Before there were national organizations such as Reading Is Fundamental, founded in 1966, local programs were about the only way to increase literacy in youngsters.

Back in 1952, one such local effort to boost literacy for area students began near Cooperstown. It was called the Mohican Reading School, located on the former Mohican Farm along state Route 80 near Springfield Center. Not only did this school spark an interest in reading, it helped some with reading difficulties.

While reading is certainly a fundamental skill, you could say that this school put a little "fun" into a student’s studies, holding classes in the summer on the shores of Otsego Lake and offering kid-friendly activities in addition to the studies.

The Mohican Reading School was the idea of Dr. T. Campbell Goodwin, pediatrician-in-chief of the pediatric department at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital. After Goodwin arrived in Cooperstown in 1948, he immediately became interested in local childhood education. When the very first Parent-Teacher group was formed in 1951, Goodwin was elected president.

Goodwin consulted with a social worker at Cooperstown Central School, who had found that one of the biggest problems of perfectly normal, intelligent children was that some were not reading according to their mental capacity. As a result of the finding, the school was organized in 1952, working in close cooperation with Cooperstown Central and directed by Bassett Hospital.

It was not limited to Cooperstown students, as over the years youngsters represented schools in Unadilla, Oneonta and Richfield Springs, among others.

The Mohican Farm grounds were impressive at that time. It was operated by the Clark Foundation. The actual school building was a remodeled carriage house. The farm dated back to 1896, when Samuel Strong Spaulding, of Buffalo, purchased 24 acres along the lake and built a federal mansion on the grounds called Mohican Manor, which stood until 1979. The Clarks bought the estate in 1940.

Dr. Mary Stewart Goodwin, also a pediatrician and wife of the school’s founder, was director of the school until the year it closed, 1961. Goodwin thought that a reading disability was a common difficulty, often responsible for scholastic failures that were the cause of anxiety to children, teachers and parents.

"By the use of special facilities, more elaborate than can be made readily available with the public-school curriculum, many so-called reading problems are remediable," Goodwin said. "Their correction may result in striking improvement in the child’s emotional and physical development, as well as in scholastic process."

Linden D. Summers Jr., a clinical psychologist, said, "The key to the entire program is that the children get more individual attention and that they study in a relaxed atmosphere."

In 1953, 35 pupils with eight to 10 faculty members enjoyed a good learning environment. The relaxed atmosphere was enhanced by the recreation program under the direction of Thomas Goodyear. Children had access to a wood shop, arts and crafts and a basketball board on one side of the gymnasium.

Outside, with Otsego Lake so close, there was swimming, fishing and boating.

A school day began at 9:30 a.m. and classes lasted until noon, for a lunch break. Afterward, there was another half-hour of instruction, and then came the recreation until 2:30 p.m.

The Goodwins were well-respected in the community. They announced in 1966 that they would be leaving later in the year to join the staff at a new research center for retarded children in Baltimore, affiliated with Johns Hopkins Hospital. Mary Stewart Goodwin had received her M.D. at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

In June of that year, she was named Village Woman of the Year. At a banquet at The Hickory Grove Inn, she thanked the gathering for the honor.

"Thanks also to all the children and parents who taught us so much during our 18 years in Cooperstown. We owe much to the late Stephen C. Clark Sr., whose foresight for the children of the area gave us so much to work with while we have been at Bassett Hospital," she said.

This weekend: A good idea for a new canal in the area just barely got off the drawing board.

City Historian Mark Simonson’s column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com.