Monday is History Day at The Gazette. And today, fans of the past can reminisce about Expo '67 in the newspaper's Life & Arts section.
I am often lost in the "infinite corridors of time" during research for the history page, and recently tumbled into 1904, 1918 and 1948. The subjects were milk madness, a local connection to Abraham Lincoln and the future of automobile design.
So let's go ... back in time!

1904: Got Formaldehyde?

People in Schenectady started to worry about the rising price of milk on April 27, 1904. Local dealers were raising the price of their products from 6 cents to 12 cents a gallon - a 100 percent increase.
The prospect of pitching more pennies for cold white beverage was just part of the bad news. The city's Health Board was dispensing details about milk that might have persuaded consumers to switch to fruit juices.
In New York, state laws forbid the sale of milk over the temperature of 50 degrees. But the local health boys said the rule was violated in Schenectady every day.
The use of formaldehyde was something else to consider.
"This substance is used to keep the milk from souring, and it is practically the same in its application as in the case of 'embalmed beef,'" read a statement from the Health Board. "To keep the milk from souring, it is necessary to kill the germs in it, thus making it 'dead milk,' which is hard to digest, especially in the case of children, where it may cause serious illness."
The milk men were not going to budge on the price issue, which was scheduled to go into effect in early June.

1918: Witness to History

In 1918, Dr. Robert M. Fuller was still telling his story from 1865 - the night he was in the audience for "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.
Abraham Lincoln was at the show, too. So was John Wilkes Booth.
The assassination of the president remains one of the most famous stories in American history. Fuller, an 1862 graduate of Union College, saw part of the drama.
He was an assistant at Ira Harris United States Hospital in Albany, and had been sent to Washington to bring back Lt. John M. Dempsey, a wounded Albany man who had been recovering from a government hospital in the nation's capital.
"Upon arriving at Washington on the night of April 14 with nothing of any importance to do," reported the Schenectady Gazette, "Dr. Fuller saw some bill posters announcing the play at Ford's Theater called "Our American Cousin," in which Miss Laura Keene was featuring. He at once went to the theater and purchased a ticket for a seat in the fourth row.
President Lincoln received a round of applause when he arrived at his box. He bowed in appreciation.
Shortly after the play began, Booth did his dirty work. He shot Lincoln in the head, and then leaped to the stage, shooting "Sic Semper Tyrannis," Latin for "Thus Always to Tyrants."
"Dr. Fuller was armed, as were other military men near where he was seated," the Gazette reported. "As the shot rang out, cries came forth that the president had been killed, followed by shouts to kill the assassin. But on account of the surprising and stunning effect which the attack caused, spectators made no move to fire and Booth made good his escape."
Fuller said he would have liked to go to Lincoln's box to see if he could help the mortally wounded president, but believed he would not be able to get through the guards now around Lincoln.
There was another local connection at Ford's Theater.
Major Henry Rathbone, born in Albany, was a guest of Lincoln and his wife Mary for the play. Rathbone had studied law at Union College and was a member of the Sigma Phi Society. He briefly had a law partnership in Albany before entering the Union Army at the start of Civil War.
He served as a captain in the 12th Infantry Regiment and had attained the rank of major by the end of the war.
Doctor Fuller settled in Schenectady, and was living at 14 N. Ferry St. in 1918.

1948: A Better Idea

People in 2008 are wondering when the flying cars are going to show up. Probably going to be a while.
In 1948, motorists were told what they could expect in future Fords and Chevrolets. The Society of Automobile Engineers met in French Lick, Ind. in early June, and 60 years later, it looks like they were on the money.
D.G. Roos, who was in charge of engineering at Willys-Overland in Toledo, Ohio, said smaller, lighter cars would eventually go into production. The benefits were fuel economy and conserving building materials.
Roos said he recently had test-driven small, foreign-built cars and compared speed and comfort to their larger American counterparts. And they offered higher gasoline mileage.
Someone suggested a small car might not satisfy an American motorist's ego. Roos had an answer ready: "Well, he's going to have to adjust his ego to his pocketbook," he said.