Your writer is no expert with highway traffic statistics, but a casual observation would have one believe all is well with local tourism this year.
There are plenty of campers and recreational vehicles on our area’s highways. All three baseball camps in the area appear very busy. License plates from the visitors show many states.
Eighty-five years ago, the same could be said, as economic times were improving following some rough ones during the Great Depression.
Many were on the road to make their way to the 1939 New York World’s Fair, or perhaps to see the recently opened Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown.
There were no websites, QR codes, social media or electronic devices to help a tourist navigate on where to go or things to do.
Readers of The Oneonta Herald on Aug. 3, 1939 found out that there were ways to answer questions such as, “Where can we find a place to swim? Can you direct me to the shopping district? Where are the golf courses?
“These are some of the many questions answered by attendants at the three information booths maintained by the Oneonta Youth Frontier. Between 20 and 30 cars stop at each booth daily, about half of these being from other states, it was announced recently by John Reynolds, a representative of the Youth Frontier.”
A photo accompanying the Herald story showed a booth on the lower Main Street area next to the Susquehanna River bridge. One would presume the other two were found near the city limits of Oneonta’s East and West Ends.
“In most cases, motorists ask about places to eat or sleep. Some travelers find Oneonta so attractive that they stay longer than they had intended. One couple, ‘with a carload of children,’ stopped on a hot day and asked where they could go swimming. The booth attendant sent them to the Wilber Park pool. Next morning the party came back, and the father told them they had liked the looks of the city and had stayed overnight.
“Another party inquired for a cabin stay, and was directed to one on the outskirts of the city. So well pleased were the visitors with the treatment accorded them here, that they are on the second week of their stay.
“Occasionally an attendant gets a question he cannot answer. One tourist wanted detailed directions on how to reach a certain address in New York City, and was much disturbed when it could not be provided.
“For the most part, however, the desired data can be supplied. Each booth is equipped with maps of New York, New England, Pennsylvania and Ohio, as well as other informative material.
“The traveling public has shown much appreciation for this service provided by the young people of the community.”
In another photo seen in the Aug. 3 edition of The Herald, a new venture was the Linn Trailer camp, a 22-acre orchard in back of the Linn Trailer plant, which is now called the Commerce Plaza or 3200 Chestnut St. The camp was sponsored by the company with the assistance of the Oneonta Chamber of Commerce, equipped with electric outlets, toilets and shower baths.
President of the Linn company, A.R. Perkins said, “We believe this will encourage people to spend part of their vacation in this locality. The future of the trailer depends on the service towns and villages give the trailer traveler.” Linn manufactured small tow-along trailers at the time. Campers were visiting from South Carolina, California and various points in this state on that date.
Oneonta also had a non-automotive visitor that month, as The Herald of Aug. 10 said, “Oneonta last Sunday played host to a cousin from across the water, one William Clapham of Leeds, England, here on a bicycle tour which will take him as far as Chicago. Having ridden about England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Belgium, France and Germany, he felt that he needed new worlds to explore and therefore recently set sail for America.”
After seeing the World’s Fair, Clapham came to Oneonta through the Catskills, took a room overnight on Chestnut Street, and was Bainbridge-bound the next morning.
Asked for an opinion on visiting “The States,” Clapham said, “Oh, I like it fine over here.”
On Wednesday, we’ll stay with the local tourism scene, but move forward to 2004.