Friends of Historic Herkimer County

DAILY EVENING NUMBER DRIVE. We are doing another "Daily Evening Number Drive" in June - a safe fundraiser right from your kitchen table! Tickets are $5.00 each. A number of members are selling tickets and or call Katie at 315-867-5036 email: [email protected]. The proceeds will help us pay for expenses not covered by our state grant to renovate the 1834 Herkimer County Jail.

We mailed out our first 1834 Jail Tour DVD to West Canada Valley Central School to share with their students. Our goal is to encourage young people to appreciate their local history and return to tour the old Herkimer County Jail someday with their families. We are offering this video to area schools free of charge, thanks to a donation from Stewarts Shops in support of our program. If you are an educator and would like a copy of this DVD to share with your school, private message us or call Katie at 315-867-5036.

Kudos to Jack Sherman for having his work "My Dear Chester" made into film featuring the letters of Chester Gillette and Grace Brown from the famous 1906 Adirondack Tragedy murder case at Big Moose Lake. We will share more information on when this is available to see.

100 YEARS AGO. The "Rome Daily Sentinel" in their February 24, 1921 paper talked about the "FAMOUS MURDERER'S CELL" at the Herkimer County Jail. While we can verify that Gillette and Gianini were held in that uppermost cell, we do not believe that Roxalana Druse was held there in the 1880s, especially knowing renovations were made afterwards. You can read about this famous Jail Cell in our upcoming book "WICKED HERKIMER COUNTY," one of the stories that is contributed by Herkimer County historian and Friends president James Greiner. We are working with The History Press to have this book available by November of this year.

A "shout out" to Katie Nichols and Donna Merryman on "International Women's Day" for their dedication and hard-working efforts to save the 1834 Herkimer County Jail at the "Historic Four Corners" in Herkimer! Thank You!!

THANK YOU TO "STEWART'S SHOPS" FOR MAKING IT POSSIBLE TO BRING OUR TOUR OF THE JAIL TO OUR LOCAL SCHOOLS. Last year, as the School Tour season was about to begin at the "Historic Four Corners" in April, we had to close our doors to maintain public safety. This year, while school groups are still not ready to come back to tour the 1834 Jail, we are bringing the Jail to them with a virtual tour! Produced by W. C. Pope, we now have a video of Friends president Jim Greiner giving... a personal tour of the Jail from top to bottom with an interesting commentary of its history and the more notable "residents." Thanks to a $500 donation from Stewart's Shops, we can now send out this video to our local schools to share with their students. THANK YOU TO STEWART'S SHOPS FOR THEIR SUPPORT! We appreciate them for giving back to the community like they do and for the wonderful services they provide with their stores. Stewart's Shops

DECEMBER DAILY EVENING NUMBER DRIVE. We launched the "December Daily Evening Number Drive" in June and a call for donations - a safe fundraiser right from your kitchen table! We have 365 tickets sold to date as well as several donations. At this rate we are hopeful to sell out the entire 1,000 tickets before December. A number of members are also selling tickets and tickets are available at the Herkimer County Historical Society or call Katie at 315-867-5036 email: [email protected]. The proceeds will help us pay for expenses not covered by our state grant to renovate the 1834 Herkimer County Jail.

This photograph is of Gaffey Motors baseball Team. The photograph is undated and none of the men are identified.