The Historians

$1820 needed by Sunday, December 31, 2023 Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

-1 down to 26 Days and counting

  On-line Go Fund Me https://gofund.me/777777e9  

Amsterdam rugs go down in history

By Bob Cudmore

Two articles found on a floor covering news Website, www.rugnews.com, tell stories about commemorative rugs with connections to Amsterdam.

One article describes how Costikyan, a rug and tapestry-cleaning firm founded in 1886, restored the Liberty Rug, woven in Amsterdam’s East End in 1916 by the Shuttleworth Brothers factory.

In 1920, Shuttleworth merged with McCleary, Wallin and Crouse to form Mohawk Carpets in Amsterdam. The company reorganized as Mohasco in 1955 when it merged with Alexander Smith carpets of Yonkers. Production and offices ultimately left Amsterdam for Georgia and elsewhere.

The Liberty Rug was one of 20 Axminster carpets woven in Amsterdam to mark the initial floodlighting ceremony at the Statue of Liberty in New York on December 2, 1916. The rug recently restored was presented to President Woodrow Wilson. It originally was installed in President Wilson’s bedroom at the White House. The restored rug is now on display at Woodrow Wilson House, the late President’s library in Washington, D.C.

According to www.rugnews.com, an image of the Statue of Liberty is in the center of the rug, surrounded by depictions of Niagara Falls, the Mayflower, Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Washington Monument, the Capitol, and Native American teepees. Also shown is aviatrix Ruth Law flying over the Statue of Liberty in a biplane during the floodlighting ceremony.

In a separate opinion piece, Lissa Wyman of www.rugnews.com weighs in on commemorative rugs made in the Mohasco days. Wyman reported she was presented a 1776 Rug during the 1976 bicentennial by the Alexander Smith division of Mohasco. Several thousand of these five by eight foot rugs were woven and presented to political leaders and other dignitaries. Wyman at the time was editor of the trade magazine, Floor Covering News.

Wyman wrote that even though she hung the rug for many years in her New York City apartment, she was no fan of the design, calling it “the ugliest piece of textiles it has ever been my misfortune to view.”

But Wyman told her readers that now that her own 1776 Rug has been misplaced, she would like to find an image of it.

The background of the rug was an unfurled American flag, Wyman wrote. Landing on the flag was a really eagle-eyed American Eagle, wings spread and clutching a mean-looking bunch of arrows. It had to be hung, of course. Walking on it risked being charged with Desecration of The Flag.

Thanks to reader and Amsterdam native Larry Baldine for finding these articles.

T. Martin Bennett

Wednesday, December 6, 2023-From the Archives- Episode 139, November 25, 2016-T Martin Bennett, author of “Wounded Tiger”: The story of the Japanese pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Wounded Tiger is the true story of the pilot who led the Pearl Harbor Attack, whose life was changed by an American prisoner and by a girl he never met. Three incredibly different people have their paths cross in ways so remarkable as to almost be unbelievable if it weren't so well documented.

Thursday, December 7 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Amsterdam and Pearl Harbor

Friday, December 8, 2023-Episode 502-Jack Kelly is author of God Save Benedict Arnold.  Arnold committed treason.  Yet he was more than a turncoat—Kelly argues Arnold’s achievements during the early years of the Revolutionary War defined him as the most successful soldier of the era. 

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, December 5, 2023

36 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:08AM

$1820 by December 31, 2023 $455.00 a week(stuff a check in the mailbox)Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

27 Days and counting

Thanks to Dave Northrup, Scott Lorenz and Katie Balevic for the latest and very generous donations to our fund raising campaign for The Historians Podcast.  Please make a contribution today to honor our 502 Episodes.  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 need to raise an additional $1820 by December 31 to reach our $7000 goal for 2023.  

Monday, December 4 , 2023-Story behind the story-the story of the Amsterdam highway that wasn’t built.

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Amsterdam rugs go down in history

Two articles found on a floor covering news Website, www.rugnews.com tell stories about commemorative rugs with connections to Amsterdam.

Wednesday, December 6, 2023-From the Archives- Episode 139, November 25, 2016-T Martin Bennett, author of “Wounded Tiger”: The story of the Japanese pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Thursday, December 7 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Amsterdam and Pearl Harbor

Friday, December 8, 2023-Episode 502-Jack Kelly is author of God Save Benedict Arnold.  Arnold committed treason.  Yet he was more than a turncoat—Kelly argues Arnold’s achievements during the early years of the Revolutionary War defined him as the most successful soldier of the era. 

The superhighway that wasn’t built

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History 

   Amsterdam was once proposed as the western end of a 419-mile, four-lane road called the east-west highway or Interstate 92.

   The eastern end of the highway would have been at Calais, Maine, on the Canadian border.  The idea was to open up northern sections of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine to economic development. 

   Two successive Amsterdam mayors traveled to New England in support of the project.

   In 1967 Amsterdam Republican Mayor Marcus Breier was enthusiastic after attending a campaign kickoff for the highway in Portland, Maine. 

   I-92 booster W. Bartlett Cram, an industrial consultant from Bangor, Maine, argued that access to the New York State Thruway in Amsterdam would give northern New Englanders a way to increase trade not only with New York City to the south but also with the Midwest.

   Amsterdam also was picked on the basis of the lay of the land.  Cram said to move the road a few miles east or west from the city would add significantly to the cost because of steeper grades

   Cram pitched the highway before a crowd of 125 business and community leaders at the local Tepee restaurant.

   Cram said the road would have a seventy mile per hour speed limit.  Realistically, he said, the federal government would not be able to contribute its proposed ninety percent share of the cost until the Vietnam War ended.

   Later that year there was opposition from Vermont.  Governor Philip H. Hoff said he was "totally against" the Amsterdam to Calais plan.  He wanted a highway but favored a more northern route. 

   Others wanted a western end of the highway in Glens Falls, not Amsterdam.  There also were environmental concerns. 

   In 1969 Amsterdam’s Democratic Mayor John Gomulka led a four-car caravan carrying city officials on a trip along the proposed highway’s route. 

   There were welcoming parties in Saratoga Springs, South Glens Falls, Hudson Falls, Fort Edward, Fort Ann and Whitehall.  Vermont State Police escorted the Amsterdamians to Rutland for coffee with the Chamber of Commerce.

   In New Hampshire there was another state police escort.  The group stopped at Meredith, Laconia and other villages.  State police in Maine escorted Mayor Gomulka and his party to dinner in Augusta. 

   The next day it was lunch with highway advocate Cram in Bangor.  The Mayor of Bangor, Ed Porter, gave Gomulka the key to his city.  The group continued on for dinner in Calais. 

   Despite the warm New England welcome, Mayor Gomulka told the Recorder he was not pleased with Amsterdam’s indifference to the highway proposal.

   "The one deplorable fact,” the mayor said, "was the lack of interest in the project locally.” 

   When he had asked local movers and shakers to join his caravan to Calais, no one wanted to go.

  There was an effort to get Governor Nelson Rockefeller to assume leadership of the highway plan in 1970.  In January 1971 Time Magazine did a story on the east-west highway called “Road to Riches.”

  In 1971 retired Marine general Hamilton South, an Albany banker, told reporters, "There will be a road there one day, but if we don't do it now, it won't be done properly.  Instead a lot of crummy small highways will be built."

   The Federal Highway Administration rejected the Amsterdam to Calais plan.  Efforts continued to save the idea with the western end being Albany, Glens Falls or Schroon Lake, to no avail. 

   No east-west superhighway was ever built linking northern New York and northern New England.

TURN BACK TIME

   Thanks to reader Edward Clifford for pointing out an error in last week’s column.  The Battle of Saratoga took place in 1777, not 1977.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, December 4, 2023

42 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:14AM

$1820 by December 31, 2023

28 Days and counting

Thanks to Dave Northrup, Scott Lorenz and Katie Balevic for the latest and very generous donations to our fund raising campaign for The Historians Podcast.  Please make a contribution today to honor our 501 Episodes.  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 need to raise an additional $1820 by December 31(we looked it up on Google, that is the last day of the year) to reach our $7000 goal for 2023.  

The superhighway that wasn’t built

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History 

   Amsterdam was once proposed as the western end of a 419-mile, four-lane road called the east-west highway or Interstate 92.

   The eastern end of the highway would have been at Calais, Maine, on the Canadian border.  The idea was to open up northern sections of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine to economic development. 

   Two successive Amsterdam mayors traveled to New England in support of the project.

   In 1967 Amsterdam Republican Mayor Marcus Breier was enthusiastic after attending a campaign kickoff for the highway in Portland, Maine. 

   I-92 booster W. Bartlett Cram, an industrial consultant from Bangor, Maine, argued that access to the New York State Thruway in Amsterdam would give northern New Englanders a way to increase trade not only with New York City to the south but also with the Midwest.

   Amsterdam also was picked on the basis of the lay of the land.  Cram said to move the road a few miles east or west from the city would add significantly to the cost because of steeper grades

   Cram pitched the highway before a crowd of 125 business and community leaders at the local Tepee restaurant.

   Cram said the road would have a seventy mile per hour speed limit.  Realistically, he said, the federal government would not be able to contribute its proposed ninety percent share of the cost until the Vietnam War ended.

   Later that year there was opposition from Vermont.  Governor Philip H. Hoff said he was "totally against" the Amsterdam to Calais plan.  He wanted a highway but favored a more northern route. 

   Others wanted a western end of the highway in Glens Falls, not Amsterdam.  There also were environmental concerns. 

   In 1969 Amsterdam’s Democratic Mayor John Gomulka led a four-car caravan carrying city officials on a trip along the proposed highway’s route. 

   There were welcoming parties in Saratoga Springs, South Glens Falls, Hudson Falls, Fort Edward, Fort Ann and Whitehall.  Vermont State Police escorted the Amsterdamians to Rutland for coffee with the Chamber of Commerce.

   In New Hampshire there was another state police escort.  The group stopped at Meredith, Laconia and other villages.  State police in Maine escorted Mayor Gomulka and his party to dinner in Augusta. 

   The next day it was lunch with highway advocate Cram in Bangor.  The Mayor of Bangor, Ed Porter, gave Gomulka the key to his city.  The group continued on for dinner in Calais. 

   Despite the warm New England welcome, Mayor Gomulka told the Recorder he was not pleased with Amsterdam’s indifference to the highway proposal.

   "The one deplorable fact,” the mayor said, "was the lack of interest in the project locally.” 

   When he had asked local movers and shakers to join his caravan to Calais, no one wanted to go.

  There was an effort to get Governor Nelson Rockefeller to assume leadership of the highway plan in 1970.  In January 1971 Time Magazine did a story on the east-west highway called “Road to Riches.”

  In 1971 retired Marine general Hamilton South, an Albany banker, told reporters, "There will be a road there one day, but if we don't do it now, it won't be done properly.  Instead a lot of crummy small highways will be built."

   The Federal Highway Administration rejected the Amsterdam to Calais plan.  Efforts continued to save the idea with the western end being Albany, Glens Falls or Schroon Lake, to no avail. 

   No east-west superhighway was ever built linking northern New York and northern New England.

TURN BACK TIME

   Thanks to reader Edward Clifford for pointing out an error in last week’s column.  The Battle of Saratoga took place in 1777, not 1977.

Monday, December 4 , 2023-Story behind the story-the story of the Amsterdam highway that wasn’t built.

Tuesday, December 5, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Amsterdam rugs go down in history

Wednesday, December 6, 2023-From the Archives- Episode 139, November 25, 2016-T Martin Bennett, author of “Wounded Tiger”: The story of the Japanese pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Thursday, December 7 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Amsterdam and Pearl Harbor

Friday, December 8, 2023-Episode 502-Jack Kelly is author of God Save Benedict Arnold.  Arnold committed treason.  Yet he was more than a turncoat—Kelly argues Arnold’s achievements during the early years of the Revolutionary War defined him as the most successful soldier of the era. 

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, December 3, 2023

40 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:00AM

Focus on History-The Amsterdam highway that wasn’t built is the Bob Cudmore story this Weekend in The Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder and on-line Sunday The Historians

Thursday

Ruby roommate a Gloversville native

By Bob Cudmore

A native of Gloversville was Jack Ruby’s roommate in Dallas on November 24, 1963, the day that Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald.  Oswald was accused in the murder two days earlier of President John F. Kennedy.

Ruby’s roommate, George Senator, was born in Gloversville in 1914.  Senator told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he finished his schooling in Gloversville in 1929 and moved to New York City where he worked for a company that made women’s dresses.  In 1932 Senator returned to Gloversville where he worked in a restaurant owned by his brother.  In 1934 he left Gloversville again for New York and Miami.  In 1941 he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving until 1945.  After the war he worked for a company in New York City called Denise Foods.  He married, fathered a son and divorced.  He worked for a restaurant in Miami and later lived in Milwaukee, Chicago and then moved to Dallas in 1954.  

In Dallas Senator held various jobs—including selling picture post cards—plus doing work for nightclub owner Jack Ruby.  Senator and Ruby started sharing an apartment in 1962.

A commission headed by then U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren investigated the Kennedy assassination.  According to an online transcript of Warren Commission documents, the F.B.I. interviewed Senator in December of 1963. 

Senator said he and Ruby were very moved by the assassination of the President on Friday, November 22.  That Sunday morning, Senator said, Ruby received a call from one of the dancers at his club who needed money.  According to Senator, Ruby left the apartment for two reasons—to pick up receipts from his Carousel Club and to wire money to the dancer, who was now in Fort Worth. 

Ruby took his gun, which Senator said Ruby usually did when he was retrieving money from the club.  He also took his dog Sheba in the car with him.

Ruby ended up at Dallas police headquarters where Presidential assassination suspect Oswald was being escorted to a car for transport to the county jail.  Ruby stepped out of a crowd of reporters and onlookers to shoot and fatally wound Oswald.  The event was broadcast live on national television. 

Senator maintained in his F.B.I. interview that Ruby did not leave the apartment with the intention of killing Oswald.  Senator said he believed Ruby came up with the idea of shooting Oswald on the spur of the moment.  Senator said he did not think Ruby was involved in any “subversive organizations.” 

However, according to the Web site Spartacus Educational, Ruby later told the Warren Commission that he had told Senator that he was leaving the apartment to shoot Oswald.

Debate has raged over the question of why Ruby shot Oswald through the years.  Imprisoned for killing Oswald, Ruby died after contracting pneumonia in 1967.  He was awaiting a new trial.  Senator died in 1992.  Frank Wick of Schenectady suggested this topic to Focus on History.

Friday, December 1, 2023

Episode 501-Tim Keogh, author of In Levittown's Shadow: Poverty in America's Wealthiest Postwar Suburb.  Keogh found that attics, basements, and sheds housed the poor during the suburban boom that followed World War II.

Keogh focuses on the suburbs of Long Island, home to Levittown, often considered the archetypal suburb. Here military contracts subsidized well-paid employment welding airplanes or filing paperwork, while weak labor laws impoverished suburbanites who mowed lawns, built houses, scrubbed kitchen floors, and stocked supermarket shelves. 

Fort Plain Museum this Saturday and the weather for the trip, at this point looks OK. A little rain.

The Fort Plain Museum is holding its annual Christmas at the Fort event this December 2, 2023 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the museum, 389 Canal St.

https://fortplainmuseum.org/

The event will feature a clearance book sale, local author book signings, Christmas Card exhibits and Colonial Era exhibits. There will also be a wide variety of food and refreshments from local businesses like Eisenadler Brauhaus, a microbrewery specializing in German beer.

....word from Brian Mack

The event has been happening for around a decade with new things added recently.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, November 30, 2023

31 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:30AM..on the dot

This Weekend in The Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder and on-line Sunday The Historians

Focus on History-The Amsterdam highway that wasn’t built 

by Bob Cudmore

Wednesday

Wednesday, November 29, 2023-From the Archives- October 19, 2018-Episode 237-Utica historian Dennis Webster discusses his Youtube channel, a book of fictional crime stories by several authors set in the Adirondacks, his work on the history of the Old Main mental asylum in Utica and other projects.

While the Adirondack Mountains are New York's most beautiful region, they have also been plagued by insidious crimes and the nasty escapades of notorious lawbreakers. In 1935, public enemy number one, Dutch Schultz, went on trial and was acquitted in an Adirondack courtroom. Crooks have tried creative methods to sidestep forestry laws that protect the flora of the state park. Members of the infamous Windfall Gang, led by Charles Wadsworth, terrorized towns and hid out in the high mountains until their dramatic 1899 capture.

Thursday, November 30, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Gloversville native was Jack Ruby’s roommate when Ruby killed suspected JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald

A native of Gloversville was Jack Ruby’s roommate in Dallas on November 24, 1963, the day that Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald.  Oswald was accused in the murder two days earlier of President John F. Kennedy. Ruby’s roommate, George Senator, was born in Gloversville

Tim Keogh

Friday, December 1, 2023

Episode 501-Tim Keogh, author of In Levittown's Shadow: Poverty in America's Wealthiest Postwar Suburb.  Keogh found that attics, basements, and sheds housed the poor during the suburban boom that followed World War II.

Keogh focuses on the suburbs of Long Island, home to Levittown, often considered the archetypal suburb. Here military contracts subsidized well-paid employment welding airplanes or filing paperwork, while weak labor laws impoverished suburbanites who mowed lawns, built houses, scrubbed kitchen floors, and stocked supermarket shelves. 

Story behind Richard Montgomery

By Bob Cudmore

       Richard Montgomery, for whom Montgomery County in the Mohawk Valley was named, was a hero of the American Revolution.

   According to historian Hugh Donlon’s book “Outlines of History,” Montgomery was born in 1736 near Raphoe, Ireland.  Other sources say Montgomery was born in Dublin.  He joined the British army at 18 and served against the French in North America and the West Indies.

   Donlon said Montgomery was part of the Amherst Expedition that passed through the Mohawk Valley as part of the British conquest of Canada in 1760.

       Montgomery left America to live in England from 1765 to 1772, when he moved to New York City.  He married Jane Livingston, daughter of Judge Robert Livingston in Rhinebeck, a leading figure in the growing rebellion. 

       When war broke out, Montgomery became a brigadier general on the rebel side.  Montgomery’s forces took Montreal in November 1775.  When General Philip Schuyler of Albany became ill, Montgomery took command of Schuyler’s troops.

       Forces commanded by Montgomery and Benedict Arnold, although relatively small, laid siege to Quebec City.  They attacked the city in a snowstorm on December 31.  The British repelled the attack and Montgomery was killed.  Montgomery was buried on the spot.

       His widow pleaded with Canada’s government for 43 years before her husband’s remains were brought back to America.  According to Donlon’s story, when Montgomery’s remains were passing his aged widow’s home at Annandale-on-Hudson, the steamer paused.  Mrs. Montgomery is said to have saluted the vessel, then collapsed.

       Montgomery is buried in St. Paul’s Churchyard in New York City.  Benjamin Franklin directed creation of a stone memorial that was made in Paris that states, “This monument is erected by order of Congress, 25th of January, 1776, to transmit to posterity a grateful remembrance of the patriotic conduct, enterprise and perseverance of Major General Richard Montgomery.”

       Maryland and Virginia moved quickly to name counties for the war hero.  North Carolina followed suit in 1778 and New York was fourth in 1784.  In all there are Montgomery counties in 17 states.

In New York, Montgomery’s name was given to what had been Tryon County, created in 1772 and named for New York’s British colonial governor, William Tryon.

   Tryon became unpopular in the Revolution, according to Donlon.  He was called “Bloody Billy” and reports circulated that Tryon was part of a plot to kidnap and assassinate George Washington.  Tryon served the British as a military commander when the colony he had headed was placed under martial law.  Tryon led forces that attacked civilians in southern Connecticut.  He returned to England in 1780 and died in London in 1788.

   The original Tryon County was created during the heyday of Sir William Johnson and his family in the local area and the county seat was in Johnstown.  In 1836, the county seat of Montgomery County was moved to Fonda. There was an outcry from the people of Johnstown who were granted their own county. 

   Fulton County split off from Montgomery County in 1838.  That county is named for Robert Fulton, an American inventor credited with creating the first commercially successful steamboat.

Fort Plain Museum this Weekend

The Fort Plain Museum is holding its annual Christmas at the Fort event this December 2, 2023 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the museum, 389 Canal St.

https://fortplainmuseum.org/

The event will feature a clearance book sale, local author book signings, Christmas Card exhibits and Colonial Era exhibits. There will also be a wide variety of food and refreshments from local businesses like Eisenadler Brauhaus, a microbrewery specializing in German beer.

....word from Brian Mack

The event has been happening for around a decade with new things added recently.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, November 29, 2023

20 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:34AM

This Friday Episode 501-Tim Keogh, author of In Levittown's Shadow: Poverty in America's Wealthiest Postwar Suburb. 

Tuesday

Story behind Richard Montgomery

By Bob Cudmore

       Richard Montgomery, for whom Montgomery County in the Mohawk Valley was named, was a hero of the American Revolution.

   According to historian Hugh Donlon’s book “Outlines of History,” Montgomery was born in 1736 near Raphoe, Ireland.  Other sources say Montgomery was born in Dublin.  He joined the British army at 18 and served against the French in North America and the West Indies.

   Donlon said Montgomery was part of the Amherst Expedition that passed through the Mohawk Valley as part of the British conquest of Canada in 1760.

       Montgomery left America to live in England from 1765 to 1772, when he moved to New York City.  He married Jane Livingston, daughter of Judge Robert Livingston in Rhinebeck, a leading figure in the growing rebellion. 

       When war broke out, Montgomery became a brigadier general on the rebel side.  Montgomery’s forces took Montreal in November 1775.  When General Philip Schuyler of Albany became ill, Montgomery took command of Schuyler’s troops.

       Forces commanded by Montgomery and Benedict Arnold, although relatively small, laid siege to Quebec City.  They attacked the city in a snowstorm on December 31.  The British repelled the attack and Montgomery was killed.  Montgomery was buried on the spot.

       His widow pleaded with Canada’s government for 43 years before her husband’s remains were brought back to America.  According to Donlon’s story, when Montgomery’s remains were passing his aged widow’s home at Annandale-on-Hudson, the steamer paused.  Mrs. Montgomery is said to have saluted the vessel, then collapsed.

       Montgomery is buried in St. Paul’s Churchyard in New York City.  Benjamin Franklin directed creation of a stone memorial that was made in Paris that states, “This monument is erected by order of Congress, 25th of January, 1776, to transmit to posterity a grateful remembrance of the patriotic conduct, enterprise and perseverance of Major General Richard Montgomery.”

       Maryland and Virginia moved quickly to name counties for the war hero.  North Carolina followed suit in 1778 and New York was fourth in 1784.  In all there are Montgomery counties in 17 states.

In New York, Montgomery’s name was given to what had been Tryon County, created in 1772 and named for New York’s British colonial governor, William Tryon.

   Tryon became unpopular in the Revolution, according to Donlon.  He was called “Bloody Billy” and reports circulated that Tryon was part of a plot to kidnap and assassinate George Washington.  Tryon served the British as a military commander when the colony he had headed was placed under martial law.  Tryon led forces that attacked civilians in southern Connecticut.  He returned to England in 1780 and died in London in 1788.

   The original Tryon County was created during the heyday of Sir William Johnson and his family in the local area and the county seat was in Johnstown.  In 1836, the county seat of Montgomery County was moved to Fonda. There was an outcry from the people of Johnstown who were granted their own county. 

   Fulton County split off from Montgomery County in 1838.  That county is named for Robert Fulton, an American inventor credited with creating the first commercially successful steamboat.

Wednesday, November 29, 2023-From the Archives- October 19, 2018-Episode 237-Utica historian Dennis Webster discusses his Youtube channel, a book of fictional crime stories by several authors set in the Adirondacks, his work on the history of the Old Main mental asylum in Utica and other projects.

Thursday, November 30, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Gloversville native was Jack Ruby’s roommate when Ruby killed suspected JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald

Friday, December 1, 2023

Episode 501-Tim Keogh, author of In Levittown's Shadow: Poverty in America's Wealthiest Postwar Suburb.  Keogh found that attics, basements, and sheds housed the poor during the suburban boom that followed World War II.

There is a familiar narrative about American suburbs: after 1945, white residents left cities for leafy, affluent subdivisions and the prosperity they seemed to embody. In Levittown’s Shadow tells us there’s more to this story, offering an eye-opening account of diverse, poor residents living and working in those same neighborhoods. Tim Keogh shows how public policies produced both suburban plenty and deprivation—and why ignoring suburban poverty doomed efforts to reduce inequality.

This weekend at The Fort Plain Museum

The Fort Plain Museum is holding its annual Christmas at the Fort event this December 2, 2023 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the museum, 389 Canal St.

https://fortplainmuseum.org/

The event will feature a clearance book sale, local author book signings, Christmas Card exhibits and Colonial Era exhibits. There will also be a wide variety of food and refreshments from local businesses like Eisenadler Brauhaus, a microbrewery specializing in German beer.

....word from Brian Mack

The event has been happening for around a decade with new things added recently.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, November 28, 2023

29 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:11AM

Each of the four publications still has a separate and distinct home on the website, but they all reside under The Daily Gazette umbrella, and we’ve ensured that they’ve retained their individual identity and scope of coverage.

Monday

Thanks to Katie Balevic for the latest donation.  We need to raise an additional $2220 by December 31 to reach our $7000 goal for 2023. 

You could donate $5, $25, $50, $500 or any amount.  Make donations online for The Historians Podcast at https://gofund.me/777777e9   or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.   

  Historians Podcast airs weekly for the 1500 listeners to RISE, WMHT89.1FM’s radio service for the blind, and on WBDY 99.5 FM in Binghamton.  The podcast is available on Soundcloud (search for Bob Cudmore), NY Almanack, Google and Apple iTunes. The Historians Podcast is heard at Noon on Saturday on WCSS, 1490 AM, 106.9 FM in Amsterdam and WKAJ, 1120 AM, 97.9 FM in St. Johnsville.   

Monday, November 27, 2023-Story behind the story-The story of Amsterdam’s good Benedict Arnold

   Amsterdam’s Arnold married Mary Bovee in 1806.  They had 12 children, including a son named Benedict.

Tuesday, November 28, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Who was Richard Montgomery?

Wednesday, November 29, 2023-From the Archives- October 19, 2018-Episode 237-Utica historian Dennis Webster discusses his Youtube channel, a book of fictional crime stories by several authors set in the Adirondacks, his work on the history of the Old Main mental asylum in Utica and other projects.

Thursday, November 30, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Gloversville native was Jack Ruby’s roommate when Ruby killed suspected JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswad

Friday, December 1, 2023-Episode 501-Tim Keogh, author of In Levittown's Shadow: Poverty in America's Wealthiest Postwar Suburb.  Keogh found that attics, basements, and sheds housed the poor during the suburban boom that followed World War II.

There is a familiar narrative about American suburbs: after 1945, white residents left cities for leafy, affluent subdivisions and the prosperity they seemed to embody. In Levittown’s Shadow tells us there’s more to this story, offering an eye-opening account of diverse, poor residents living and working in those same neighborhoods. Tim Keogh shows how public policies produced both suburban plenty and deprivation—and why ignoring suburban poverty doomed efforts to reduce inequality.

German beer and the whole thing

The Fort Plain Museum is holding its annual Christmas at the Fort event this December 2, 2023 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the museum, 389 Canal St.

https://fortplainmuseum.org/

The event will feature a clearance book sale, local author book signings, Christmas Card exhibits and Colonial Era exhibits. There will also be a wide variety of food and refreshments from local businesses like Eisenadler Brauhaus, a microbrewery specializing in German beer.

....word from Brian Mack

The event has been happening for around a decade with new things added recently.

Amsterdam’s good Benedict Arnold

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History, published in Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder 

   Jack Kelly, author of a new book titled “God Save Benedict Arnold,” says it seems like a “dirty trick” if during the American Revolution “your parents named you Benedict if your last name happened to be Arnold.”

   But that’s what may have happened to a man who went on to be a prominent citizen of Amsterdam, New York.

   General Benedict Arnold was a native of Connecticut who fought bravely for the patriots in the early years of the Revolution.  He was among those who captured Fort Ticonderoga, he invaded Canada and delayed the British advance on Lake Champlain.  He was badly wounded in the leg in the 1777 Battle of Saratoga.  Victory for the patriots there was the turning point of the war. 

   Arnold was regarded as a hero until his plans to betray the fort at West Point New York to the British were found out on September 23, 1780.  Arnold fled to the British side and fought for them in the years remaining in the war.

   The man who became Amsterdam’s Benedict Arnold was born October 5 of 1780, less than two weeks after General Arnold’s treason was discovered.

   One source reports the younger Arnold was born in Schaghticoke, Rennselaer County, while others list his birthplace as the town of Florida or Amsterdam itself. 

   Some contend that Arnold was named in honor of the infamous traitor, arguing the news of Arnold’s treason took a while to make its way in upstate New York.

   Amsterdam’s Arnold married Mary Bovee in 1806.  They had12 children, including a son named Benedict.

   By 1808 Arnold was operating a store on Main Street in Amsterdam.  He was a cavalry officer in the war of 1812 fighting for America against Great Britain, later attaining the rank of captain.   

   Arnold served in the New York State Assembly in 1816. He was a member from the 16th district of Congress from 1829 to 1831 during the administration of President Andrew Jackson, although he was politically opposed to Jackson.

   Arnold was a founder of the Amsterdam Aqueduct Company in 1829. The company laid pipes west of the Chuctanunda Creek to bring water to thirsty citizens.

   When he returned from Congress, Arnold was among those who led the campaign to incorporate Amsterdam as a village.

   He was the second president of the village board in 1832. He served as town of Amsterdam supervisor and, in 1844, was one of the organizers of the Fonda Fair. 

   His Market Street home was a landmark torn down for construction of the Blood Building, now the site of The Sentinel adult home.

   When Amsterdam’s Benedict Arnold died on March 3, 1849 the Library of Congress stated he was not related to the Revolutionary War traitor of the same name.

   In 1850 the Kellogg family took over a former Church Street distillery that had been owned by Arnold and made linseed oil there.

   Arnold likely was buried at a cemetery on Market Hill, according to researcher Christopher Philippo.  The growing village encroached on that burial ground.  Arnold’s remains and others were moved to Green Hill Cemetery on Church Street after Green Hill was created in 1858.

   Taking a short cut from Reid Hill through the cemetery on my way to school at the then junior high on Guy Park Avenue, a visit to the grave of Benedict Arnold was a highlight.

   Arnold’s grandson was also buried at Green Hill.  Lieutenant Benedict Arnold Leonard was killed in 1864 in his twelfth Civil War battle.

   Arnold Avenue and the former Arnold Avenue School were named in honor of the good Benedict Arnold and his family.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, November 27, 2023

36 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:12AM

Each of the four publications still has a separate and distinct home on the website, but they all reside under The Daily Gazette umbrella, and we’ve ensured that they’ve retained their individual identity and scope of coverage.

..it seems like a “dirty trick”

Amsterdam’s good Benedict Arnold

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History, published in Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder 

   Jack Kelly, author of a new book titled “God Save Benedict Arnold,” says it seems like a “dirty trick” if during the American Revolution “your parents named you Benedict if your last name happened to be Arnold.”

   But that’s what may have happened to a man who went on to be a prominent citizen of Amsterdam, New York.

   General Benedict Arnold was a native of Connecticut who fought bravely for the patriots in the early years of the Revolution.  He was among those who captured Fort Ticonderoga, he invaded Canada and delayed the British advance on Lake Champlain.  He was badly wounded in the leg in the 1777 Battle of Saratoga.  Victory for the patriots there was the turning point of the war. 

   Arnold was regarded as a hero until his plans to betray the fort at West Point New York to the British were found out on September 23, 1780.  Arnold fled to the British side and fought for them in the years remaining in the war.

Tomorrow, Monday, November 27, 2023-Story behind the story-more on the story of Amsterdam’s good Benedict Arnold

   The man who became Amsterdam’s Benedict Arnold was born October 5 of 1780, less than two weeks after General Arnold’s treason was discovered.

   One source reports the younger Arnold was born in Schaghticoke, Rennselaer County, while others list his birthplace as the town of Florida or Amsterdam itself. 

   Some contend that Arnold was named in honor of the infamous traitor, arguing the news of Arnold’s treason took a while to make its way in upstate New York.

   Amsterdam’s Arnold married Mary Bovee in 1806.  They had12 children, including a son named Benedict.

   By 1808 Arnold was operating a store on Main Street in Amsterdam.  He was a cavalry officer in the war of 1812 fighting for America against Great Britain, later attaining the rank of captain.   

   Arnold served in the New York State Assembly in 1816. He was a member from the 16th district of Congress from 1829 to 1831 during the administration of President Andrew Jackson, although he was politically opposed to Jackson.

   Arnold was a founder of the Amsterdam Aqueduct Company in 1829. The company laid pipes west of the Chuctanunda Creek to bring water to thirsty citizens.

   When he returned from Congress, Arnold was among those who led the campaign to incorporate Amsterdam as a village.

   He was the second president of the village board in 1832. He served as town of Amsterdam supervisor and, in 1844, was one of the organizers of the Fonda Fair. 

   His Market Street home was a landmark torn down for construction of the Blood Building, now the site of The Sentinel adult home.

   When Amsterdam’s Benedict Arnold died on March 3, 1849 the Library of Congress stated he was not related to the Revolutionary War traitor of the same name.

   In 1850 the Kellogg family took over a former Church Street distillery that had been owned by Arnold and made linseed oil there.

   Arnold likely was buried at a cemetery on Market Hill, according to researcher Christopher Philippo.  The growing village encroached on that burial ground.  Arnold’s remains and others were moved to Green Hill Cemetery on Church Street after Green Hill was created in 1858.

   Taking a short cut from Reid Hill through the cemetery on my way to school at the then junior high on Guy Park Avenue, a visit to the grave of Benedict Arnold was a highlight.

   Arnold’s grandson was also buried at Green Hill.  Lieutenant Benedict Arnold Leonard was killed in 1864 in his twelfth Civil War battle.

   Arnold Avenue and the former Arnold Avenue School were named in honor of the good Benedict Arnold and his family.

Monday, November 27, 2023-Story behind the story-The story of Amsterdam’s good Benedict Arnold

Tuesday, November 28, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Who was Richard Montgomery?

Wednesday, November 29, 2023-From the Archives- October 19, 2018-Episode 237-Utica historian Dennis Webster discusses his Youtube channel, a book of fictional crime stories by several authors set in the Adirondacks, his work on the history of the Old Main mental asylum in Utica and other projects.

Thursday, November 30, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Gloversville native was Jack Ruby’s roommate when Ruby killed suspected JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswad

Friday, December 1, 2023-Episode 501-Tim Keogh, author of In Levittown's Shadow: Poverty in America's Wealthiest Postwar Suburb.  Keogh found that attics, basements, and sheds housed the poor during the suburban boom that followed World War II.

There is a familiar narrative about American suburbs: after 1945, white residents left cities for leafy, affluent subdivisions and the prosperity they seemed to embody. In Levittown’s Shadow tells us there’s more to this story, offering an eye-opening account of diverse, poor residents living and working in those same neighborhoods. Tim Keogh shows how public policies produced both suburban plenty and deprivation—and why ignoring suburban poverty doomed efforts to reduce inequality.

Bob Cudmore

The Historians Podcast

Episode 500 of The Historians Podcast has arrived!   

Please make a contribution to honor that achievement.  You could donate $5, $50, $500 or any amount. 

Make donations online at https://gofund.me/777777e9  

Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

#500

  Dana Cudmore, retired Schoharie County media professional, is author of Farming with Dynamite. 

Before the introduction of concrete in the early 1900s, cut stones were used to build impressive structures such as churches, public buildings and homes.  Cudmore documents more than 30 stone quarries across Schoharie County where dynamite was used to get large stones from the land.

Thanks to all of you who have given to support this history project.  We need to raise an additional $2000 by the end of the year.  Can we make it?

Bob Cudmore, [email protected]

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, November 26, 2023

26 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:18AM

Each of the four publications still has a separate and distinct home on the website, but they all reside under The Daily Gazette umbrella, and we’ve ensured that they’ve retained their individual identity and scope of coverage.

Saturday, November 25, 2023

#500

Dana Cudmore, author of Farming with Dynamite.  Before the introduction of concrete in the early 1900s, cut stones were used to build impressive structures such as churches, public buildings and homes.  Cudmore documents more than 30 stone quarries across Schoharie County where dynamite was used to get large stones from the land.

Sunday, November 26, 2023- Focus on History-Amsterdam’s good Benedict Arnold

Jack Kelly, author of a new book titled “God Save Benedict Arnold,” says it seems like a “dirty trick” if during the American Revolution “your parents named you Benedict if your last name happened to be Arnold.”

The Historians Podcast fund drive has a long way to go to reach our $7000 goal by year’s end.  We’re asking for your help.

2014-2023

This year Historians Podcast featured 50 episodes.  Topics included the story of an African American who named the Underground Railroad; songs of the American Revolution with Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle; the 1963 desegregation campaign in Birmingham, Alabama and the story of a pioneer female photojournalist and war correspondent who was killed during the Vietnam War.

Featured guests include New York State Historian Devin Lander, Jerry Snyder of Historic Amsterdam League, Denise Doring VanBuren of the Beacon New York Historical Society, sports reporter Kate Fagan, composer Maria Riccio Bryce, Holocaust researcher Meryl Frank, New York City correspondent Jim Kaplan and Gregg Ficery on the history of American football.

You may donate anonymously.  No donation is too small. Your support is much appreciated. 

You may donate online here: The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore

Historians Episode #500 on SoundCloud and across the Internet

Available on Google, I Tunes, Audacy

Work clothes in the factory age

By Bob Cudmore

Amsterdam history fan Emil Suda was so interested in the detailed information found in a 1949 Mohawk Carpet publication on one day in the life of factory worker George Rink, Junior that Suda visited the street where Rink lived.

The article in Tomohawk reported that Mohawk electrician Rink lived with his family at 50 McCleary Avenue, four blocks from the now demolished factory entrance. 

Suda said the home and garage are well maintained and look basically the same as they did in 1949.

“I was indeed impressed that this property has historic meaning and has been kept alive,” Suda wrote.

WORK CLOTHES

In the 1949 magazine spread, Rink is pictured wearing a shirt and pants, carrying a light jacket and fedora on his way to work.  At the mill, Rink put on overalls before reporting to his job. 

Hagaman native Elizabeth Russo wrote that her dad, Merrill Dye, wore a sports jacket, slacks and fedora hat when he went to work at Iroquois Chemical Company on Amsterdam’s Edward Street from the late 1940s into the 1970s.

Dye had taken a correspondence course in chemistry and worked at a Gloversville chemical plant that made products for the tanning industry before World War II.  His knowledge of chemistry was put in the service of his nation when he served as a Navy pharmacist’s mate in the Pacific during the war.  After the war, Dye went to work for Iroquois Chemical.  That firm also served the leather tanning industry.

Russo wrote,  “At work he changed into blue shirt and pants, his work clothes, as my mom called them.  When the work clothes came home to be laundered they smelled of "the plant" and my mom hated to put them in the washing machine. Dad always showered and changed at work so I never actually saw him wear those "smelly blue clothes.”  In later years, "the plant" had a laundry service and uniforms so my mom no longer had to subject her Maytag to the chemicals used in the business that inevitably got onto his clothes.”

BEECH-NUT AND EARHART

Although the latest movie about aviatrix Amelia Earhart had trouble getting off the ground, it is worth noting that Beech-Nut Packing Company, then based in Canajoharie, was one of the sponsors of Earhart’s ill-fated trip around the world in 1937.  Beech-Nut is relocating its baby food factory to the town of Florida.

Earhart is pictured in the cockpit of the Pitcairn Auto Gyro bearing a Beech-Nut logo in a picture at the Fulton-Montgomery Community College digital photo archives.  The original photo is in the collection of the Arkell Museum in Canajoharie.  Earhart had been hired by Beech-Nut to fly the Auto-Gyro from Newark, New Jersey, to Oakland, California in 1931.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Friday, November 24, 2023

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

Each of the four publications still has a separate and distinct home on the website, but they all reside under The Daily Gazette umbrella, and we’ve ensured that they’ve retained their individual identity and scope of coverage.