Years Ago

This column is a revitalized weekly addition to the paper.  The following moments in history are selected, researched, and edited by Skaneateles High School students enrolled in Kate Hardy’s 10th grade Honors English class. For the next school year they hope to celebrate the past and remember the days from years ago. Thank you to the Skaneateles Library and the Historical Society for providing the Press archives.

10 Years

Ten years ago, Matt Slauson of Skaneateles High School assigned his advanced technology class a project of creating a pumpkin launching catapult. The goal: who can launch a pumpkin the furthest? With this in mind, the students had a lot of work ahead of them; they had to research, design a model, consult an expert, build a digital circuit, plot pumpkin trajectory, build the parts, build the catapult, and write a research paper. To celebrate their hard work, students partook in a friendly pumpkin launching competition full of laughs and feelings of accomplishment. Matt Slauson explains how this project was created as a way for the kids to think, have fun, and learn. Today, kids enrolled in technology class can still look forward to this fun project as teacher Matt Slauson still assigns the pumpkin launching catapult to his students every few years.

25 Years

Over the years, Thanksgiving traditions have drastically changed, but the meaning behind them has stayed the same. Originally celebrating the relationship between Pilgrims and Native Americans, the holiday would later become one of the few breaks for workers, when a 12 hour work day was common.  In 1910, the holiday became a commercial event. Stores would have enormous sales, signifying the beginning of the holiday shopping season. The highlight of the 1991 holiday season was the acknowledgement of the less fortunate, and communities such as Skaneateles, held canned food drives. This Thanksgiving, between shopping for deals and snagging the latest fashion trends, remember to reflect on past memories, appreciate time off of work, cherish the time families have together, recognize the important people in your life, and think of what you can do to show your appreciation for them.

50 Years

Fifty years ago the Skaneateles Rotary sent students to study overseas in order to become more cultured in their learning and in life. This has been a tradition for many years in our small community. The branch in our community has been up and running for eighty-nine years. Some of the graduates from the Skaneateles High School spent time overseas in places such as Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and many others over the years. Emily Norris, a 2016 graduate, is currently studying in Italy. When asked about her overseas experience thus far, she shared that “learning a new language from scratch is the most difficult thing, but I’ve definitely become more patient and I’ve learned to relax a bit, just because I know I’m not going to learn everything all at once. And of course it’s been amazing to meet people from all over the world and be exposed to different cultures.” This program is a great way to learn about other people and cultures.

75 Years

Seventy five years ago a column ran in the Press titled, “Printer’s Glossary” which included a number of technical terms used by printers’ apprentices. Words such as Ens, “a couple of football players,” and Quadder, “one fourth of a dollar,” were often used. Unknown to many, some phrases coined in the printing business in the 1940’s contributed to phrases that we still use today. The saying, “mind your p’s and q’s” hailed from the era when movable type was used. It was a warning to not mix up the lower and upper case letters. Another expression derived from the printing industry is “hot off the press,” referring to newly printed papers. Though the first printing press was used hundreds of years ago, the terminology used by printers still has an impact on the language we use today.

100 Years

One hundred years ago, the Press published an article stating that a couple in the Andes Mountains, between Peru and Bolivia, claimed to be married for a century. The man claimed to be 130 and his wife stated she was 120. Today, it has been documented that the oldest person in history lived to be 122 years old, passing 11 years ago. Ironically this man was from Bolivia like the couple, this seems rather strange because the average Bolivian lifespan is only 67 years. Another person who lived to be 122 years old was Jeanne Louise Calment, a citizen of France. Today, due to the advancements in medicine and technology, a person who has already reached the age of 65 will be expected to live to be about 85. The oldest person still living today is 6 years shy of the record at 116 years old; she resides in Italy.

Revision to Nov. 75 years ago

The 75 years ago column printed on November 9th claimed that Barrett’s Garage in Skaneateles helped produce anti-aircraft cannons for the United States Navy; this is not accurate. First of all, the advertisement in the 1941 Press included a typo, it was Barnett’s Garage, not Barrett. Second, the ad stated: “…producing anti-aircraft cannon for the United States Navy and building the fine car with the low price for the American people.”  Barnett’s Garage wasn’t building cannons, Pontiac, the manufacturer of the cars sold at Barnett’s was.  While Pontiac produced this machinery for the US Navy, Barnett’s Garage only sold Pontiac products. Thank you to those who dug deeper into our village’s history and set the record straight.