Bleecker Historical Society

The May meeting of the Society will be held on the above date at 6:45 p.m. at the Bleecker Town Hall at 575 County Highway 112 in Bleecker, NY. Following a brief business meeting, Bleecker resident and enthusiastic outdoorsman Stanley Pulrang will present

a program on hiking in the Bleecker area.  With over 50% of the Town of Bleecker under state ownership (and more state land in surrounding towns), Pulrang will discuss good hiking locations including alternate routes to reach these areas.

             THE BLEECKER HOTEL–LONG TIME LANDMARK IN BLEECKER UNTIL IT’S DESTRUCTION BY FIRE. IT STOOD AT INTERSECTION OF COUNTY HIGHWAYS 112 AND 145

The new year is upon us and although the Bleecker Historical Society will not begin holding monthly meeting until April, activity is going on behind the scenes. Audit Committee is at work and a spring membership mailing is planned. Work continues on change-over to this new website/blog.  It is quite a learning curve!

Please note that our meetings have been changed to the second Mondays of the months of April through November. Same time, same place:  6:45 p.m. at Bleecker Town Hall, 503 County Hwy 112 in Bleecker.

The April meeting is scheduled as a planning session–with no speaker.  Come and give your input as to programs, activities, and focus for the Society.

We look forward to seeing you and working together in 2017!

The Bleecker Historical Society will hold its Annual Meeting with reports and election of officers on Monday November 7^th at the Bleecker Town Hall, 575 County highway 112 in Bleecker.  The meeting will start at 6:45 p.m. and all members are invited to attend.

Further business for the meeting will be to discuss the survey of meeting interest for 2016 which was passed out at the October meeting.  Also future programs and events for 2017 will be covered.

Come and help wind up our current year and help with future plans.  Light refreshments are planned.

The September 12^th meeting of the Bleecker Historical Society will have Pete Vroman as guest speaker following a brief business meeting which begins at 6:45 p.m. at the Bleecker Town Hall at 575 County Highway 112 in Bleecker, NY.

Vroman is a veteran of twenty eight years of service as a United States Marshall. He served in several areas of the northeast including New York City, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Albany and participated in various law enforcement situations. He also served as security for several United States Supreme Court Justices including Judge Antonin Scalia who passed away earlier this year.

The public is welcome at all meetings of the Society.

       G. David Knowles, PE, PLS, will speak at the July 11, 2016 meeting of the Bleecker Historical Society. David is a native of Bleecker and graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering. He is licensed as a Professional Engineer and as a retired Professional Land Surveyor in the State of New York, and has completed several property surveys in the Town of Bleecker.
       David will display some of the equipment that he has used in the past to conduct property line surveys. He will explain some of the procedures used to perform the necessary research and to complete property surveys that are accurate and properly documented. Some of the equipment displayed will include a theodolite, chain (steel tape), chain grips, plumb bobs, tripods and stadia rod with level. This equipment is not widely used today, since much of the survey equipment is now electronic. A discussion of the research in the County Clerk's office that is necessary to properly document adjacent property owners will also be discussed. Adequate time for questions and answers will also be provided.

 

NOTE:  The June meeting of the Society will be held at the home of Snell and Hautala at 293 Barlow Road, Bleecker.  The meeting will start at the usual time of 6:45 p.m. with program following.  Members, friends, and the public are all welcome.  For more information call 725-6784.

Long-time Bleecker Historian Eleanor Brooks will present a program on the early history of Bleecker roads, some still in use and some long abandoned.  She will touch on the land patents of which the town consists, and the development of the same, and tie this into the development of the roads.

 

Evelyn Frasier, historian of the Town of Ephratah, will be guest speaker at the May meeting of our Society. She will review a major fire in the hamlet of Garoga in the town which occurred in fall of 1916.

In the year 1828 Robert Wever purchased the land comprising the Hamlet of Garoga and built a saw mill, and a grist mill and supporting houses.  Many other business followed.  Ten buildings were destroyed by a fire October 10, 1916.

The Ephratah Historical Society recently placed an historical marker at the site which was funded by the Pomeroy Foundation.

 

 

 

If you are interested in viewing or researching the Society’s collections,

please contact us via e-mail.