The Historians

Two smart men from the Mohawk Valley

By Bob Cudmore

https://www.dailygazette.com/

The story posted today in The Gazette and Recorder, here on The Historians tomorrow, Sunday, January 14, 2024

   Amsterdam’s Bill Hojohn was very smart, according to his longtime friends.

   Local history fan Emil Suda said William Walter Hojohn was born in Amsterdam in 1906

A Saturday story from Bob

Country western entertainers Jack Patton and Dusty Miller

A reader asked if I knew anything about Jack Patton, the Polish cowboy. I interviewed Patton once or twice on my WGY radio show in the 1980s.

Patton was a musician, songwriter, health food advocate, actor and Amsterdam native.

The Web site HillbillyMusic.com reported that Patton's given name was Frank Aloysius Piecuch. His father worked at Mohawk Carpet Mills and supposedly changed the family name to Patton because there were too many other factory employees named Piecuch.

Jack Patton played traditional Polish music at local weddings and dance halls on violin and accordion.

HillbillyMusic stated Patton was a childhood friend of actor and producer Kirk Douglas, who grew up in Amsterdam as Isadore Demsky.

Patton had a cowboy band in the late 1930s which was called Pals of the Saddle according to HillbillyMusc. However, the band was referred to as Pals of the Range in newspaper advertisements.

He moved to Hollywood in 1939 because Columbia Pictures was going to use one of his songs. Patton was drafted during World War II. HillbillyMusic reported he had impaired vision and saw limited duty, repairing damaged planes in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Columbia Pictures apparently used Cowboy Polka, one of his songs, in the movie "Swing in the Saddle" which featured music by Nat King Cole's trio.

Patton met a songwriter named Eden Ahbez and helped convince Nat King Cole to record Ahbez's song "Nature Boy" which became a hit.

Patton also may have helped songwriter Stan Jones present Jones's song "Ghost Riders in the Sky" to Vaughn Monroe who had a hit with the tune in 1949. However, Jones's biography failed to mention Patton.

Patton returned to the Capital District, opened a health food store, did radio shows and performed with his band. At one point, HillbillyMusic.com reported Patton had six health food stores.

From 1949 to 1965, he operated a dude ranch called Sunset Ranch in Broadalbin.

A 1952 Recorder ad reported Patton was doing a show from Lansing Beach Ranch in Broadalbin over Albany radio station WROW. A 1955 ad from the Schenectady Gazette stated Patton then operated Lansing Beach Ranch, renamed Sunset Ranch, which was having a giant horse pull and a broadcast by Gloversville station WENT.

Roamin' Around, a 1976 column in the Leader Herald, reported Patton was appearing in a movie filmed mainly in Brazil called Inspiration: The Polish Cowboy Rides Again.

The column expressed the hope the movie would be popular in Brazil, the United States and Europe, especially Poland.

Patton was living in Nashville when he died in the 1990s or later. He had purchased a recording studio there.

My conversations with Patton were arranged by Amsterdam country music performer and radio host Dusty Miller. Miller, whose real name was Elmer Rossi, had a band called the Colorado Wranglers.

Miller's brother in law Barry Frank performed with Miller's band. Frank was a radio engineer well known in the Capital District.

Miller had a day job stocking cigarette machines in the area. In later years he delivered medicines from a Guy Park Avenue pharmacy to local customers.

Dusty Miller was promoted as the entertainment at Patton's Sunset Ranch on July 4 in 1957.

The Colorado Wranglers had a long run at Amsterdam's Bob's Tavern. Miller managed to fit an Amsterdam radio show into his schedule well into his eighties.

Miller's last radio show on WCSS featured interviews with Amsterdam's myriad characters, from bartenders to former talk show hosts to country singers.

"I like country music because it shows life as it is," Miller said.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, January 13, 2024

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

Amsterdam Soup Fest this Weekend. You can find the "Map" on The Daily Gazette 

https://www.dailygazette.com/

In 1929 Harry Vanderbeck and Victoria Vicky Karner moved to Amsterdam with their son Donald. They had married six years earlier in Singac, New Jersey. Harry managed the Van Dyk and Vicky began making sandwiches there. They lived on Mathias Avenue off Vrooman Avenue hill.

Tea and coffee in downtown Amsterdam
By Bob Cudmore

One of the most popular lunchtime spots when downtown Amsterdam was booming was the Van Dyk.

The building at 24 East Main Street which became the Van Dyk, sometimes spelled Van Dyke, had been previously occupied by offices of Adirondack Power and Light, according to an article written for Historic Amsterdam League by Jacqueline Daly Murphy.

When the power company moved to Market Street in 1927, the James Van Dyk Company, a chain grocery store, moved to 24 East Main from its 92 East Main Street location. The store, which boasted in an advertisement that it had 300 outlets, specialized in teas and fresh ground coffees. The local owner and manager was Earl F. Fischer.

On the second floor of the building, above the store, was a tea and coffee eatery affiliated with the grocery called The Duchess. Duchess was a brand of coffee sold at the store.

Murphy said the upstairs establishment featured only the finest ingredients and the freshest vegetables, an electrical refrigeration plant, hand-washed dishes, radio entertainment and singing canaries hanging in each room. The Duchess closed in 1928 and the downstairs grocery began serving coffee and tea.

In 1929 Harry Vanderbeck and Victoria Vicky Karner moved to Amsterdam with their son Donald. They had married six years earlier in Singac, New Jersey. Harry managed the Van Dyk and Vicky began making sandwiches there. They lived on Mathias Avenue off Vrooman Avenue hill.

Murphy wrote, With Vicky making homemade tuna fish, egg salad, or ham and cheese sandwiches, and Harry grinding the coffee beans and making coffee, the shop drew huge lunch crowds.

Murphy recalled that in the 1940s the Van Dyk had faded green metal stools and wall counters, Vickys warm brown eyes (were) peeking over the counter in the front of the store where she made her sandwiches in view of passers-by. Her cheeks seemed flushed as she didn't stop her labor, the aqua uniform complimenting her ruddy complexion.

Vickys uniform, Murphy said, seemed to be the same dress, apron and hat that the bakery workers wore across the street at the Federal Bakery.

Murphy said the aroma of coffee beans penetrated the air. Harry Vanderbeck, tall and lanky, usually smoked a cigar as he worked. He was known for his homespun philosophy and wry humor.

Retired Daily Gazette reporter and current WCSS talk host Sam Zurlo said the Van Dyk was always mobbed.

Retired city deputy fire chief Mike Mancini said his parents enjoyed ground coffee at the Van Dyk and allowed young Mike to have tea. He put cream in his tea from little glass bottles with cardboard tops. Afterward, the family crossed the street to the Federal Bake Shop at 33 East Main Street where Mikes Dad, an East End undertaker, would buy a jellyroll.

The Van Dyk closed in March, 1954. Vicky Vanderbeck died that June in New Jersey and was buried at Marys Cemetery in Fort Johnson.

Harry went to work at the venerable Trasks Cigar Store at 6 East Main near the intersection with Market Street. At one time there were Trasks Cigar Stores in Little Falls, Amsterdam, Gloversville and Utica.

In 1962 Vanderbeck became co-owner of Trasks with George Rogers, buying the store from Ford Trask. Rogers had begun clerking at Trasks in 1934 and became manager in 1956 after the death of manager Fayette Hale, Sr. Hale had managed the Trasks store in Amsterdam for 25 years. He collapsed and died one morning at work.

Rogers and Vanderbeck offered the Trask store for sale in 1969. Vanderbeck retired in 1989, after working sixty years in downtown Amsterdam.

Larry Gooley tells the story

Historians Episode #49, the year was 2015, almost typed 2025, not yet!

Larry Gooley wrote the history of Adirondack serial killer Robert Garrow.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, January 11, 2024

37 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:48AM

We’ll continue the 2023 fund drive until September 15. 

Please contribute today.  Make donations online for The Historians Podcast at our Go Fund Me page https://gofund.me/777777e9   Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  We have raised $5305, 75% of our 2023 goal.  Thanks very much to all who contributed. 

Tuesday on The Historians, now that we have snow!!

Bobsledding on Amsterdam city streets
Coasting carnivals for bobsled teams were popular winter sporting events in the late 1800s in Amsterdam and other area cities with steep hills. 

A woodsman’s son from Sweden

By Bob Cudmore

   He got up early to deliver newspapers on his way to school three miles away, sometimes in 50 below zero weather. He read the papers before delivering them and picked up grocery orders to deliver on his way home.

   His mother died. When he was 15, Karl and his sister Kristina set sail for America.

   Over here he became Carl August Johnson. According to his granddaughter, Diane Hale Smith of Amsterdam, “He wrote his new name over and over again in a journal to begin the transformation.  I treasure that journal.”

   When Johnson arrived in Amsterdam, he worked at Inman Manufacturing on Guy Park Avenue in Amsterdam, a factory that turned out machinery for paper box making. Johnson was trained as a machinist, tool maker, coppersmith and electrician. Today the Inman building is a senior center.

   Smith wrote, “When he turned twenty six he joined the Army, trained at the local armory and was sent to fight in the Spanish American War in 1898.  He stepped on a scorpion and was sent home to recuperate.  He reenlisted on September 6th 1899.”

   Back in Amsterdam Johnson was a chauffeur for the Greens and Warnicks, prominent families.  He drove one of the first motor cars in the city.

   Smith wrote, “He spent any free time he had at the local YMCA on Division Street. It has been said that he initiated basketball at the YMCA by hanging a coal scuttle on the wall, the way they often played in Sweden.”

   In 1905 he married Mina Kaiser at Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church. They raised four daughters, including Smith’s mother, Dorothy.

   Johnson became partners with Clarence Birch, operating a small garage at 78 Stewart Street.  Johnson and George Calhoun later became partners and opened a large garage at 12-14 Market Street, behind the then Barnes Hotel.

   Smith said, “They sold and serviced Case, Marmon and Huppmobile cars and parked over one hundred cars a night at the rate of $1.00 each.  They were well on their way to becoming wealthy businessmen when the stock market crashed. Due to a great amount of outstanding credit they had given to their customers, the business closed.”

   Johnson found work at Fownes Glove in Amsterdam and retired at age 79 in 1951. Smith wrote, “He was known for his honesty.  Once when I was a teen I met an elderly man who remembered his generosity in accepting a Bible in exchange for mechanical work. He read that Bible completely four times and took it to heart applying it to his everyday life. 

   “My mother told me that when she wanted to be liked when meeting new people she would always say that she was Carl Johnson's daughter. Years later I did that myself mentioning I was Dorothy Johnson Hale's daughter.”

   Carl Johnson never returned to Sweden and lost touch with his Swedish friends. He enjoyed listening to records by Harry Stewart who performed as Yogi Yorgesson, with an exaggerated Swedish accent. His daughter Dorothy secured him the records while working at Morrison and Putman’s music store.    

   Johnson died of a heart attack in 1955 shortly after his 50th wedding anniversary and after receiving his 60 year Masonic pin.

   Smith said, “He would stay up until three in the morning reading National Geographic and dreaming of the day that we would walk on the moon. Sadly, he passed away before they did but I imagine he was watching from somewhere else with that twinkle in his eye.  He never wanted to miss anything!

Episode 506

Gary Hoyle is author of Mystery Tusk, the story of a 12,000 year old woolly mammoth tusk found in a manmade pond in Maine in 1959. Plus the chronicle of an African elephant, Old Bet, shot and killed in the early 1800s in Maine.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, January 8, 2023

27 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:20AM

When Johnson arrived in Amsterdam, he worked at Inman Manufacturing on Guy Park Avenue in Amsterdam, a factory that turned out machinery for paper box making. Johnson was trained as a machinist, tool maker, coppersmith and electrician. Today the Inman building is a senior center.

A woodsman’s son from Sweden

By Bob Cudmore

   He got up early to deliver newspapers on his way to school three miles away, sometimes in 50 below zero weather. He read the papers before delivering them and picked up grocery orders to deliver on his way home.

   His mother died. When he was 15, Karl and his sister Kristina set sail for America.

   Over here he became Carl August Johnson. According to his granddaughter, Diane Hale Smith of Amsterdam, “He wrote his new name over and over again in a journal to begin the transformation.  I treasure that journal.”

   When Johnson arrived in Amsterdam, he worked at Inman Manufacturing on Guy Park Avenue in Amsterdam, a factory that turned out machinery for paper box making. Johnson was trained as a machinist, tool maker, coppersmith and electrician. Today the Inman building is a senior center.

   Smith wrote, “When he turned twenty six he joined the Army, trained at the local armory and was sent to fight in the Spanish American War in 1898.  He stepped on a scorpion and was sent home to recuperate.  He reenlisted on September 6th 1899.”

   Back in Amsterdam Johnson was a chauffeur for the Greens and Warnicks, prominent families.  He drove one of the first motor cars in the city.

   Smith wrote, “He spent any free time he had at the local YMCA on Division Street. It has been said that he initiated basketball at the YMCA by hanging a coal scuttle on the wall, the way they often played in Sweden.”

   In 1905 he married Mina Kaiser at Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church. They raised four daughters, including Smith’s mother, Dorothy.

   Johnson became partners with Clarence Birch, operating a small garage at 78 Stewart Street.  Johnson and George Calhoun later became partners and opened a large garage at 12-14 Market Street, behind the then Barnes Hotel.

   Smith said, “They sold and serviced Case, Marmon and Huppmobile cars and parked over one hundred cars a night at the rate of $1.00 each.  They were well on their way to becoming wealthy businessmen when the stock market crashed. Due to a great amount of outstanding credit they had given to their customers, the business closed.”

   Johnson found work at Fownes Glove in Amsterdam and retired at age 79 in 1951. Smith wrote, “He was known for his honesty.  Once when I was a teen I met an elderly man who remembered his generosity in accepting a Bible in exchange for mechanical work. He read that Bible completely four times and took it to heart applying it to his everyday life. 

   “My mother told me that when she wanted to be liked when meeting new people she would always say that she was Carl Johnson's daughter. Years later I did that myself mentioning I was Dorothy Johnson Hale's daughter.”

   Carl Johnson never returned to Sweden and lost touch with his Swedish friends. He enjoyed listening to records by Harry Stewart who performed as Yogi Yorgesson, with an exaggerated Swedish accent. His daughter Dorothy secured him the records while working at Morrison and Putman’s music store.    

   Johnson died of a heart attack in 1955 shortly after his 50th wedding anniversary and after receiving his 60 year Masonic pin.

   Smith said, “He would stay up until three in the morning reading National Geographic and dreaming of the day that we would walk on the moon. Sadly, he passed away before they did but I imagine he was watching from somewhere else with that twinkle in his eye.  He never wanted to miss anything!

Listen to bobcudmore.com Monday for an audio version of this column on The Story Behind the Story Podcast.

Friday, January 12, 2024 on The Historians

Mighty Bad Land: A Perilous Expedition to Antarctica Reveals Clues to an Eighth Continent

What does it take to prevail in Antarctica?

Four geologists and two mountain guides face the brutal beauty of West Antarctica eight hundred miles from the US main base. Their search reaches far into the treacherous mountains of Marie Byrd Land. During six weeks of living in tents and traveling by snowmobile, the team endures endless cold and furious blizzards. They cross ice fields and hidden crevasses, which one member of the team learns about the hard way.

We’ll continue the 2023 fund drive until September 15. 

Please contribute today.  Make donations online for The Historians Podcast at our Go Fund Me page https://gofund.me/777777e9   Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  We have raised $5305, 75% of our 2023 goal.  Thanks very much to all who contributed.  

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, January 7, 2024

29 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:05AM

Second day, forth year, third decade, always moving on

We have produced over 500 episodes since the podcast began in 2014.  Help us continue The Historians Podcast by making a donation.  Please contribute at https://gofund.me/777777e9  or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore, 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

This Friday, January 5, 2024-Episode 506-Gary Hoyle is author of Mystery Tusk, the story of a 12,000 year old woolly mammoth tusk found while digging a manmade pond in Maine in 1959.  Plus the tale of an African elephant, Old Bet, shot and killed in the early 1800s in Maine.

MYSTERY TUSK-Searching for Elephants in the Maine Woods is the true story of author Gary Hoyle's search for a mysterious tusk that seems to have two conflicting histories-one ancient and one modern. His search for the truth led him to direct the first excavation of a mammoth in Maine and to uncover historical facts about an elephant that inspired P. T. Barnum.

The good old days?
By Bob Cudmore

The Chamber of Commerce published a booklet of essays submitted by local people for a city improvement contest in 1946 called "What I Don't Like About Amsterdam."

Few of us today actually remember 1946, but many who grew up in Amsterdam after World War II would probably regard that postwar year of 1946 as part of the good old days.

The carpet mills, other Amsterdam factories and businesses were still thriving. Downtown was busy. People enjoyed bowling, softball and other amateur sports. The war had ended.

Nonetheless Charles H. Schenck, Chamber Executive Secretary, said the essays submitted in the contest cited multiple complaints.

Lack of recreational facilities was mentioned in 230 essays. The poor condition of streets was cited in 177 entries. There were 139 ash and garbage collection complaints. Seventy nine people wrote Amsterdam had too many bars and deplored the sale of alcohol to minors. Some essays called for more hotel accommodations, transportation and theatrical facilities.

A numbering system enabled the Chamber judges to anonymously award cash prizes to individuals whose essays were deemed the best among the 850 entries. The judges were also anonymous.

"We are quick to criticize those who make an honest effort to do something," wrote the first prize winner, who was awarded $40.

Forty dollars in 1946 would translate into over $500 today because of inflation, making it a rather substantial prize.

The winning writer continued, "Misguided leadership has done a lot to put nationalism above civic responsibility and has tended to build up group interest with selfish motives. We are all Americans and we should work together."

The second place essay was awarded $20 and called for Sunday evening services in the churches and an end to competition among local veterans groups. The writer suggested city employees only get 10 days in sick leave each year, that the city buy sidewalk snow plows and that the proposed athletic field near the Lynch School be designated a World War II memorial.

The Recorder announced the conclusion of the contest on March 26, "The project to secure a self-portrait of Amsterdam by her own residents was started about one month ago when blanks were distributed through the public schools and mercantile establishments of the city.

"In expression of approximately 100 words, men, women and children were invited to say what they think about the city and its weak points."

The third place finisher, who was awarded $10, suggested a waste disposal system so that sewage would no longer be dumped into the Mohawk River. The writer also called for beautification of the riverfront.

Here are more critiques from 1946:

"I don't like the taste of city water. It has too much chlorine in it. They admit the water looks bad and tastes bad but say it's harmless. It should be "the way it's been drugged."

"Amsterdam should have a curfew law for children up to 16 years, and it should be enforced, even if it means bringing parents into court."

"The streets are a hodge-podge of houses, dinky little stores (often empty), gas stations, vacant lots (used as dumping grounds) and unoccupied buildings with broken windows."

"The characters that clutter up the streets in front of some of the downtown cigar stores are no ad for the police department."

"Amsterdam needs a sort of night club just for us kids, with special attractions by kids who can sing, dance, play an instrument or perform."

And a final complaint from over 75 years ago, "Have another contest entitled 'What I do like about Amsterdam' and limit the answers to one word. Mine would be 'Nothing!'"

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, January 2, 2024

27 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:36AM

This Friday, January 5, 2024-Episode 506-Gary Hoyle is author of Mystery Tusk, the story of a 12,000 year old woolly mammoth tusk found while digging a manmade pond in Maine in 1959.  Plus the tale of an African elephant, Old Bet, shot and killed in the early 1800s in Maine.

MYSTERY TUSK-Searching for Elephants in the Maine Woods is the true story of author Gary Hoyle's search for a mysterious tusk that seems to have two conflicting histories-one ancient and one modern. His search for the truth led him to direct the first excavation of a mammoth in Maine and to uncover historical facts about an elephant that inspired P. T. Barnum.

01/01/2024 and a Monday

Highlights of Focus on History columns in 2023

                  By Bob Cudmore                     

Navy nuclear submarine captain John Donlon was a native of Amsterdam.

John’s father Hugh Donlon was a Recorder newspaper columnist, author of a landmark 1980 Amsterdam history book, "Annals of a Milltown.

John's mother had tuberculosis.  Anna Frances Nadler Donlon died in 1938.

Hugh Donlon died in Amsterdam at age 93 in 1989. Theur son John died at his Connecticut home at age 95 on December 26, 2022.

Hugh Donlon had started work on a history book called "The Mohawk Valley" in 1932. He typed the manuscript in a second floor office at the family home.

Donlon credited his four sons, "Whose contribution to this book was undisturbed slumber through night hours while their father worked."

John Donlon preserved his father's Mohawk Valley manuscript.

Many publishers were approached but the manuscript remained unpublished until 2015. Writer Dave Northrup edited the manuscript that year with John's help and oversaw its publication.

# "Your article on the Luxuray brought back old memories," wrote Charles Gehring, who lived in Nelliston as a child.

Luxuray manufactured women's underwear, mainly panties, in a factory on Willett Street in Fort Plain.

Gehring said, "My mother worked (at Luxuray) for 27 years from 1934 to 1962. She sewed gussets in women's underwear for 35 cents an hour."

According to the Cambridge Dictionary. a gusset is "a second layer of cloth that is sewn into a piece of clothing to make it larger, stronger, or more comfortable."

Gehring continued, "My father worked at the Beech-Nut (in Canajoharie) in Strained Foods. One of his jobs was to turn the boilers on, which meant he had to be in very early. So, he was always home when I returned from Nelliston grade school.

"Around 4:30 we would go 'over street' (you always used this expression when going from Nelliston to Fort Plain) to pick up my mother. He always parked right in front of Bruschetti's Eternal City bar, which was across the street from the Luxuray.

"He always had just enough time for one beer. Sometimes he would set me up on the bar. Thanks for stimulating some fond memories."

The Eternal City Bar was operated by Romolo and Josephine Bruschetti, natives of Italy who married in Fort Plain in 1915.

Gehring’s career has been as director of the New Netherland Research Center in Albany translating Old Dutch documents from the New Netherland Colony which existed in the 1600s. In 1994 Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred a knighthood on Gehring.

#The USS Amsterdam sailed back to America from Japan when World War II ended, picking up Seabees in Guam.

The passengers brought a different perspective on war to the Amsterdam's sailors.

"We had a laundry, hot food, a ship's newspaper and ice cream almost every day," said former Seaman Steve Fitz. "One of the crew in line for dinner shouted out there was no ice cream today. One of the Seabees said, 'Isn't that a shame. We haven't seen ice cream in two years!'"

Fitz became a popular local talk radio host.

A model of USS Amsterdam was handmade by the late Albert M. Swager of Pennsylvania, a former crewman, who donated the model to Walter Elwood Museum in Amsterdam in 1995. The eight foot replica was loaned for a crew reunion in central New York. The model ended up at Sampson Memorial Museum in Romulus.

It was located through the efforts of Amsterdam’s Stanley Krolikowski and returned to Elwood museum.

Anyone who wishes to contribute time or money to the USS Amsterdam exhibit may contact Mike Parillo at the museum. With artifacts, documents, and photos contact City Historian Robert von Hasseln.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, January 1, 2024

31 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:45AM

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Highlights of Focus on History columns in 2023

                  By Bob Cudmore                     

Navy nuclear submarine captain John Donlon was a native of Amsterdam.

John’s father Hugh Donlon was a Recorder newspaper columnist, author of a landmark 1980 Amsterdam history book, "Annals of a Milltown.

John's mother had tuberculosis.  Anna Frances Nadler Donlon died in 1938.

Hugh Donlon died in Amsterdam at age 93 in 1989. Theur son John died at his Connecticut home at age 95 on December 26, 2022.

Hugh Donlon had started work on a history book called "The Mohawk Valley" in 1932. He typed the manuscript in a second floor office at the family home.

Donlon credited his four sons, "Whose contribution to this book was undisturbed slumber through night hours while their father worked."

John Donlon preserved his father's Mohawk Valley manuscript.

Many publishers were approached but the manuscript remained unpublished until 2015. Writer Dave Northrup edited the manuscript that year with John's help and oversaw its publication.

# "Your article on the Luxuray brought back old memories," wrote Charles Gehring, who lived in Nelliston as a child.

Luxuray manufactured women's underwear, mainly panties, in a factory on Willett Street in Fort Plain.

Gehring said, "My mother worked (at Luxuray) for 27 years from 1934 to 1962. She sewed gussets in women's underwear for 35 cents an hour."

According to the Cambridge Dictionary. a gusset is "a second layer of cloth that is sewn into a piece of clothing to make it larger, stronger, or more comfortable."

Gehring continued, "My father worked at the Beech-Nut (in Canajoharie) in Strained Foods. One of his jobs was to turn the boilers on, which meant he had to be in very early. So, he was always home when I returned from Nelliston grade school.

"Around 4:30 we would go 'over street' (you always used this expression when going from Nelliston to Fort Plain) to pick up my mother. He always parked right in front of Bruschetti's Eternal City bar, which was across the street from the Luxuray.

"He always had just enough time for one beer. Sometimes he would set me up on the bar. Thanks for stimulating some fond memories."

The Eternal City Bar was operated by Romolo and Josephine Bruschetti, natives of Italy who married in Fort Plain in 1915.

Gehring’s career has been as director of the New Netherland Research Center in Albany translating Old Dutch documents from the New Netherland Colony which existed in the 1600s. In 1994 Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred a knighthood on Gehring.

#The USS Amsterdam sailed back to America from Japan when World War II ended, picking up Seabees in Guam.

The passengers brought a different perspective on war to the Amsterdam's sailors.

"We had a laundry, hot food, a ship's newspaper and ice cream almost every day," said former Seaman Steve Fitz. "One of the crew in line for dinner shouted out there was no ice cream today. One of the Seabees said, 'Isn't that a shame. We haven't seen ice cream in two years!'"

Fitz became a popular local talk radio host.

A model of USS Amsterdam was handmade by the late Albert M. Swager of Pennsylvania, a former crewman, who donated the model to Walter Elwood Museum in Amsterdam in 1995. The eight foot replica was loaned for a crew reunion in central New York. The model ended up at Sampson Memorial Museum in Romulus.

It was located through the efforts of Amsterdam’s Stanley Krolikowski and returned to Elwood museum.

Anyone who wishes to contribute time or money to the USS Amsterdam exhibit may contact Mike Parillo at the museum. With artifacts, documents, and photos contact City Historian Robert von Hasseln.

Tomorrow the audio version of this column on The Story Behind the Story Podcast.

 $1695.00 is needed today. https://gofund.me/777777e9

U.S. Mail A check made out to Bob Cudmore, 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

Bob Cudmore and Chris Carola "The 77th"

Friday, January 5, 2024-Episode 506-Gary Hoyle is author of Mystery Tusk, the story of a 12,000 year old woolly mammoth tusk found while digging a manmade pond in Maine in 1959.  Plus the tale of an African elephant, Old Bet, shot and killed in the early 1800s in Maine.

MYSTERY TUSK-Searching for Elephants in the Maine Woods is the true story of author Gary Hoyle's search for a mysterious tusk that seems to have two conflicting histories-one ancient and one modern. His search for the truth led him to direct the first excavation of a mammoth in Maine and to uncover historical facts about an elephant that inspired P. T. Barnum.

Friday, January 12-2024-Episode 507 –Bruce Luyendyk is a geologist and author of Mighty Bad Land, the story of his explorations of Marie Byrd Land in Antarctica in the 1990s, These explorations led to the discovery of a new continent, named Zealandia.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, December 31, 2023

34 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:28AM

Today in The Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder Bob Cudmore with Highlight Stories 2023 "Focus on History" 

https://www.dailygazette.com/the_recorder/life_and_arts/history/cudmore/amsterdam--focus-on-history/article_beebd92c-a393-11ee-96ce-7f1728bb0108.html

Navy nuclear submarine captain John Donlon was a native of Amsterdam. John’s father Hugh Donlon was a Recorder newspaper columnist, author of a landmark 1980 Amsterdam history book, "Annals of a Milltown.”

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Only today and Tomorrow

to the end of the 2023 Go Fund Me Drive to keep Amsterdam and Mohawk Valley History on The Internet and Public Radio. $1695.00 is needed. https://gofund.me/777777e9

U.S. Mail A check made out to Bob Cudmore, 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

2024

Friday, January 5, 2024-Episode 506-Gary Hoyle is author of Mystery Tusk, the story of a 12,000 year old woolly mammoth tusk found while digging a manmade pond in Maine in 1959.  Plus the tale of an African elephant, Old Bet, shot and killed in the early 1800s in Maine.

Friday, January 12-2024-Episode 507 –Bruce Luyendyk is a geologist and author of Mighty Bad Land, the story of his explorations of Marie Byrd Land in Antarctica in the 1990s, These explorations led to the discovery of a new continent, named Zealandia.

The company was among the first to come up with a way to sew baseballs by machine to keep the cost down. According to a 1940 article by newspaperman Earl O. Stowitts, "The balls which the company sews by machine are not flat-stitched, but have a slightly raised seam."

Collette's-makers of mendets, paper clips and sporting goods
By Bob Cudmore

Collette Manufacturing Company in Amsterdam was famous for making Mendets, paper clips and juvenile sporting goods. Mendets are bolt-like contraptions to plug holes in pots and pans.

Marjorie Eckler of Hagaman was 15 in 1925 when a girlfriend of hers was working at Collette's, packaging Mendets.

Marjorie's daughter, Arlyn (Lynn) Smith of West Galway, said, "My mother and her friend thought it would be fun to put their names and addresses in the boxes of Mendets, hoping someone would write to them."

A year or two later, Marjorie received a letter from Maggie Arnold who worked at a hardware store in Wilmot, Tasmania, and found Marjorie's name and address in a box of Mendets.

Marjorie and Maggie became lifelong pen pals. In the late 1970s, Maggie Arnold from Tasmania, a large island south of Australia, came to America and visited Marjorie and her family. By then Marjorie had married town of Amsterdam farmer Leland Johnson. In 1980 Marjorie and her family visited Maggie in Tasmania.

Cobleskill native Clarence C. Collette, born in 1876, moved to Amsterdam as a young man and began manufacturing Mendets on the third floor of the Recorder building on Railroad Street downtown.

Mendets illustrated the philosophy, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."

Collette's was incorporated in 1907 and in 1916 moved to the former Eighth Ward School on Clizbe Avenue near the Rockton Wye. It subsequently had other manufacturing sites in Amsterdam, Hagaman and other cities.

In 1921 Clarence Collette patented an improvement to the paper clip to make it hold papers more securely by notching ridges in the clip, which was then called a gripper clip.

Dave Gordon, who bought Collette's in later years, said the patent protected only one size of gripper clips. The patent did not prevent other manufacturers from making gripper clips of different sizes.

By the 1930s, Collette's was making juvenile sporting goods"baseballs, footballs and basketballs. Many local women and men worked at Collette's at some point in their lives.

The company was among the first to come up with a way to sew baseballs by machine to keep the cost down. According to a 1940 article by newspaperman Earl O. Stowitts, "The balls which the company sews by machine are not flat-stitched, but have a slightly raised seam."

The balls were covered with inexpensive leather and the cores were made from cotton or felt scraps.

Collette's turned from making a million baseballs a year to products that helped the Allied cause during World War II such as canteen covers, cot covers and foul weather clothing. Mendets continued to be made to preserve cooking utensils in the face of wartime metal shortages.

Collette's received government contracts for some years after the war for canteen covers and the like. In the 1950s, employment ranged from 150 to 300 people.

Clarence and his wife Edna Collette had two daughters, Edna and Shirley. They owned a house on Locust Avenue and later built a home on Golf Course Road.

Clarence Collette was still president of the company when he died in 1965 at the age of 88 at his winter home in St. Petersburg, Florida. Executive vice president Eli Robinson became head of the firm.

Collette's moved to a former Mohasco carpet mill on De Graff Street in Amsterdam's East End in 1976.

Dave Gordon, whose parents had operated the Toy Tent store in downtown Amsterdam, bought Collette's in 1978. Gordon sold it to a Boston investment group in 1983 and left the company in 1984. The investment firm operated Collette's until closing the business in 1989.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather for the New Year, Saturday, December 30, 2023

40 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:35AM