A “wye” in railroad terms is a track configuration resembling a triangle with each point leading to a different route.  Rockton Wye was at the intersection of Clizbe Avenue, Lyon Street, Northern Boulevard and Hewitt Street

Story Behind the Story

The Rockton Wye was the gateway to the world

Tuesday, May 16, 2023-Bustling Amsterdam Exposition

America was prospering in 1925 and local businesses staged Amsterdam’s Progress Exposition and Auto Show that year to show off that prosperity.

Wednesday, May 17, 2023-Excerpts are heard from the documentary: Harnessing Nature-Building the Great Sacandaga Lake. One of the producers, Saratoga County historian Lauren Roberts, discusses how the film came to be.

Thursday, May 18, 2023-Alex Isabel (Bob Cudmore story from The Daily Gazette)

Friday

Phyllis Chapman of Friends of the Bennington Battlefield describes the battle and its impact on the Battle of Saratoga.

May 19, 2023-Episode 475-The Battle of Bennington preceded the 1777 Battle of Saratoga during the American Revolution.  It was fought in the hamlet of Walloomsac in the Town of Hoosick New York on August 16 1777—about ten miles from Bennington, Vermont.  

Amsterdam’s Rockton Wye

By Bob Cudmore

   The electric trolley car came to the Carpet City with the Amsterdam Street Railway Company in 1890.  By 1901, the line expanded to Rockton and some pictures show trolleys with the name Amsterdam & Rockton Street Railway.  In 1902, the tracks were extended to Hagaman.

   Also in 1902, the Amsterdam trolley company was acquired by the Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville Railroad, the F.J. & G.  That company operated a steam railroad from Fonda to Johnstown and Gloversville with branches to Broadalbin and Northville.  It ran trolley service in Johnstown, Gloversville and Amsterdam.  An F.J. & G. trolley line went east from Amsterdam and connected with Capital District trolleys in Schenectady. 

   Starting in 1911, the three way Amsterdam intersection known as the Rockton Wye was built to connect trolley lines which went from the Rockton Wye to Hagaman, Amsterdam’s Vrooman Avenue in the East End and Market Street in the heart of the city.  

   A “wye” in railroad terms is a track configuration resembling a triangle with each point leading to a different route.  Rockton Wye was at the intersection of Clizbe Avenue, Lyon Street, Northern Boulevard and Hewitt Street

   F.J. & G. railroad historian Paul Larner wrote, “The track configuration at that point permitted the trolleys to run direct to and from Hagaman via either the original line up Market Street Hill or via Vrooman Avenue and also, by a connecting track, directly around the city, hence the term "belt" line. 

   “Stockholders of the railroad had interests in electric power, real estate and industry besides providing local transportation.  Trolleys ran both directions around the "belt" offering the new residents of that area a convenient means of getting to Main Street, their employment, local recreation areas and the world via the New York Central Railroad.  As an aside, those new homes in Rockton would use electricity generated by a company in which the president of the F.J. & G. had a principal interest.”

   There was a problem though for trolleys which had to climb the severe grade on Amsterdam’s Vrooman Avenue.

   “One was never quite sure when the car wouldn't be able to make the turn at East Main Street descending, or, equally as dangerous, when the car wouldn't be able to get up the hill, sliding back to East Main,” Larner said.  “Men were employed by the railroad to place sand on the rails when (weather) conditions required additional traction.  As an additional safety measure, the cars were equipped with magnetic brakes. 

   “By relocating the (electric rail) junction with East Main Street west to Lark Street and using Forbes Street to avoid part of Vrooman hill, much of the danger was eliminated.”

ROCKTON

   Rockton, originally called Rock City, was an independent village settled in the late 1700s or early 1800s.  Jerry Snyder of Historic Amsterdam League said, “The name came from the rock quarries and lime kilns being operated there.” 

   The name of the village was changed to Rockton in the late 1880s and the village was annexed by the growing city of Amsterdam in 1901.

   Trolley cars had vanished from the Mohawk Valley by the end of the 1930s.  The buried trolley tracks would re-appear from time to time during spring pot hole season. 

   When I was a child in the 1950s we still called the intersection Rockton Wye.  Sunday after church we’d stop at a market located there to pick up the hefty Sunday newspaper.

   Rockton had its own taverns, restaurants, markets, auto repair shops and candy stores.  Ann Firth Torgusen said her father, William David Firth, owned Firth’s Finer Foods at 379 Locust Avenue until the 1970’s. 

Bob Cudmore "History stories from The Mohawk Valley"

Episode 413 with Bob Cudmore
The first highlights episode of 2022 with excerpts from seven Historians Podcasts including Evacuation Day in New York City, 100 years of WGY radio in Schenectady, a chat with New York State historian Devin Lander, the case for Benedict Arnold and more.

Sign-up for The Historians Saturday email "Blast"

 [email protected]

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, May 15, 2023

(6AM-39 degrees in The City of Amsterdam))

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/