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an early trip to Amsterdam
Helping Sam Stratton get elected
By Bob Cudmore
On one of Samuel Stratton’s early trips to Amsterdam as part of his first Congressional campaign, he luckily ran into an 11-year old entrepreneur
East End native John Naple wrote, “If I was 12 years old I could get my working papers and then have my own paper route, but it was only 1958 so I had one more year to wait. While I waited, Mike Sheridan from Kline Street hired me to deliver his route.”
Sheridan had over one hundred Recorders to deliver, from Marotta’s News across from St. Casimir’s Church to Degraff Street near Coessens Park.
It was a hot summer day and Naple said he still had half the papers to deliver, “Having some pocket change, I stopped at Frosty’s Ice Cream at the top of Elk Street. A handsome, thin young man, with a sweaty wrinkled white shirt pulled a beat up station wagon into the parking lot. He jumped out and started talking to the people in line.”
He told them, “I’m the mayor of Schenectady, running for Congress and looking for your vote.”
Stratton was 41 at the time. He had been awarded two bronze stars as an officer in Navy intelligence in World War II.
Naple said Stratton was handing out small cards with this name and picture on them, “I introduced myself to him, while he was eating his ice cream. I was taken by the man and making an executive decision, offered to put his cards in my papers when I rolled them up. I showed him how to roll the paper and tuck the card inside. He gave it a try and did a fair job. I could roll a paper in about two seconds. I rolled about 50 of his cards into the papers in the dirty canvas bag that hung over my shoulder.”
Naple threw some rolled papers up on first and second story porches. Some went into milk boxes and others behind screen doors.
“All those customers received the card of Sam Stratton,” Naple recalled. Stratton won the election in November and served 30 years in Congress, 1959 to 1989.
Naple said, “Years later Stratton appointed two of my younger brothers to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. They both had distinguished naval careers. Did I help my brothers get their appointments by helping Sam get elected?”
COUSINS
Naple and his cousin Sharon DiMenno Menech of Broadalbin recently visited Eagle Street.
“It was kind of sad,” Menech said. “There were some people there that we grew up with, but a lot of the houses were boarded up.”
Menech recalled, “In the neighborhood everyone got along, and all the adults sat out in front of our house and the kids played all kinds of games.”
Menech grew up at 35 Eagle, across the street from where Kirk Douglas was born and raised. She used to walk past old Amsterdam landmarks on her way to and from school: the bars, Shell’s Pharmacy, Johnny’s Seafood and the Mohawk, Tryon and Rialto theaters.
Menech said, “On Friday nights there always was walking downtown and shopping and meeting friends at Brownie’s and all sitting in tbe back booth.”
Menech’s father worked at Bigelow-Sanford carpet mill and her mother worked third shift at Mohasco carpet mill. When Bigelow-Sanford moved out in 1955 her father got a job at a Christmas tree factory. When Mohasco moved out, her mother found work at the Big N store’s deli on Route 30.
“The closing of the carpet mills put many of work,” Menech said. “But they usually found a job of one kind or another. Some people went south with Mohasco.”
Tomorrow
Friday, November 3, 2023-Episode 497-Several topics from Bob Cudmore’s Focus on History newspaper column: Amsterdam NY’s connection to Piscotta, Italy; carper mill tales; union Leader Leonora Barry. Plus an interview with Phillip Malcolm Bowler about his ancestors’ brewery in Amsterdam.
History, adventure and the outdoors await you in Montgomery County, a valley carved by a mighty river and built by amazing people.
Come Here to Get Back. Back to basics in Montgomery County - an exceptional setting for all seasons. Get back to history. Get back to the outdoors. Get back to spending time-together. Be curious, be adventurous, be yourself in our serene and intriguing corner of upstate New York.
https://visitmontgomerycountyny.com/
Go Fund Me/November 2, 2023. Update-$2370.00 in need by December 31, 2023
U.S. Mail Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.
on-line: The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore
Bob Cudmore and Mohawk Valley People
Scott Haefner of Old Fort Johnson historic site explains how this formerly fortified home of British Indian agent Sir William Johnson was preserved by a grass roots organization, the Montgomery County Historical Society.
Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, November 2, 2023
26 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:54AM
Sunny, with a high near 47. Calm wind becoming west 5 to 9 mph in the morning.
Tonight
Partly cloudy, with a low around 28. Light southeast wind.
Friday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 57. Light and variable wind becoming southwest 8 to 13 mph in the morning.
Saturday
Partly sunny, with a high near 55. West wind 5 to 7 mph.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56.
Lake effect snow showers and flurries will end this
morning over the western Adirondacks, as high pressure builds in
from the south with fair and cool conditions. The surface high will
bring seasonable temperatures and dry conditions for Friday. A weak
disturbance will increase some clouds with a few showers northwest
of the Capital Region Friday night into Saturday.
morning over the western Adirondacks, as high pressure builds in
from the south with fair and cool conditions. The surface high will
bring seasonable temperatures and dry conditions for Friday. A weak
disturbance will increase some clouds with a few showers northwest
of the Capital Region Friday night into Saturday.
Mohawk Valley News Headlines
...one-stop shopping for all of our award-winning content from The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown.
https://www.dailygazette.com/
The Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers is excited to announce the launch of a brand-new website that encompasses our three daily newspapers as well as our newly-acquired arts and lifestyle site.
Each of the four publications still has a separate and distinct home on the website, but they all reside under The Daily Gazette umbrella, and we’ve ensured that they’ve retained their individual identity and scope of coverage.
View all episodes
By Bob CudmoreHelping Sam Stratton get elected
By Bob Cudmore
On one of Samuel Stratton’s early trips to Amsterdam as part of his first Congressional campaign, he luckily ran into an 11-year old entrepreneur
East End native John Naple wrote, “If I was 12 years old I could get my working papers and then have my own paper route, but it was only 1958 so I had one more year to wait. While I waited, Mike Sheridan from Kline Street hired me to deliver his route.”
Sheridan had over one hundred Recorders to deliver, from Marotta’s News across from St. Casimir’s Church to Degraff Street near Coessens Park.
It was a hot summer day and Naple said he still had half the papers to deliver, “Having some pocket change, I stopped at Frosty’s Ice Cream at the top of Elk Street. A handsome, thin young man, with a sweaty wrinkled white shirt pulled a beat up station wagon into the parking lot. He jumped out and started talking to the people in line.”
He told them, “I’m the mayor of Schenectady, running for Congress and looking for your vote.”
Stratton was 41 at the time. He had been awarded two bronze stars as an officer in Navy intelligence in World War II.
Naple said Stratton was handing out small cards with this name and picture on them, “I introduced myself to him, while he was eating his ice cream. I was taken by the man and making an executive decision, offered to put his cards in my papers when I rolled them up. I showed him how to roll the paper and tuck the card inside. He gave it a try and did a fair job. I could roll a paper in about two seconds. I rolled about 50 of his cards into the papers in the dirty canvas bag that hung over my shoulder.”
Naple threw some rolled papers up on first and second story porches. Some went into milk boxes and others behind screen doors.
“All those customers received the card of Sam Stratton,” Naple recalled. Stratton won the election in November and served 30 years in Congress, 1959 to 1989.
Naple said, “Years later Stratton appointed two of my younger brothers to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. They both had distinguished naval careers. Did I help my brothers get their appointments by helping Sam get elected?”
COUSINS
Naple and his cousin Sharon DiMenno Menech of Broadalbin recently visited Eagle Street.
“It was kind of sad,” Menech said. “There were some people there that we grew up with, but a lot of the houses were boarded up.”
Menech recalled, “In the neighborhood everyone got along, and all the adults sat out in front of our house and the kids played all kinds of games.”
Menech grew up at 35 Eagle, across the street from where Kirk Douglas was born and raised. She used to walk past old Amsterdam landmarks on her way to and from school: the bars, Shell’s Pharmacy, Johnny’s Seafood and the Mohawk, Tryon and Rialto theaters.
Menech said, “On Friday nights there always was walking downtown and shopping and meeting friends at Brownie’s and all sitting in tbe back booth.”
Menech’s father worked at Bigelow-Sanford carpet mill and her mother worked third shift at Mohasco carpet mill. When Bigelow-Sanford moved out in 1955 her father got a job at a Christmas tree factory. When Mohasco moved out, her mother found work at the Big N store’s deli on Route 30.
“The closing of the carpet mills put many of work,” Menech said. “But they usually found a job of one kind or another. Some people went south with Mohasco.”
Tomorrow
Friday, November 3, 2023-Episode 497-Several topics from Bob Cudmore’s Focus on History newspaper column: Amsterdam NY’s connection to Piscotta, Italy; carper mill tales; union Leader Leonora Barry. Plus an interview with Phillip Malcolm Bowler about his ancestors’ brewery in Amsterdam.
History, adventure and the outdoors await you in Montgomery County, a valley carved by a mighty river and built by amazing people.
Come Here to Get Back. Back to basics in Montgomery County - an exceptional setting for all seasons. Get back to history. Get back to the outdoors. Get back to spending time-together. Be curious, be adventurous, be yourself in our serene and intriguing corner of upstate New York.
https://visitmontgomerycountyny.com/
Go Fund Me/November 2, 2023. Update-$2370.00 in need by December 31, 2023
U.S. Mail Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.
on-line: The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore
Bob Cudmore and Mohawk Valley People
Scott Haefner of Old Fort Johnson historic site explains how this formerly fortified home of British Indian agent Sir William Johnson was preserved by a grass roots organization, the Montgomery County Historical Society.
Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, November 2, 2023
26 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:54AM
Sunny, with a high near 47. Calm wind becoming west 5 to 9 mph in the morning.
Tonight
Partly cloudy, with a low around 28. Light southeast wind.
Friday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 57. Light and variable wind becoming southwest 8 to 13 mph in the morning.
Saturday
Partly sunny, with a high near 55. West wind 5 to 7 mph.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56.
Lake effect snow showers and flurries will end this
morning over the western Adirondacks, as high pressure builds in
from the south with fair and cool conditions. The surface high will
bring seasonable temperatures and dry conditions for Friday. A weak
disturbance will increase some clouds with a few showers northwest
of the Capital Region Friday night into Saturday.
morning over the western Adirondacks, as high pressure builds in
from the south with fair and cool conditions. The surface high will
bring seasonable temperatures and dry conditions for Friday. A weak
disturbance will increase some clouds with a few showers northwest
of the Capital Region Friday night into Saturday.
Mohawk Valley News Headlines
...one-stop shopping for all of our award-winning content from The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown.
https://www.dailygazette.com/
The Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers is excited to announce the launch of a brand-new website that encompasses our three daily newspapers as well as our newly-acquired arts and lifestyle site.
Each of the four publications still has a separate and distinct home on the website, but they all reside under The Daily Gazette umbrella, and we’ve ensured that they’ve retained their individual identity and scope of coverage.