Thumbing Backward the Pages of Time
Glimpse of Sidney Back in Year 1871
[published in 1939]
Captioned "Sidney Plains" written by a Binghamton Times correspondent, the following article appeared in the Midland Times issue of Saturday August 29, 1871, edited by J.M. Graves and published in Sidney at that time. The write-up will have special appeal to our elder residents who will recall vividly the points mentioned. Time proves that Mr. Graves and the Midland Times met with reverses, for, with the arrival in Sidney Plains of the late Arthur Bird, then publishing The Record in Jeffersonville, Sullivan County, this village did not boast a paper. It was in December 1882, that The Record of the present day kicked its baby heels into the air. It is quite evident the author of the article met a hometown booster when he placed the population at 800, this way back in 1871. In 1882 we can vouch, Sidney Plains population was about 400, if that. Here is what the Binghamton correspondent had to say about Sidney Plains of that day:
"Sidney is thirty-nine miles from Binghamton, on the south side of the Susquehanna, and at the intersection of the Midland Railway with the A.&S., and opposite the mouth of the Unadilla River which empties into the Susquehanna from the opposite side and is the smartest little town along the Albany Railway. The latter may sound like a pretty broad assertion, but I think I will verify it before I get through. When I say the population and business of the place have more than doubled in four years, I but repeat what was told me by old and well-informed residents. What other town along the road can say as much? The present population is about 800.
"Of the business establishments, there are two dry good store, a retail grocery, a wholesale and a retail grocery, hardware store, two drug stores, three hotels, a music store, a millinery store and a millinery shop, wagon shop, two furniture stores, a tailor shop, two furniture stores, a tailor shop, post office, two blacksmith shops, two meat markets, a steam feed and saw mill, a private banking house, two shoe shops, a jewelry store, two restaurants, two barbershops, a photographer, three lawyers, two physicians, a large and fine public hall and American Express office and a National Express office.
"The office of the racy little Midland Times is located here, and I had a very pleasant and profitable chat with its genial editor, Mr. J. H. Graves. Mr. Graves has been a resident of Sidney for twenty-two years, and his description of the rapid rise of the town interested me very much. Pointing to a location near his office which he could have purchased five years ago for a certain sum, he stated that its present value is several hundred percent in advance of its worth at that time, and this is a sample of the whole town. The passage of two important railways through the village has brought this gratifying change. In his opinion the future of Sidney is filled with splendid possibilities. And why not. With that magnificent plain, two miles long by half a mile to a mile in width, and level as a prairie, there is abundant room for an important city. Situated in the fertile valley of the Susquehanna, and at the terminus of the Unadilla valley, with two railways passing through its borders, would not a liberal use of capital soon raise it to a town of importance and influence in the State.
"A district school with upwards of one hundred scholars, takes the place of and is equivalent to a union school. Professor Fields teaches the school for a salary of $1,000 per year - pretty good salary for a district schoolteacher. The three hotels of the place are the Delaware House, Messrs. Grimwood & Mumford proprietors; the Bartlet House, J.E. Lonergan, proprietor, and the Central House, which is kept by George Bishop, all of which afford excellent accommodations to the traveling public. The first named is the largest and appears to be the best patronized. It has sleeping accommodations for 80 guests. From the roof of this hotel to which I ascended in company with one of the proprietors and the editor of the Times, a complete bird's eye view is obtained of the town and broad plain surrounded with the ranges of hills encircling all. From here, also, I could look into Otsego County just across the river and east to the mouth of the Unadilla, and into Chenango County, the other side of the Unadilla, while I was standing in Delaware county. There is considerable talk of cutting a circle out of the corners of these three converging counties and make a new county out of it.
"There are two churches in Sidney, a Methodist and a Congregationalist. A Baptist society has also been formed which holds meetings once in two weeks in the Methodist church. There is also a newly organized Episcopal society which holds meetings every two weeks in the Congregational church, and which is in a flourishing condition.
"The D&H. Coal Company ship a great deal of coal from this station by the Midland to the western part of the State. One hundred carloads per day are changed here from the A.&S. Road to the Midland.
"About a mile up the river, in the town of Unadilla, on the opposite side is a large paper and plaining mill run by waterpower. It is owned and operated by Palmer, Humphrey & co. a wealthy and enterprising firm and they are doing a large and constantly increasing business. They employ about twenty hands.
"Before leaving I had the pleasure of examining at the Delaware House, a beautiful Chinese Pagoda procured from China by Mr. Grimwood, one of the proprietors of that hotel, when on a visit to that country, at an expense of $100 in gold. It is twenty-six inches high, of rarest workmanship, and all carved from solid ivory. He has also a large string of tiger's teeth, procured from the Indians in Central America."
the above article was thoughtfully sent to The Record office by Mrs. Nellie M. Hurd of 33 Hayes Street, Norwich, N.Y. to whom we extend deep appreciation and thanks.
[From LMD scrapbook, compiler's collection]
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