Monday, July 17, 2023-Story behind the story-19th century bottlers drank more than soda plus Lurie’s Dept. Store (The Monday tale about Seven Minutes)

Tuesday, July 18, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Family portraits

On a July day in 1919 the Mason family of Amsterdam stopped at the city’s Crescent Park, later known as Jollyland, Mohawk Mills Park and today called Shuttleworth Park. Frances Mason was five months old. 

Wednesday, July 19, 2023-From the Archives- January 11, 2019-Episode 248, Jack Kelly is author of “The Edge of Anarchy: The Railroad Barons, the Gilded Age and the Greatest Labor Uprising in America.” Kelly tells the story of the 1894 Pullman strike.

Thursday, July 20, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-History on the highway: Route 5 S 

Friday, July 21, 2023-Episode 484-Lorissa Rinehart has written a biography of groundbreaking female photojournalist and war correspondent Dickey Chapelle titled First to the Front.

The first authoritative biography of pioneering photojournalist Dickey Chapelle, who from World War II through the early days of Vietnam got her story by any means necessary as one of the first female war correspondents.

"I side with prisoners against guards, enlisted men against officers, weakness against power."

From the beginning of World War II through the early days of Vietnam, groundbreaking female photojournalist and war correspondent Dickey Chapelle chased dangerous assignments her male colleagues wouldn’t touch, pioneering a radical style of reporting that focused on the humanity of the oppressed.

The latest donor to our yearly fund drive is John Woodward of Rotterdam who writes he really enjoyed the podcast with Scott Haefner of Old Fort Johnson. You may donate online at https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022  Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  You may give anonymously and no contribution is too big or too small. We’ve now raised 3210 dollars, over 45% of our $7000 goal for 2023.

19th century soda bottlers drank more than soda

By Bob Cudmore

   In an 1886 article on the carbonated soda industry, an Amsterdam newspaper painted a bleak picture.  The heavy glass bottles sometimes exploded when being filled, injuring workers.  The workload was heavy in the summer months.

   The Daily Democrat stated, “A soda water manufacturer said that it was unquestionably true that the majority of hands taken on for the summer trade were men in the habit of getting drunk.  But it was in a degree excusable, he said, by the extremely hard labor required of them during the busy season.”

   Just over three decades later, soda bottlers in Montgomery and Fulton counties were raising prices on carbonated beverages a month after America entered World War I.  The Bottlers’ Association of Fulton and Montgomery counties bought a newspaper ad to explain the price hike to customers.

   The 1917 ad stated that raw material costs were going up: sugar up 100 percent and extracts up 50 percent.  The price of soda cases had risen 30 percent and labor costs had increased 15 percent.

   A case of 12 pints of soda now cost customers 75 cents and a case of 12 quarts cost $1.25.  Plus the bottlers required a deposit of two cents for each small bottle and a nickel for each large bottle.

   Members of the trade group in 1917 were companies named Fitzgerald, Case, Welch and Redding in Amsterdam, Jones bottling works in Fonda and Gross bottling in Gloversville. 

   Fitzgerald’s bottling works, founded in 1882, lasted almost a century.  The bottling plant relocated in 1915 to 465 East Main Street in the town of Amsterdam on what is now Chapman Drive.  Fitzgerald’s relocated to Freeman’s Bridge Road in Glenville in the late 1960s.

   Company president Gerald Fitzgerald lived with his wife across the street from the Amsterdam plant, was known as “Fitz” and died in 1970

LURIE’S

   M. Lurie and Company of Amsterdam, the city’s premiere department store in downtown’s heyday, opened in 1908.

   History buff Emil Suda said, “Lurie's had an impressive look about it, covered in a shiny black façade with the name M. Lurie & Co. in large white block letters.”

   “What made an impressive appearance at Lurie’s was the island walk around in the center of the main entrance, that was lighted at night and showcased fashionable apparel,” Suda said.

   Lurie’s was known for its pneumatic tube cash system.  Mildred Allen from Eagle Street worked at the change room in Lurie’s, which was elevated, a few steps off the floor, creating a balcony look.

   The store had its own discount stamp books

   Isadore Demsky felt stifled working at Lurie’s in the men’s department in the 1930s before leaving town and seeking his fortune at college and in Hollywood as the actor Kirk Douglas.

   Historian Dan Weaver wrote in a 2019 Recorder article,

“Born in 1857, Morris Lurie emigrated from Lithuania to Troy, NY when he was 15.”  Lurie opened his first store on Fulton Street in Troy.

   Weaver wrote, “Over time he opened other stores in Little Falls, Schenectady and Amsterdam, NY and North Adams, MA.”

   According to Weaver’s article, Morris Lurie died in 1932. His son, Abraham ran the Amsterdam store until he died in 1945.  In 1931, Abraham and Fanny Lurie were living in Amsterdam, at 196 Guy Park Avenue.

 After 1945 Lewis M. Lurie, another son, was company president, and Howard F. Hallenbeck managed the Amsterdam store.  .

   Jona Sokolowski and Bernard Mass of New Jersey purchased Lurie’s in 1972.  The next year the state closed Lurie’s for failure to pay taxes.

   Weaver said, “The store was demolished to make room for the Amsterdam Mall.”

Mohawk Valley  Weather, Monday, July 17, 2023

68 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:06AM

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/