village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
in and
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
of
Otsego County, New York
Otsego County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,524. The county seat is Cooperstown. The name ''Otsego'' is from a Mohawk or Oneida word meaning "place of the rock."
History
In 178 ...
, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the
Central New York Region
The Central New York Region (formerly the Central-Leatherstocking Region, also known as Leatherstocking Country) is a term used by the New York State Department of Economic Development to broadly describe the central region of New York for to ...
, Cooperstown is approximately southwest of Albany, southeast of Syracuse and northwest of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The population of the village was 1,852 as of the 2010 census.
Cooperstown is the home of the
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
. The
Farmers' Museum
The Farmers' Museum is located in Cooperstown, New York, and is one of the best-known attractions in the town.
Just north of Cooperstown, it overlooks Otsego Lake and recreates rural life from the 19th century through exhibits and interactive ...
in the village opened in 1944 on farmland that had once belonged to
James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...
. The
Fenimore Art Museum
The Fenimore Art Museum (formerly known as New York State Historical Association) is a museum located in Cooperstown, New York on the west side of Otsego Lake. Collection strengths include the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian ...
and
Glimmerglass Opera
The Glimmerglass Festival (formerly known as Glimmerglass Opera) is an American opera company. Founded in 1975 by Peter Macris, the Glimmerglass Festival presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on Otsego Lake eight ...
are also based here. Most of the historic pre-1900s core of the village is included in the
Cooperstown Historic District
The Cooperstown Historic District is a national historic district in Cooperstown, Otsego County, New York, that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It encompasses 232 contributing properties: 226 contributing build ...
, which was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1980; its boundaries were increased in 1997 and more contributing properties were identified.
History
Native American use
Before
European colonization
The historical phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around the globe and across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Turks, and the Arabs.
Colonialism in the modern sense began ...
,
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
Indians inhabited the area around the village and Otsego Lake. The name ''Otsego'' is from a
Mohawk Mohawk may refer to:
Related to Native Americans
* Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York)
*Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people
* Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...
or
Oneida
Oneida may refer to:
Native American/First Nations
* Oneida people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy
* Oneida language
* Oneida Indian Nation, based in New York
* Oneida Na ...
word meaning "place of the rock", referring to the large boulder near the lake's outlet, today known as "Council Rock". It is a large boulder whose top is above the water's surface and can be seen from shore. It is believed to have been a meeting place for Native Americans prior to the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. A small parcel of land near Council Rock was presented to the Village of Cooperstown in 1957, on the condition that it remain open to the public as a park.
Settlement
The village was developed within part of the Cooper Patent, which
William Cooper William Cooper may refer to:
Business
*William Cooper (accountant) (1826–1871), founder of Cooper Brothers
* William Cooper (businessman) (1761–1840), Canadian businessman
*William Cooper (co-operator) (1822–1868), English co-operator
* Will ...
– who later became a county judge – purchased in 1785 from Colonel
George Croghan
George Croghan (c. 1718 – August 31, 1782) was an Irish-born fur trader in the Ohio Country of North America (current United States) who became a key early figure in the region. In 1746 he was appointed to the Onondaga Council, the governin ...
, former Deputy to
Sir William Johnson
Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet of New York ( – 11 July 1774), was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Ireland. As a young man, Johnson moved to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Royal Na ...
, British Superintendent of Indian Affairs of the Northern District. The land amounted to . William Cooper founded a village on Otsego Lake. His son,
James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...
, grew up in the frontier town. He later became a noted American author with '' The Leatherstocking Tales'', a series of novels that includes ''
The Last of the Mohicans
''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826.
It is the second book of the ''Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinder ...
''.
Cooper established the village of Cooperstown in 1786, laid out by surveyor William Ellison. At the time, the area was part of Montgomery County. It was incorporated as the "Village of Otsego" on April 3, 1807. The name was changed to "Village of Cooperstown" June 12, 1812, after the founder. William Cooper was appointed as a county judge in the late 18th century and was elected to the state assembly from Otsego County.
Cooperstown is one of only twelve villages in New York still incorporated under a
charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
, the other villages having incorporated or re-incorporated under the provisions of Village Law.
Cooperstown today
Cooperstown is best known as the home of the
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
, which was founded in 1939 by
Stephen Carlton Clark
Stephen Carlton Clark (August 29, 1882 – September 17, 1960) was an American art collector, businessman, newspaper publisher and philanthropist. He founded the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Biography
Clark was the young ...
. According to an interview conducted in 1906 by the
Mills Commission
Abraham Gilbert Mills (March 12, 1844 – August 26, 1929) was the fourth president of the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs ( 1883–1884), and is best known for heading the "Mills Commission" which controversially credited Civil W ...
, nearby resident Abner Graves attributed the game's invention to his deceased friend,
Abner Doubleday
Abner Doubleday (June 26, 1819 – January 26, 1893) was a career United States Army officer and Union major general in the American Civil War. He fired the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter, the opening battle of the war, and had a pi ...
. Graves stated that Doubleday invented
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
on a cow pasture within the village in 1839, the present site of
Doubleday Field
Doubleday Field is a baseball stadium in Cooperstown, New York named for Abner Doubleday and located two village blocks from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
The grounds have been used for baseball since 1920, on what was Elihu Ph ...
, but this claim is universally discounted by baseball historians.
Once known as the "Village of Museums", until the 1970s Cooperstown also boasted the Indian Museum (adjacent to Lakefront Park), The Carriage and Harness Museum (displaying a world-class collection primarily from F. Ambrose Clark's estate; now the Bassett Hospital offices on Elk Street), and The Woodland Museum near Three Mile Point. The latter, opened in 1962 by heirs to the
Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple glo ...
company, folded in 1974. It ran a close third in annual attendance to the Hall of Fame and Farmers' Museum.
The
Cooperstown Historic District
The Cooperstown Historic District is a national historic district in Cooperstown, Otsego County, New York, that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It encompasses 232 contributing properties: 226 contributing build ...
,
Glimmerglass Historic District
Glimmerglass Historic District is a national historic district located near Cooperstown in Otsego County, New York. The district encompasses parts of three towns, Otsego, Springfield, and Middlefield and the village of Cooperstown. It enco ...
Fly Creek Historic District
Fly Creek Historic District is a national historic district located at Fly Creek in Otsego County, New York.
It encompasses 111 contributing buildings, three contributing sites, and 88 contributing structures. The district incorporates three h ...
United States Post Office
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...
are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.
Business district
Superficially, the downtown commercial district looks not unlike it did in the 1970s. It has undergone significant change since the late 20th century.
Through the 1970s, Main Street was still home to at least five grocery stores, including an A&P.
Western Auto
Western Auto Supply Company—known more widely as Western Auto—was a specialty retail chain of stores that supplied automobile parts and accessories. It operated approximately 1200 stores across the United States. It was started in ...
had a branch on Main Street and
J.J. Newberry
J. J. Newberry's was an American five and dime store chain in the 20th century. It was founded in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, United States, in 1911 by John Josiah Newberry (1877–1954). J. J. Newberry learned the variety store business by working ...
's had built, in 1960, a two-story five-and-dime with a fountain and lunch counter. Smalley's, a stage theater converted into a movie theater, had a single screen across from a Farm & Home store. With its post office, library, and the Baseball Hall of Fame, Main Street resembled a true village square.
Today, the village has fewer traditional services for year-round and seasonal residents. Once boasting half a dozen gas stations, the village now has two. Traditional grocers have been reduced to one, and in 1977 Great American was built on the outskirts of town, replacing the town's bowling alley.
In 2010, it was converted to a Price Chopper. Hardware stores such as Western Auto, McGown's and Farm & Home have been displaced by an Ace Hardware just outside the village. Newberry's morphed into a single-floor general store with the basement stairs boarded up, and even this general store finally closed entirely in 2017. Sherry's Famous Restaurant closed in the late 1990s after more than half a century of business. Most Main Street shops now cater to the tourist trade and feature gifts and souvenirs.
The Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce, established in 1917, looks to develop business and trade in the Cooperstown region. Serving also as a visitor center in its main office, the Chamber also manages a seasonal kiosk on the corner of Main and Pioneer St for tourists.
Cooperstown was formerly served by the Cooperstown Municipal Airport, which was a two-runway facility fewer than two miles to the northwest of town center. That field closed in the 1960s. The village is now served by a small grass field in nearby Westville and a larger paved one-runway facility in Oneonta.
Sister city
The sister city of Cooperstown is
Windsor, Nova Scotia
Windsor is a community located in Hants County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a service centre for the western part of the county and is situated on Highway 101.
The community has a history dating back to its use by the Mi'kmaq Nation for sev ...
. This is due to Windsor's claiming to be the birthplace of
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
and Cooperstown at one time being considered to be the birthplace of baseball.
Geography and climate
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the village has a total area of , of which is land and (2.53%) is water.
The source of the
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...
is in Cooperstown at the outlet of Otsego Lake. Blackbird Bay of Otsego Lake is north of the village.
The junction of
New York State Route 28
New York State Route 28 (NY 28) is a state highway extending for in the shape of a "C" between the Hudson Valley city of Kingston and southern Warren County in the U.S. state of New York. Along the way, it intersects several major r ...
and
New York State Route 80
New York State Route 80 (NY 80) is a west–east New York State Route located within Onondaga, Madison, Chenango, Otsego, Herkimer, and Montgomery counties in New York. Its western terminus is located at a junction with NY&n ...
was constructed at Cooperstown. The village is also served by County Routes 31 and 33.
Climate
Cooperstown has a
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(Dfb), with cold, very snowy winters, warm summers, and abundant precipitation year-round. Freezing temperatures have been observed in every month of the year, except for July. The record low temperature is , set on February 9, 1934, and the record high temperature is , set on July 9 and 10, 1936.
Demographics
As of the
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
of 2000, there were 2,032 people, 906 households, and 479 families residing in the village. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
was 1,317.5 people per square mile (509.5/km2). There were 1,070 housing units at an average density of 693.8 per square mile (268.3/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 96.21%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 0.94%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.34% from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 0.79% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 2.31% of the population.
There were 906 households, out of which 23.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.9% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.1% were non-families. 41.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.05 and the average family size was 2.83.
In the village the population was spread out, with 20.2% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 24.7% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 26.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females, there were 81.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.8 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $36,992, and the median income for a family was $50,250. Males had a median income of $39,625 versus $20,595 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
for the village was $26,799. About 5.0% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
, including 7.5% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.
Arts and culture
Annual cultural events
The
Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
Induction Ceremony is a yearly ceremony where inductees are officially added to the Hall of Fame. In 2020, the ceremony was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
The internationally noted
Glimmerglass Festival
The Glimmerglass Festival (formerly known as Glimmerglass Opera) is an American opera company. Founded in 1975 by Peter Macris, the Glimmerglass Festival presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on Otsego Lake eight ...
is closely associated with Cooperstown. Founded in 1975, the company originally performed in the Cooperstown Junior/Senior High School auditorium. In 1987, the company relocated to farmland donated by Tom Goodyear of the Cary Mede Estate north of the village, where the Alice Busch Opera Theater was built, the first new opera-specific hall in the United States built since 1966. It has a popular summer season with a reputation for producing high quality opera and commissioning new works.
Tourism
The Baseball Hall of Fame is the main site of the village, and has been attracting baseball fans since 1939. According to the Hall of Fame, 260,000 tourists visit the museum each year, with over 17 million total visits.
Other attractions include the
Farmers' Museum
The Farmers' Museum is located in Cooperstown, New York, and is one of the best-known attractions in the town.
Just north of Cooperstown, it overlooks Otsego Lake and recreates rural life from the 19th century through exhibits and interactive ...
, the
Fenimore Art Museum
The Fenimore Art Museum (formerly known as New York State Historical Association) is a museum located in Cooperstown, New York on the west side of Otsego Lake. Collection strengths include the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian ...
and its library, and the Clark Sports Center, a large fitness facility, where the annual Hall of Fame Induction is held. Also close by to the village is the
Fly Creek Cider Mill and Orchard
The 'Fly Creek Cider Mill and Orchard'' is a historic water-powered cider mill on the banks of Fly Creek. The marketplace at the mill has more than 300 specialty foods, including fresh mill-made fudge, mill-aged extra-sharp cheddar cheese, salsa ...
located in the hamlet of Fly Creek, and the
Brewery Ommegang
Brewery Ommegang is a brewery located near Cooperstown, New York, United States, that specializes in Belgian-style ales.
History
Ommegang began brewing Belgian-style ales in 1997. It was founded by Don Feinberg and Wendy Littlefield, owners o ...
located south of Cooperstown.
Sports
The Clark Sports Center is an recreational center with of outdoor fields established in 1986. The Hall of Fame induction is held annually at the center. The facility was renovated and expanded in 2013.
Cooperstown retains a close connection with the baseball world, and "Cooperstown" has become synonymous with the Hall of Fame. Several nationally recognized tournaments are held in the area. Cooperstown Dreams Park in nearby Hartwick Seminary hosts 104 level U12 teams for weekly tournaments in the summer. Several professionals, including David Price and Matt Garza, have attended CDP. In 2010, Cooperstown got an official baseball team of its own, the Cooperstown Hawkeyes, a
Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League
The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL) is a 16-team Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball league founded in 2010. As of 2022, all teams are within New York (state). All players in the league must have National Colle ...
team who play against many other teams from the northeast during the summer, with home games played at historic Doubleday Field. In 2014 the team was voluntarily suspended from the league.
Notable people
Notable historic year-round or summer residents of Cooperstown included:
* Kenneth Bainbridge - physicist, contributor to the
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
*
Erastus Flavel Beadle
Erastus Flavel Beadle (September 9, 1821 – December 18, 1894) was an American printer and pioneer in publishing pulp magazines, pulp fiction.
Biography
Erastus was born in Otsego County, New York, United States, in 1821, and had a brother ...
- pioneer in publishing pulp fiction, in particular creating the
dime novel
The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term ''dime novel'' has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, r ...
*Fredericka Martin - writer, historian, Spanish civil war volunteer
* F Ambrose Clark - equine sportsman, philanthropist, art collector
*
Robert Sterling Clark
Robert Sterling Clark (June 25, 1877 – December 29, 1956), an heir to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune, was an American art collector, horse breeder, and philanthropist.
Biography
Known by his middle name, Sterling Clark served in the United S ...
- philanthropist, racehorse owner, art collector
*
Stephen Carlton Clark
Stephen Carlton Clark (August 29, 1882 – September 17, 1960) was an American art collector, businessman, newspaper publisher and philanthropist. He founded the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Biography
Clark was the young ...
- philanthropist, art collector
*
William Cooper William Cooper may refer to:
Business
*William Cooper (accountant) (1826–1871), founder of Cooper Brothers
* William Cooper (businessman) (1761–1840), Canadian businessman
*William Cooper (co-operator) (1822–1868), English co-operator
* Will ...
, founder and politician
*
James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...
, grew up here and lived here as an adult, novelist of the New York frontier
* John A. Dix −
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
general and political leader
*
Abner Doubleday
Abner Doubleday (June 26, 1819 – January 26, 1893) was a career United States Army officer and Union major general in the American Civil War. He fired the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter, the opening battle of the war, and had a pi ...
− Civil War officer and supposed inventor of baseball
*
Bud Fowler
Bud Fowler (March 16, 1858 – February 26, 1913), born "John W. Jackson", was an American baseball player, manager (baseball), manager, and club organizer. He is the earliest known African-American player in organized professional baseball. He ...
− baseball player and member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
* Kevin Guilfoile - author of '' Cast of Shadows'' and ''The Thousand''
*
Samuel F. B. Morse
Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph ...
− inventor, painter
*
Samuel Nelson
Samuel Nelson (November 10, 1792 – December 13, 1873) was an American attorney and appointed as judge of New York State courts. He was appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1872. He concu ...
− Associate Justice of the
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
*
Thurlow Weed
Edward Thurlow Weed (November 15, 1797 – November 22, 1882) was a printer, New York newspaper publisher, and Whig and Republican politician. He was the principal political advisor to prominent New York politician William H. Seward and was ins ...
Michaela Dietz
Michaela Dietz (born November 1, 1982) is a Korean-American voice actress whose professional career started in 2005. She voiced the character of the lost 4th dinosaur member Riff on the PBS children's television series ''Barney & Friends'', Amet ...
− actress
*
Lauren Groff
Lauren Groff (born July 23, 1978) is an American novelist and short story writer. She has written four novels and two short story collections, including '' Fates and Furies'' (2015), ''Florida'' (2018), and '' Matrix'' (2021).
Early life and ed ...
- writer and novelist
Cooperstown writers
Aside from James Fenimore Cooper, noted Cooperstown authors include his daughter
Susan Fenimore Cooper
Susan Augusta Fenimore Cooper (April 17, 1813 December 31, 1894) was an American writer and amateur naturalist. She founded an orphanage in Cooperstown, New York and made it a successful charity. The daughter of writer James Fenimore Cooper, s ...
, the author of ''Rural Hours'', and his great-great-grandson
Paul Fenimore Cooper
Paul Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1899 – January 20, 1970) was an American writer of children's books and non-fiction, some based on his travels. His first book was a translation of Albanian folk tales.
Life
Paul Fenimore Cooper was born in ...
, author of '' Tal: His Marvelous Adventures with Noom-Zor-Noom'' (1929, 1957, 2001).
Other writers include the prolific poet W. W. Lord, who captured Cooperstown in many of his poems, as well as modern author
Lauren Groff
Lauren Groff (born July 23, 1978) is an American novelist and short story writer. She has written four novels and two short story collections, including '' Fates and Furies'' (2015), ''Florida'' (2018), and '' Matrix'' (2021).
Early life and ed ...
, who has written extensively about her hometown, notably in ''
The Monsters of Templeton
''The Monsters of Templeton'' is a dramatic novel written by Lauren Groff. Groff was born and raised in Cooperstown, New York. The name Templeton draws from the name devised for the town by James Fenimore Cooper, Cooperstown's most renowned author ...
'', a story that brings several Cooperstown legends to life.
The work of Cooperstown-based novelist and poet
Marly Youmans
Marly Youmans (born Susan Marlene Youmans; November 22, 1953 in Aiken, South Carolina) is an American poet, novelist and short story writer. Her work reflects certain recurring themes such as nature, magic, faith and redemption, and often referen ...
has referred to the area, notably in her epic poem ''Thaliad'' (2012), in which a group of child survivors of an apocalypse travel north and make their new home in an abandoned village on the shore of Glimmerglass Lake.'
The Clark family
The Clark family, whose fortune originated with a half-ownership of the patent for
Singer Sewing Machine
Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Singer, Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward Cabot Clark, Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing mac ...
, have lived in Cooperstown since the mid-19th century. The family's holdings include interests assembled over a century and a half, which are now held through trusts and foundations. Their dominance is reflected in Clark ownership of more than of largely undeveloped land in and around greater Cooperstown.
In the village, the Otesaga, the Cooper Inn, Clark Estates, and the Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home are all Clark properties. In addition, the Clarks were founding partners of, and retain an interest in, the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital.
Cooperstown still receives support from the Clark Foundation, which has donated to a variety of causes including various scholarships, non-profit organizations, and village services. The family has also donated land for the Cooperstown Central School District's new high school location − formerly horse stables − as well as for parks such as Fairy Springs and Council Rock, and recently, for a new
Little League
Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization"Clark presents foundation's visions for the village" ''Cooper Crier'' The Clark Foundation supports a variety of Cooperstown and Otsego County organizations and causes with donations of $7.5 million to charitable organizations every year. The family's Scriven Foundation, formed in 1975, donates to only Otsego County nonprofit organizations, such as the Cooperstown Village Library. The Scriven Foundation donates $1.5 million every year. According to Clark's presentation, the family's businesses employ 4,198 people, with 3,100 of those positions being full-time jobs.
Schools
The Cooperstown Central School District has two buildings located in the town. The Elementary School is located at 21 Walnut Street. It was built in the 1950s and was designed with a bomb shelter in the basement. The Cooperstown Junior/Senior High School was built in 1970 at 39 Linden Avenue, on land donated by the Clark family. The school district offices are located in the high school building.
Architecture
There are, and were, significant residential, commercial, and religious structures in Cooperstown. Original residences related to the founding Cooper family, such as Edgewater and Heathcote, are still standing.
Otsego Hall
Otsego Hall was a house in Cooperstown, New York, United States built by William Cooper, founder of the town. Construction started in 1796 and was completed by 1799 in the Federal style. For many years, it was the manor house of Cooper's landed es ...
, James Fenimore Cooper's residence which once stood in what is now Cooper Park, has been lost, along with his chalet. Byberry, the cottage built for his daughter, remains on River Street, albeit in altered form.
"Fynmere", a grand stone manor from the early 20th century, erected by Cooper heirs on the eastern edge of town, was designed by noted architect
Charles A. Platt
Charles Adams Platt (October 16, 1861 – September 12, 1933) was a prominent American architect, garden designer, and artist of the "American Renaissance" movement. His garden designs complemented his domestic architecture.
Early career Pai ...
. Later donated to the Presbyterian Church as a retirement home, the property was razed in 1979. Both its grounds and those of neighboring property Heathcote (extant today), built for Katherine Guy Cooper (1895–1988), daughter-in-law of James Fenimore Cooper III, were laid out by noted landscape architect
Ellen Biddle Shipman
Ellen Biddle Shipman (November 5, 1869 – March 27, 1950) was an American landscape architect known for her formal gardens and lush planting style. Along with Beatrix Farrand and Marian Cruger Coffin, she dictated the style of the time and stro ...
.
Residences, business, and properties related to the Clark family abound within the village. From the original family seat of "Fernleigh" to the 1928
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
manor of "West Hill", the properties are exceptionally well cared for. Fernleigh is a
Second Empire Second Empire may refer to:
* Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783
* Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396)
* Second French Empire (1852–1870)
** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...
stone mansion designed by New Jersey architect James Van Dyke and built in 1869. The original garden at Fernleigh, located to the south of the mansion, included a servants' house and Turkish bath; both details have since been lost. In 1923, Stephen C. Clark, Sr. commissioned Marcus T. Reynolds and
Bryant Fleming
Bryant Fleming (July 19, 1877 – September 19, 1946) was an American architect and landscape architect.
Early life
Fleming was born on July 19, 1877 in Buffalo, New York. He graduated from Cornell University in 1901, where he studied horticulture ...
, a landscape design professor at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, to design new gardens for Fernleigh.
The manor home of
Robert Sterling Clark
Robert Sterling Clark (June 25, 1877 – December 29, 1956), an heir to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune, was an American art collector, horse breeder, and philanthropist.
Biography
Known by his middle name, Sterling Clark served in the United S ...
, Red Creek Farm, remains on the outskirts of the Village. His brother F. Ambrose Clark's "Iroquois Farm" manor house was razed in the early 1980s. Also razed in 1979 was the Mohican Farms manor house, owned by the Clark Estates, in Springfield Center, New York. It was formerly the summer home of the Spaulding sporting good family from Buffalo.
Edward Severin Clark
Edward Severin Clark (July 6, 1870 – September 19, 1933) was an American businessman, and the owner of the New York City apartment building The Dakota.
Early life
Clark was born on July 6, 1870 in Neuilly, France. He was the eldest of the fou ...
built a farm complex at Fenimore Farm in 1918, which has been adapted as the Farmers Museum. His stone manor, built in 1931, was bequeathed to the
New York State Historical Association
The Fenimore Art Museum (formerly known as New York State Historical Association) is a museum located in Cooperstown, New York on the west side of Otsego Lake. Collection strengths include the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American India ...
and today serves as the
Fenimore Art Museum
The Fenimore Art Museum (formerly known as New York State Historical Association) is a museum located in Cooperstown, New York on the west side of Otsego Lake. Collection strengths include the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian ...
.
Other structures, such as the
Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
, The Otesaga Hotel, Clark Estate Office, Kingfisher Tower, which lies on the east side of Otsego Lake, Bassett Hospital, and The Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home, exemplify Cooperstown's architectural wealth.
The Bowers family " Lakelands" manor, neighboring " Mohican Lodge", and their former estate of " Willowbrook" (1818; presently the Cooper Inn) serve as further examples of grand homes erected by affluent residents. The Bowers family received the land patent extending from current-day Bowerstown to very near
Cherry Valley, New York
Cherry Valley is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Otsego County, New York, Otsego County, New York (state), New York, United States. According to the 2020 US census, the village of Cherry Valley had a population of 487. Howeve ...
, upon which Congressman John Myer Bowers built Lakelands in 1804. Woodside Hall, on the eastern edge of the village proper, was built c. 1829 by Eben B. Morehouse and was subsequently owned by several prominent individuals, including, in 1895, financier Walter C. Stokes of New York City. Prior to the Stokes' ownership, the home was visited by
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party (Uni ...
, the eighth President of the United States.
The village offices and Cooperstown Art Association are housed in a neo-classical building designed by
Ernest Flagg
Ernest Flagg (February 6, 1857 – April 10, 1947) was an American architect in the Beaux-Arts style. He was also an advocate for urban reform and architecture's social responsibility.
Early life and education
Flagg was born in Brooklyn, New ...
. He is famed for Manhattan's 47-story
Singer Building
The Singer Building (also known as the Singer Tower) was an office building and early skyscraper in Manhattan, New York City. The headquarters of the Singer Manufacturing Company, it was at the northwestern corner of Liberty Street and Broad ...
and the
Boldt Castle
Boldt Castle is a major landmark and tourist attraction in the Thousand Islands region of the U.S. state of New York. Open to guests seasonally between mid-May and mid-October, it is located on Heart Island in the Saint Lawrence River. Heart I ...
on the
St. Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...
. The Cooperstown building was originally commissioned by Elizabeth Scriven Clark in 1898 as a
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
. Her son
Robert Sterling Clark
Robert Sterling Clark (June 25, 1877 – December 29, 1956), an heir to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune, was an American art collector, horse breeder, and philanthropist.
Biography
Known by his middle name, Sterling Clark served in the United S ...
gave it to the village in 1932 during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
.
Several prominent buildings in town were designed or updated by noted architect Frank P. Whiting, who originally worked under
Ernest Flagg
Ernest Flagg (February 6, 1857 – April 10, 1947) was an American architect in the Beaux-Arts style. He was also an advocate for urban reform and architecture's social responsibility.
Early life and education
Flagg was born in Brooklyn, New ...
. A resident of New York City and Cooperstown, Whiting was also a noted artist. He designed the Farmers Museum farm buildings and the shingle-style manor at "Leatherstocking Falls Farm", the residence of Dorothy Stokes Bostwick Smith Campbell, the landscaping for which was done by the all-female firm of Wodell & Cottrell in the 1930s. Whiting also designed 56 Lake Street. In 1932 Whiting designed and built his residence, "Westerly", on a half-acre lot at the north end of Nelson Avenue. The home is in the Colonial style and today retains many interior and exterior features of the original home. In June 1923 Whiting wrote a featured monograph "Cooperstown in The Times of Our Forefathers" for volume IX of the
White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs
The ''White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs'', subtitled "A Bi-Monthly Publication Suggesting the Architectural Use of White Pine and Its Availability Today as a Structural Wood", was a landmark publication of drawings, photographs and des ...
containing several sketches and measured drawings of homes in Cooperstown.
In 1916, financier William T. Hyde acquired "Glimmerglen", a lakeside property north of Fenimore Farm, from the Constable family. The house burned to the ground shortly thereafter and was rebuilt by society architect
Alfred Hopkins
Alfred Harral Hopkins (March 14, 1870 – May 5, 1941) was an American architect, an "estate architect" who specialized in country houses and especially in model farms in an invented "vernacular" style suited to the American elite. He was a me ...
, who also designed a new farm complex, gate house, and assorted dependencies. The estate was featured in a multipage advertisement in '' Country Life'' magazine in late 1922 when the property was put up for sale. The manor and greenhouses were razed in the late 1960s after their acquisition by the Clark family. The stone gatehouse, featured in the ''
Architectural Record
''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. "The Record," as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important historical record of the unfolding debates in a ...
'' is extant today and owned by the Clark Foundation, as is the boathouse and the distinctive cottage known as "Winter House".
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...