Fenton Historical Advisory Committee

Our beautiful Chenango Valley State Park. As always, an outstanding time to get out for a walk in autumn.

Have you been wondering who shot Charles Carman and why? I bet it has kept you up late at night wondering!! Well FINALLY the followup Fenton history booklet has arrived. It is now available for purchase ($6.00) at the Town Hall. We will let you know of additional locations when they are set up.

HILLCREST RECALLS PART 2 The Residents were mostly working-stock families from a variety of nationalities. There were plenty of Irish and Italians among them, mostly young families with children. Parents worked at Link Aviation, IBM, the State Hospital and Botnick Motors. The Botnick family lived on Hotchkiss Avenue. Also a family of note residing at 21 Hotchkiss was the Hathaway family. Mr. Hathaway was the golf pro at Chenango Valley State Park, and the family would ...live six months here and six months in Floridaa very exotic lifestyle for the times! Hillcrest was a self-sufficient community. Most of what you needed could be found within its borders. As noted by one of the early residents, the community seemed to have an abundance of dentist offices. Two grocery stores operated here; Grand Union on Chenango Street, which is now an electrician’s business along with Laura’s Restaurant. There was also the A & P in the plaza on the Service Road; now containing My Uncle’s Place, North Pointe Church and a motorcycle store. Within that same plaza were several little specialty shops including a branch of Dick’s Sporting Goods! A hardware store was located in the back of what is now St. Francis Church [?] A business by the name of Wolfingers sold electrical supplies and appliances out of a black brick-fronted building; which now is a dog groomer and hair salon. Should you need a bit of a treat; next door to Wolfingers was the Soda Spa run by the parents of Jeff Kraham. If you needed a special outfit, you could shop at O’Connor’s Dress Shop across from Wolfingers. Russ Cooley ran the local gas station/garage across from what is now the Sunoco station (later Dick’s Garage). On Nowlan Road, a real old-fashioned general store by the name of Cornabys could be found. They sold a variety of things; from deli meat to penny candy, when candy really sold for a penny and sometimes two for a penny! Upstairs from that sat Betty Moppert’s Dance Studio, along with space for a theatrical group. Thompson Dairy Bar was famous for its ice cream and was a popular stop after picnics at Chenango Valley State Park. These are the memories of long-time residents of Hillcrest. Feel free to send us your memories of any of these moments. See more

Recently a small group of mature long-time Hillcrest residents sat and reminisced. After a wonderful evening of sharing stories, this is some of what they had to say. These are their memories, and of course, everyone remembers events differently. So, if you have a memory of any part of these recollections, please feel free to add to them; they are always welcome. I will be sharing this in four installments. There is no particular timeline of events; it is as they offer...ed the information. Once upon a time in HILLCREST In the early 1940’s, most of the houses on Hotchkiss Avenue and the surrounding streets had coal furnaces. A small window in the front cellar wall would have a chute to the basement where you would accept the trucked in coal delivery, the coal sliding into a bin storing it for future shoveling into the furnace. The furnace was sooty black, and it had several ducts emanating from the fire box, each going to a different room to conduct the heat. To make it all fit, the installers would have the ducts twist and turn over each other giving rise to the nickname, the octopus. Coal was banked at night to make the heat last, and ashes needed to be removed each morning and hauled to the street for pickup. Unfortunately, the warmth from coal was uneven and not too toasty warm. The large school yard associated with Hillcrest Elementary school was originally a huge corn field. A farm house sat squarely where the school is now located. When the town took over that property, the house was literally moved to the end of Hotchkiss Avenue. The Macomber family retained life use of the land. In virtually every backyard home in Hillcrest was a Victory Garden. Summer produce was diligently canned for the winter. Fresh tomato sandwiches, sometimes with onion greens on top, fed the kids before peanut butter and jelly became a staple; and they drank Guernsey Milk which had to be thoroughly shaken to mix the cream that had risen to the top.

This event is not from the past, it is current time, August 3, in our wonderful, historic State Park. Bring your children, gr/kids, nieces or nephews and enjoy the day. Don't forget your swimsuits!