Settlement, Croghan and Cooper's Town

Before America was settled by Europeans in the 17th century, Otsego Lake was used as a summer fishing camp by indigenous peoples, the Susquehannock and the Iroquois. About 1612 the first white men, Dutch fur traders from Albany, laid eyes on the nine-mile long lake, which is the source for the Susquehanna River. From that time on, Dutch and English traders and missionaries made visits to this area. In 1684 lands along the Susquehanna River were ceded from the Iroquois to the English. but Native Americans maintained a presence in the region for another 100 years.

During the 1700s. the British crown granted land to individuals or corporations through a patent system. The first recorded land patent on Otsego Lake was obtained in 1740 by John J. Petrie. The first attempt toward a permanent settlement on thc site of Cooperstown was made by missionary John Christopher Hartwick in 1761, whose holdings were actually southwest of Cooperstown. Hartwick later withdrew to the proper limits of his land.

Croghan, who sympathized with the colonists, lost his Otsego County lands by the time of the war and went west to Ohio. The site of his settlement is marked by a New York State Department of Education historical marker on Main Street.

Although no major Revolutionary War battles were fought here, expeditionary forces tramped through the region, giving Yankee citizen-soldiers their first view of Otsego Lake and lands west. The only operation staged from Cooperstown was the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign of 1779: In response to Iroquois raids on white settlements. General James Clinton's troops encamped on Otsego Lake and dammed the Susquehanna. The dam was broken and the soldiers, floating downstream, met a larger force under General Sullivan, and then destroyed Iroquois settlements along the way.

Croghan's holdings were sold at auction in 1785 to William Cooper. an up-and-coming entrepreneur from Burlington, NJ. Cooper, a wheelwright. had married into a well-to-do family and by 1782 was a successful storekeeper, speculator and leading citizen in Burlington, a major trading center. Cooper left behind his growing family and came here in 1786 to start this village on the shores of Otsego Lake. He offered farmers an opportunity to buy land outright and directly supervised the development of his lands instead of hiring an agent. In so doing, Cooper attracted many settlers quickly and became a wealthy man. To insure his village's success, Cooper encouraged the production of maple syrup and pot ash (produced from ashes created when land was cleared and trees burned) as cash crops. He also procured supplies from the state legislature to see the settlement through its first winters

By 1790. when Cooper moved his wife and seven children here. there were ten frame houses, three barns, a store, tavern, tannery, and about 50 inhabitants One building from this era, the first floor of the Smithy on Pioneer Street. was built by Cooper in 1786 and exists today.

Judge Cooper died in 1809. Legend has it that a political adversary struck Cooper, who served both in the state legislature and Congress, on the head from behind after a heated debate. Although he had fathered 11 children, only two, Ann and James, attained middle-age. Ann Cooper married George Pomeroy, a druggist. Their home, built for them by Judge Cooper, still exists at 11 Main St.

James Fenimore Cooper

James legally assumed his mother's maiden name and after several years at sea and as a gentleman farmer, became one of America's best known and innovative authors. Growing up he lived in Otsego Hall. a manor his father had built for his mother that stood on a spot marked by Victor Salvatore's statue of the author in Cooper Park. This building was razed by fire in 1853, two years after the author's death. Nearby, in Christ Church Graveyard, you can visit the graves of the author and his family.

Although Cooper's books are difficult for modern readers, he remains an important American author and his works live on as major motion pictures: Cooper was the first to write about life at sea and to depict the American wilderness. He invented the "western hero" prototype. Two of his books about the rough-and-tumble woodsman, Natty Bumppo, are set in Otsego County: The Deerslayer (1841) describes Otsego Lake at the outbreak of the French-and-lndian War. The Pioneers (1823) has thc growing village of Cooperstown as its setting and focuses on Judge Marmaduke Templeton, a character based on Judge Cooper.

Judge Samuel Nelson

As Judge Cooper's town became Cooperstown. the community grew and became a summer retreat for well-heeled city dwellers and served as part-time home for those who shaped the nation's destiny: Samuel F.B. Morse. a painter and inventor of the telegraph. spent summers here, painting portraits of Cooperstown's leading citizens. General Abner Doubleday, the second-in-command for the Union during the battle of Ft. Smuttier, had family connections in the area as a boy. Judge Samuel Nelson, an associate justice for the United States Supreme Court from 1845 to 1872 lived here and built a large in-town residence at 68 Main Street. which still exists.

Nelson, a Democrat, brought the broader political issues of the Civil War to Cooperstown. when he was visited by Secretary of State William Seaward and a foreign diplomatic corp. This visit, allegedly part of a tour of the industrial Northeast. was probably made so President Lincoln could learn Nelson's opinion on the constitutionality of the Conscription Act. (Nelson considered the draft constitutional).

The Clark Family

Overshadowed by the political events leading up to the Civil War, the industrial revolution took hold of America in the mid-1800s and changed the structure of our society. In 1848 an eccentric mechanical tinkered, Isaac Merritt Singer was having trouble in gaining clear title to a wood carving machine he invented. He stopped by the New York offices of Attorney Edward Clark for legal assistance. This meeting, which resulted in a partnership between Clark and Singer, and Singer's refinement of the sewing machine in 1851, led to a fortune that enabled one family to play a dominant role in the history of Cooperstown for five generations.

The sewing machine became a household necessity and Clark and Singer made vast fortunes. Edward Clark, the son of a Columbia County potter. started his legal career in 1830 as clerk to Otsego County's District Attorney Ambrosia Jordan. Clark married Jordan's daughter, Caroline, and cemented the family's relationship to Cooperstown. Along with several residences, the Clarks built the Hotel Fenimore, long since demolished. and Kingfisher Tower. a 60-foot high tower built. in the words of Mr. Clark. "simply by a desire to beautify the lake and add an attraction which must be seen by all who travel the lake or drive along its shores." Today, Kingfisher Tower is appreciated as an anachronistic landmark.

Edward Clark's four grandson's maintained their family's interests in Cooperstown. Edward Severin Clark,. fondly known as "The Squire" built the Otesaga Hotel and the community's first gymnasium in honor of his father, Alfred Corning Clark. (This building was renovated to house the administrative offices for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum; the third gymnasium, Clark Sports Center, is on the outskirts of the village on Susquehanna Avenue). Edward S. and his brother, Stephen C. Clark also built the first sections of the Bassett Hospital as a gesture to Dr Mary Imogene Bassett. a general practitioner and pioneering woman physician. Today this teaching and research hospital is a network of community health centers and two additional hospitals serving thc medical needs of residents in 10 central New York counties. Edward and Stephen Clark also built the Cooperstown Country Club and the Leatherstocking Golf Course, a superb 18-hole public golf course on West Lake Road. The Village Building. at the corner of Fair and Main Streets, was built by a member of the Clark family and given to the village in the 1930's.

Edward S. lived the life of a gentleman farmer on the 1,182-acre Fenimore Farm, just north of the villages on West Lake Road. On this property. owned previously by lames Fenimore Cooper and Judge Nelson. Clark built a massive Colonial Revival stone dairy barn for his prize dairy herd in 1918. Later, in 1932. Clark replaced the cottage residence on the Fenimore Farm property with a huge neo-Georgian mansion. Fenimore House. A year after the house was completed Edward S. Clark died.

Stephen C. Clark and Cooperstowns Museums

Stephen C. Clark; took an even larger interest in the community than had his brother Edward. In the mid-1930s. he acquired a tattered handmade baseball from nearby Fly Creek, reputed to be owned by Abner Doubleday, the man who the 1907 Graves Commission report said invented baseball in Cooperstown in 1839. Although this story on the game's origins is now doubtful, Mr. Clark understood the "Doubleday baseball" would draw visitors and built a two-room museum for baseball artifacts and to enshrine those players who made the Baseball Hall of Fame opened with much fanfare on June 12, 1939 as Connie Mack, Honus Wagner, Cy Young. George Sisler, Walter Johnson, Napoleon Lajoie, Ty Cobb, Grover Alexander, Eddie Collins, Babe Ruth, and the late Willie Keeler and Christy Mathewson were inducted as the Hall's first members.

Over the next three decades buildings were brought to The Farmers' Museum and a village typical of mid-19th century rural New York was recreated.

Today, The Farmers' Museum emphasizes processes and skills historically used by ordinary people in their daily lives and offers a fascinating view of pre-industrial life. A crafts program hands-on activities, a living history farm and permanent exhibits are featured there and help visitors understand the development of early communities.

During the final months of World War II, Mr. Clark invited the Historical Association House. Once moved into new headquarters, the Association continued to develop a multifaceted program embracing research, publications, exhibitions and teaching at many levels. Today, the Historical Association has tens of thousands of documents, books, art works, photographs and artifacts, and operates a non-circulating Research Library. The museum exhibits premier collections of American folk art, fine art and Indian art, and exhibits based on these collections celebrate America's artistic traditions and history. Indian Wing was built: This facility incorporates exhibition spaces with the latest in museum-display technology, a l2l-seat auditorium for educational programs, concerts and films; an open-storage gallery, curatorial spaces and a terrace garden. Galleries here feature exhibits from The Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection, a rare assemblage of over 600 objects that reflects the diversity and artistry of North American Indian peoples.