After New York City paid a visit to Schoharie County in the early 20th century for more water -- resulting in the Gilboa Dam -- things changed in that part of the county.

Farms were put underwater as well as several small businesses, resulting in a loss of population at the southern end of Schoharie County.

Just the opposite was getting under way in the northern part of the county, in Cobleskill. A new agricultural college was being sought by a prominent political leader of the time, Daniel Frisbie of Schoharie.

In the early 21st century, Joseph Bruno, state Senate Majority Leader, a Republican from Rensselaer County, helped bring a baseball stadium to Troy in 2002 by securing state funds. If Oneonta Tiger fans go on a road trip to Troy and see them play the Tri-City Valley Cats, they watch the game at the modern Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.

Daniel Frisbie, a Democrat, was speaker of the State Assembly in the early 20th century. Back in 1911, several new state agricultural schools had been secured by legislation, and the most influential members of the legislature secured the schools for their communities. In the same spirit as Bruno, Frisbie brought home a school we know today as the State University College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill.

The idea of agricultural schools dates back to the early 19th century in New York. In 1832, the New York Agricultural Society had been organized to improve agriculture, horticulture and domestic arts. By the early 20th century, only a small number of rural youth had the opportunity for a secondary education, and the society saw a need for agricultural education. It recommended that the legislature establish such schools.

Frisbie supposedly chose Cobleskill as the site for the new college, as he felt he had support of his constituents up and down the Schoharie Valley.

The Cobleskill business community had persuaded Frisbie to locate the school there, so he figured that all would be fine.

People in the valley, however, felt the school should have been located in Schoharie or Middleburgh. It turned out there was a deep rivalry between the towns, much like there had been back in the 1880s with the location of Oneonta Normal School, with Franklin, Gilbertsville and other communities vying for the prize. Schoharie-Middleburgh residents remembered at the next election, when Frisbie lost his political base in the area.

The land acquired for the new state school was the farm of Dr. Franklin P. Beard, a dairy farm that had been converted to a horse farm.[an error occurred while processing this directive]