Our sister paper in Bath… the Steuben Courier… traces its history back to 1816… so this is their bicentennial year! Those were the days when many newspapers were political party organs — an age that came to an end in 1958 when owners of the Republican Courier bought the Democratic Advocate and created the general-interest Steuben Courier-Advocate. What was life like in that year of 1958?

*Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. Averell Harriman was governor of New York, and Nelson A. Rockefeller was elected to succeed him. Frank E. Nicklaus was mayor of Bath, and Ford Hotaling was town supervisor. Charlie Reynolds was county sheriff.
*Charles De Gaulle became president of France, and Pope John XXIII was installed.
*Snow drifted up to fifteen feet from a major storm in February — kids in Prattsburgh could touch the telephone wires.
*Bobby Fischer won the U.S. chess championship at the age of 14. Baseball star Roy Campanella was paralyzed in a car crash. The U. S. launched its first satellite, and Mohawk hired America’s first African American flight attendant. The peace symbol was designed, and first used. Elvis Presley was drafted. To counter this augmented U. S. military, Nikita Khrushchev became premier of the Soviet Union.
*Vice-president Nixon’s car was stoned in Venezuela. The Beatles (then the Quarrymen) cut their first record. The Nautilus passed under the North Pole. NASA was created. The John Birch Society was founded. Ellen DeGeneres was born, as were Ice-T, Alec Baldwin, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Sharon Stone.
*The Salk Vaccine was available, but the Sabin Vaccine and the birth-control pill were not. There were no vaccines for mumps, measles, rubella, or chicken pox, and children lost a week or so of school for every one of them. They might have missed reading about Dick and Jane.
*You might do business at Cohn’s, Bath Plumbing, Murphy’s Appliances, Longwell Lumber, Grand Union, Taggart Insurance, or W. T. Grant, or Rockwell’s. You might eat out at Molly’s Diner, or at Chat-a-Wyle, or at Rambler’s Rest.
*No one had ever heard of Wal-Mart, K-Mart, or Supergirl. People DID know about Agway, Western Auto, Ben Franklin, Woolworth, and J. J. Newbury. On TV you might watch Jack Benny, Lassie, The Restless Gun, or American Bandstand. The Huckleberry Hound Show debuted for kids. Romper Room, Howdy Doody, and Captain Kangaroo were going strong, but Ding-Ding School was in reruns. IF you even got TV!