John E. Larrabee’s 1911 obituary said his store had become the most successful hardware business in the city.  Larrabee was succeeded as general manager by his brother-in-law Warner Leavenworth, who died in 1940.  Leavenworth’s son Thomas, who had joined the firm in 1931, became president in 1940.

Historians Go Fund Me Link updated Tuesday, December 13, 2022. Your assist keeps The Historians on The World Wide Web and Radio-Albany Public WMHT89.1FM RISE each week, Monday and Wednesday

  On-line https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022

U.S. Mail Send a check to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

People loved Larrabee’s Hardware

By Bob Cudmore

   Larrabee’s hardware store, located on Market Street in downtown Amsterdam for over 80 years, was a beloved institution.

   Born in the town of Amsterdam in 1851, John E. Larrabee began his hardware career working for merchant E. T. Leavenworth.  In 1876, Larrabee went into partnership with L. L. Dean.  Larrabee later partnered with W. G. Barnes, a store which lasted eight years, under the name of Larrabee & Barnes.  In 1889 Larrabee married Louise Leavenworth.  They had two daughters. 

   When the Sanford Homestead Building was constructed by carpet magnate Stephen Sanford on Market Street in 1891, Larrabee opened his own store in the new building.  The John E. Larrabee Company sold retail and wholesale hardware and provided supplies for area industries.  Located at 5 Market Street the firm expanded and took over 3 Market Street, previously home to the Odd Figure Bazaar. 

   John E. Larrabee’s 1911 obituary said his store had become the most successful hardware business in the city.  Larrabee was succeeded as general manager by his brother-in-law Warner Leavenworth, who died in 1940.  Leavenworth’s son Thomas, who had joined the firm in 1931, became president in 1940.  By then the store occupied 3 to 9 Market Street on the east side of a busy downtown thoroughfare. 

   Larrabee’s was sold in 1960 and Tom Leavenworth pursued other business ventures, including his work as treasurer of Amsterdam’s Inman Manufacturing, which made machinery for the box making industry.

   The new owners of Larrabee’s, Ailing Beardsley and Mary Louise Rossiter, began an expansion of the firm in 1961, putting more emphasis on selling hardware to new industries that were starting in the area as the large carpet mills exited.  Beardsley and Rossiter retained Samuel H. Anderson as store manager and said they were expanding appliance sales along with Larrabee’s previous retail emphasis on hardware, housewares, gifts and toys. 

(Anderson was active in politics serving on board of spvsrs  he and wife ruth relocated to California in 1967.  Anderson had started s.h. Anderson sporting goods with several outlets in new York including at mortan’s in Amsterdam.  In ca joined white front department store in LA 

   Beardsley and Rossiter apparently were related.  Beardsley, a World War II infantry veteran who had operated an industrial supply firm in New Jersey, was married to Carol Rossiter.  She was originally from Albany, presumably related to Mary Louise Rossiter, who lived in Slingerlands, headed an Albany real estate firm and was treasurer of Livermore Chevrolet.

   Beardsley and his family moved to Amsterdam.  In 1965 Larrabee’s celebrated 75 years in business.  In 1972 Beardsley’s son, also named Ailing, was retail manager of Larrabee's and up for a young business award from the Junior Chamber of Commerce.

   Larrabee’s apparently closed in the 1970s but it is not clear exactly when.  Historian Jerry Snyder found that the 1973-1974 city directory has the “professional plaza” replacing the Sanford building on Market Street.  Furs by Gus was at 3 Market, Hays and Wormuth Insurance at 7, and there was no listing for 5 Market St. 

    In the 1950s Larrabee’s sold toys especially at Christmas, including Lionel and American Flyer model trains.  Each brand installed a model train layout in the store.  A 1958 ad offered an American Flyer guided missile train for $33.88 that could fire toy rockets.

Wednesday, December 14, 2022-Episode 346-Christopher Philippo is editor of “The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories Volume Four.”  Stories include The Green Huntsman and The Christmas Ghost.

A Valancourt Yuletide tradition returns, this time with rare 19th-century tales from U.S. newspapers and magazines

The Christmas ghost story tradition is usually associated with Charles Dickens and Victorian England, but -- apparently unknown to historians and scholars -- Christmas ghost stories were extremely widespread and popular in 19th-century America as well, frequently appearing in newspapers and magazines during the holiday season.

Thursday, December 15, 2022

The Italian Gardens in Broadalbin

Amsterdam transplant Fred Wojcicki from California has contributed a memory of the Italian Gardens of Broadalbin.

          “My brother Joe, who lost his life in St. Lo, France on August 18, 1944, worked for Arthur Chalmers who owned the gardens in Broadalbin during the Depression years,” Wojcicki wrote.  “I had been on the grounds of the gardens a few times with my brother and can still remember Mr. Chalmers going by in his chauffeured limousine.”

Friday, December 16, 2022-Episode 453-2022 Highlights Edition with excerpts from the secret role of Japanese Americans who fought in the Pacific in World War II; Bob Gumson’s memoir In Blind Sight; Amsterdam’s Guy Park Manor; Anita Sanchez on the history of glaciers and Jim Kaplan on the life of of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Leader Herald

Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/