January 1914 - 100 Years Ago in "That Thriving Town"

Water and ice - delivery of the pipes for the Bovina water system and harvesting ice were prevalent news items in the Bovina Column of the Andes Recorder for January 1914.

January 2, 1914

• Town Clerk Thomas Gordon issued 61 hunting licenses during 1913.

• A street lamp has arrived and will be set up at the Mill to see if it is satisfactory before more are ordered.

• The town board met Monday to settle with the supervisor, overseer of the poor, etc.  As usual not a dollar was spent for support of the poor.  

• The Armstrong pond from which the Center creamery has always secured it ice to fill its ice house, has sprung a leak and let the ice settle to the bottom.  

• A Christmas tree was held here on Christmas eve and one was held at Lake Delaware on Christmas night.  Mrs. Gerry sent her usual generous contributions for the occasions.

• The directors of the Bovina Water Company held a meeting Wednesday evening and ordered the pipe for the new water works.  About 200 tons of pipe is required.  It is to be delivered during January and February.  

January 9, 1914

• The Bovina Center Creamery ice house will be filled from Lake Mahikan on the Mabon farm.

• Thomas Gordon and G.D. Miller attended the funeral of their comrade, James R. Hoag, at Andes on Monday. [Gordon and Miller were both veterans of the Civil War.]

January 16, 1914

• The filling of the Center creamery ice house is completed.

• Wednesday morning thermometers ranged from 20 to 27 degrees below zero.

• The home talent cast will go to Andes on Thursday evening with their play entitled “Next Door.”

• The directors of the Bovina Center Co-Operative Creamery company have hired Henry A. Ayers as butter maker for another year.

• Two car loads of the pipe for the Bovina Water Works arrived this week at Delhi and was hauled up Wednesday and Thursday, making twenty two loads.

January 23, 1914

• Harry Robson has put in ice and will open a meat market here next spring.

• William Archibald had a horse drop dead one morning recently while on his way to the creamery.

• George H. Miller has purchased of William M. Armstrong his house and lot in Bovina.  The place will be better known to many as the old Kinmuth place*.  The price paid was $600.

Four and a Half Tons at a Load
Tuesday, Arthur Decker with one team, drew a load of pipe from Delhi to Bovina Center, the weight of which was 8,951 pounds.  Some of the other teams brought up over 8,000 pounds.

January 30, 1914

• Ruth Ormiston finished her course in the teachers’ training class at Walton last week. [Ruth would later marry Henry Monroe and is the mother of Frances Burns, Isabelle Deter, Elinor Brink and Lauren Monroe.]

• Sand for the reservoir for the water works is being hauled from the Muir sand bank below Andes.

• Hamilton Russell [1850-1921, the father of Cecil Russell] is suffering with a very sore finger.  The trouble started from a small bunch and the finger has now broke.

• William Armstrong has rented what is known as the John Hastings house** in Bovina Center, from William Hoy and will move from the Lake this week.  Mr. Armstrong is an applicant for the position of patrolman on that portion of the Andes-Delhi state [road] located in Bovina.

Bovina Center Co-Op Creamery (annual meeting)

Elections

The meeting voted to take $200 of stock of the Bovina Center Water company and a pipe will be run to the creamery and a hydrant put in to give fire protection.

The report showed that during the year there was received 6,848,819 pounds of milk and 148,933 pounds of cream, and from this milk and cream 422,921 pounds of butter was made  The average net price of 100 pounds of milk was $1.83, and the cost of making one pound of butter was .0187.

*42.2615°N 74.7888°W – This was later the Clark and Gladys Lay residence, now owned by Timothy and Carol Cunningham.

**42.2624°N 74.7821°W – This is possibly on the property now owned by Tim McIntosh.  At one time, the property had four houses on it that were often rented out.  It could be the house that was washed away in the 1953 flood.