LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - OCTOBER 8, 2023 by Lynne Belluscio In 1997, the state legislature established New York State History month under the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law. Originally it was in November but in 2019 it was changed to October because many institutions and museums closed after Columbus Day. This year, October 1 was declared the first “Family History Day.” And the NewYork State Museum inAlbany has scheduled some very interesting virtual field trips. On October 14, you can go for a ride in President Franklin Roosevelt’s Packard. On October 21 and 28, the museum curators will show you some treasures from the collections. Registration is required. In cooperation with New York State HistoryMonth, there is a program called “Path Through History.” Museums across the state are planning special events and tours. I registered the LeRoy Barn Quilt Trail, and I will be leading a one hour tour of a section of the northern route along Oatka Trail on October 9. (Unfortunately, the tour is already filled, but I hope I will be able to schedule another this fall. Contact me by email if you would like to be notified. Lynnejb@aol.com. The cost is $15. The tour will venture out on another trail.) So, if it’s New York State History month, here’s a few assorted notes. The state’s motto is “Excelsior” which is Latin for “ever upward.” However, in 2020, the state adopted another motto, “E Plurbis Unum” which is Latin for “from many one.” In 1789, New York City served as the National Capital. The state bird is the bluebird. The state animal is the beaver. The official fish is the brook trout. The tree is the sugar maple. The flower is the rose. The insect is the nine spotted lady beetle. The mollusk is the bay scallop. The state mineral is a garnet and the fossil is the eurypterid. The official state drink is milk, which was declared in 1981. The state snack is yogurt, declared in 2022. In 2021, sweet corn was declared the state vegetable. The first Europeans to settle in New York were the Dutch who established a settlement in 1624 on an island at the mouth of the Hudson River. They named it New Amsterdam and it was renamed New York by the British in 1664 when they took over the colony. After the American Revolution, the British Colony of New York became an American Colony of New York and then it became the State of New York in 1788. European explorers came to areas of what we know as New York State. The Italian explorer, Giovanni da Verrassano arrived at the mouth of what we know as the Hudson River in 1524. Jacques Cartier explored the northern areas around the St Lawrence River in 1534. In 1609, Samuel Champlain explored the northern section around the area we now know as Lake Champlain. At the same time Henry Hudson was exploring the region around the modern New York metropolitan region. All of these explorers came in contact with the indigenous people - the Iroquois (the Haudenosaunee), and the Algonquins. There are 62 counties in New York State. The first counties were created on November 1, 1683. They were Suffolk, New York, Kings, Richmond, Queens, Westchester, Duchess, Orange, Ulster, Albany, Dukes, and Cornwall (Dukes and Cornwall are both now in Massachusetts). Genesee County was organized in 1802. The last county to be formed was the Bronx in 1914. The largest county in square miles in St. Lawrence County – 12821.3 square miles. The smallest is New York, just under 23 square miles. Kingston was the first capital of New York but it was burned by the British in 1777 and the capital was moved to Albany. The first governor of New York was George Clinton, who had served in the Continental Army during the Revolution. He was elected in 1801. NewYork StateAssembly 150 seats and members serve for two years. New York State Senate is the upper house and was established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York. There are currently 63 seats in the Senate. The State University system was founded in 1948 and there are 25 SUNY schools. There are 215 state parks which includes 28 golf courses, 35 swimming pools, 67 beaches, 18 museums, and nature centers. Niagara Falls State Park is the oldest state park in the United States. Letchworth Park was voted the best state park in the United States. The New York State Police were established in April 1917 as a mounted police force. Their first assignment was to patrol the New York State Fair. A year later, they added Model T Fords to each unit and they also purchased three motorcycles for each troop. The State Police were instituted during Prohibition because local police were not obligated to enforce the national prohibition laws. The first Troops were stationed at the Canadian border at Buffalo and in the north country near Malone. Their assignment was to patrol the borders for bootleggers and rumrunners. Today there are eleven Troops. In 1975 the Canine Division was formed in preparation for the 1980 Winter Olympics. The Canine Unit has grown from three teams in 1975 to more than 90 today. LeRoy is under the jurisdiction of October is New York History Month
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