1973 Post Office

PCS 1979

1973 Post Office

The Old Post Office:

1904-1973

Portville -- In hindsight, razing the old post office that majestically stood at the corner of Main and Temple seems like another mistake of the 70's anti-preservation mentality. Portville residents still talk about the beloved structure, wondering "Why did they tear that beautiful building down?".

It turns out that there were a couple of good reasons why the village leaders decided to demolish the icon. First of all, the 1904 building was in very poor condition structurally and a danger to the employees who worked there.

The postmaster in 1973, Tony Wilson, fought to get a new building and even took Times Herald legend Chuck Ward on a harrowing tour of the building's dreaded weaknesses. Even though the exterior appeared magnificant, the interior's mess was well-documented.

The building was originally built by funds given by local lumberman W.B. Mersereau and was called the Portville Opera House, which later became the Portville Theater and a site of many school events. Through its lifetime, the building was home not only to the post office, but had a jail, a confectionary store, the clerk's office, an insurance office, a millinery establishment, an apartment, and various businesses.

A second reason for demolition involved the U.S. government. One year after the infamous '72 Flood, Portville received a federal grant that stipulated that a new municipal building be constructed with the funds.

At the time, there was opposition to the demolition, but the money needed to restore the post office was not available. Moral support was low and a "progressive" attitude was prevalent in the area at the time. The Preservation Movement was much smaller in 1973 than it is today.

Demolition of the old post office commenced in April of 1973. It was replaced with the present municipal building-post office complex.

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1978 Football Videos

Class of PCS 1979
The largest in Portville history:

149 Classmates
136 Graduates
64   BOCES
49 Jocks
45   Partiers
39   Brains
31 Artists
31 Heads
30   Hunters

29 Musicians
25 Motorheads
25   Villagers
18 Actors
15   Jesus Freaks
13   Politicians
12 Farmers

EVENT BEST TIME YEAR PORTVILLE BOYS' TRACK and FIELD
100 M Mike Connell 10.61 66 TOP 10 ALL-TIME
200 M Mike Connell 21.5 66
400 M Brian Miller 50.8 93 1600 Meters Time Year
800 M Matt Burlingame 2:00.58 06 1 Kirk Greene 4:31.70 98
1600 M Kirk Greene 4:31.7 98 2 Brad Shaw 4:31.80 93
3200 M Andrew Elliott 9:59.9 03 3 Andrew Elliott 4:37.00 03
Long Jump Gene Bingman 21' 11.5 66 4 Mike Cannon 4:39.00 89
Triple Jump Jimmy Reynolds 43' 11.75 79 5 Eric Blask 4:40.30 98
High Jump Brian Decker 6' 9 92 6 John Gordnier 4:43.80 00
Pole Vault Jeff Dean 13' 3 92 7 Randy Bretzin 4:45.00 79
Shot Put Jon Jones 56' 10 10 8 Rob Pockalny 4:45.50 80
Discus Jon Jones 149' 9 10 9 Chris Gundlah 4:46.00 84
110 HH Brian Miller 14.76 93 10 Brian Broughton 4:47.00 75
400 IH Brian Blask 55.88 01 11 Gunnar Van Curen 4:47.69 11
Steeple Brad Shaw 10:25 93
Pentathlon Brian Miller 3,346 92 3200 Meters Time Year
400 Relay L Hellwig-C Hellwig 44.66 09 1 Andrew Elliott 09:59.90 03
A LaBorde-K Richards 2 Gunnar Van Curen 10:01.00 13
800 Relay R Sprague-B Reynolds 1:34.35 66 3 Brad Shaw 10:02.00 93
B Zech-M Connell 4 Mike Cannon 10:11.00 89
1600 Relay B Miller-M Babb 3:31 92 5 Rob Pockalny 10:15.00 80
J Dean-B Decker 6 Mark Brown 10:19.00 77
3200 Relay E Blask-D Armijo 8:15.3 98 7 Dave Campbell 10:20.00 76
B Blask-K Greene 8 Tyler Shaw 10:35.00 04
9 Eric Blask 10:40.00 98
100 Meters Time Year 10 Will Caya 10:41.44 11
1 Mike Connell 10.61 66
2 Jack Ensell 10.94 52 110 High Hurdles Time Year
Dale Childs 10.94 63 1 Brian Miller 14.76 93
Adam Hellwig 10.94 02 2 Kris Lickfeld 15.1 97
5 Gene Bingman 11.04 66 3 Mike Washburn 15.3 87
John Sprague 11.04 79 4 Mike Sargent 15.41 97
Tom Sprague 11.04 80 5 Addy Scutt 15.44 95
8 Lance Jobe 11.16 78 6 Mike Sherwin 15.6 79
9 Tim Emley 11.20 83 7 John Milne 15.7 84
Alex Woodhead 11.20 04 8 John Sprague 15.8 79
11 Joe Peace 11.23 11 9 Brian Blask 15.9 01
10 Corey Wesley 16.2 01
200 Meters Time Year
1 Mike Connell 21.50 66 400 Intermediate Hurdles Time Year
2 Adam Hellwig 22.69 02 1 Brian Blask 55.88 01
3 Jerry Scutt 22.70 69 2 Kris Lickfeld 57.10 97
4 Dale Childs 22.80 63 3 Addy Scutt 57.57 94
5 Joe Peace 22.85 11 4 Brian Miller 58.80 93
6 Bill Zech 22.90 65 5 Mike Sargent 59.50 97
Gene Bingman 22.90 66 6 JD Van Sickle 59.70 95
8 Brian Blask 23.20 01 7 Dan Bailey 59.90 87
9 Brian Decker 23.50 92 8 Jeff Dean 60.10 92
10 Tim Emley 23.60 83 9 Barry Shaw 60.30 90
Chris Hardgrove 23.60 03 10 Corey Wesley 60.90 01
11 Don DeAngelo 61.00 81
400 Meters Time Year 12 Keith Mott 62.10 02
1 Brian Miller 50.8 93 13 Zach Blask 62.70 11
2 Zack Shaw 51.9 09
3 Jazz Peterson 52.0 32 Pentathlon Points Year
4 Fred Knight 52.1 94 1 Brian Miller 3,346 92
Adam Hellwig 52.1 02 2 Brian Decker 3,168 92
Scott Forrest 52.1 04 3 Steve Clark 2,926 88
7 Bob Bretzin 52.2 81 4 Kris Lickfeld 2,813 97
8 Nathan Warters 52.6 97 5 Addy Scutt 2,656 93
9 Troy Feffers 52.8 90 6 Chris Gagliardo 2,489 99
10 Jason Long 53.2 96 7 Dan Bailey 2,448 88
Chris Hardgrove 53.2 03 8 Mike Sargent 2,309 95
800 Meters Time Year Steeplechase Time Year
1 Matt Burlingame 2:00.58 06 1 Brad Shaw 10:25 93
2 Kirk Greene 2:01.22 98 2 Andrew Elliott 10:27 03
3 Ray Auman 2:01.70 75 3 Mike Brady 10:45 92
4 Zack Shaw 2:01.84 09 4 Brad Thomas 10:47 97
5 Mike McGreevey 2:02.01 93 5 Tyler Shaw 10:57 03
6 Andrew Blask 2:02.02 03 6 Zach Blask 10:57.2 11
7 John Gordnier 2:02.33 01 7 Eric Blask 11:14.9 98
8 Brad Shaw 2:02.40 94 8 Shannon Knight 11:26 94
9 Keith McDivitt 2:02.80 75 9 Casey Caya 11:29 10
10 Fred Knight 2:03.00 95 10 Dave Baracat 11:40 93
11 Gunnar Van Curen 2:03.94 11
Long Jump Distance Year 400 Meter Relay Time Year
1 Gene Bingman 21' 11.5 66 1 A LaBorde-C Hellwig 44.66 09
2 Xavier Harris 21' 6 09 K Richards-L Hellwig
3 Jimmy Reynolds 21' 2 79 2 J Mooney-C Hardgrove 45.32 03
4 John Sprague 20' 11 79 A Woodhead-A Hellwig
5 Brian Miller 20' 7 92 3 I McGavisk-J Dean 45.70 92
6 Jerry Reynolds 20' 6 84 B Decker-B Miller
7 Troy Jeffers 20' 2 90 4 A Hellwig-C Hardgrove 45.70 02
8 Scott Forrest 20' 1 04 D Martinez-B Bell
9 Brian Decker 20' 0 92 5 J Milne-J Pecone 45.80 83
10 Brian Nitsche 20' 0 04 T Emley-T Scalfaro
6 J Sprague-J Reynolds 45.82 79
Triple Jump Distance Year G Swetland-J Wright
1 Jimmy Reynolds 43' 11.75" 79 7 J Sprague-J Reynolds 45.94 79
2 Brian Nitsche 43' 11.25" 04 T Sprague-J Wright
3 Jerry Reynolds 43' 9 84 8 J Mooney-C Hardgrove 46.00 03
4 Lance Chaffee 43' 6 69 R Williams-A Hellwig
5 Roger DeAngelo 42' 9 80 9 J Mooney-S Forrest 46.10 04
6 Mike Sargent 42' 4 96 B Nitsche-A Woodhead
7 Randy Welch 41' 6 67 10 DeBarbieri-Williams 46.39 98
8 Jerry Scutt 40' 0 69 DeBarbieri-Cornell
9 Mike Sherwin 39' 3 78
10 Chris Payne 39' 3 02 800 Relay Time Year
1 R Sprague-B Zech 1:34.35 66
High Jump Height Year B Reynolds-M Connell
1 Brian Decker 6' 9 92 2 J Sprague-J Reynolds 1:34.5 79
2 Mike Sherwin 6' 5.5 79 T Sprague-J Wright
3 Jerry Scutt 6' 4 69 3 D Nease-S Everetts 1:34.7 76
4 Jeremy Hammond 6' 3 94 R King-T Yanetsko
5 Steve Clark 6' 2 88 4 McLarney-Monroe 1:35.44 61
Brian Miller 6' 2 93 Bonsper-Childs
7 Randy Welch 6' 0 69 5 J DeBarbieri-M Sargent 1:35.9 97
8 Lee Chaffee 5' 10.25 66 Warters-Lickfeld
9 Chris Gagliardo 5' 10 99 6 Long-DeBarbieri 1:37.6 96
Brian Blask 5' 10 00 Williams-Lickfeld
10 Lance Reynolds 5' 9 80 7 DeBarbieri-Williams 1:37.8 98
Yates-Cornell
Pole Vault Height Year 8 T Sprague-J Wright 1:38.1 80
1 Jeff Dean 13' 3 92 Hazard-Burrows
2 Gary Swetland 13' 2 79 9 Decker-Dean 1:38.4 91
3 Jason DeYoe 13' 1 95 Borer-Miller
Jeremy Hammond 13' 1 94 10 Miller-Keim 1:38.5 93
5 Franny Williams 12' 6 85 Seawright-Moses
Dan Martinez 12' 6 02
7 Chris Gagliardo 12' 3 99 1600 Relay Time Year
8 Tim Ortung 12' 0 78 1 Miller-Babb 3:31 92
Joe DeBarbieri 12' 0 97 Dean-Decker
Chris Williams 12' 0 98 2 Blask-Hardgrove 3:31.6 01
Andy Laborde 12' 0 09 Gordnier-Ricci
3 DeBarbieri-Lickfeld 3:31.7 97
Shot Put Distance Year Sargent-Warters
1 Jon Jones 56' 10 10 4 Keim-Scutt 3:35 94
2 Jack Holcomb 51' 11 86 Hammond-Knight
3 Dave Nease 47' 10 76 5 Lickfeld-Long 3:35.7 96
4 Jordan Spehar 46' 7 11 Sargent-Warters
5 Jake Haught 46' 1.5 02 6 Hellwig-Hardgrove 3:36.3 02
6 Alan Dean 45' 11 69 Ricci-Frost
7 Matt Swetland 45' 7 90 7 Forrest-Hardgrove 3:36.6 03
8 Lee Chaffee 44' 10 66 A Blask-Hellwig
9 Russ Downey 44' 3 96
10 Tony Hammond 43' 7 98 3200 Relay Time Year

Discus Distance Year 1 E Blask-Armijo 8:15.3 98
B Blask-Greene
1 Jon Jones 149' 9 10 2 Shaw-McGreevey 8:21 93
2 Jake Haught 141' 3 02 Zimmerman-Greene
3 Tony Hammond 141' 2 99 3 Van Curen-Pierce 8:22.51 11
4 Russ Downey 138' 10 96 Smith-Blask
5 Lee Chaffee 136' 1 66 4 Warters-Greene 8:23 97
6 Greg Ralston 135' 9 75 Armijo-Thomas
7 Jordan Spehar 135' 5 10 5 Shaw-Sponsler 8:25 94
8 Terry Keim 134' 6 93 Knight-Greene
9 Joe Mascorella 134' 0 69 6 Auman-C Pytcher 8:26 77
10 Andy Keim 129' 11 95 R Bretzin-Brown
Sean Carr 129' 11 03 7 Van Curen-Smith 8:31.45 11
Pierce-Blask

The chewing of gum is undesirable and discouraged in school.