History of Oneonta
Contemporary
Perspective
The City of Oneonta today is a much different place
than in its not so distant past. The City's population
has remained steady at just under 14,000 persons since
the mid twentieth century. The City has grown from an
Indian council site to trading post, to city, to the
educational, cultural, business, retail and professional
center for the tri-county area (i.e., Otsego, Delaware
and Schoharie Counties).
Times have changed the employment scenario in
Oneonta. Most families once depended on the railroad for
employment. Today, the labor market is much more
diverse. Major employers include A.O. Fox Hospital,
Hartwick College and SUNY Oneonta, the Oneonta Job Corps
Center, New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG), NYNEX,
Corning Corporation, Wilber National Bank, the
Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC), Astoria Federal
Savings and Loan, Astrocom Electronics, F.N. Burt
Company, Custom Electronics, The Daily Star, Key
Bank, and the Mold-a-Matic Corporation. The retail and
service sectors also employ a significant number of
residents. Additionally, many of the surrounding school
districts and Otsego County Government employ a
significant number of City residents. The
tourism industry
also is a source of singnificant employment
opportunities in and around the City of Oneonta.
Residents and tourists have no problem finding
recreational
activities in and around the City of Oneonta. The
area abounds with lakes, streams and scenic countryside.
A number of golf courses, located outside the City,
provide golfing pleasure to many. Oneonta has two major
parks, Neahwa and Wilber, which are oriented to both
passive and active recreational activities. Centerpieces
to the community are Damaschke Field, former home of the
Oneonta Yankees (recently relocated to facilities in
Staten Island by the Yankee Organization), the
National Soccer Hall of Fame currently located in
the City of Oneonta, and the planned Clyde Wright Soccer
Campus to be located in the Town of Oneonta.
Additionally, Hartwick and SUNY Oneonta both provide for
soccer and baseball enjoyment for the region.
Furthermore, the Sixth Ward Athletic Club and the
Oneonta Tennis Club provide residents with alternative
recreational and social activities.
The City today provides numerous
cultural activities
for its residents and visitors. Hartwick and SUNY
Oneonta both provide a variety of programs which include
a dinner theater, noted speakers, and television and
press notables. Furthermore, SUNY Oneonta provides the
City with a public access television channel which
offers a 24 hour visual information source in addition
to governmental, cultural and educational programming.
Additionally, there is the Orpheus Theater, the
Catskill Symphony, the Catskill Conservatory, and the
Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts, the
Catskill Choral Society and the Oneonta Concert
Association, the Glimmerglass Opera, located in
Cooperstown, providing musical enjoyment for the entire
region. The City, further, supports a summer concert
series in Neahwa park every summer.
The area is also serviced by a number of museums,
most notably the
Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society, the
Yager Museum at Hartwick College, the SUNY Science
Museum, the National Soccer Hall of Fame, The National
Baseball Hall of Fame, The Fenimore House and The
Farmer's Museum.
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