Personal

Here are various odds-and-ends that I find of interest. These may qualify as "too much information."

Some of the Adventures I've taken. High-bandwidth recommended.

My new obsession: Cycling.

My new motivation: Alexander Duffy Clinton.

I hail from a hamlet in upstate NY called Stittville (originally in the Town of Trenton and now in the Town of Marcy in Oneida County). It was originally called Red Mills because of the mills that were erected on the banks of the Nine Mile Creek in 1778. Stittville was founded in 1853 (and renamed to its current name in memory of Robert Stitts who established the first store and hotel in 1928 -- neither still exist). Stittville has the enviable claim of lying halfway between Rome and Utica, NY. A brief history of the town is located here, and a briefer history of the (still-standing) Stittville Methodist Church is here.

Probably the only thing Stittville is famous for is the fire on Monday, March 31, 1910 at 3:15 am. Since Stittville did not have a fire department at that time, practically the entire town burnt to the ground.
As the history of the Town of Marcy notes:

In 1910 the hamlet of Stittville had it's greatest fire which burned the largest part of the community to the ground. There had been several fires before in various mills, but this fire was so disastrous that the story made all the newspapers all over the country. There were no water lines, no fire department, and the only source of water was the mill pond. This led to the forming of the Stittville Fire Department in 1925, which protected Stittville and northern Marcy for many years.

Here is an unreadable map of Stittville. Note that the scale in the upper-right is 600 feet. Nine Mile Creek is the waterway alongside the left edge and Route 291 runs north-south following the creek. "Four Corners" is the intersection of 291, Mill Street (the road running off the map to the left) and Main Street. Main Street runs for maybe 1000 feet and terminates at "Three Corners" (i.e., at the intersection of Railroad Street (S) and Alvord Road (N)). The railway tracks (still in use and the source of many a melted penny as a youngster) run north-south on the eastern edge of the map.

For one of the neatest things on the internet, check out this Satellite Image of Stittville (courtesy of Google). My house is the one directly across from the 3rd House from the right on the northern (upper) half of Main Street. Three Corners (right-hand side) and Four Corners (left-hand side) are clearly evident.

Entertainment as a "young-un" involved plenty of cops-and-robbers/Dukes of Hazzard on big wheels and bikes between "Three Corners" and "Four Corners" (i.e., the only two stop signs in town at either end of Main Street.) A fair amount of time was also spent playing around the firehouse (located 1 house east of "Four Corners" and across from the church), especially in the winter when the plows would create large snowbanks that we would tunnel through and have (brutal) snowball fights on. In the summer we would also often race down to the firehouse when the siren when off to look at the blackboard and find out what was going on.

Fellow neighborhood troublemakers/friends included (not that you would care, but working on my webpage beats grading): Colin Davis and his brother Shelby, my brother Ben, Stephanie and Stephen Pierczynski, Harry Baron, Fred Van Steen, Dustin Grabowski, and Sean and Jodie (sp?) Passmore.

In terms of current composition (my family still lives there), a recent census indicates the a population of 807 (White 788, Black 1, Hispanic 2 -- which doesn't add to 807) in 302 households. The average household income is $44,722 and the average house value is $75,000.

	The used-to-be-blacksmith-now-a-pile-of-rubble.
	Pre-fire Main Street (where I lived until college).
	Another shot of pre-fire Main Street. The steeple of the Methodist Church near "Four Corners" is visible.
	One of the knitting mills (pre-fire) that provided employment. Stittville also had a canning company and was a stop on the Adirondack Line Railroad.
	Another one of the knitting mills (pre-fire) that provided employment.
	The meeting hall of the International Order of Odd Fellows. Building still stands near "Four Corners."
	The old hotel of which apparently half burned down in a fire.
	One of several canning factories that used to exist (at least according to my 1874 map of Stittville). Not exactly sure where this was located
	The old general store near "Four Corners." Now an apartment on the second floor, the Post Office on the left side of the first floor and an insurance company on the right side of the first floor.
	The old bridge below four corners. Collapsed beneath a cement truck in the 70's (I think) and rebuilt. Recently rebuilt again in the 90s.