130 Years Ago - 1896

While the Kinney Brothers of Long Eddy were thawing out dynamite in their shop, an explosion occurred in which the building was blown to pieces. Fortunately no one was hurt.

The Beaverkill Telephone Company has voted to extend its line to Livingston Manor where it will connect with the Sullivan County System. It was also voted to look over the route with a view of extending the line of Margaretville to a connection with the West Shore system.

Jerry Miller of Black Lake shot a large wildcat last week and Smithie Hunter and Andrew Davis, two of Jerry’s neighbors, killed an equally large one in the same neighborhood.

Anna Maria Taylor, widow of the late James Taylor of Kenoza Lake, died at her home in Middletown on Tuesday. She was about 60 years old.

120 Years Ago - 1906

Emmanuel Kleinberger, who conducted a dry and fancy goods business in the Grishaber building, died at the age of 40 Saturday night.

Mrs. Margaret Eggler died at her home on Swiss Hill at the age of 52.

The Erie Company is planning to do away with its grade crossing at Callicoon Depot and construct an overhead crossing for pedestrians and a driveway for teams under the tracks at Doetsch’s hardware store. The present crossing has long been a menace to life, as well as a great annoyance in blocking traffic.

August A. Neuberger of this village and Miss Lydia A. Dutweiler were married at the home of the bride’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.J. Dutweiler, on January 31st by Rev. H. Blaschke of the Presbyterian Church.

The boys club, now numbering 22 members, will meet for social pastimes every Thursday evening at the club room in the Grishaber building. Recently organized, its newly elected officers are: President Conrad Metzger, Vice-President Clarence Royce, Secretary Henry Meyer, Treasurer Walter Neiger, Librarians Floyd Schneidell and Eddie Bietz.

We understand that the union free school question will soon be brought to another vote in this district. If so, we suggest that the meeting be held in a larger place than the schoolhouse.

110 Years Ago - 1916

C.G. Yager yesterday received a carload of three Overland cars, all new models. He also received last week a carload of Fords, making twelve of these  cars he has received, nearly all of which have been sold.

The annual convention of Free Masons of the Sixteenth District embracing Sullivan and Delaware counties, will be held at the rooms of the Walton lodge at Walton today. A number of Masons will attend the convention. Going from Jeffersonville are Charles O. Wilkin, master; Fred W. Schadt, senior warden; Luther Potts, junior warden; Wm. C. Fuhrer, senior deacon; and William Knell, marshal of Callicoon Lodge.

Youngsville – Last Friday afternoon Henry Reinheimer drove his team on Sand Pond to draw ice to fill his ice house. The ice broke and both horses went into the pond where the water was about seven feet deep. It took over an hour to get the horses out. One was dead but the other is apparently all right.

Callicoon has organized and will incorporate a businessmen’s association with the following directors: C.A. Thorwelle, C.P. Kautz, Andrew Brandt, Matt T. Collins, George Wiesner, H.F. Gardner, C.F. Bergner, R.J. Bennett, George Sawyer, H.M. Darling, Martin Hermann, W.H. Stengel, John Dycker, C.G. Curtis and Supervisor J.H. Curtis.

100 Years Ago - 1926

Pastor Forester says there will be no evening services at the Lutheran Church until the traveling conditions are better. Deep snow has caused an indefinite postponement of the anniversary supper of the Ladies Aid.

Barber Smith is now closing his billiard down on movie nights so that Bill Archibald can get to the Maple Theatre in time to operate the picture machine. A neighborly cuss, that Barber Smith.

The weather man continues to talk with a distinct chill. Tuesday morning he said 17 below zero. The buildings are festooned with icicles reaching from the eaves to the ground. It was so cold the other morning that Billy McDermott had a two foot icicle hanging from his Irish merschaum.

Joseph Brandt of Poughkeepsie, a former chiropractor in Liberty, and Miss  Henrietta Rose Amber, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Amber of Liberty, were married in New York on January 31.

The snowfall of last Wednesday night and Thursday totaled 14 inches.

Mrs. Anna M. Hillriegel, 60, a lifelong resident of Callicoon, died on January 29th of pneumonia.

90 Years Ago - 1936

Jennie Louise, wife of Milton L. Skinner, died at her home in Milanville, Pa., at the age of 82. She was a noted Delaware Valley historian, and wrote articles on pioneer days.

Fred Schadt, late supervisor of this town, was appointed acting postmaster, to succeed his niece, Mrs. Marion Scheidell Moran. Mr. Schadt served once before as postmaster for six years. Robert H. Mann will remain as clerk and the office will remain in the Mansion House, where it has been since it was moved from Metzger corner in 1922.

Ralph E. Dutweiler, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin J. Dutweiler of Jeffersonville, was graduated from the electrical school at the naval base of Norfolk, Va.

Boy Scouts of this community will begin a week of celebration of Scouting’s 26th anniversary on Friday of this week. President Roosevelt will speak to every scout in the nation on a coast-to-coast hookup on Saturday.

80 Years Ago - 1946

William F. Davis of Liberty, Country 4-H Club Agent, died Tuesday from injuries sustained in a head-on collision with a southbound milk truck of the Ran Rompaye Company of Chester, driven by Raymond Magie of Chester, a former resident of Jeffersonville.

Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Weber sold their 12-room house on Terrace Avenue to Henry Schaefer, manager of the creamery.

The Callicoon Bank sold the Kenoza Lake Lodge property to A. Leo Parante and Mike Kopowski of New York, through Alfred E. Adler, broker.

Leslie Gabel has bought the Ed Wormuth boarding house at Narrowsburg. Leslie was recently discharged from the Army and was raised by his uncle, the late John Gabel, native of the Beechwoods.

Paul Grund, son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Grund of Cochecton Center, was married in Florida to Miss Caroline Hinds.

The Krongel Bakery was moved this week from E. Main Street to the Frankel Building on South Main Street.

The annual supper and dance of the Callicoon Center firemen will be held at Tumble Inn, Saturday, February 26.

70 Years Ago - 1956

Charles Jankus, 66, proprietor of the Hotel Clair in Youngsville, died at Liberty-Loomis Hospital after a cerebral hemorrhage.

In spite of the worst storm of the winter, Herbert Harder of Youngsville drove his son, Bradley, and Mayor Frederick W.V. Schadt of Jeffersonville to West Point on Monday to attend the first annual Eagle Scout Recognition dinner of the Orange and Sullivan Council Boy Scouts of America. Bradley became an Eagle Scout last November.

Michael Reddy, Supervisor of the Town of Delaware, was installed as president of the Kiwanis club at its annual installation and ladies night on January 31 at the Olympia Hotel in Callicoon.

The old Gressler farm in North Branch, which was originally acquired in 1867 by Herman Gressler from Andrew Hardenburgh, was sold by Alfred E. Adler to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Adams of Queens Village, L.I.

Carrie Kille, 67, wife of Fred Kille, died at the Callicoon Hospital on February 3.

The Ladies Aid Society of the Hortonville Presbyterian Church celebrated its 50th anniversary with a banquet at the Hillside Inn, Narrowsburg. Two original charter members, Mrs. Marie Wahl and Mrs. Louise Buddenhagen, were presented with yellow corsages and pins by Mrs. Ruth Hess, president.

60 Years Ago - 1966

A storm of blizzard-like proportions left an estimated six to ten inches of snow in Sullivan County over the weekend. Average fall through the county was estimated at eight inches.

Former Rockland Supervisor Carl Campbell was given a testimonial dinner at the Antrim Lodge in Roscoe. A total of 110 attended.

Joseph Purcell, planning administrator, has been named manager of the Sullivan County 1966 New York International Sports and Camping Show participation.

50 Years Ago - 1976

On Friday, January 23, a fifty-foot van from the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., pulled up in front of the home of Jesse and Hilda Lindsley in White Sulphur Springs. It was there to pick up the 1926 Jordan Playboy roadster which the Lindsleys have been restoring over the past 5 years. The car was borrowed by the Museum for a special exhibition “Sports Cars of the 1920s.”

“Stories of the Raftsmen,” the rafting book produced and sponsored by the Town of Delaware Bicentennial Committee, is now on sale at the Town Hall in Hortonville.

Fort Delaware, Narrowsburg, will be featured on a half-hour program, “Luke Swetland: A Colonial Sage,” which will dramatize the life of one of the early settlers of the Wilkes-Barre, Pa., area. In the film Fort Delaware represents Fort Durkee, a fort built along the banks of the Susquehanna where Luke Swetland and his family lived for a few years. Mrs. Ethel Poley, director of Fort Delaware, arranged to have the summer staff come in, dressed in 18th century colonial costume, to act out scenes in which they cooked, sewed, dipped candles, drew well-water, and tended farm animals in the old tradition. The young men chopped wood, worked at the forge and fired muskets for the film crew.

40 Years Ago - 1986

The Cochecton Volunteer Ambulance Corps, at a meeting on January 23, installed Ethel Rohrmann as president. She will be assisted by Aline Palmer, vice-president; Etta Pierce, secretary; Doris Sereno, corresponding secretary; and Gloria Garn, treasurer. Also installed were Captain Dick Guttzeit;  Asst. Captain George Rohrmann; Lieutenant Robert Grund, Asst. Lieutenant Steven Palmer, Trustee Dorothy Meyer and Historian Mary Martin.

Mrs. Elva Whitmore died Thursday morning as the result of a fire in her home located on Conklin Hill, Pa., in which she was unable to escape from the bathroom on the second floor. Believed to have been started by a wood stove, the blaze was discovered about 7 a.m. Mr. Whitmore was in the barn adjacent to the structure and was burned in an attempt to save his wife. The structure was completely lost.

The New York State Council on the Arts has awarded $20,750 in grants to Periwinkle Productions in Monticello as part of a $2 million project statewide.

The new $133,000 fire engine of the Youngsville Fire company was displayed in a wet-down program a week ago. The 1985 Pierce Dash has a 4-man all aluminum tilt style cab.

Madeline Moran, daughter of Bonnie and Tom Moran of Jeffersonville is participating in Ithaca College’s Semester Abroad Program. She left January 13 for London, England, and is a speech pathology/audiology major at Ithaca College where she is a junior.

Pearl White of Cochecton is one of those lucky enough to see Halley’s comet for the second time in a lifetime. She saw it 76 years ago and at the end of January this year she again spied it as it moved across the sky.

Ken and Linda Ross of White Sulphur Springs witnessed the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger while aboard an Eastern Airlines DC 1011 on Tuesday morning. They were heading for Ft. Lauderdale when the explosion occurred above Cape Canaveral just moments after liftoff. Ken was watching the incident out a window nearly 20 miles away and saw with his own eyes the tragic accident. He took a picture of the incident out the airplane window just moments after the explosion occurred.

Beginning February 9, local service between the Monticello ShortLine bus terminal and SCCC in Loch Sheldrake will increase to ten daily departures. The new terminal recently opened at Monticello is said to be the hub of transportation in Sullivan County.

Not too many fish were caught over the weekend during the ice fishing contest sponsored by the Loch Sheldrake Fire Department but Norm Culligan of Monticello took home the first place trophy with a 21-inch, 2.43 lb. pickerel. He donated his $100 prize to the fire company.

Three members of Sullivan County Community College’s women’s soccer team have been named second team selections to the 1985 Region XV Women’s All-Star Team. They are Blanca Gama of White Plains, Jeanine Smith of Orangeburg and Paula Wyss of Eldred. Debbie Rosenberger of Hortonville is their coach.

30 Years Ago - 1996

In an effort to better prepare for and cope with the next natural disaster in Sullivan County, the chairman of the Legislature, Raymond Pomeroy,  is creating an “Intergovernmental Advisory Board” which will include representatives of the county’s ten school districts and BOCES as well as its 15 towns, the county DPW, and the legislature.

In an effort to make what they say is health care reform at the local level, the Community general Hospital Board of Trustees has made 40 staff reductions to cut costs.

Serving as the acolyte during the Scout Service held Sunday at Liberty United Methodist Church was Paul Sims, 8, a third grader at Liberty Elementary School and member of Cub Scout Pack #95.

Bundled up to the eyes, close to 1,500 hardy souls braved frigid temperatures to attend Sunday’s Ice Carnival in Livingston Manor. The Rotary Club had postponed the event for two weekends in a row due to a flood in week one and rain in week two that led to poor ice conditions.

Catherine E. Mootz, 85, of Chula Vista, Calif., a former resident of Callicoon, died January 30, 1996 in National City, Calif. The wife of Alfred Mootz, she was the daughter of the late Methias and Emma Lahm Bayer.

20 Years Ago - 2006

Al Etkin, the former Director of the Sullivan County Veterans Service Agency and a leader amongst veterans in Sullivan County for many years, was recently enshrined in the New York State Senate Veterans’ Hall of Fame. Etkin is a Korean War-era veteran who served with distinction in Europe.

It’s been nearly two months since Town of Fallsburg Police were called to the colony next door to New Hope Community in Loch Sheldrake on suspicion that two dogs had been left with no food or water for at least three days. The officers called in Nancy Marinchak, town dog control officer, when they discovered a black labrador mix chained to a beam with a chain so tightly wrapped around its neck that it had sunk an inch and a half into his flesh.

DEATHS: Belle Fox, a lifelong Liberty resident who wintered in Florida, died January 27 at the age of 91. She was the widow of Joseph Etess and “Goody” Fox… Edythe Johnson of Callicoon, a retired schoolteacher, died February 6, 2006 at the age of 102… Grace “Gracie” Hillriegel of Callicoon died February 5, 2006 at home at the age of 7.

A celebration honoring the 60th wedding anniversary of Ed and Lois Korth of Livingston Manor was held recently. Their son, George, drove to Sullivan County from Paducah, Ky to surprise his parents.

10 Years Ago - 2016

A ceremony honoring Jacob Lilley for his Eagle Scout status and community service project was held at the Mamakating Library in Wurtsboro on Wednesday. Lilley’s mother Barbara, pinned the ceremonial Eagle badge on her son, and Jacob presented a miniature eagle pin to his parents. Among the guest speakers were: Jacob’s father and Assistant Scout Master, Lynn Lilley; Wurtsboro Mayor, Michelena (Mickey) Maher; Tony Ferguson, Commander John Lacey and Bob Vogt of American Legion Post #1266, as well as Library Board Member and Eagle Scout, Jay Egan. The approximately 12’ x 12’ bluestone patio at the rear of the library was Lilley’s project, completed with support and assistance from Troop 92, the Mamakating Library Committee, Dr. Robert Justus, Earl Lilley, George and Bill Semonite, JML Quarries and Benedict Memorial. A ceremonial block which will eventually be placed within easy view of the patio was on display for guests to view and includes a “thank you to all who helped.”

A summer residence along County Route 71 (Ferndale Road) in Ferndale was destroyed by an apparently accidental electrical fire Thursday, according to Liberty Fire Chief Harold Huggler. When firefighters from Liberty, Swan Lake, White Sulphur Springs, Livingston Manor and Loch Sheldrake arrived around 8 a.m., the first floor was already fully involved. The century-old house’s wood-frame balloon construction ensured a quick demise. No one was home at the time, and no firefighters were injured, although MobileMedic was present just in case. The Sullivan County Bureau of Fire investigated, finding no evidence of arson.