Arcade Historical Society

We've been hearing a lot about the Electoral College for the past five weeks, but did you know the late Robert Bentley (1918-1984) of Arcade went to Albany on December 15, 1980 to vote as one of New York State's electors? In every state and the District of Columbia, each party that has a candidate running for president chooses a slate of electors. When we vote for president in November, we don't vote for the candidates for president and vice president. Instead, we actually ar...e voting for the set of electors linked to those candidates. Whichever ticket wins the popular vote in a state, their electors go to the state's capital city on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December to do the "real" voting for president and vice president, and those ballots are counted by Congress in early January. Mr. Bentley had a deep interest in Arcade's history, and as the attorney for Vernon Gibby's estate, one of his final actions as an attorney was in the summer of 1984, when he turned over the keys to the Gibby House to the Arcade Historical Society. His wife, the late Helen L. Bentley, was a longtime trustee of the Historical Society, and she donated many photos and other items to the Society. Following her death in 2010, the Society acquired many more Bentley items, a few of which you'll see in this post. We'll add descriptions to each item so you can see more of the Electoral College process and some aspects of Mr. Bentley's career. If you'd like to support our mission to collect, organize, store and preserve items such as these, feel free to use our Donate button. See more

We had a lot of happy customers who found just the right gifts at the Historical Society's pop up shop today. If you missed it, we will be open at our office in the Old Fire Hall, 15 Liberty Street, on Thursday, Dec. 17th from 2-6pm.

Look for the Historical Society's sandwich sign outside of this storefront tomorrow on Main Street in Arcade! Can't wait to help you find the perfect gifts!

Vernon Gibby’s one-of-a-kind hand-crafted wooden trinkets we call them Giblets are for sale again at the Historical Society’s A Very Merry Main St. Holiday Pop Up this Saturday, December 12th from 10am to 3pm. Our shop is located at 283 Main Street just west of the A&A railroad tracks in the storefront that was formerly Mama’s. Whether it’s a Giblet, book, yo-yo, ornament, ceramic tile, tote bag, DVD, or mug, get your hometown guy or gal a bit of hometown history for Christmas!

Christmases Past - 1960 in the Arcade Herald and 1970 in the Tri-County Times. For Christmas Presents - come to the Historical Society's Pop-up Shop downtown next to the Railroad tracks on the north side of Main (formerly Mama's) this Saturday, Dec. 12th from 10am to 3pm! We take cash or checks.