Millennium, millennium, millennium. The word is so ubiquitous
lately that I’ve become slightly impatient hearing and reading about it.
Incidentally, I’m not alone in this feeling. I detect the same “turn off”
by members of the geriatric club (as they good-naturedly call themselves)
during sometimes heated but always fascinating and good-humored discussions
around coffee mugs almost each day at Stewart’s and McDonald’s.
What’s the deal here?
With so many people already planning huge celebrations to welcome Y2K,
why the lack of enthusiasm among some people? Is it a “grumpy old men”
syndrome? I don’t think so. Rather, it could be because many of these people
are an average age of seventy years. They have lived through three-quarters
of the century, whose end people are planning to celebrate.
There is a touch of sadness and nostalgia here, not unlike saying good-bye
to an old friend.
This group represents a generation who came of age during the Great Depression
and World War II and went on to build modern America. For most of the,
it has been a fun ride, an exciting, rewarding time of epochal transformations
in world history and enormous advances in science and technology. Is it
any wonder there might be more sadness than joy as the curtain closes on
the 20th Century?
I will hasten to add that this feeling has a flip side. The third millennium
also means that we celebrate the passing of a thousand years, and we can
only hope the new millennium fulfills the promise of a “period of great
justice and happiness on earth,” as noted in the “Book of Revelation,”
so there will be celebration among us old timers for this significant event.
Yes, there is also an awareness that 1,000 people of that generation die
each day. We have reached the twilight of our lives, and if we are still
here next January 1, 2000, then that alone might be cause for celebration.
Hey! Only 327 days left!
I am compelled to add one more paragraph concerning that generation. Tom
Brokaw, in his new best-selling book entitled “The Greatest Generation,”
tells it best: At a time in their lives when their days should have been
filled with innocent adventure, love, and the lessons of the workaday world,
they were fighting in the most primitive conditions possible across the
bloodied landscape of France,Belgium, Italy, Austria, and the coral islands
of the Pacific. They answered the call to save the world from the two most
powerful and ruthless military machines ever assembled, instruments of
conquest in the hands of fascist maniacs. They faced great odds and a late
start, but they did not protest. They succeeded on every front. They won
the war; they saved the world. They came home to joyous and short-lived
celebrations and immediately began the task of rebuilding their lives and
the world they wanted. They married in record numbers and gave birth to
another distinctive generation, the Baby Boomers. A grateful nation made
possible for more of them to attend college than any society had ever educated,
anywhere. They gave the world new science, literature, art, industry, and
economic strength unparalleled in the long curve of history.”
By the way, have you been wondering whether the millennium starts a year
from now or two years from now? Some people say the 21st Century and the
new millennium do not begin until January 1, 2001. Those people provide
this analogy: “If the scale of our grocers weighing machine began at one
instead of zero, would you be happy when he claims he sold you six ounces
of hamburger instead of the five you ordered? It is exactly the same thing
with time. We will have had only nine-nine years of this century by January
1, 2000. We will have to wait until December 31, 2000 for the full hundred.”
That fact has not deterred people, however, and celebrations are planned
around the world for January 1, 2000.
The Hotel Saranac, for example, recently announced that reservations are
fully booked for its Y2K New Year’s celebration. Over $50,000 in total
prepaid reservations have secured the hotel’s 92 rooms a full year in advance.
Our Lake Placid neighbors have plans for a celebration to last the whole
calendar year. The year 2000 will be the 200th anniversary of the first
Lake Place settlers, the 150th commemoration of the Town of North Elba
and the twentieth anniversary of the 1980 Winter Olympic Games held in
Lake Placid.
The following is a short list of some notable events that took place in
this community during the past that might deserve commemorating:
- 1840 — The Michael Charboneau family (aka Cole) became the first settlers.
Population, 7.
- 1860 — The first census. Population, 30.
- 1890 — Tupper Lake leaves the Town of Waverly and establishes the Town
of Altamont, becoming one of the youngest towns in the state. Population,
1,000+.
- 1890-1892 — The largest sawmill in New York State and Hurd’s Northern
Adirondack Railroad combine to provide employment and Tupper becomes a
“boom town.” Webbs Adirondack & St. Lawrence Railroad arrives two years
later and makes Tupper the most important junction point between Utica
and Malone. Employment opportunities and the population soar.
- 1897-1900 — A hundred years ago the first immigrants from the mountain
town of Batuta in Lebanon arrive in Tupper. From an original seventeen
in number, they and their more than 200 descendants have become an important
part of Tupper’s history and are heavily involved in its future.
- 1899-1900 — A hundred years ago optimism and confidence replace despair
as the village rebuilds itself after one of the most devastating fires
in northern New York destroyed between seventy and 100 buildings and left
the business district in ruins.
- 1900 — A hundred years ago, on January 20, 1900, Hose Co. #1 of the new
Tupper Lake Fire Department of the Town of Altamont is founded.
- Downtown Tupper experiences an industrial boom as the Santa Clara Co.
(Ferris Meigs) moves its substantial operations to the outlet of Little
Wolf Pond on the shores of Racquette Pond off Water Street.
- Mt. Arab Lodge No. 847 Free & Accepted Masons become Tupper’s oldest
fraternal group.
- Tupper becomes the first Adirondack community to establish its own electrical
system.
- Beth Joseph becomes the first synagogue in Franklin County.
- O.W.D. (1916) and Sunmount (1920) arrive and save us from becoming a
“sawdust town” etc., etc., etc.
| Transitions No. 31 January 27 , 1999 |
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