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Miller said that Castler had a "magic potion"
Amsterdam market relived in memories
By Bob Cudmore
An Amsterdam native who went on to be a patent attorney has contributed recollections of the former Castler’s Market from the days when the store was at 113 East Main Street.
Henry S. Miller, Jr., who lives now in Massachusetts, worked at Castler’s starting in 1948. Miller’s father, Henry S. Miller, was a salesman for H.J. Heinz and was known to grocers as “the pickle man.” The father became friends with Charles Castler. Eventually, the elder Miller worked weekends at the market and helped his son get a job delivering groceries on the weekend with Jack Davis in old-fashioned bushel baskets.
The Historians Podcast fund drive is stalled at $3050. To stay on track to reach our $6,000 goal by year’s end we need to raise $125 this week. Please help. Please donate online here- 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 donation is too small.
“Typically, I would knock on the customer’s door and be invited into the kitchen, empty the contents of the basket on the table, and collect the fee,” Miller wrote. “Charlie was generous. Every week, I would deliver several baskets to poor families and was instructed not to collect the fee. When I came in from the run on Saturday afternoon, I would help my father make the hamburger.”
Miller said that Castler had a “magic potion” to add to hamburger so it would stay red all week. Their motto was “not the cheapest, but the best.”
“Jack Davis is a story in itself,” Miller said. “He was much more comfortable driving a team of horses than driving a panel truck delivering groceries. He never understood the gearshift selection and would start up in the middle of Bell Hill in second gear, slipping the clutch until the vehicle finally moved. I was about 14 at the time and I would have to remind him to shift in first gear. In the wintertime when it snowed, we put chains on and he would simply spin the wheels until the chains broke or the truck moved.
“Jack lived up on Perth Road near the intersection of Log City Road. Another thing about Jack, he smoked a pipe and used Blue Boy tobacco. Blue Boy was only sold in two places in town; one was Whelan’s Drug at the corner of Chuctanunda and Main Street. The tobacco looked like some of the shavings my daughter uses in her hamster cage and smelled about the same. Jack would spill more than he got into his pipe. It was all over the inside of the truck. Incidentally, the truck had only one seat and I sat on a wooden milk carton next to Jack, long before seatbelts.
“There was another meat cutter, Bill Barbuto. After he left, a meat cutter by the name of Fox worked there for a while, but he would slip out the back door several times a day and go over to the hotel on Washington Street for a pack of cigarettes.
The problem was, he was a good meat cutter. I also remember Floyd Castler as Uncle Floyd and a small fellow named Les. Les lived with his family on Market Street over a pool hall, if I recall. Sadly enough, Les and his family lost all their worldly goods one night in a fire.
“I remember Mike Sagarese had a vegetable concession in the front of the store and on the sidewalk in the summer. He had a young fellow working for him, my age, named Herb Elliott. Herb and I had a friendly rivalry going because he played basketball for Amsterdam High School and I played for St. Mary's.”
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-Castler’s Market
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
From the Archives-July 10, 2020-Episode 326-A look at the history of the Albany County town of New Scotland with Alan Kowlowitz, president of the New Scotland Historical Association, and town historian Bob Parmenter.
Thursday, July 14, 2022
From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-A telephone pioneer
Mohawk Valley historian W. Max Reid made history by being one of the first to introduce the telephone to the area.
Reid had visited the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876
Old and Current during the week, new Episode every Friday
July 15, 2022
Episode 431-Former New York Times investigative reporter Howard Blum exposes the danger posed by the suspected infiltration of America’s Central Intelligence Agency by a series of Russian spy agency moles through the years. Blum’s new book is “The Spy Who Knew Too Much.”
Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, July 12, 2022
A chance of showers before 10am, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 10am and 2pm, then showers and thunderstorms likely after 2pm. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds. Partly sunny, with a high near 84. South wind 9 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Tuesday Night
A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8pm, then a slight chance of showers between 8pm and 10pm. Patchy fog after 3am. Otherwise, partly cloudy, with a low around 61. West wind 6 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Wednesday
Isolated showers, then scattered showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 81. West wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Daily Gazette
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MAYFIELD — The Mayfield man who drowned Friday while rescuing his daughter on Sacandaga Lake was a local pastor with four…
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ESPERANCE — It all started with a brief conversation in the parking lot of a Schoharie County grocery store about three…
https://dailygazette.com/
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https://www.recordernews.com/
Leader Herald
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https://www.leaderherald.com/
View all episodes
By Bob CudmoreAmsterdam market relived in memories
By Bob Cudmore
An Amsterdam native who went on to be a patent attorney has contributed recollections of the former Castler’s Market from the days when the store was at 113 East Main Street.
Henry S. Miller, Jr., who lives now in Massachusetts, worked at Castler’s starting in 1948. Miller’s father, Henry S. Miller, was a salesman for H.J. Heinz and was known to grocers as “the pickle man.” The father became friends with Charles Castler. Eventually, the elder Miller worked weekends at the market and helped his son get a job delivering groceries on the weekend with Jack Davis in old-fashioned bushel baskets.
The Historians Podcast fund drive is stalled at $3050. To stay on track to reach our $6,000 goal by year’s end we need to raise $125 this week. Please help. Please donate online here- 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 donation is too small.
“Typically, I would knock on the customer’s door and be invited into the kitchen, empty the contents of the basket on the table, and collect the fee,” Miller wrote. “Charlie was generous. Every week, I would deliver several baskets to poor families and was instructed not to collect the fee. When I came in from the run on Saturday afternoon, I would help my father make the hamburger.”
Miller said that Castler had a “magic potion” to add to hamburger so it would stay red all week. Their motto was “not the cheapest, but the best.”
“Jack Davis is a story in itself,” Miller said. “He was much more comfortable driving a team of horses than driving a panel truck delivering groceries. He never understood the gearshift selection and would start up in the middle of Bell Hill in second gear, slipping the clutch until the vehicle finally moved. I was about 14 at the time and I would have to remind him to shift in first gear. In the wintertime when it snowed, we put chains on and he would simply spin the wheels until the chains broke or the truck moved.
“Jack lived up on Perth Road near the intersection of Log City Road. Another thing about Jack, he smoked a pipe and used Blue Boy tobacco. Blue Boy was only sold in two places in town; one was Whelan’s Drug at the corner of Chuctanunda and Main Street. The tobacco looked like some of the shavings my daughter uses in her hamster cage and smelled about the same. Jack would spill more than he got into his pipe. It was all over the inside of the truck. Incidentally, the truck had only one seat and I sat on a wooden milk carton next to Jack, long before seatbelts.
“There was another meat cutter, Bill Barbuto. After he left, a meat cutter by the name of Fox worked there for a while, but he would slip out the back door several times a day and go over to the hotel on Washington Street for a pack of cigarettes.
The problem was, he was a good meat cutter. I also remember Floyd Castler as Uncle Floyd and a small fellow named Les. Les lived with his family on Market Street over a pool hall, if I recall. Sadly enough, Les and his family lost all their worldly goods one night in a fire.
“I remember Mike Sagarese had a vegetable concession in the front of the store and on the sidewalk in the summer. He had a young fellow working for him, my age, named Herb Elliott. Herb and I had a friendly rivalry going because he played basketball for Amsterdam High School and I played for St. Mary's.”
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-Castler’s Market
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
From the Archives-July 10, 2020-Episode 326-A look at the history of the Albany County town of New Scotland with Alan Kowlowitz, president of the New Scotland Historical Association, and town historian Bob Parmenter.
Thursday, July 14, 2022
From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-A telephone pioneer
Mohawk Valley historian W. Max Reid made history by being one of the first to introduce the telephone to the area.
Reid had visited the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876
Old and Current during the week, new Episode every Friday
July 15, 2022
Episode 431-Former New York Times investigative reporter Howard Blum exposes the danger posed by the suspected infiltration of America’s Central Intelligence Agency by a series of Russian spy agency moles through the years. Blum’s new book is “The Spy Who Knew Too Much.”
Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, July 12, 2022
A chance of showers before 10am, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 10am and 2pm, then showers and thunderstorms likely after 2pm. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds. Partly sunny, with a high near 84. South wind 9 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Tuesday Night
A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8pm, then a slight chance of showers between 8pm and 10pm. Patchy fog after 3am. Otherwise, partly cloudy, with a low around 61. West wind 6 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Wednesday
Isolated showers, then scattered showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 81. West wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Daily Gazette
Fundraiser created for Mayfield man who drowned saving daughter on Great Sacandaga Lake
MAYFIELD — The Mayfield man who drowned Friday while rescuing his daughter on Sacandaga Lake was a local pastor with four…
A place for happiness: Esperance’s Landis Arboretum dedicates meditation garden (with 11 photos)
ESPERANCE — It all started with a brief conversation in the parking lot of a Schoharie County grocery store about three…
https://dailygazette.com/
Amsterdam Recorder
Some seek restrictions in proposal to allow dispensaries, apts. in parts of town of Amsterdam
TOWN OF AMSTERDAM — Officials mulling zoning updates to allow marijuana dispensaries and...
Images: Saturday’s WishFest music festival at Riverlink Park in Amsterdam (5 photos)
https://www.recordernews.com/
Leader Herald
Make Us A Part Of Your Day
https://www.leaderherald.com/