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Donate Life New York
...first today, Bob Cudmore talks with Aisha Tator "Donate Life New York State"
Friday, April 29, 2022-Historians Episode 420-Paul Craddock at UCL Medical School in London England is author of Spare Parts: The Story of Medicine Through the History of Transplant Surgery.
Thursday, April 14, 2022
1905 map settles debate on park
Amsterdam resident recalls her father’s Orpheum Theater
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History
An early 20th century map of Amsterdam and some research by a local history fan both point to the conclusion that historian Hugh Donlon was right after all about the name of an Amsterdam park.
Donlon, author of “Annals of a Mill Town” in 1980, wrote that an East End park was known as Ross’ Flats. That name didn’t ring true with several longtime residents who remembered calling the area Rossi’s Flats. Convenient to a railroad siding and the New York Central main line, the flatland was a location where circuses pitched their tents and immigrants played sports.
Sam Vomero of Amsterdam has found a map of Amsterdam’s Fourth Ward from 1905 that shows a large parcel of undeveloped East End land adjacent to the railroad called the Ross Estate. Checking city directories from 1903 and 1917, Vomero discovered that farmer George B. Ross and his wife Frances had their home at 362 East Main Street, adjacent to what became a stone quarry, the current site of the Cliffside Restaurant. Perhaps the name Rossi’s Flats came to be because it is difficult to pronounce Ross’ Flats.
The 1905 map has other fascinating details. Mohawk Carpet Mills did not exist. It formed in 1920. Mohawk’s predecessor firm, Shuttleworth Brothers Rug and Manufacturing Company, had a plant between the railroad and the Mohawk River. Other businesses along the railroad included the Elk Pearl Button Company, Amsterdam Silk Mills, W.S. Shuler Spring Company, Kreisel Brothers Coal Yard and Yund, Kennedy and Yund Knitting Mill.
Vrooman Avenue was called Vrooman Street. The Fourth Ward School, built in 1894, was on Vrooman between East Main and the railroad. The school burned in the 1940s. At the intersection of Vrooman and East Main stood the East Main Street Methodist Episcopal Church, currently a St. Mary’s Hospital health facility. Vrooman ended just north of East Main with a dotted line leading through an undeveloped area to the home of D. Mathias.
On Reid Hill, St. Stanislaus’ school was depicted behind the church and not directly on Cornell Street. One familiar name on Reid Street was Albert. Zierak, grocery store proprietor and bonesetter whose descendants later founded Kiddo’s Tavern in that location.
Historians Go Fund Me https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022
MORE THEATER MEMORIES
Amsterdam’s Margaret Reilly, who is 94, has provided information on a downtown theater that her father operated, the Orpheum. Strictly a movie theater and not a vaudeville house, the Orpheum was on Market Street adjacent to the old Barnes Hotel. Sometimes movie stars made personal appearances. A Masonic lodge was over the theater, she said, and the Regent Theater was across Market Street.
Reilly recalled that before World War I, admission at the Orpheum was ten cents for children and fifteen cents for adults. During the war, the government levied an additional tax of a penny for children and two cents for grownups. She said that the first talking picture, the 1927 “Jazz Singer” starring Al Jolson, played the Orpheum. Her father sold the theater in 1928 to a man named Kronik and Reilly could not remember when the Orpheum closed.
Reilly raised a family in Amsterdam and worked at Montgomery County Trust. She is the widow of popular chemistry teacher Ed Reilly, known as Prof Reilly at Wilbur H. Lynch High School. He died 14 years ago
Margaret Reilly shared a memory about Jollyland amusement park, which today is Herbert Shuttleworth Park. She recalled that in the old days at Jollyland, the walkways were paved with discarded buttons from Amsterdam’s button mills.
Tomorrow, Friday, April 15, 2022 Episode 418
Bruce Dearstyne is encouraging New Yorkers to celebrate April 20 as the birthday of the Empire State. The first New York State constitution was adopted April 20, 1777 during a momentous year for the state during the Revolutionary War. Bruce Dearstyne was formerly on the staff of the Office of State History and the State Archives. He has written books and articles on New York State history.
Saturday, April 16, 2022- From the Archives-April 26, 2019-Episode 263-Victoria Riskin, a psychologist and movie and TV producer, is author of “Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir” about her parents. Fay Wray was in King Kong and many other movies. Robert Riskin was a screenwriter.
Focus on History Story "Posted this Sunday"
April 17, 2022-Focus on History in the Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder-The wheels on the bus-public transit in Amsterdam
Today, Thursday, April 14, 2022 in The Recorder
https://www.recordernews.com/
CDTA buses rolling into Mongtomery County this fall
By Ashley Onyon
Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, April 14, 2022
Scattered showers before 3pm, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm between 3pm and 5pm, then showers and thunderstorms likely after 5pm. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds. High near 76. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Thursday Night
Scattered showers, mainly before 7pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 38. West wind 6 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Friday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 66. Breezy, with a light southwest wind increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 33 mph.
Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Thursday, April 14, 2022
Daily Gazette
Racing Around: Fonda expected to open its 71st season on Saturday
A very wet racing surface may have forced the cancellation of a pair of practice sessions at Fonda Speedway, but…
A very wet racing surface may have forced the cancellation of a pair of practice sessions at Fonda Speedway, but…
Latham developer to restore Schenectady’s Wedgeway Building
SCHENECTADY — A Latham-based real-estate company is working with the Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority to restore one of the city’s…
SCHENECTADY — A Latham-based real-estate company is working with the Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority to restore one of the city’s…
https://dailygazette.com/
Amsterdam Recorder
Fort Johnson residents see benefits in early plans to dissolve village governmen
ASHLEY ONYON/THE RECORDER Fort Johnson residents pack Village Hall during an informational meeting...
https://www.recordernews.com/
Leader Herald
Gloversville DRI open house set for Glove Theatre
by Jason Subik
https://www.leaderherald.com/
Historians RSS Feed
Keep up to date
https://bobcudmore.com/feed/podcast.rss
View all episodes
By Bob Cudmore...first today, Bob Cudmore talks with Aisha Tator "Donate Life New York State"
Friday, April 29, 2022-Historians Episode 420-Paul Craddock at UCL Medical School in London England is author of Spare Parts: The Story of Medicine Through the History of Transplant Surgery.
Thursday, April 14, 2022
1905 map settles debate on park
Amsterdam resident recalls her father’s Orpheum Theater
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History
An early 20th century map of Amsterdam and some research by a local history fan both point to the conclusion that historian Hugh Donlon was right after all about the name of an Amsterdam park.
Donlon, author of “Annals of a Mill Town” in 1980, wrote that an East End park was known as Ross’ Flats. That name didn’t ring true with several longtime residents who remembered calling the area Rossi’s Flats. Convenient to a railroad siding and the New York Central main line, the flatland was a location where circuses pitched their tents and immigrants played sports.
Sam Vomero of Amsterdam has found a map of Amsterdam’s Fourth Ward from 1905 that shows a large parcel of undeveloped East End land adjacent to the railroad called the Ross Estate. Checking city directories from 1903 and 1917, Vomero discovered that farmer George B. Ross and his wife Frances had their home at 362 East Main Street, adjacent to what became a stone quarry, the current site of the Cliffside Restaurant. Perhaps the name Rossi’s Flats came to be because it is difficult to pronounce Ross’ Flats.
The 1905 map has other fascinating details. Mohawk Carpet Mills did not exist. It formed in 1920. Mohawk’s predecessor firm, Shuttleworth Brothers Rug and Manufacturing Company, had a plant between the railroad and the Mohawk River. Other businesses along the railroad included the Elk Pearl Button Company, Amsterdam Silk Mills, W.S. Shuler Spring Company, Kreisel Brothers Coal Yard and Yund, Kennedy and Yund Knitting Mill.
Vrooman Avenue was called Vrooman Street. The Fourth Ward School, built in 1894, was on Vrooman between East Main and the railroad. The school burned in the 1940s. At the intersection of Vrooman and East Main stood the East Main Street Methodist Episcopal Church, currently a St. Mary’s Hospital health facility. Vrooman ended just north of East Main with a dotted line leading through an undeveloped area to the home of D. Mathias.
On Reid Hill, St. Stanislaus’ school was depicted behind the church and not directly on Cornell Street. One familiar name on Reid Street was Albert. Zierak, grocery store proprietor and bonesetter whose descendants later founded Kiddo’s Tavern in that location.
Historians Go Fund Me https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022
MORE THEATER MEMORIES
Amsterdam’s Margaret Reilly, who is 94, has provided information on a downtown theater that her father operated, the Orpheum. Strictly a movie theater and not a vaudeville house, the Orpheum was on Market Street adjacent to the old Barnes Hotel. Sometimes movie stars made personal appearances. A Masonic lodge was over the theater, she said, and the Regent Theater was across Market Street.
Reilly recalled that before World War I, admission at the Orpheum was ten cents for children and fifteen cents for adults. During the war, the government levied an additional tax of a penny for children and two cents for grownups. She said that the first talking picture, the 1927 “Jazz Singer” starring Al Jolson, played the Orpheum. Her father sold the theater in 1928 to a man named Kronik and Reilly could not remember when the Orpheum closed.
Reilly raised a family in Amsterdam and worked at Montgomery County Trust. She is the widow of popular chemistry teacher Ed Reilly, known as Prof Reilly at Wilbur H. Lynch High School. He died 14 years ago
Margaret Reilly shared a memory about Jollyland amusement park, which today is Herbert Shuttleworth Park. She recalled that in the old days at Jollyland, the walkways were paved with discarded buttons from Amsterdam’s button mills.
Tomorrow, Friday, April 15, 2022 Episode 418
Bruce Dearstyne is encouraging New Yorkers to celebrate April 20 as the birthday of the Empire State. The first New York State constitution was adopted April 20, 1777 during a momentous year for the state during the Revolutionary War. Bruce Dearstyne was formerly on the staff of the Office of State History and the State Archives. He has written books and articles on New York State history.
Saturday, April 16, 2022- From the Archives-April 26, 2019-Episode 263-Victoria Riskin, a psychologist and movie and TV producer, is author of “Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir” about her parents. Fay Wray was in King Kong and many other movies. Robert Riskin was a screenwriter.
Focus on History Story "Posted this Sunday"
April 17, 2022-Focus on History in the Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder-The wheels on the bus-public transit in Amsterdam
Today, Thursday, April 14, 2022 in The Recorder
https://www.recordernews.com/
CDTA buses rolling into Mongtomery County this fall
By Ashley Onyon
Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, April 14, 2022
Scattered showers before 3pm, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm between 3pm and 5pm, then showers and thunderstorms likely after 5pm. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds. High near 76. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Thursday Night
Scattered showers, mainly before 7pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 38. West wind 6 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Friday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 66. Breezy, with a light southwest wind increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 33 mph.
Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Thursday, April 14, 2022
Daily Gazette
Racing Around: Fonda expected to open its 71st season on Saturday
A very wet racing surface may have forced the cancellation of a pair of practice sessions at Fonda Speedway, but…
A very wet racing surface may have forced the cancellation of a pair of practice sessions at Fonda Speedway, but…
Latham developer to restore Schenectady’s Wedgeway Building
SCHENECTADY — A Latham-based real-estate company is working with the Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority to restore one of the city’s…
SCHENECTADY — A Latham-based real-estate company is working with the Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority to restore one of the city’s…
https://dailygazette.com/
Amsterdam Recorder
Fort Johnson residents see benefits in early plans to dissolve village governmen
ASHLEY ONYON/THE RECORDER Fort Johnson residents pack Village Hall during an informational meeting...
https://www.recordernews.com/
Leader Herald
Gloversville DRI open house set for Glove Theatre
by Jason Subik
https://www.leaderherald.com/
Historians RSS Feed
Keep up to date
https://bobcudmore.com/feed/podcast.rss