Since the village’s incorporation was uncharted territory for us, we called on current village historian Hugh MacDougall to give us some background on the village’s incorporation. Hugh was kind enough to share with us a piece he had written for the current bicentennial committee, which we are now most pleased to share with our readers.

The incorporation of the Village of Cooperstown on April 3, 1807 (under the name of the "Village of Otsego") took place in an atmosphere of great political conflict and animosity. The following is a very brief summary of the situation.

By 1807 the political power of the Jeffersonian Republicans in New York State was at its height. But New York Republicans were also split. The Federalist Party, which had ruled New York before 1800, was reduced to endorsing different factions of the Republicans.

As the April 1807 election for Governor of New York approached, the Republican Governor Morgan Lewis sought re-election, but was opposed by another Republican faction led by De Witt Clinton, which ran as its candidate Daniel Tompkins.

Most Federalists, including Judge William Cooper of Cooperstown, endorsed Morgan Lewis. But, on the eve of the election, Editor Elihu Phinney of Cooperstown’s newspaper, the Otsego Herald, which had hitherto supported William Cooper, abruptly switched sides and endorsed Daniel Tompkins. In the event, Daniel Tompkins won handily. He even carried Otsego County, with only the towns of Otsego, Middlefield, and Springfield going for Lewis.

As all this was going on, two petitions had been filed in Albany for the incorporation of Cooperstown, hitherto just a hamlet in the Town of Otsego, as a Village. One petition, for which William Cooper lobbied tirelessly, would call it the Village of Cooperstown. The other petition, supported by the Republicans (and their new-found friend Elihu Phinney of the Otsego Herald), would call it the Village of Otsego, asserting that this was the original name given to it by the Indians.

But there was more to it than just a name. The chief issue involved was the Village water supply, for both domestic use and for fighting the fires which were becoming an increasing problem in a compact village built mostly of frame houses.

Back in 1794 William Cooper had established the "Company of the Waterworks in Cooperstown," which brought water into the village from what is now Irish Hill in wooden pipes made from hollowed out logs, and sold it to those villagers who chose to pay. The Act passed on April 3, incorporating the Village of Otsego, also incorporated a new water company, called the "Aqueduct Association in the Village of Otsego," headed by none other than Elihu Phinney.

In accordance with the Act, the "Freeholders and inhabitants" of the new Village met at the Courthouse on May 19, 1807.

But Cooperstown voters were still loyal to William Cooper and overwhelmingly elected five Trustees who supported him and the Federalists. The Otsego Herald did not report this meeting, but instead described scornfully a subsequent meeting of Federalist voters on May 23, which instructed the five newly elected Trustees to refuse to take any actions at all until the name was changed back to Cooperstown.

The upshot was a five-year deadlock. The Legislature in Albany refused to change the name back to Cooperstown; the Trustees elected each year refused to act. In the meantime, the infuriated William Cooper founded what soon became The Freeman’s Journal, to oppose Elihu Phinney and his Otsego Herald. The Journal called the village Cooperstown; the Herald called it Otsego.

There were two major fires in 1809, which impartially burned down both Federalist and Republican homes and businesses _ as well as Cooperstown’s major public building, the Academy at the corner of Pioneer and Church Streets.

It was not until June 12, 1812, when the Federalists were again briefly in control of the Legislature in Albany, that the Village of Otsego finally became, officially, the Village of Cooperstown. William Cooper, who died in 1809, had not lived to see his ultimate triumph.

Elihu Phinney’s Otsego Herald continued to place "Otsego" on its masthead until his death in 1813. The Village Trustees began to perform their duties; one of the first of which was to purchase a primitive fire engine.

We thank Hugh for his information on the incorporation of the village, which he actually prepared for the bicentennial committee back in June of 2006.

And we must say that we find the political aspects of the incorporation to be fascinating. We also have to wonder what would have happened if the name had not eventually been changed to the Village of Cooperstown.

Would the village trustees still be refusing to act? Would even more of the village have been destroyed by fire over the years? And would we be enshrining baseball players in Otsego? It does give one pause.

Needless to say, we are greatly looking forward to the 2007 bicentennial celebration. We understand that the festivities will kick off in late January with a proclamation by the mayor.

There will then be a series of events dealing directly with the village’s history in April, followed by a final celebration, complete with parade and birthday bash, in September. More information about all of these events will be forthcoming from the bicentennial committee.

In closing, we do note, however, that in honor of the 2007 Bicentennial,

The Women’s Club of Cooperstown, at its next meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. in the Christ Church Parish House will present "The Women of Cooperstown," which was first done at the September 2004 meeting of the club.

Written by Jane McMahon and Catherine Lake Ellsworth, the presentation will feature Dawne Dietz as Elizabeth Cooper, Eleanore MacDougall as Caroline Jordan Clark, Linda Crampton as Mary Imogene Bassett and Mary-Jo Merk as Helen N. Hale. Catherine Lake Ellsworth will serve as narrator.

The meeting is open to Women’s Club members and their guests as well as the general public. For more information, please call 547-8124.

We remain,

In these Otsego hills,

The Ellsworths

The Ellsworths may be reached by mail at 105 Pioneer St., Cooperstown, N.Y. 13326, by telephone at 547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com. They look forward to hearing from you.