Almond - New York Historical Society

06/19/2026

Things are hopping at the Hagadorn House as we prepare for Monday's Strawberry Festival. We have been holding this fundraiser for over 50 years. Back in the beginning the serving and eating was all done in the Hagadorn House. Volunteers did everything from picking the strawberries to serving the finished product. We are so grateful to have the covered area now which holds even more people.

Serving starts at 5:00 pm and continues until all is gone. Even if it is raining, come on out to eat-in or order take-out. Prices are $8.00 for the works, $7.00 for the works minus the ice cream, and $6.00 for a small shortcake special. Water can be purchased for $1.00.

We look forward to seeing you there and don't forget to come in some Friday between 2 and 4 with questions about your Almond history.

06/05/2026

On Tuesday, May 26, 2026, we hosted 34 Alfred-Almond 4th graders and their teachers. They toured the Hagadorn House and Archives Building in 6 teams . The teams were named: Van Campen Scouts, Hagadorn Gang, the Karr Archives Office, McHenry Clan, Phelan Crew, and Reynolds Bunch. Volunteers were stationed in different rooms where they explained the historical significance of artifacts in their room. Those rooms were the front parlor/hall, middle parlor, gallery, fireplace room, upstairs, meeting room, and the office and archives building.

At the end of the day, students returned to school with the assignment to write or draw their favorite part of the tour. We look forward to receiving their responses.

06/05/2026

The Strawberry Festival this year is on Monday, June 22. Serving starts at 5:00 pm until gone. There is both take-out and places to sit. Attached here is a photo from the 2006 festival but we don't know who all of the people are. If you know, please comment. Thank you.

06/01/2026

05/29/2026

In 1931 Almond, New York was noted for being the home of the smallest flying plane in the world. May 1931 saw the completion of that aircraft by 23 year old Clint Gillette, 28 year old Paul Coleman and 24 year old DeVere Palmer. Ron Coleman still has a copy of the article that inspired them "How to Build Your Own Airplane" from the July 1926 issue of Science and Invention magazine. They sent for the blueprints and started purchasing the needed materials. Since this was during the Depression that was a big expense. More than half the total cost of $800 was spent on the engine.

Construction of the wings and fuselage was quite labor intense. Millions of small pieces of wood were sawed and chiseled by hand to fit the purpose, glued together and gradually the plan was assembled. That was covered with a linen-like fabric which was "doped" with nitro-cellulose dope that caused the fabric to shrink tight around the frame into a hardened finish. According to Clint it was a long and tedious job.

In the end weight of the little airplane, gas, oil and pilot was 550 pounds. Norman L. Williams was the pilot on the maiden flight. He left the Hornell airport for Leroy which was 55 air miles and took 40 minutes. The return trip was 50 minutes.

There are many sweet memories of the plane but as is common in history, what happened to that it is still a mystery.

We look forward to your comments and remember our volunteers are at the AHS Archives building every Friday from 2 to 4 pm.

05/22/2026

We found a picture of the bus Randy Gillette requested from last week's post. Unfortunately there was nothing written on the back of it. Who knows who these men are?

05/22/2026

Another well known gas station in Almond was Deck's Friendly Service at the location we now know as the 7 Eleven. Henry Decker owned and operated the service station which he bought in 1935. We have a calendar from 1959 which is a nice souvenir. The building had a two bedroom apartment upstairs which was the Decker's home and later to the Ide's who ran the business as Almond Mobil.

In our files we have memories from David Fenner of working at the station when he was in school and over the summer. Henry taught him how to properly perform various vehicle services, how to pump gas and to properly provide the Mobil Oil 5 step circuit of a vehicle.Do you remember the days when an attendant would pump your gas, wash the windows and check your fluids?

Running the service station was a family business. Mildred also was busy running out to pump gas when she heard the buzzer ring. Henry died March 18, 1978 and Mildred on November 19, 1997.

We really enjoy sharing stories from our files with our readers. Even better we like being able to add to them. Please stop in sometime on a Friday between 2 and 4 or make an appointment to see our treasures. We love hearing from you through emails too.

05/15/2026

Just as The Big Dipper used to be a gas station, Almond had other gas stations. One was at the corner of Route 21 and Karr Valley Road. The green building that is currently at that intersection was Gillette Garage run by Clinton Gillette for 50 years.

Clint came from St. Louis, MO when he was 21. He opened his business in 1932. Several years later he added gas pumps. Much of what he did included welding. A big change came for him in the mid-1970s when more specialized equipment was necessary. He decided to close down in 1984 when his wife Rada died.

We're attaching some photos that may bring back memories of him and his business. We see he had a dog who accompanied him but couldn't find the dog's name. Please share your memories and stories. Tell us the dog's name if you know it.

Open Fridays 2 to 4, we look forward to helping with family research. Today we had a couple come from Columbus, OH. Email questions are welcomed too.

05/08/2026

Wow! We had so many good, positive responses to our posts last week about Kellogg's Country Store. That's what we are looking for, to have memories to add to our files. People in the future will better understand how important the store was to Almond. Keep those memories coming. Don't spare the details!

Clair was very busy keeping the store running. In about 1945 he found time to write a poem about his day on his sales slips. The forms were short and the poem covered as many as 10 pages. Later when Donna Ryan came across it, she typed the poem on nice stationary. We have scanned copies of the finished poem, a blank sales slips and Clair at the store. Enjoy!

Remember, we are here on Fridays from 2 to 4 to help you with questions about family and businesses that have been in Almond. We are always looking to add more to our collections here.