Lee of the Social Science and Criminal Justice Department and Thomas Maneen, academic assistant in the Graphics Communication Department.

2012, 10 years ago

Red Kettle kick-off

Utica's Salvation Army kicks off its annual Red Kettle fundraising campaign at the Holland Farms Bakery and Deli in Yorkville. Co-owner Marolyn Wilson is the campaign's honorary chairwoman. Lou Parrotta, chairman of the advisory board, says there will be 17 Red Kettle stands at various locations in the area and 45 kettles on the counters in area stores and businesses. Money raised supports the Salvation Army's food pantry, daily soup kitchen, Christmas meals and children and adult programs.

Varsity football players at Oriskany Central School are volunteers with the Oneida County Intergenerational Clean-Up Program to help residents get their yards ready for winter. Busy at Dolores Copperwheat's residence are Ryan Lockwood, Cody Murphy, Nick Cooper, Anthony Pickard, Austin Smith, Trevor O'Bryan, Adam Juarez, Alex Liddy and Grant Mealy.

Chris Wilsey and Raymond H. Tucker, of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, are among numerous professional volunteers working at the beautiful stone building on Bagg's Square that Maria Williams Proctor — widow of Thomas R. Proctor — had built to mark the site where the Bagg's Hotel once stood. It's part of the Genesis Keep the Mohawk Valley Beautiful program.

Trivia quiz

We have had six presidents of the United States who were 5 feet 7 inches tall or shorter. How many can you name? (Answer will appear here next week.)

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: Hospital parking garage, Red Kettle campaign