Mohawk Valley History

Writing Series

Read articles written by historians from throughout the Mohawk Valley region. Contact us if you have a story idea or local historian that you would like to see published in our writing series.

A view of houses in the city of Albany. United States Albany New York, 1789. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2004671540/.

Otsego Herald or Western Advertiser, April 20, 1797, Cooperstown

Mohawk Valley History: Excerpts from the Otsego Herald or Western Advertiser, April 20, 1797, from Cooperstown, New York.
San Francisco Earthquake of 1906: Ruins in vicinity of Post and Grant Avenue. Looking northeast.

1906 San Francisco Earthquake reported in Johnstown, April 18, 1906

The Johnstown Daily Republican reports on the San Francisco, Cal., April 18, 1906, earthquake that has dealt the city a staggering blow.

Discover yourself at your local library

We are each living links between the past and the future. Our ancestors thought of us as symbols of potential, as their legacy carried on.
Gettysburg Address monument located in Ward Square

Abraham Lincoln, Little Falls and Beyond

2025 marks both the 165th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 election to the presidency and the 160th anniversary of his April 15th, 1865 assassination.
Blandina Street trolley, photo provided by the Oneida County History Center

This day in Mohawk Valley History: April 12

“THE FRANCHISE WAS RATIFIED. STREET CAR COMPANY AT LITTLE FALLS.” Headline from April 12, 1902, The Utica Observer.
Circa 1914 | Street Car being pulled by horses on Main Street, Dolgeville, New York. Photo courtesy of the Little Falls Historical Society Museum.Circa 1914 | Street Car being pulled by horses on Main Street, Dolgeville, New York. Photo courtesy of the Little Falls Historical Society Museum.

Little Falls Historical Society Museum: This Day in History on April 6, 1903

Louis Ransom, a native of Little Falls, invented the steam street car in 1877, which was the precursor to the electric trolley.
Chorus from 5 Schools Takes Part In Area Music Festival

This day in Mohawk Valley history: April 5

Chorus from 5 Schools Takes Part In Area Music Festival, The Morris Chronicle, April 5, 1962 Morris, Otsego County, New York.
Little Falls Historical Society MuseumLittle Falls Historical Society Museum. Photo by Mohawk Valley Today

Heritage Tourism in the Mohawk Valley

Here at Mohawk Valley Museums, we often get inquiries about heritage tourism, local communities, museums, and landmarks.