On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis (CA-34) was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in the Pacific and sank within 12 minutes in shark-infested waters. Of a crew that totaled 1,196, only 317 survived.
Four days earlier the USS Indianapolis had delivered critical parts of the first atomic bomb to Tinian Island. The mission was top secret and most of the crew did not know the real identity of the cargo that was carried. After leaving Tinian Island, the heavy cruiser had orders to meet the battleship USS Idaho in Leyte Gulf in the Philippines for the invasion of Japan.
Halfway between Guam and Leyte Gulf, after midnight on July 30, a Japanese torpedo struck and split the ship in two with a tremendous explosion. About 300 men were trapped inside the ship, while another 900 jumped or crawled overboard into the sea. Many died from drowning, shark attacks, injuries from the explosion and exhaustion. The survivors were in the water four days before help arrived.
The United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Sixty percent of the city was destroyed and there were about 130,000 casualties. A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
After the rescue of the USS Indianapolis survivors, the ship's captain, Charles McVay, was court-martialed for failing to steer a zigzag course and avoid enemy submarines in the area. McVay was the only Navy commander to be court-martialed for losing a ship during WW2. After the court-martial, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz remitted Captain McVay's sentence and restored him to active duty. McVay retired in 1949. During a period of depression, he committed suicide in 1968. Surviving crew members, for the most part, believed that Captain McVay had been made a scapegoat for the tragic sinking of the ship.
In October 2000, 55 years after the USS Indianapolis was sunk, Congress cleared Captain McVay's name. President Clinton signed the resolution. In the following year, 2001, the Secretary of the Navy ordered McVay's record cleared of all wrongdoing.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Before Tim Tebow and Mark Sanchez, There Was Broadway Joe
Incentive? The achievements of the 1969 (Super Bowl III) Jets can serve as an incentive for today's New York Jets.
View Joe Namath montage at New York Jets official website: http://www.newyorkjets.com/photos-and-videos/videos/Joe-Namath-Montage/27821c87-79d0-11df-ba56-acc8e62813e9
View Joe Namath interviewed by Ed Sullivan in 1969 on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPJJRoc8100
New York Jets beat the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in 1969. Watch the game on hulu: http://www.hulu.com/watch/123927
Tebow Beefcake: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/tebow_winning_streak_81A7JUwi9geDJ188D4rZKP
Cortland Contrarian Welcomes New York Jets
View Joe Namath montage at New York Jets official website: http://www.newyorkjets.com/photos-and-videos/videos/Joe-Namath-Montage/27821c87-79d0-11df-ba56-acc8e62813e9
View Joe Namath interviewed by Ed Sullivan in 1969 on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPJJRoc8100
New York Jets beat the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in 1969. Watch the game on hulu: http://www.hulu.com/watch/123927
Tebow Beefcake: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/tebow_winning_streak_81A7JUwi9geDJ188D4rZKP
Cortland Contrarian Welcomes New York Jets
Friday, July 27, 2012
Who Am I? (Number 10)
I was born in Homer, New York on November 7, 1832. I learned to read by age four in an unusual way.
The colored servant who had charge of me wished to learn to read--so she slipped into the school and took me with her.
I clearly recall arithmetic and geography at school and at home, and playing with other children in the woods and streams and on the village green in Homer. I remember when I and other children stormed or defended snow forts or shot arrows on the village green for entertainment.
If any old settler happened to pass during our snow-balling or shooting with bows and arrows, he was sure to look on with interest, and, at some good shot, to cry out,--Shoot Burgoyne!--thus recalling his remembrances of the sharpshooters who brought about the great surrender at Saratoga.
In the early years of the century, my paternal grandfather was the richest man in the township. Tragically, sometime before my birth he had become one of the poorest. A fire consumed his mills, there was no life insurance, and his health gave way. This calamity took my father out of school. He met the emergency with courage and determination, and was soon known far and wide for his energy, ability, integrity and business acumen. Long before he had reached middle age, he was considered one of the leading men of business in the county.
My mother had a more serene career....Her father prospered as a man of business, was known as Colonel and also as Squire, and represented his county in the State Legislature. He died when I was about three years old....On one account, above all others, I have looked back to him with pride. For the first public care of the settlers had been a church, and the second a school. This school had been speedily developed into Cortland Academy, which soon became famous throughout that region, and, as a boy or five or six of age, I was very proud to read on the cornerstone of the academy building my grandfather's name among those of the original founders.
My family moved to Syracuse when I was seven years old. My father opened a new bank in Syracuse. I studied at private and public schools, and graduated from academy at age seventeen.
My family was Episcopalian, so my father sent me to Geneva College [Hobart and Smith College] in Geneva, New York. One year later I dropped out. I pleaded with my father to send me to Yale. After a temporary estrangement between us, my father acquiesced to my request for a better school and I was soon a student at Yale.
I attended Yale from 1849 to 1853. As a junior I won the Yale literary prize for best essay, beating seniors who usually got the award. I won the Clark prize for English disputation and the DeForest prize for public oratory. On 'Tap Day' I joined Skull and Bones, an undergraduate senior secret society at Yale.
After graduation, along with classmate Daniel Gilman, I traveled and studied in Europe. I attended the Sorbonne, the College de France and the University of Berlin. I then served as translator for U. S. Ambassador Thomas Seymour in Russia. When I returned to the United States, I re-enrolled at Yale and obtained an M.A. in history and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1856.
In 1858 I joined the faculty at Michigan University as professor of history and English literature. I remained at Michigan U. until 1863, when I again traveled to Europe. The United States was engaged in a civil war and I lobbied France and England not to aid the Confederacy against the United States. I returned to Syracuse, New York for business and political interests that same year, and I was elected to the New York State Senate on the Union Party ticket.
In the New York State Senate I met Ezra Cornell, a farmer from Ithaca, New York, who had made a substantial fortune in the telegraph industry. Together we supported a land grant for a new university in New York State. In 1865, I introduced a bill to establish Cornell University on land owned by Senator Cornell in Ithaca. On April 27, 1865, the bill became law and Cornell University was fully endowed. I became the university's first president, also serving as professor of history.
During my tenure at Cornell, my interests in the diplomatic field never waned. I served under President Grant on the Commission of Inquiry to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, and as Ambassador to Germany (1879-1881). I resigned as Cornell's president in 1885. Later I served as Minister to Russia (1892-1894), as president of the American delegation to the Hague Peace Conference in 1889, and again as Ambassador to Germany (1897-1902).
I was author of History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896). At Cornell's founding, I announced that Cornell would be an asylum for science--where truth shall be sought for truth's sake, not stretched or cut exactly to fit Revealed Religion.
I completed my autobiography in 1904, and it was published in 1904 and 1905. I donated more than $500,000 to Cornell University, and 4,000 books for the study of architecture.
Following a long period of illness, I had a sudden stroke on October 26, 1918. I died at my home in Ithaca on November 4, 1918. My body was interred at Sage Chapel at the University of Cornell.
My name is Andrew Dixon White.
References:
1) Quotes, in italics, from Autobiography of Andrew Dixon White, published 1905, The Century Company. Free e-book download at Google books.
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Dixon_White
The colored servant who had charge of me wished to learn to read--so she slipped into the school and took me with her.
I clearly recall arithmetic and geography at school and at home, and playing with other children in the woods and streams and on the village green in Homer. I remember when I and other children stormed or defended snow forts or shot arrows on the village green for entertainment.
If any old settler happened to pass during our snow-balling or shooting with bows and arrows, he was sure to look on with interest, and, at some good shot, to cry out,--Shoot Burgoyne!--thus recalling his remembrances of the sharpshooters who brought about the great surrender at Saratoga.
In the early years of the century, my paternal grandfather was the richest man in the township. Tragically, sometime before my birth he had become one of the poorest. A fire consumed his mills, there was no life insurance, and his health gave way. This calamity took my father out of school. He met the emergency with courage and determination, and was soon known far and wide for his energy, ability, integrity and business acumen. Long before he had reached middle age, he was considered one of the leading men of business in the county.
My mother had a more serene career....Her father prospered as a man of business, was known as Colonel and also as Squire, and represented his county in the State Legislature. He died when I was about three years old....On one account, above all others, I have looked back to him with pride. For the first public care of the settlers had been a church, and the second a school. This school had been speedily developed into Cortland Academy, which soon became famous throughout that region, and, as a boy or five or six of age, I was very proud to read on the cornerstone of the academy building my grandfather's name among those of the original founders.
My family moved to Syracuse when I was seven years old. My father opened a new bank in Syracuse. I studied at private and public schools, and graduated from academy at age seventeen.
My family was Episcopalian, so my father sent me to Geneva College [Hobart and Smith College] in Geneva, New York. One year later I dropped out. I pleaded with my father to send me to Yale. After a temporary estrangement between us, my father acquiesced to my request for a better school and I was soon a student at Yale.
I attended Yale from 1849 to 1853. As a junior I won the Yale literary prize for best essay, beating seniors who usually got the award. I won the Clark prize for English disputation and the DeForest prize for public oratory. On 'Tap Day' I joined Skull and Bones, an undergraduate senior secret society at Yale.
After graduation, along with classmate Daniel Gilman, I traveled and studied in Europe. I attended the Sorbonne, the College de France and the University of Berlin. I then served as translator for U. S. Ambassador Thomas Seymour in Russia. When I returned to the United States, I re-enrolled at Yale and obtained an M.A. in history and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1856.
In 1858 I joined the faculty at Michigan University as professor of history and English literature. I remained at Michigan U. until 1863, when I again traveled to Europe. The United States was engaged in a civil war and I lobbied France and England not to aid the Confederacy against the United States. I returned to Syracuse, New York for business and political interests that same year, and I was elected to the New York State Senate on the Union Party ticket.
In the New York State Senate I met Ezra Cornell, a farmer from Ithaca, New York, who had made a substantial fortune in the telegraph industry. Together we supported a land grant for a new university in New York State. In 1865, I introduced a bill to establish Cornell University on land owned by Senator Cornell in Ithaca. On April 27, 1865, the bill became law and Cornell University was fully endowed. I became the university's first president, also serving as professor of history.
During my tenure at Cornell, my interests in the diplomatic field never waned. I served under President Grant on the Commission of Inquiry to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, and as Ambassador to Germany (1879-1881). I resigned as Cornell's president in 1885. Later I served as Minister to Russia (1892-1894), as president of the American delegation to the Hague Peace Conference in 1889, and again as Ambassador to Germany (1897-1902).
I was author of History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896). At Cornell's founding, I announced that Cornell would be an asylum for science--where truth shall be sought for truth's sake, not stretched or cut exactly to fit Revealed Religion.
I completed my autobiography in 1904, and it was published in 1904 and 1905. I donated more than $500,000 to Cornell University, and 4,000 books for the study of architecture.
Following a long period of illness, I had a sudden stroke on October 26, 1918. I died at my home in Ithaca on November 4, 1918. My body was interred at Sage Chapel at the University of Cornell.
My name is Andrew Dixon White.
References:
1) Quotes, in italics, from Autobiography of Andrew Dixon White, published 1905, The Century Company. Free e-book download at Google books.
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Dixon_White
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Obituary For Tax Relief
Apparently readers of the Cortland Standard failed to notice or react to a misplaced obituary found on page 3 of the local newspaper, Saturday edition, July 21, 2012. Obituaries usually appear on page 2.
According to Cortland County Administrator Martin Murphy, the people's fantasy called TAX RELIEF died and will be buried at the county landfill before the end of this year. There will be no calling hours. The burial will be public and open--no lid or cap on the coffin.
TAX RELIEF has a pedigree that dates back to 1776, the year of the American Revolution. A recent Internet search of rootsweb.ancestry.com and genealogy.org shows that names of relatives were unavailable or non-existent from the year 1913 to the present.
The county legislature suggests a familiar substitute for the departing fantasy called TAX RELIEF. The legislature plans a minimum property tax increase of 3.3 percent, and an ad valorum tax, disguised as a special solid waste fee, to be assessed on all real estate in the county, including non-profit and tax exempt properties.
The obituary did not include details about increased revenues from sales taxes and existing fees which can lower taxes. It did not explain why the concept of landfill profitability was abandoned. Also, it did not explain why the price of a shampoo and hair cut at King's Den on Tompkins Street did not increase.
Starting next year, the county legislature will provide all the haircuts. Close shaves, or shearings, will be the specialty.
According to Cortland County Administrator Martin Murphy, the people's fantasy called TAX RELIEF died and will be buried at the county landfill before the end of this year. There will be no calling hours. The burial will be public and open--no lid or cap on the coffin.
TAX RELIEF has a pedigree that dates back to 1776, the year of the American Revolution. A recent Internet search of rootsweb.ancestry.com and genealogy.org shows that names of relatives were unavailable or non-existent from the year 1913 to the present.
The county legislature suggests a familiar substitute for the departing fantasy called TAX RELIEF. The legislature plans a minimum property tax increase of 3.3 percent, and an ad valorum tax, disguised as a special solid waste fee, to be assessed on all real estate in the county, including non-profit and tax exempt properties.
The obituary did not include details about increased revenues from sales taxes and existing fees which can lower taxes. It did not explain why the concept of landfill profitability was abandoned. Also, it did not explain why the price of a shampoo and hair cut at King's Den on Tompkins Street did not increase.
Starting next year, the county legislature will provide all the haircuts. Close shaves, or shearings, will be the specialty.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Who Am I? (Number 9)
I was born in New York City on February 12, 1884. My mother was a banking heiress and my father was a New York State Assemblyman. My father had higher political ambitions and destiny would reward him in an astonishing turn of events.
My mother died from acute kidney failure two days after I was born. My father was distraught. He placed me in care of his sister and moved to a ranch in North Dakota and travelled throughout the western United States for two years.
I loved and admired my aunt. She was a special human being whose influence I felt my entire life.
My father remarried in England in 1886. I was shuffled from one house to another after that.
I suppose I was rather unpleasant as a child. I was pretty selfish and defiant from a very early age. Nobody spoiled me. I spoiled myself. I didn't do any of the nice and proper things expected of me.
Frequent separation from my father--who was pursuing a political career--and an uneasy relationship with my step-mother, made me an independent and outspoken person. My step-mother was usually fair and she helped me obtain a broad literary education. She also had a sharp sense of humor, which she needed. She would have five children and me to manage and care for.
I had very little formal education, which saved a lot of excitement for my later years. I'm really just inquisitive with a simian ability to catch on. My father read all the time, so I just followed his example.
My father moved to Washington, D.C. in 1901 and took his family with him. Due to the nature of his new job, our family was hounded by the press and a curious public. I was seventeen years old, and in the mood for adventure. My father got most of the attention but I got some too. I smoked cigarettes in public, stayed out late at parties, and I was spotted placing a bet with a bookie.
I guess I was different or trying to be different. I had a pet snake which I called Emily Spinach. It was as green as spinach and it was as thin as my aunt Emily. It was a garter snake. One day I found it dead in its box and I was suspicious and very angry. I thought someone killed it. I was upset for weeks.
I and others in my father's political entourage had the good fortune to go on a diplomatic mission to Hawaii and Asia in 1905. I met my future husband on what would be called the Imperial Cruise. I also met the heads of state in China, Japan and Korea.
When I returned to the United States, I was engaged to the exciting and energetic man I met on the cruise. We were married the following year. He was a congressman from Ohio and would later become Speaker of the House. After the wedding, we honeymooned in Cuba and Europe. I met the King of England, the Kaiser and other notables.
My husband and I soon developed sharp political differences, which were made public in 1912. Our marriage began to unravel soon after he lost a bid for reelection. We stayed married, for appearances, until his death in 1931. He regained his seat in Congress after an absence of one term.
My daughter, Paulina, was born on February 14, 1925. I wrote in my diary that her father was Senator William Borah. I had a long affair with the honorable senator. It was accepted and known in Washington, D.C. By the by, my husband wasn't an angel.
After my husband died, I continued to reside on Embassy Row. I wrote an autobiography, Crowded Hours. Sales of the book helped me and Paulina through the Great depression. I also appeared in tobacco advertisements.
I was active in Washington socially and politically. I attended Republican conventions. During the 1930's, I received the sobriquet "the other Washington Monument." I did not vote for FDR. I was a Republican. I voted for Hoover.
My attitude toward politics and social justice changed in the 1960's. I voted for Nixon in 1960 but I really did like John F. Kennedy and his family. I also voted for Lyndon Johnson.
The Kennedys were a fascinating, incredible outfit. There hadn't been anything like them since the Bonapartes. I had great fun with them, especially Jack. He loved to tease and he was very amusing.
When Richard Nixon came under fire for Watergate, I dropped my support for him. He was a personal friend of mine, but he quoted my father to make an excuse for his involvement in the Watergate Scandal and I abhorred that sleazy association with my father's quoted record.
In 1965 my African-American chauffeur, Turner, was driving me to an appointment. He pulled in front of a taxi, and the taxi driver got out, came to the window of our car and said: "What do you think you're doing, you black bastard?" My driver took the insult calmly, but I got angry and shouted at the taxi driver: "He's taking me to an appointment, you white son of a bitch."
I had a mastectomy after cancer was detected in one breast in 1955, and a second mastectomy on the other breast in 1970. Smoking did not help my health either. In 1960 I was diagnosed with emphysema. I attended the 1976 Bicentennial of the United States and met Queen Elizabeth II. We were photographed together. It was my last public appearance. I died in my home on Embassy Row on February 20, 1980. I was 96 years old.
My name is Alice Roosevelt Longworth.
References:
1) Quotes, in italics, from Mrs. L--Conversations with Alice Roosevelt Longworth by Michael Teague and published by Doubleday & Co.
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Longworth.
3) June Bingham "Before the Colors Fade: Alice Roosevelt Longworth (February 1969, AmericanHeritage.com)
My mother died from acute kidney failure two days after I was born. My father was distraught. He placed me in care of his sister and moved to a ranch in North Dakota and travelled throughout the western United States for two years.
I loved and admired my aunt. She was a special human being whose influence I felt my entire life.
My father remarried in England in 1886. I was shuffled from one house to another after that.
I suppose I was rather unpleasant as a child. I was pretty selfish and defiant from a very early age. Nobody spoiled me. I spoiled myself. I didn't do any of the nice and proper things expected of me.
Frequent separation from my father--who was pursuing a political career--and an uneasy relationship with my step-mother, made me an independent and outspoken person. My step-mother was usually fair and she helped me obtain a broad literary education. She also had a sharp sense of humor, which she needed. She would have five children and me to manage and care for.
I had very little formal education, which saved a lot of excitement for my later years. I'm really just inquisitive with a simian ability to catch on. My father read all the time, so I just followed his example.
My father moved to Washington, D.C. in 1901 and took his family with him. Due to the nature of his new job, our family was hounded by the press and a curious public. I was seventeen years old, and in the mood for adventure. My father got most of the attention but I got some too. I smoked cigarettes in public, stayed out late at parties, and I was spotted placing a bet with a bookie.
I guess I was different or trying to be different. I had a pet snake which I called Emily Spinach. It was as green as spinach and it was as thin as my aunt Emily. It was a garter snake. One day I found it dead in its box and I was suspicious and very angry. I thought someone killed it. I was upset for weeks.
I and others in my father's political entourage had the good fortune to go on a diplomatic mission to Hawaii and Asia in 1905. I met my future husband on what would be called the Imperial Cruise. I also met the heads of state in China, Japan and Korea.
When I returned to the United States, I was engaged to the exciting and energetic man I met on the cruise. We were married the following year. He was a congressman from Ohio and would later become Speaker of the House. After the wedding, we honeymooned in Cuba and Europe. I met the King of England, the Kaiser and other notables.
My husband and I soon developed sharp political differences, which were made public in 1912. Our marriage began to unravel soon after he lost a bid for reelection. We stayed married, for appearances, until his death in 1931. He regained his seat in Congress after an absence of one term.
My daughter, Paulina, was born on February 14, 1925. I wrote in my diary that her father was Senator William Borah. I had a long affair with the honorable senator. It was accepted and known in Washington, D.C. By the by, my husband wasn't an angel.
After my husband died, I continued to reside on Embassy Row. I wrote an autobiography, Crowded Hours. Sales of the book helped me and Paulina through the Great depression. I also appeared in tobacco advertisements.
I was active in Washington socially and politically. I attended Republican conventions. During the 1930's, I received the sobriquet "the other Washington Monument." I did not vote for FDR. I was a Republican. I voted for Hoover.
My attitude toward politics and social justice changed in the 1960's. I voted for Nixon in 1960 but I really did like John F. Kennedy and his family. I also voted for Lyndon Johnson.
The Kennedys were a fascinating, incredible outfit. There hadn't been anything like them since the Bonapartes. I had great fun with them, especially Jack. He loved to tease and he was very amusing.
When Richard Nixon came under fire for Watergate, I dropped my support for him. He was a personal friend of mine, but he quoted my father to make an excuse for his involvement in the Watergate Scandal and I abhorred that sleazy association with my father's quoted record.
In 1965 my African-American chauffeur, Turner, was driving me to an appointment. He pulled in front of a taxi, and the taxi driver got out, came to the window of our car and said: "What do you think you're doing, you black bastard?" My driver took the insult calmly, but I got angry and shouted at the taxi driver: "He's taking me to an appointment, you white son of a bitch."
I had a mastectomy after cancer was detected in one breast in 1955, and a second mastectomy on the other breast in 1970. Smoking did not help my health either. In 1960 I was diagnosed with emphysema. I attended the 1976 Bicentennial of the United States and met Queen Elizabeth II. We were photographed together. It was my last public appearance. I died in my home on Embassy Row on February 20, 1980. I was 96 years old.
My name is Alice Roosevelt Longworth.
References:
1) Quotes, in italics, from Mrs. L--Conversations with Alice Roosevelt Longworth by Michael Teague and published by Doubleday & Co.
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Longworth.
3) June Bingham "Before the Colors Fade: Alice Roosevelt Longworth (February 1969, AmericanHeritage.com)
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad's Phoebe Snow
A contributor of history articles to the Cortland Contrarian rode the Phoebe Snow with his family in 1955 from Hoboken to Binghamton, New York. The family switched trains at Binghamton to arrive at the Central Avenue train station at Cortland, New York. Having slept through most of the trip, our contributor, who was about five years old at the time of the excursion, recalls little of the experience. His mother told him details about the trip years later.
The Phoebe Snow could travel between Hoboken and Buffalo in eight hours, taking longer when frequent delays were added. The train passed over two historic landmarks, the New Jersey cutoff between Port Morris, New Jersey and Slateford, Pennsylvania, and the Nicholson-Hallstead cutoff in Pennsylvania. Both magnificent viaducts were made of reinforced concrete and stood high over the surrounding countryside.
Steamtown excursion train on Nicholson Viaduct
Watch the train in motion and listen to a song made in tribute to the Phoebe Snow by songwriter and performer John LeBaron on YouTube. Click "skip ad" when prompted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6yjxjtVcuY
Marconi radio experiment in 1913 at Binghamton,N.Y.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Cortland-Cincinnatus Branch, Erie and Central New York Railroad
USGS map of Erie and Central New York Railroad
In 1870 a charter was granted to the "Utica, Chenango, and Cortland Railroad Co." to construct a railroad from Cortland to Cincinnatus. Bonds totaling $259,000 were sold to the townships through which the railroad would extend. The allotted funds were exhausted due to other expenses, and for 25 years the railroad bed was idle. The Erie & Central Railway Company purchased the project in 1891 and the lying of rails was started. The first passengers were carried on an excursion train in 1897 and were greeted by a large number of McGraw residents upon arrival of the train known as the "Gee Whiz", perhaps because the last stop before Cincinnatus was Gee Brook. According to a timetable dated Oct. 12, 1897, there were four daily trains running from Cortland to Cincinnatus and four trains making the return trip to Cortland. In its heyday, which was about 1901, the Cincinnatus branch carried 29,756 fares for that year. In 1913, the branch was leased to the Lackawanna and later the Erie & Central merged into the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.
Mary Kimberly, Historian,
Village of McGraw
November 14, 2005
Reference:
http://www.mcgrawschools.org/tfiles/folder826/VillageProfile.pdf
Western New York Railroad Archive statistics:
Station Mile
Cortland Station 0
Cortland Junction .5
McGraw 4.2
Maybury's 5.5
Solon 8.4
East Freetown 11.7
White's Mills 15.1
Gee Brook 16.6
Cincinnatus 18.6
All mileage measured from Cortland.
Passenger service was discontinued January 16, 1939.
Abandonment was authorized September 26, 1961.
Operation was discontinued December 29, 1961.
Reference:
Western New York Railroad Archive, with special thanks to Richard F. Palmer who provided information to archive. Richard F. Palmer is co-author of Cortland County Traction--The Story of Cortland's Trolley System.
http://wnyrails.org/railroads/dlw/dlw_stns_cincinn.htm
.jpg)
Photo of Delaware, Lackawanna & Western train heading to Cincinnatus--courtesy of Neil Bennett and McGraw Historical Society. Left click on photo and rear of photo to enlarge.
See photo of Cortland Junction (near the end of South Franklin Street) dated 2002. Credit due "Railfan.net Erie Lackawanna Email List Photo Archive."
http://www.railfan.net/lists/erielackphoto.cgi?erielack-09-10-02/nysw4004cj.jpg
Overheard at the station: A frustrated passenger who rips up the schedule and claims that D., L. and W. really means "Delay, Linger and Wait."
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