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- #512 this Friday54 degrees and light rain in The City of Amsterdam at 6:04AM-Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, February 28, 2024-A chance of showers. Cloudy, with a high near 61. East wind 8 to 18 mph becoming south in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. Tonight Rain and snow showers before midnight, then a slight chance of snow showers after 5am. Some thunder is also possible. Low around 19. Windy, with a southwest wind 21 to 26 mph becoming west 29 to 34 mph in the evening. Winds could gust as high as 55 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. Thursday A slight chance of snow showers before 10am, then a slight chance of snow showers after 4pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 27. Windy, with a west wind 23 to 31 mph, with gusts as high as 46 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.A story for a Windy WednesdayA free will offering of $150 was collected in 1917 for the troops. Adjusted for inflation that would be over $3,000 today.Amsterdam doctor had passion for music
By Bob Cudmore
In late November 1917 the World War I Battle of Cambrai was underway in Europe with both Germany and Britain sustaining heavy casualties according to a front page Amsterdam newspaper account. The United States had entered the war in April.
One of that year's Thanksgiving Day observances in Amsterdam was a concert to raise money to make life easier for local soldiers who had been drafted. Some Mohawk Valley soldiers were training at Fort Devens in Massachusetts with the 303rd New York Infantry before shipping overseas.
The local Liberty Bond Vocal Club sang as did a soldier quartet and soloists from Fort Devens. They performed songs including "Over There" and "Pack Up Your Old Kit Bag." The singers and their conductor received "tumultuous applause."
The Second Presbyterian Church across from the city library on Church Street was packed for the concert. Eighty-three years later that church building would be destroyed in a fire.
A free will offering of $150 was collected in 1917 for the troops. Adjusted for inflation that would be over $3,000 today.
The conductor of the Liberty Bond Vocal Club, James T. Riggs of Market Street, came from a musical family. His father, Dr. John V. Riggs had died the day before at age 78 in his apartment in Amsterdam's Sanford Block. The funeral would took place the next day at James Riggs' home.
Dr. John Riggs was originally from Schenectady. His father Stephen was a printer and publisher of a newspaper, the Schenectady Cabinet. Riggs though studied medicine at Albany Medical College and graduated from the Buffalo College of Physicians and Surgeons as a homeopathic doctor.
He loved music and joined a minstrel show after college. While on tour in the south he left the troupe to study yellow fever, which was widespread there.
He came back to the Mohawk Valley and opened a doctor's office at 29 Market Street in Amsterdam. He married Annie Wilds of Schenectady in 1861, at the start of the Civil War.
He founded and directed the Arion Society, an Amsterdam singing group. He was known for performances at the Sanford Hall on West Main Street and the Union Hall on East Main Street.
In 1889 Riggs sold his medical practice and went to New York City to become a professional singer. Riggs came back within two years, opened a drug store on Market Street and made his living treating patients and manufacturing medicines, including Dr. Riggs' Stomach Globules for Dyspepsia and Indigestion. Dyspepsia is pain in the stomach which was believed to be caused by difficulty digesting food.
A 1911 newspaper ad stated, "Prepared from Dr. J.V. Riggs' original formula by the Riggs' Medicine Co., in the Blood Building. At all leading drugstores. Price 50c. Only genuine when bearing Dr. Riggs' signature."
While marketing his potions (also including Dr. Riggs' Wine of Cod Liver Oil), Riggs continued to sing and conduct. He was a member and one time director of the St. Ann's Episcopal Church choir. Choir member Emily Devendorf wrote rhymes describing her fellow choristers. Devendorf wrote of Riggs that "his voice is deep and tremendous strong, and without him, we do not so well get along."
Annie Wilds Riggs died in 1909. Husband and wife were buried at Fairview Cemetery.
Much of the information for this story came from Anne DeGroff of Amsterdam, the great-granddaughter of Dr. John Riggs. Five years ago with the help of Historic Amsterdam League co-founder Jerry Snyder, DeGroff was able to buy a bottle of Dr. Riggs' Stomach Globules on eBay. She said she had been trying to find them for forty years.Mohawk Valley News The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown. https://www.dailygazette.com/Shorty’s Southside Tavern in Amsterdam to reopen under new ownership
by Natasha Vaughn-Holdridge1 min - A story from 191228 degrees and a few clouds in The City of Amsterdam at 6:08AM-Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, February 27, 2024-...HIGH WIND WATCH IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY EVENING THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON...* WHAT...West to northwest winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 60 mph possible. * WHERE...The Mohawk Valley, Schoharie Valley, Helderbergs, Capital Region, central Taconics and Berkshires. * WHEN...From Wednesday evening through Thursday afternoon. * IMPACTS...Damaging winds could blow down trees and power lines. Widespread power outages are possible. Travel could be difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...The strongest winds will be in the wake of the cold frontal passage Wednesday night when gusts up to 60 mph are possible. Winds of 40 to 50 mph are expected during Thursday. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...Monitor the latest forecasts and warnings for updates on this situation. Fasten loose objects or shelter objects in a safe location prior to the onset of winds.Historian Bob Cudmore and Historian Mark Silo this Friday, March 2, 2024-Episode 512- British colonist William Johnson “made his bones” by defeating a French army who attacked his army at Lake George in 1755. King George II made Johnson a baronet, “Sir” William Johnson. Parliament awarded Johnson 5,000 pounds. Historian Mark Silo tells the story with commentary from Old Fort Johnson site manager Scott Haefner.A long-running local store
By Bob Cudmore
The Castler family operated a meat market on East Main Street in Amsterdam from the 1930s through the 1950s.
The name Castler is Dutch and others with a similar name often spell it without at. One story in the Amsterdam Castler family is that an ancestor put the his name to confuse the authorities when he enlisted underage in the Civil War. To qualify for veteran's benefits, the family kept the extra letter.
Family members recalled an ancestor named William Castler founded the market but the best remembered proprietor was Charles Castler. It's not known how William and Charles were related,
For many years, the proprietors were Charles J. Castler and Francis Burns. In 1932, the Castler and Burns market was at 113 East Main Street, between Walnut and Washington, on the same block as the popular chain grocery, the Mohican Market. In 1932 Charles Castler lived at 16 Bunn Street with his wife Ethel, and Francis Burns lived at 363 Division Street.
The 1932 City Directory listed over 100 groceries and meat markets in Amsterdam. Some were chains such as A & P and Central Market. Local markets included Shelly's at 283 East Main, Alexander Zielinski at 13 Hibbard, Beer's Grocery at 86 Prospect and Albino Barnell at 50 Florida Avenue. One grocery on the list in 1932 that remains in business is Salamack's at 263 Division Street.
FAMILY BUSINESS
In the 1950s, Charles Castler went into partnership with Langdon Cross. The name of the store was shortened to Castler's Market.
Charles Castler's cousin Floyd Castler, who once lived over the store but later resided at 38 High Street, was employed at the market throughout his life. Other family members worked full and part time at the family store.
Floyd's son Frederick had a job at Bigelow Sanford carpet mill but also had Saturday duties at the market. Frederick's son Ray worked at Castler's after school and on weekends in 1949 and 1950.
Ray Castler said, I would mix the hamburger in big wooden tubs and the sausage using both hands. Charlie Castler would reject a side of beef if he didn't like it. Castler's was known for selling good meat. We also carried fruits and vegetables and groceries.
Henry S. Miller, Jr., an Amsterdam native who moved Massachusetts, worked at Castler's starting in 1948, delivering groceries the weekends in old-fashioned bushel baskets.
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.
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.
The late John Palombi, and his partner, Mike Sagarese (who had operated a store on Chestnut St.), bought the market from the Castler family in 1960, according to Palombi's daughter Sharon Smrtic of Amsterdam.
In 1974, the store was forced to move because of downtown urban renewal and relocated to 56 Reid Street in the same building as Brownie's, the popular hot dog restaurant. A fire that year destroyed the building housing both businesses.
Castler's Market then moved to 56 Bridge Street on the South Side. Smrtic said that Castler's closed for good in 1999.
To this day, Ray Castler remarked, when people hear his name, the question frequently asked is: Did you have anything to do with Castler's Market?Mohawk Valley News The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown. https://www.dailygazette.com/
29 min - The Story/A Jolly Tale?35 degrees and overcast in The City of Amsterdam at 6:00AM-Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, February 26, 2024-Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 48. Light and variable wind becoming west 10 to 15 mph in the morning. Tonight Partly cloudy, with a low around 27. Light and variable wind. Tuesday A chance of showers, mainly after 5pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 57. Southeast wind 6 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Schenectady Snow Train ushered in golden age of Adirondack skiing By Bill Buell Daily Gazette https://www.dailygazette.com/Tomorrow, Tuesday, February 27, 2024, more from Historian Bill Buell
The Rose Hill Folly Company
By Bob Cudmore
Two Amsterdam clergymen had concerns and wanted Mayor John Dwyer to do something about it.
The Rose Hill Folly Company was scheduled to perform Wednesday, November 6, 1889 at the Potter Opera House on Market Street, across the thoroughfare from the future location of the Rialto Theatre.
Historian Hugh Donlon wrote that the Potter Opera House flourished in the 1880s, “For roller skating, fairs, carnivals, plays and concerts, for about everything but opera.”
Donlon said police sometimes shut down what community leaders thought were immoral presentations at the Market Street venue.
Reverend John McIncrow of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church and Reverend Donald Sprague of St. Ann’s Episcopal Church told the mayor the Rose Hill Company had an “immoral tendency.”
In addition to stopping the show, the clergymen asked Dwyer not to allow the “posting of indecent pictorial advertisements of shows” in the city.
The company was welcomed in other Upstate cities. In Ithaca the Cornell Daily Sun reported Rose Hill’s latest show promised “the most excellent order of burlesque and specialties.”
A Philadelphia newspaper said the skits “cleverly displayed all the beauties of the company” while giving the comedians “a chance to create laughter.”
Rose Hill Folly Company even had a recent presence on the Internet, selling vintage posters.
Mayor John Dwyer was born in Ireland, and became a plumber after moving to Amsterdam. He served in the Civil War with Nicholas Young, an Amsterdam man who went on to become head of baseball’s National League.
During a lull in the fighting, Dwyer was the catcher and Young the pitcher on a pioneer baseball team called the New Yorks. The New Yorks played an exhibition game against non-New Yorkers who called themselves the United States as a reported fifteen thousand people watched.
When the war ended Dwyer went back to his plumbing business. After serving as Amsterdam mayor he was elected to the State Assembly. His son, Matthew Dwyer, was the first graduate of St. Mary’s Institute and became a prominent local attorney.
According to The Saratogian, Mayor Dwyer found a relatively painless way out of his dilemma.
The Potter Opera House’s city license had expired. Dwyer refused to renew it. The common council could overrule the mayor but the council didn’t meet until the night of the show.
The Saratogian wrote, “The chances that the bald-headed gentlemen of Amsterdam will view the Parisian revels of the company are exceedingly slim.” The Rose Hill troupe failed to appear that night in old Amsterdam.
REVEREND McINCROW
Reverend John McIncrow, the priest who objected to having the Rose Hill Folly Company perform in Amsterdam, was Pastor of St. Mary’s on East Main Street for 20 years.
According to his Recorder obituary, “He was a public spirited citizen and did much for the cause of morality.” He was a native of Utica.
McIncrow sermonized that men who used foul language in front of working women should lose their jobs. He was an outspoken opponent of abortion. He deplored drunkenness and formed a temperance society.
McIncrow caused controversy when he chided a wealthy Catholic parishioner for making a contribution to a Protestant church in Fonda, even though St. Mary’s had accepted donations from Protestant mill owners.
McIncrow founded the parish school, St. Mary’s Institute, and invited the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet to teach there.
In September 1896, he officiated at the marriage of Peter Sullivan and Elizabeth P. Smith, who became the parents of one of America’s first television stars, Ed Sullivan.
McIncrow, 49, died suddenly of a heart attack five years after the controversy over the Rose Hill Folly Company.
Mohawk Valley News The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown. https://www.dailygazette.com/
8 min - it's in the Landscape13 degrees and fair in The City of Amsterdam at 6:52AM-Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, February 25, 2024-Sunny, with a high near 41. Light and variable wind becoming southeast 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Tonight A chance of snow showers, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 27. East wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. MondayA slight chance of snow showers before 9am. Partly sunny, with a high near 47. Light and variable windHistorian Hugh Donlon wrote that the Potter Opera House flourished in the 1880s, “For roller skating, fairs, carnivals, plays and concerts, for about everything but opera.”
The Rose Hill Folly Company
By Bob Cudmore
Two Amsterdam clergymen had concerns and wanted Mayor John Dwyer to do something about it.
The Rose Hill Folly Company was scheduled to perform Wednesday, November 6, 1889 at the Potter Opera House on Market Street, across the thoroughfare from the future location of the Rialto Theatre.
Historian Hugh Donlon wrote that the Potter Opera House flourished in the 1880s, “For roller skating, fairs, carnivals, plays and concerts, for about everything but opera.”
Donlon said police sometimes shut down what community leaders thought were immoral presentations at the Market Street venue.
Reverend John McIncrow of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church and Reverend Donald Sprague of St. Ann’s Episcopal Church told the mayor the Rose Hill Company had an “immoral tendency.”
In addition to stopping the show, the clergymen asked Dwyer not to allow the “posting of indecent pictorial advertisements of shows” in the city.
The company was welcomed in other Upstate cities. In Ithaca the Cornell Daily Sun reported Rose Hill’s latest show promised “the most excellent order of burlesque and specialties.”
A Philadelphia newspaper said the skits “cleverly displayed all the beauties of the company” while giving the comedians “a chance to create laughter.”
Rose Hill Folly Company even had a recent presence on the Internet, selling vintage posters.
Mayor John Dwyer was born in Ireland, and became a plumber after moving to Amsterdam. He served in the Civil War with Nicholas Young, an Amsterdam man who went on to become head of baseball’s National League.
During a lull in the fighting, Dwyer was the catcher and Young the pitcher on a pioneer baseball team called the New Yorks. The New Yorks played an exhibition game against non-New Yorkers who called themselves the United States as a reported fifteen thousand people watched.
When the war ended Dwyer went back to his plumbing business. After serving as Amsterdam mayor he was elected to the State Assembly. His son, Matthew Dwyer, was the first graduate of St. Mary’s Institute and became a prominent local attorney.
According to The Saratogian, Mayor Dwyer found a relatively painless way out of his dilemma.
The Potter Opera House’s city license had expired. Dwyer refused to renew it. The common council could overrule the mayor but the council didn’t meet until the night of the show.
The Saratogian wrote, “The chances that the bald-headed gentlemen of Amsterdam will view the Parisian revels of the company are exceedingly slim.” The Rose Hill troupe failed to appear that night in old Amsterdam.
Tomorrow, Monday, February 26, 2024 Bob with The Story behind the Story, all about The Rose Hill Folly Company
REVEREND McINCROW
Reverend John McIncrow, the priest who objected to having the Rose Hill Folly Company perform in Amsterdam, was Pastor of St. Mary’s on East Main Street for 20 years.
According to his Recorder obituary, “He was a public spirited citizen and did much for the cause of morality.” He was a native of Utica.
McIncrow sermonized that men who used foul language in front of working women should lose their jobs. He was an outspoken opponent of abortion. He deplored drunkenness and formed a temperance society.
McIncrow caused controversy when he chided a wealthy Catholic parishioner for making a contribution to a Protestant church in Fonda, even though St. Mary’s had accepted donations from Protestant mill owners.
McIncrow founded the parish school, St. Mary’s Institute, and invited the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet to teach there.
In September 1896, he officiated at the marriage of Peter Sullivan and Elizabeth P. Smith, who became the parents of one of America’s first television stars, Ed Sullivan.
McIncrow, 49, died suddenly of a heart attack five years after the controversy over the Rose Hill Folly Company.
Mohawk Valley News The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown. https://www.dailygazette.com/
29 min - 29 min
- it's hard to forget31 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:55AM-Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, February 22, 2024-A chance of showers, mainly after 3pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 43. Southeast wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Tonight Showers likely, mainly after 2am. Cloudy, with a low around 32. East wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. Friday A chance of rain and snow showers before 8am, then a chance of rain showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 45.
Read The Daily Gazette this weekend for the Bob Cudmore story about "The Rose Hill Folly Company" , by the way, it is The Sunday Story here on The HistoriansTwo Amsterdam clergymen had concerns and wanted Mayor John Dwyer to do something about it...Ready to post for tomorrow, Friday, February 23, 2024
Episode 511-Photojournalist Richard Frishman and essayist and professor Dr. B. Brian Foster are authors of Ghosts of Segregation, a photojournalism collection depicting a visual history of segregation through buildings and landscapes where racism has left its mark.
From award-winning photojournalist Richard Frishman comes a collection of photographs documenting America’s history of segregation, slavery, and institutional racism hidden in plain sight, accompanied by hard-hitting personal essays from University of Virginia professor of sociology and Black culture B. Brian Foster and with a foreword by National Book Award winner Imani PerryPacelli book has show biz memories
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History printed November 2008(that's history as well)The ? you see is a computer thing...an object that one need not, cannot, or does not wish to give a specific name to.
Just one page from local historian Tony Pacelli�s 1987 book �Past and Present� is full of memories. Pacelli wrote a nostalgia column for the Recorder.
Pacelli recalled actress Lucille Bremer, an Amsterdam native who lived on Forbes Street and then in Rockton growing up. Bremer became a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and was a dancer at New York City�s Club Versailles. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer producer Arthur Freed spotted Bremer and signed her to a movie contract.
She made her screen debut as Judy Garland�s sister in �Meet Me in St. Louis� in 1944. She also teamed with Fred Astaire in the MGM musical �Ziegfeld Follies.� Later she appeared with Astaire in �Yolanda and the Thief.� Her film career ended by 1950 and she died in 1996 in California.
City native George J. Newkirk told Pacelli that when the circus came to Amsterdam, he and other local children used to sit on a wall at the foot of Vrooman Avenue and watch the parade go by. He remembered seeing Buffalo Bill driving mustangs pulling a wagon. Movie cowboy Tom Mix was behind Buffalo Bill on Mix�s famous horse Tony.
Newkirk said he practically lived at the Orpheum Theatre on Market Street, especially enjoying serials starring Ruth Roland, Pearl White and the two-gun cowboy, William S. Hart.
Another topic was a tribute to two Amsterdam polka bands of the 1930s and 1940s. Paul Kay�s band had John Rackowski on piano, plus musicians Dan Conti, Ed Klobukowski, Steve Bassel, Steve Adamowski, Joe Krupa and Sam Santo. Santo played banjo, not a common instrument in a polka band. Pacelli also mentioned Walt Krupa�s band with Krupa�s brothers Joe and Ralph.
Pacelli remembered World War II Victory Gardens developed in Amsterdam by the Ciskanow brothers�John, Vincent, Charles and Joseph. The land was in the East End near the Mohawk River, north of the old city incinerator. A spring on the land was used to water the plants.
USING VEGETABLES
Paying customers in old Amsterdam did not hesitate to show their disapproval of substandard performances at the city�s Opera House.
O�Neil�s Grocery was on the north side of Main Street in the late 19th century, opposite the Opera House.
According to historian Hugh Donlon, Opera House patrons loaded up on discarded vegetables before show time and showed disapproval by hurling rotten tomatoes at the stage. In his book �Annals of a Mill Town,� Donlon wrote that the hard to please Amsterdam audiences made the city a prime spot to try out Broadway shows.
The East Main Street facility was first called the Neff Opera House in 1882. �Uncle Tom�s Cabin� was seen there, featuring a street parade with real bloodhounds. John Philip Sousa�s band played the house, as did presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan and boxer John L. Sullivan. In 1887, George H. McClumpha took over management of the facility.
Part of the Opera House was transformed into Lurie's Department Store in the 1900s. Donlon wrote that when Lurie's was torn down in the 1970s, a chandelier from the Opera House was found along with theatrical posters still glued to the stairways.
MEAL TICKET
Amsterdam native Richard Ellers of Ohio is on a mission to find an Amsterdam meal ticket. Orsini's Royal Restaurant, for example, offered a meal ticket for $4.50 that was worth $5 in food in the 1930s and 1940s. Ellers would borrow the ticket to make a copy or be happy with a photocopy.
CORRECTION
The artist who restored the murals in Amsterdam's Post Office in 1974 was misidentified in a recent column. The artist's name is Luci Suhr of Amsterdam.Mohawk Valley News The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown. https://www.dailygazette.com/
5 min - it's still called The South Side of Amsterdam17 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:11AM-Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, February 21, 2024-Sunny, with a high near 42. Calm wind. Tonight Partly cloudy, with a low around 23. East wind 3 to 6 mph. Thursday A slight chance of showers after 3pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 42.
Read The Daily Gazette this weekend for the Bob Cudmore story about "The Rose Hill Folly Company"Friday, February 23, 2024
Episode 511-Photojournalist Richard Frishman and essayist and professor Dr. B. Brian Foster are authors of Ghosts of Segregation, a photojournalism collection depicting a visual history of segregation through buildings and landscapes where racism has left its mark.
From award-winning photojournalist Richard Frishman comes a collection of photographs documenting America’s history of segregation, slavery, and institutional racism hidden in plain sight, accompanied by hard-hitting personal essays from University of Virginia professor of sociology and Black culture B. Brian Foster and with a foreword by National Book Award winner Imani PerryLincoln and Amsterdam
By Bob CudmoreFrom The Gazette 2012
A new movie is focusing attention on Abraham Lincoln and his political skills after being elected to a second term.
Lincoln carried both the town of Amsterdam and Montgomery County in 1860. Lincoln trailed General George McClellan by 391 votes in Montgomery County in the 1864 election, although Lincoln did carry the town of Amsterdam by 131 votes that year.
Lincoln's funeral train stopped in Amsterdam at 5:25 p.m. on April 26, 1865 on its way back to Illinois.
The Lincoln funeral train was tremendous publicity for embalming. Embalming had become popular in the Civil War as the way to preserve fallen soldiers who had to be transported hundreds of miles home.
Amsterdam woodworker Isaac S. Shuler started making coffins in 1862 and after the Civil War was the first to begin offering local undertaking services.
When Shuler died, his undertaking business was taken over by W. Max Reid. Reid was a business booster who helped found the Board of Trade. Reid is also remembered as a historian for his 1901 book, The Mohawk Valley. Awards from the Historic Amsterdam League are called Maxies in Reid's honor.
OUTHOUSE REPAIR
Old Fort Johnson historic site is home to one of America's oldest outdoor toilets. The elegant privy was built in the 1700s and was restored to its former glory several years ago.
Site manager Scott Haefner said the privy started to float during flooding from Hurricane Irene in 2011, and then tipped on its side. Santos Construction of Amsterdam donated its services to lift the privy upright.
Haefner and Alessa Wylie of Old Fort Johnson said that in 2013 an effort will be made to clean the inside of the historic two hole outhouse, which is caked with mud from the flood.
Many colonists and early American leaders used the privy, possibly including Aaron Burr who considered buying the residence and George Washington .who visited the Mohawk Valley at the close of the Revolutionary War.
WHEEL OF LIFE
A few years before World War II, Mohawk Carpet Mills showed a flair for the dramatic and displayed artistic skill in making The Wheel of Life, perhaps the most spectacular carpet ever produced in Amsterdam. It took 16 weavers eight months to create the Chenille carpet for the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Park Avenue in New York City.
Amsterdam memorabilia collector Tom Foster wonders whether the carpet was created primarily to show off the skills of the designers and factory hands in Amsterdam.
The carpet depicts graphic and colorful scenes showing the progress of man from birth through death. The center design containing six picture groups was 18 feet in diameter. The carpet was installed in 1938 and covered a mosaic depicting the same scenes designed by French art deco artist Louis Rigal.
The carpet weighed 850 pounds and was delivered to the hotel by a telephone pole trailer because of its size. It arrived in New York City in the early morning to avoid traffic.
The carpet was removed several years later, uncovering the hotel's original Rigal mosaic. The mosaic is still there in the Waldorf Astoria's Park Avenue lobby.
After it left the hotel, the carpet went on tour. A 1946 newspaper ad promoted that a Spokane, Washington store was displaying the Wheel of Life. The ad said the carpet covered 333 square feet and used 15 million wool tufts in 69 colors.
Mohawk Mills displayed a large photo of the Wheel of Life at an industry convention in 1948 in Lake Placid. What happened to the carpet itself is not known. Today color prints of the Wheel of Life are offered for sale online.Mohawk Valley News The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown. https://www.dailygazette.com/
5 min - at the very end13 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:10AM-Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, February 20, 2024-Sunny, with a high near 35. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon. Tonight Mostly clear, with a low around 15. East wind 3 to 6 mph. Wednesday Sunny, with a high near 42. Buy the way, look in The Daily Gazette this weekend for the story about "The Rose Hill Folly Company"
This Friday, February 23, 2024-Episode 511-The Bob conversation with Photojournalist Richard Frishman and essayist and professor Dr. B. Brian Foster are authors of Ghosts of Segregation, a photojournalism collection depicting a visual history of segregation through buildings and landscapes where racism has left its mark.
A story for a cold Tuesday in February
Little Hollywood in Amsterdam
By Bob Cudmore
Paul Russo, who now lives in Johnstown, grew up in Hollywood, sometimes called Little Hollywood. That was the name for a residential neighborhood in Amsterdam apparently built primarily for middle managers employed at Bigelow Sanford Carpets.
Little Hollywood is off Locust Avenue and connected to Forest Avenue by Second Avenue, which bridges the North Chuctanunda Creek.
Russo wrote, Many of my neighbors were employees of Bigelow Sanford; however that was probably true of any neighborhood in Amsterdam.
The streets are not named for movie stars but for American presidents: McKinley, Harrison, Garfield, Taft, Roosevelt and Hayes. Interestingly, there is a Hollywood Road in the vicinity but not in Little Hollywood. Hollywood Road is near Amsterdam High School off Miami Avenue in the town of Amsterdam.
John C. Gilston, a descendant of the family that owned the John J. Turner & Sons construction company, said that the Turner firm built Hollywood. From 50 to 75 houses were constructed on land that once was part of the old Vedder farm.
Gilston said the project is mentioned in journals kept by one of John J. Turner's sons, Richard E. Turner. John J. Turner died in 1924. Richard took over the construction business following the death of his older brother John P. Turner in 1927 and kept a detailed journal for many years.
Richard E. Turner, who was deaf, headed the firm until his death in 1940 at age 56. He was owner of the Amsterdam Rugmakers baseball team and an accomplished photographer. Richard and his brother Thomas A. Turner are credited with building Wilbur H. Lynch school, the Century Club and other Amsterdam landmarks plus the Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga Springs.
In earlier years, skilled workers from the Turner firm spent four years renovating the mansion owned by the carpet-making John Sanford family on Church Street, now Amsterdam City Hall. Turner construction crews also built Bigelow Sanford's Clock Building, the trolley car power station in Tribes Hill and a number of buildings for General Electric in Schenectady and Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
STONE QUARRY
Russo said, I'd also like to find out a bit of the history of the abandoned stone quarry (where I played as a kid) off of what is now Second Avenue Extension. That area was just a cinder path when I was young. I remember being quite upset with my mother when I found out that she had signed a petition requesting that the path be paved to provide access to Forest Avenue.
CHRISTMAS EVE
Christmas Eve is an important occasion for many of Amsterdam's ethnic groups. The grandchildren of community leader Michael J. Wytrwal remember Christmas Eves when the needy always found a seat at the family table.
Wytrwal and his wife Josephine lived in a two-family home at 26 Cornell Street near St. Stanislaus Church. Wytrwal was a founder of the Polish National Alliance in Amsterdam and fostered creation of businesses on Reid Hill including a coal and oil company, a bank, drugstore and furniture store.
One grandchild said Wytrwal, eloquent in both Polish and English, was a broker between the Polish-speaking community and the English-speaking power structure.
He was a role model for granddaughter Mary Anne Krupsak, whose parents operated the family's pharmacy. Krupsak, who went on to be Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1974, ate lunch at her grandparent's home every day when she attended St. Stanislaus School. Krupsak saw a constant parade of people seeking assistance from her grandfather.
Josephine Wytrwal died in 1956. When Michael Wytrwal died in 1970, the Recorder editorialized that he was likeable, friendly, considerate, a progressive in the finest sense of the word.Mohawk Valley News The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown. https://www.dailygazette.com/
5 min - No Sir. Just Bill Johnson27 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:36AM-Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, February 19, 2024-Washington's Birthday, Sunny, with a high near 28. West wind around 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Tonight, Mostly clear, with a low around 9. Tuesday Sunny, with a high near 36.
New this Friday, February 23, 2024-Episode 511-Photojournalist Richard Frishman and essayist and professor Dr. B. Brian Foster are authors of Ghosts of Segregation, a photojournalism collection depicting a visual history of segregation through buildings and landscapes where racism has left its mark.
How William Johnson Made His Bones
By Bob Cudmore
What made William Johnson important in Colonial America especially with his British overlords?
You might borrow a phrase made popular by Godfather movies and Sopranos TV shows that Johnson “made his bones” by defeating the French who attacked him in the Battle of Lake George in 1755.
Johnson was already doing well financially and culturally. The Irish born immigrant had prospered in the fur trade and built a substantial stone home called Fort Johnson in 1749, today a significant and locally operated museum, Old Fort Johnson.
By 1755 the British and their native allies were fighting the French and their native allies for dominance in North America.
Johnson commanded a force of three thousand fighters from four colonies, 250 Mohawk Indian warriors and one British officer, according to historian Mark Silo.
The objective of Johnson’s expedition was to attack the French Fort St. Frederic at Crown Point on Lake Champlain. Fort St. Frederic was France’s southernmost base. From it they launched raids against towns in New York and New England.
Johnson’s army cleared a road and made camp at the southern end of what the British called Lake George and the French called Lac du Saint Sacrement.
Johnson sent a thousand of his soldiers to relieve Fort Edward.
The French attacked this smaller group of Johnson’s forces about three miles from Lake George in an ambush called the Bloody Morning Scout. Colonel Ephraim Williams from New England and Mohawk King Hendrick were among those killed.
Silo said the survivors reeled back to Lake George while the men camped at the lake threw up a small defensive breastwork.
“They grabbed logs, they grabbed wagons, they grabbed boats,” Silo said. The breastworks gave soldiers something to hide behind to shield themselves from enemy fire.
Silo spent the summer mapping out Johnson’s battle lines for the Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance.
One source for finding locations in the Battle of Lake George was a painting that Silo said was drawn by an artist who observed the fighting.
This October Silo plans to speak at the Fort Plain Museum’s conference on the American Revolution. He doubts he will do a book since so much is already in print about the Lake George battle.
He got a lot of strange looks from people who were camping when he “poked through” taking notes on his iPad for his research on the Lake George battle lines.
Silo said Johnson had little military experience before this battle. The limited victory made Johnson the first British hero of the war with France.
British King George II was pleased and made Johnson a baronet in recognition of his victory, which made him “Sir” William Johnson. Parliament awarded Johnson 5,000 pounds, a substantial sum.
Britain had its losses but won the war. The 1763 – Treaty of Paris awarded all French possessions east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans, to the British. By then Sir William Johnson had built a larger home which is now a state historic site in Johnstown.
Mark Silo is a native of Yonkers who relocated to Albany as a civil engineer with the state Department of Transportation. He is a volunteer for the Lake George Battlefield Park Visitor Interpretive Center.
Silo is also author of “The 115th New York in the Civil War,” the history of a local volunteer Civil War regiment.
He was attracted to the topic because his mother-in-law had ancestors who fought with the 115th regiment.
Silo and his wife Kathy split their time between their home in Loudonville, a log cabin on the Schroon River near Lake George and other bucket list locations.
Mohawk Valley News The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown. https://www.dailygazette.com/
11 min - Terry Golway tells the Story, but...21 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:30AM-Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, February 18, 2024-Mostly cloudy, with a high near 30. West wind 7 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Tonight A chance of snow showers, mainly before 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 18. West wind 13 to 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. Washington's Birthday Sunny, with a high near 28.
New this Friday, February 23, 2024-Episode 511-Photojournalist Richard Frishman and essayist and professor Dr. B. Brian Foster are authors of Ghosts of Segregation, a photojournalism collection depicting a visual history of segregation through buildings and landscapes where racism has left its mark.
How William Johnson Made His Bones
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History, Sunday, February 18, 2024
What made William Johnson important in Colonial America especially with his British overlords?
You might borrow a phrase made popular by Godfather movies and Sopranos TV shows that Johnson “made his bones” by defeating the French who attacked him in the Battle of Lake George in 1755.
Johnson was already doing well financially and culturally. The Irish born immigrant had prospered in the fur trade and built a substantial stone home called Fort Johnson in 1749, today a significant and locally operated museum, Old Fort Johnson.
By 1755 the British and their native allies were fighting the French and their native allies for dominance in North America.
Johnson commanded a force of three thousand fighters from four colonies, 250 Mohawk Indian warriors and one British officer, according to historian Mark Silo.
The objective of Johnson’s expedition was to attack the French Fort St. Frederic at Crown Point on Lake Champlain. Fort St. Frederic was France’s southernmost base. From it they launched raids against towns in New York and New England.
Johnson’s army cleared a road and made camp at the southern end of what the British called Lake George and the French called Lac du Saint Sacrement.
Johnson sent a thousand of his soldiers to relieve Fort Edward.
The French attacked this smaller group of Johnson’s forces about three miles from Lake George in an ambush called the Bloody Morning Scout. Colonel Ephraim Williams from New England and Mohawk King Hendrick were among those killed.
Silo said the survivors reeled back to Lake George while the men camped at the lake threw up a small defensive breastwork.
“They grabbed logs, they grabbed wagons, they grabbed boats,” Silo said. The breastworks gave soldiers something to hide behind to shield themselves from enemy fire.
Silo spent the summer mapping out Johnson’s battle lines for the Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance.
One source for finding locations in the Battle of Lake George was a painting that Silo said was drawn by an artist who observed the fighting.
This October Silo plans to speak at the Fort Plain Museum’s conference on the American Revolution. He doubts he will do a book since so much is already in print about the Lake George battle.
He got a lot of strange looks from people who were camping when he “poked through” taking notes on his iPad for his research on the Lake George battle lines.
Silo said Johnson had little military experience before this battle. The limited victory made Johnson the first British hero of the war with France.
British King George II was pleased and made Johnson a baronet in recognition of his victory, which made him “Sir” William Johnson. Parliament awarded Johnson 5,000 pounds, a substantial sum.
Britain had its losses but won the war. The 1763 – Treaty of Paris awarded all French possessions east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans, to the British. By then Sir William Johnson had built a larger home which is now a state historic site in Johnstown.
Mark Silo is a native of Yonkers who relocated to Albany as a civil engineer with the state Department of Transportation. He is a volunteer for the Lake George Battlefield Park Visitor Interpretive Center.
Silo is also author of “The 115th New York in the Civil War,” the history of a local volunteer Civil War regiment.
He was attracted to the topic because his mother-in-law had ancestors who fought with the 115th regiment.
Silo and his wife Kathy split their time between their home in Loudonville, a log cabin on the Schroon River near Lake George and other bucket list locations.
Mohawk Valley News The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown. https://www.dailygazette.com/
29 min
About The Historians
From the publisher's feed
The Historians is a weekly audio interview podcast that features authors and other guests who discuss the rich heritage of the Mohawk Valley NY region and the nation.