Years Ago
These moments in history are selected and edited by students enrolled in Kate Hardy’s tenth grade Honors English class. Thank you to the Skaneateles Library and the Historical Society for providing the Press Archives.
10 Years Ago
… the Skaneateles Press publish an article regarding an event that took place honoring trees around Arbor Day. Arbor Day took place on April 25th ten years ago; this year it fell on Friday, April 27th. The town of Skaneateles is ecstatic about keeping the environment clean as well as trees and other plants alive and healthy. The people in Skaneateles treasure trees every day, whether it’s using their branches for shade in the summer, planting a few more saplings at the local school, or simply picking up trash around the town to keep the environment pristine. Overall, whether it is today or 10 years ago, we should always honor our environment and appreciate Arbor Day.
25 Years Ago
… there was an article in the Skaneateles Press about blasting in quarries. The article talked about how the blasting affected neighboring towns and shook nearby houses. Local residents met to voice their concerns about the recent blasting and asked for the towns’ help. Mining at the General Crushed Stone Quarry had been shifting basement foundations and disrupting people’s homes and lives. The people impacted by these blasts requested better communication between the quarry and the town in order to reduce further negative effects of mining. Specifically, it was asked that the quarry share their schedule so that Skaneateles residents would know when the quarry would be blasting. Currently there are still existing quarries in Skaneateles that mine for resources such as rock and gravel. However, the effects of mining have been greatly reduced. As of 2015, hydro-fracking is illegal in the state of New York, and vibration standards are enforced to reduce the effects of blasts.
50 Years Ago
… there was an article in the Skaneateles Press about the Skaneateles Elementary Mothers Club dance recital. “Tutus and Tights” was an annual dance performance that took place in the high school auditorium and included a variety of different dances, such as tap, ballet, and modern jazz. The public was welcome to attend the recital. Nowadays, multiple, local dance schools have opened throughout the area. Schools like Tiffany’s School of Dance and Dance More are located in Skaneateles and offer a variety of dancing opportunities. Tiffany’s School of Dance has classes for toddlers to teens with various levels of dancing experience and with styles including ballet, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, musical theater, acro, tap and technique classes. Dance More offers classes in ballet, tap, modern/lyrical jazz, and ballroom dancing for ages 2 through adults. Dance More also gives private lessons in any dance discipline. If you’re interested in participating in a new dance experience, visit tsdapc.com and dancemorestudios1.com/your-classes today for more information!
75 Years Ago
… the Skaneateles Press published an article announcing a few upcoming classes on food preservation which were run by the Onondaga County Extension Service. The first of these classes, focused on canning fruits and vegetables. This was an important aspect of the United States’ food program for 1943. The food program called for the preservation of food along with the planting of victory gardens. In 1943, there were approximately twenty million victory gardens in the United States. These gardens produced approximately eight million tons of food. The donation and preservation of food were very important during this period. Therefore, classes of this nature were in high demand throughout World War II. While food preservation classes are no longer as relevant or popular, cooking classes are still a common activity. There are many cooking classes in our community. For example, Mirbeau offers cooking classes throughout the year. In fact, they are offering a class on Spring Cakes at 6:00 tonight, in order to attend you need to RSVP at some point today. This is only one of the many classes they offer this month, so be sure to check out their website. Wegmans also offers cooking classes, runs teen culinary camps in the summer, and offers Cooking with Kids Classes all year long so make sure to check their website as well. Let’s Get Cooking!
100 Years Ago
… Secretary of the Interior Franklin Lane and several congressmen created the Plan Big Campaign to End Illiteracy. At the time about 4.6 million adult Americans could not read nor write according to the 1918 Skaneateles Press. That was about 3.8% of the population. The idea of the plan was to help rural citizens and farmers become literate which would in turn help them to become more efficient farmers. Although the bill passed, it was not very successful as an estimated 32 million adults or 10% of adults are still illiterate today, according to the Huffington Post. Today, much of the illiteracy is caused by juvenile delinquency and crime. Nowadays, groups like Reach Out and Read try to help kids in low income families at risk of delinquency learn to read and write. You can volunteer at Reach Out and Read to try to give these kids a chance at a more successful future, or donate to the cause on their website, reachoutandread.org.
