By Bob Cudmore

   The Amsterdam baseball stadium and adjacent land that we call Shuttleworth Park has had several other names through the years.

   Historian Hugh Donlon wrote that Edward and Thomas McCaffrey built the facility which they called Crescent Park, in 1914 along the North Chuctanunda Creek in the city’s Rockton section,.  Many patrons went there on trolleys of the Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad.

   Crescent Park became Jollyland when it was taken over by Fred J. Collins in 1923.

   Americana collector Scott Meikle of Brooklyn once asked for information on a photo he purchased of a smiling beauty queen with a banner over her shoulder that said Miss Jollyland. 

   Meikle wrote, “From her hairstyle and bathing suit, I’d guess the photo dates from the late 1920s to early 1930s.  I like the image because the girl seems very real and good-humored.”

   Jollyland made use of one of Amsterdam’s industrial products—buttons.  The Chalmers family had factories that produced knit goods, tools and hardware.  Arthur and his father Harvey Chalmers also started Hampshire Pearl Button Company in 1898 over the North Chuctanunda Creek. 

   Donlon wrote the plant originally made buttons from clamshells from the Mississippi River, “Employment at peak output was about 1,000, including Amsterdam housewives who added to family income by sewing buttons on cards at home.”

   Buttons were so plentiful that walkways at Jollyland were paved with discarded buttons from the Chalmers mill.  That memory came from Amsterdamian Margaret Reilly.

   Music was a part of the entertainment at Jollyland.  Jerry Barnell and His Society Orchestra played there in the 1930s. Barnell went on to be the bandleader at Amsterdam High School.

   Mohawk Carpet Mills started using Jollyland for employee events in 1927.  The park was renamed Mohawk Mills Park in 1934 when the carpet mill took over the facility for its 2,800-member employee association.  The company promised to use a “force of men” to renovate the park for a grand opening that year.

   Mohawk Mills Park had a baseball diamond, tennis courts, dance pavilion, merry-go-round, whip, aerial swing, roller skating rink and what were called chair-o-planes.  Amsterdam resident Sophie Gomula said there was a miniature train.

   A 1934 newspaper story stated, “A mammoth opening and field day is planned. The public is cordially invited to join the employees of the mills in making this an occasion to be remembered.  It will be recalled that in 1929, the field day held at the park brought out an attendance of from 12,000 to 15,000 people.”

   In 1939, Mohawk Mills Park became home of the Amsterdam Rugmakers, a New York Yankees farm team in the Canadian-American league.  Virginia Dybas Czelusniak used to go to the games.  Admission was 40 cents and the scorecard cost five cents.  Czelusniak, who grew up on Crane Street, said she and her friends liked talking with the young ballplayers.

   The Yankees played two exhibition games at Mohawk Mills Park in the 1940s. Joe DiMaggio was on the field in in 1942 and Yogi Berra played there in 1949.  Local minor league baseball declined then disappeared in the 1950s.

   In 1977, the park received its current name, Herbert Shuttleworth II Park.

 Shuttleworth was the last local chief executive of Mohawk Carpet and Mohasco and also was president of the Rugmakers baseball team in its heyday.

   Amsterdam baseball coach Brian Spagnola is credited with bringing the Amsterdam Mohawks collegiate team to the local scene and working to improve Shuttleworth Park.

   This year Spagnola was inducted into the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame. Spagnola played and coached at the collegiate level and coached in other areas of the Capital Region.

The Historians Podcast 2023 fund drive is afoot!  The Twenty Twenty Three goal is $7000. You may donate online at https://www.gofundme.com/the-historians-podcast

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

This Week on The Historians with Bob Cudmore, more on the Amsterdam Reads Program from Sunday, January 29th.
Moderated by Bob Cudmore

Dr. Majeed (center) will be recording an interview with Bob this Wednesday for her podcast "The Village"

When complete the conversation will be posted here on The Historians

Bob Cudmore and Alan Maddaus this Friday

February 10, 2022- Episode 461-Alan Maddaus is author of Wright Peak Elegy: A Story of Cold War, Nuclear Deterrence and Ultimate Sacrifice. The book tells the story of a U.S. B 47 jet bomber that crashed into Wright Peak in New York’s Adirondack Mountains in 1962.

Beginning with WW II Allied raids on Nazi Germany, the story continues with the onset of the Cold War, development of the jet-engine bomber, and the US strategy of nuclear deterrence. The ultimate sacrifice by some crews of the USAF B-47 Fleet-the high price of preserving the peace. 

Mohawk Valley Weather, Sunday, February 5, 2023

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