Rocket PoweR, InteRstellaR tRavel and eteRnal lIfe

times. 162 In 2000, Thomas J. Carpenter related “the
Hungerford Brothers picketed the site in opposition to
destroying the Mansion. They did not succeed but they
were way a head of their time [in terms of historic
preservation].” 163
In the 1950s, Daniel Hungerford proposed a local museum
project as he turned again to the preservation of
local history. A supporter identified only by “Museum-
Minded” in a letter to the editor of the Star-Gazette in
November 1957 praised Hungerford’s suggestion since
“Relics now old will soon pass out of existence if not
preserved now.”
Dan Hungerford has been accused of being a theorist.
His theories of the past are realities of today.
Was it not Dan who was talking 30 years ago about
the possibilities of space travel? Didn’t he pioneer
in aviation and built the first airport in Chemung
County? Didn’t he build the first rocket automobile
ever licensed in the United States? The same vision
lies behind his effort to establish a museum in
Chemung County. 164
In 1967, Hungerford hoped to save the West Second
Street house from which he had been evicted. The effort
to demolish the house was, he said, “THE REASON
FOR ALL this destruction – THE LOCAL POLITI-
CIANS ARE TRYING TO GET FOURTEEN—MILL-
LION [sic] DOLLARS FROM THE FEDERAL GOV-
ERNMENT –FOR URBAN RENEWAL—.” Hungerford
continued to say the plan was to demolish all the structures
on the south side of Water Street in the central district
of the city. But he remembered,
IN 1956 WE [One assumes he meant Floyd and
Daniel] DREW PLANS OF SUCH A PROJECT
AND SUMITED [sic] A COPY TO GLENN BAN-
Chapter Five: Politics 37