Great Eclipse of the Sun – There will be a total eclipse of the Sun in the Southern States, on Sunday, the 30th November next; the most remarkable since the memorable one of June 16th, 1806. After this, there will not be another total eclipse visible in the United States till August 7th, 1869, a period of nearly 35 years. The center of the umbra or dark shadow of this remarkable eclipse will pass across nearly the whole Continent of North America. At Utica, the eclipse will begin at 18 minutes past 1 o’clock, middle at 34 minutes past 2 o’clock, end at 47 minutes past 3 o’clock – digits eclipsed, 10 and one-sixth.
October 27, 1834

The authorities of Cherry Valley are making inquiries about a certain John Hopkins, who came to Cherry Valley last spring and said his parents resided in Schenectady. During the summer he worked on a farm near Cherry Valley. On the 4th of last August he, in company with a friend, left the farm and went away, taking his personal effects, including a violin. He also had his money – about $50. This was the last that was seen of him. The other man returned during the night, and the next morning Hopkins’ trunk was found in a meadow, his violin and a pair of pants was found in or near a swamp, and in one pocket of the pants was found the trunk key. Upon opening the trunk Hopkins’ clothing was found undisturbed. Hopkins and his companion had been drinking the night they went away. When the companion returned he could give no satisfactory account of what had become of Hopkins. His continued disappearance led the people of Cherry Valley to believe he had been murdered and robbed of his money. Men have been searching the swamp in hopes of finding the body, but without success.
October 25, 1884

Cooperstown doctors have agreed to charge 50 cents hereafter for telephone consultations. The telephone is a great convenience in case of sickness and the physicians are frequently called upon to give professional advice over the phone, when otherwise a house call would be necessary. They have also agreed to charge $1 additional fee for medical calls at night, between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
October 23, 1909

Advertisement – The World Famous – Only and Original (in person) Singer’s Midgets – 30 Tiny People – 30 Perfect Men & Women – Once in a lifetime an entertainment like this! – Completely new from start to finish – new costumes, scenery, jokes & music – See little Carl, the smallest man in the world – the Midget Jazz Band, the world’s smallest chorus – Midget Comedians – Children’s reception on the stage immediately after the matinees – bring the kiddies and let them meet the World Famous Singer’s Midgets. It’s a treat they will long remember. Friday and Saturday, October 26-27 – 3 complete shows daily at 2:45 – 7:15 – 9:20 at Smalley’s Cooperstown Theatre.
October 24, 1934

Advertisement – A Wonderful Way to Launch a Decade – ... Cadillac’s new styling will set the pace in automotive design for years to come. Inside, a new era of elegance is evident on every hand – with unusually rich fabrics and leathers – and appointments executed with the care of a jeweler. See and drive it today – and we believe you’ll want to make it your own. Charles A. Wick, Inc. 115 Chestnut Street, Cooperstown.
October 21, 1959

The Glimmerglass Opera Theater will present three comic operas in its 11th season, general manager Paul Kellogg announced Monday. The 1985 season which will run from June 28 to August 20 will feature six performances each of Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride,” a comic folk opera, Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte,” and Verdi’s “Falstaff.” This season could be the last at Sterling Auditorium at the Cooperstown High School as the opera hopes to build a new 900-seat theater on an 18-acre lakefront tract in Springfield for the 1986 season.
October 24, 1984

Village Mayor Wendell Tripp appointed Paul Kuhn to the position of Panning Board chair and Joe Siracusa to a seat on the planning board at a meeting of the village trustees Monday night, October 18. Kuhn replaces Mary Welch who stepped down last week. “He (Kuhn) is very experienced and the Planning Board feels very comfortable with him,” Tripp said.
October 22, 1999

The announcement and the Q&A that followed were in monotone. There was little joy in that antiseptic, white-walled conference room at Oneonta’s Foxcare Center at 4:15 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16. Looked at one way, that should be surprising: The affiliation of A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital and Bassett Healthcare has been vigorously pursued by some for 15 years. Still, the announcement – that the boards of each hospital that day had approved formal affiliation by year’s end or sooner – signaled the end to more than a century of worthwhile community striving, lately in the face of unrelenting competition by a stronger rival. •

Oneonta’s Fox is actually the older of the two institutions, founded in 1900 with a $10,000 gift from Col. Reuben Fox in honor of his wife, Aurelia Osborn. Cooperstown’s Bassett wasn’t founded until 1922 and had a shakey first few years. Edward Severin Clark built the hospital for Dr. Mary Imogene Bassett, whom he admired, but she died of a stroke later that year. Too big for the community to support, the hospital closed in 1925, but Dr. Henry S.F. Cooper – father of Henry S.F. Cooper Jr., the revered environmentalist – convinced Stephen C. Clark Sr., Edward’s brother, to reopen Bassett in 1927. For decades, the two hospitals were on a par in many ways, until the expansion – visionary expansion, some would say – under Bill Streck, Bassett president & CEO, launched in the 1990s. •

Everyone knows that big is not necessarily better, and Fox’s board was right, in many ways, to resist its absorption into the growing medical behemoth, even as hospitals in Cobleskill, Little Falls, Delhi and Sidney succumbed. From an economic-development perspective alone, is the lack of an independent hospital a deterrent? How important is it for a community to be master of its own fate in terms of healthcare? Happily, it appears not to be an unconditional surrender. While Fox President & CEO John Remillard becomes a Bassett employee, Fox continues as a “certified Article 28 hospital corporation” with its own board. Two Bassett directors will serve on Fox’s board, and one Fox director on Bassett’s. Conceivably, if Bassett’s orbit becomes too Cooperstown-centric, what’s done can be undone. Better, of course, would be a respectful collaboration that benefits Bassett’s corporate interests and Oneonta’s community ones. •

In the end, the announcement of 4:15 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, resulted from the changing realities of the medical industry, and it promises to change even more radically in the months ahead. Regardless of who happened to be on the other side of the chessboard, Bassett has made masterful moves to strengthen its institutional position. In the face of physician shortages, its affiliation with Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center has flowered into a full-fledged last-year medical college at Cooperstown, certainly an aid to future recruitment. Likewise, the affiliation with Hartwick College to pay future nurses’ tuitions in exchange for a commitment to serve in the Bassett system has minimized nursing shortages. Putting doctors on salary, long a Bassett policy, is one that has come into its own as young physicians no longer want to be on call 24-7, or even every other day. Inability to recruit physicians – particularly in orthopedic, cancer and cardiac care – was one of the final straws on Fox’s crumbling resolve. Bassett’s initiatives in fundraising and in myriad technological advances – Dr. Henry Weil’s early embrace of the Electronic Medical Record among them – have further strengthened its relative position. While patients inevitably have mixed experiences with any institution, Bassett is routinely ranked among U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals,” an honor received by just 3.6 percent of the nation’s 4,861 such facilities. •

While some may see the affilation as an affirmation of Bassett’s Weltanschauung, it’s simply the closing of one chapter and opening of another. Shortterm, collaboration will result in cost savings and efficiencies, but monopoly will tend to erode both. As Adam Smith had it, “Monopoly is a great enemy to good management.” Happily, Fox’s mixed approach – it has physicians on salary, plus it grants privileges to doctors who wish to remain independent – remains, and works against that. Going forward, it may be found such a mixed system is preferable, that competition in some form should be maintained and will work in the patient’s favor. Whether the Bassett model goes the way of GM or Ma Bell remains to be seen. (After all, IBM was able to right itself.) Shortterm, to the degree this final affiliation – wait, there’s still Chenango Memorial in Norwich – can contribute to better health in Bassett’s eight-county region, so be it.