The Historians

This weekend in The Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder

Sunday on The Historians

Lightning Claimed the Life of Fort Johnson Speed Skater

by Bob Cudmore

Speed skating champion Ted Ellenwood, Jr., 27, died instantly on June 11, 1946 when struck by lightning while golfing.

Weekend Update

Historians Go Fund Me Drive

$3905.00 as of today with a goal of $7,000.00 for 2023

  Please donate online today: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast  Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. Thanks

DeGroff wrote the story in the form of a monologue spoken by Riggs at the end of his life.  “I was born in Schenectady in the spring of 1839.  My father was a printer and publisher who, along with my grandfather, published the Schenectady Cabinet (a local newspaper) and that was not my calling whatsoever!

The physician who wanted to be a singer

By Bob Cudmore

In about 1889 a well-established Amsterdam physician sold his medical practice to another doctor and went to New York City to become a performer. 

Dr. John V. Riggs came back within two years, opened a drug store on Market Street and eventually manufactured patent medicines.  Music and medicine dominated Riggs’s life. 

The homeopathic physician had a strong bass voice.  He founded and directed the Arion Society, an Amsterdam singing group.  He was known for singing pieces called “Queen Esther” and “Belzhazzar’s Feast” in performances at the Sanford Hall on West Main Street and the Union Hall on East Main Street.

Riggs was a member and one time director of the St. Ann’s Church choir.  Undertaker and Mohawk Valley historian W. Max Reid also belonged to the choir. 

A story about Riggs, written by his great-granddaughter Anne DeGroff, of Amsterdam, was judged the top entry in my Stories from the Mohawk Valley history essay contest this week.

DeGroff wrote the story in the form of a monologue spoken by Riggs at the end of his life.  “I was born in Schenectady in the spring of 1839.  My father was a printer and publisher who, along with my grandfather, published the Schenectady Cabinet (a local newspaper) and that was not my calling whatsoever!

“After attending Princetown Academy and taking a course at Albany Medical College, I graduated from the Buffalo College of Physicians and Surgeons.  But what I really wanted to do was sing and perform! So, after becoming a doctor, I managed to connect with the San Francisco minstrel troupe as an interlocutor and bass soloist and traveled with them.

“While this troupe was performing in the south however, I left the troupe to study yellow fever which was widespread at the time.  I then returned to Amsterdam and began practicing medicine at 29 Market Street.  Annie C Wilds and I were married at St George‘s Church in Schenectady on October 31, 1861.”

Annie Wilds Riggs died in 1909 and John died in 1917.  The Recorder noted that Riggs provided the local paper with daily Amsterdam temperature statistics for 20 years.  Husband and wife are buried at Fairview Cemetery.

The doctor died Thanksgiving eve and Thanksgiving night his son James S. Riggs carried on the family musical tradition.  The younger Riggs conducted the Liberty Bond Vocal Club at a concert that raised $150 to make life easier for Amsterdam soldiers who had been drafted into the U.S. Army.

 IRISH MELODIES

Reenactor musicians Liaisons Plaisantes will present Melodies for the Irish Heart this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church on Division Street in Amsterdam.  The program of eighteenth century Irish music will benefit flood restoration work at Old Fort Johnson National Historic Landmark.  So far $42,000 has been raised toward $130,000 in restoration expenses.

Although he served Britain, colonist Sir William Johnson was Irish and proud of it.  Old Fort Johnson museum director Alessa Wylie said Johnson’s favorite holiday was St. Patrick’s Day.  Wylie wrote that Johnson’s celebration, “Often left him apologizing for a shaky hand and an aching head.”

Colonial Governor George Clinton wrote to Johnson in 1746, “We kept St. Patrick yesterday & this Day and drank yr Health & all friends in Albany with so many other Healths, that I can scarce write.”  Johnson’s brother Warren visited the area in 1760 and 1761 and wrote in his journal, “A great Meeting at my Brother’s House to drink St. Patrick, & most got vastly drunk.”

On a more cultural note, Johnson looked high and low to find an authentic blind Irish harpist to bring music and luck to his homes, Fort Johnson and Johnson Hall.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, October 7, 2023

64 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:10AM 

Gloversville Fallfest rescheduled for Monday due to expected heavy rains
GLOVERSVILLE — The 11th annual Gloversville Fallfest has been rescheduled for Monday due to the expected bad weather this weekend….

Amsterdam Alderman Stephen Gomula mulling plea offer carrying five years probation
FONDA — Fourth Ward Alderman Stephen Gomula could be sentenced to five years probation if he accepts a plea offer…

Canajoharie mayor eyes dummy light return
CANAJOHARIE — Canajoharie Mayor Ronald O. Dievendorf hopes to bring a historic traffic signal back home to Wagner Square by…

Rain is affecting Super DIRT Week — Area Stock Car Racing

It just wouldn’t be Super DIRT Week if the weather forecast did not predict rain. Also being...

Amsterdam’s Wishfest is back on Bridge Street; vendors added, Ally the Piper to perform

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Sunday, October 8, 2023

Lightning Claimed the Life of Famed Fort Johnson Speed Skater 

By Bob Cudmore

   Speed skating champion Ted Ellenwood, Jr., 27, died instantly on June 11, 1946 when struck by lightning while golfing.

   A friend, Lee DeGroff, was ten feet away but not injured. The golf course then was called the Antlers, today it’s called Rolling Hills.

   Ellenwood had skated for the Fort Johnson Athletic Association, which produced other top speed skaters including George Hare, Hank Flesch, Don Talmadge and Gene Gage. 

   Born in Dunkirk, N.Y., in 1919, Ellenwood and his family moved to Fort Johnson when he was five. He started skating at age ten.

   He won the Eastern States Speed Skating Championship in Fort Johnson in 1941. He tied for third place at the North American races in Schenectady. He won the 220 and 440 yard races at the National Championships in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, just before entering the U.S. Navy in 1942. 

   Ellenwood served as a machinist’s mate in the war aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Cotton which took part in numerous actions in the South Pacific.

   He, his wife Lucia (from Portland, Maine) and their five month old son Ted III had returned to the local area to settle down by purchasing a gas station in Fort Johnson.

   Ellenwood never qualified for the U.S. Olympic speed skating teams because he was better at American style skating as opposed to European style used in the Olympics.  American skaters raced in a group while European skaters went in pairs and a time clock was used.

   George Hare of Fort Johnson was very good at European style racing and was on the U.S. Olympic team in 1939.  Hare competed in events in the United States as an Olympian but there were no Olympic games in 1940 and 1944 because of the war.

   Ellenwood was an inspiration to fellow speed skater Gene Gage and once gave him a fine pair of skates that Gage used in racing competitions until he was in his mid-30s.

   Among Fort Johnson skating coaches in the 1930s and early 1940s were Leroy Eckerson and W.C. Snyder.

   A top skater after the war for the Fort Johnson club was Raymond Knapik who won a gold medal in the 220-yard sprint at the national championships in Alpena, Michigan in 1948.  Knapik, who grew up in Amsterdam, also skated at Hasenfuss Field in that city. 

   Amsterdam native and longtime Californian Fred Wojcicki and LaVerne Colts managed the Fort Johnson skating rink in the winters of 1949 and 1950. Wojcicki was president of the Northeastern Skating Association.

   Describing himself as one of the “run of the mill” skaters in Fort Johnson, the late Dave Noyes said he picked up a few medals along the way.  He kept skating until knee and hip replacement surgeries in 2000.

   Noyes worked at Johns Manville Corporation as a research engineer at their world headquarters in Denver.

   Dave was the second of four brothers. His brother Dan drowned in the Mohawk River in 1947; his brother Randy died in an accident while serving the U.S. Air Force.

   Dave Noyes said when he was a child, adults in the village provided children lifetime values by deed and example and maintained an active community. 

   Noyes, who lived his last years in Colorado, recalled commercial institutions in Fort Johnson such as Whalen’s grocery, Huen’s gas station, Sweet’s furniture and Tollner’s ice cream.

   The village of Fort Johnson is scheduled to formally dissolve on the last day of this year, becoming a hamlet in the town of Amsterdam.  The town will become responsible for public works in Fort Johnson.  Residents voted 90 to 23 to dissolve the village in a referendum late last year.

Episode 495-David Brooks with an insightful look at the 115th New York Volunteer Regiment in the Civil War.  The regiment was composed of men from Montgomery, Fulton, Saratoga and Hamilton Counties.  Commanded by Simeon Sammons the troops went to war from Fonda.  Brooks is a member of the board of the Fulton County Historical Society.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, October 8, 2023

51 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:18AM 

Five years after Schoharie limo crash, questions remain
The third-floor courtroom of the Schoharie County Courthouse erupted on May 17. Some gasped. Others scuffled to hug the person…

Renowned economist to discuss economic injustice at Union College
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New York allows permit to open bars at 8 a.m. for Buffalo Bills’ Sunday game
Gov. Kathy Hochul last week ordered the state Liquor Authority to extend a deadline to allow quick approval of one-day…

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The homeopathic physician had a strong bass voice.  He founded and directed the Arion Society, an Amsterdam singing group.  He was known for singing pieces called “Queen Esther” and “Belzhazzar’s Feast” in performances at the Sanford Hall on West Main Street and the Union Hall on East Main Street.

Thursday Update-$3785 with a goal of $7,000.00 for 2023

Historians Go Fund Me Drive

  Please donate online today: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast  Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. Thanks

The physician who wanted to be a singer

By Bob Cudmore

In about 1889 a well-established Amsterdam physician sold his medical practice to another doctor and went to New York City to become a performer. 

Dr. John V. Riggs came back within two years, opened a drug store on Market Street and eventually manufactured patent medicines.  Music and medicine dominated Riggs’s life. 

The homeopathic physician had a strong bass voice.  He founded and directed the Arion Society, an Amsterdam singing group.  He was known for singing pieces called “Queen Esther” and “Belzhazzar’s Feast” in performances at the Sanford Hall on West Main Street and the Union Hall on East Main Street.

Riggs was a member and one time director of the St. Ann’s Church choir.  Undertaker and Mohawk Valley historian W. Max Reid also belonged to the choir. 

A story about Riggs, written by his great-granddaughter Anne DeGroff, of Amsterdam, was judged the top entry in my Stories from the Mohawk Valley history essay contest this week.

DeGroff wrote the story in the form of a monologue spoken by Riggs at the end of his life.  “I was born in Schenectady in the spring of 1839.  My father was a printer and publisher who, along with my grandfather, published the Schenectady Cabinet (a local newspaper) and that was not my calling whatsoever!

“After attending Princetown Academy and taking a course at Albany Medical College, I graduated from the Buffalo College of Physicians and Surgeons.  But what I really wanted to do was sing and perform! So, after becoming a doctor, I managed to connect with the San Francisco minstrel troupe as an interlocutor and bass soloist and traveled with them.

“While this troupe was performing in the south however, I left the troupe to study yellow fever which was widespread at the time.  I then returned to Amsterdam and began practicing medicine at 29 Market Street.  Annie C Wilds and I were married at St George‘s Church in Schenectady on October 31, 1861.”

Annie Wilds Riggs died in 1909 and John died in 1917.  The Recorder noted that Riggs provided the local paper with daily Amsterdam temperature statistics for 20 years.  Husband and wife are buried at Fairview Cemetery.

The doctor died Thanksgiving eve and Thanksgiving night his son James S. Riggs carried on the family musical tradition.  The younger Riggs conducted the Liberty Bond Vocal Club at a concert that raised $150 to make life easier for Amsterdam soldiers who had been drafted into the U.S. Army.

 IRISH MELODIES

Reenactor musicians Liaisons Plaisantes will present Melodies for the Irish Heart this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church on Division Street in Amsterdam.  The program of eighteenth century Irish music will benefit flood restoration work at Old Fort Johnson National Historic Landmark.  So far $42,000 has been raised toward $130,000 in restoration expenses.

Although he served Britain, colonist Sir William Johnson was Irish and proud of it.  Old Fort Johnson museum director Alessa Wylie said Johnson’s favorite holiday was St. Patrick’s Day.  Wylie wrote that Johnson’s celebration, “Often left him apologizing for a shaky hand and an aching head.”

Colonial Governor George Clinton wrote to Johnson in 1746, “We kept St. Patrick yesterday & this Day and drank yr Health & all friends in Albany with so many other Healths, that I can scarce write.”  Johnson’s brother Warren visited the area in 1760 and 1761 and wrote in his journal, “A great Meeting at my Brother’s House to drink St. Patrick, & most got vastly drunk.”

On a more cultural note, Johnson looked high and low to find an authentic blind Irish harpist to bring music and luck to his homes, Fort Johnson and Johnson Hall.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, October 5, 2023

61 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:21AM 

Fall colors at Thacher Park? They’re expected at midpoint or near peak
ALBANY – The fall colors are on their way, at Thacher Park, Schenectady County and the Capital Region. The latest…

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Monday, October 2, 2023

Storming Fort Fisher in the Civil War (The 5 minute story behind the Story)

Tuesday, October 3, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Riding on top of the caboose

A 1950 railfan excursion in the Mohawk Valley was enjoyed by all, even though some of the goings on would be frowned upon and perhaps grounds for legal action today

Wednesday, October 4, 2023-From the Archives- Friday, August 28-Episode 333-Vanderbilt University professor Thomas Schwartz is author of the book “Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography.”

Thursday, October 5, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-The singing doctor

Friday, October 6, 2023-Episode 495-David Brooks on the 115th New York Volunteer Regiment in the Civil War.  The regiment was composed of men from Montgomery, Fulton, Saratoga and Hamilton Counties.  Commanded by Simeon Sammons the troops went to war from Fonda.  Brooks is a member of the board of the Fulton County Historical Society.

Storming Fort Fisher in the Civil War

By Bob Cudmore

   Bruce Anderson, an African American war hero buried in Amsterdam, fought alongside a Canajoharie white man, Zachariah Neahr, in a daring mission during the battle of Fort Fisher, North Carolina, near the end of the Civil War.

   Anderson was born in 1845, presumably in Mexico City, then worked as a farmer in New York.  He was among a small number of African Americans who enlisted in white Union regiments.

   Neahr was born in Palatine in 1830 and lived most of his life in Canajoharie.  Neahr married Sophia Martin in 1854. 

   He and Anderson enlisted in Company K of the 142nd New York Infantry Regiment at Schenectady.

   Fort Fisher protected the rebel port of Wilmington, North Carolina, where blockade runners brought in supplies for Confederate troops.  The Union tried unsuccessfully to capture the fort in late 1864.

   Union warships sailed to Fort Fisher again in January, 1865.  Major General Alfred Terry’s soldiers approached by land. 

   The Union armada shelled the fort.  A landing party went ashore but the lightly armed force was decimated by Confederate fire.  The 142nd New York was one of four regiments approaching Fort Fisher by land.

   A wall made of wooden stakes was held by rebel sharpshooters, making the Union advance impossible.  General Terry asked for volunteers to move forward with axes and chop a breach in the wall.  Privates Anderson and Neahr were among the volunteers.

   Neahr later said, “Right there I gave up my life for my country.” 

   The small party cut an opening in the wall that other soldiers passed through.  Most of the volunteers with axes, however, were killed. 

   Only Anderson, Neahr, Alaric Chapin, George Merrill and Dewitt Hotchkiss survived.

   The Confederates surrendered that night.  The next day the main powder magazine at the fort exploded, killing 200 men on both sides.

   The survivors of the raid on the wooden wall or palisade were recommended for Congressional Medals of Honor after the battle but the paperwork was lost. 

   Neahr returned to Canajoharie later in 1865.  He had a son Charles and a daughter who became Mrs. Albert Hatter.  A prominent Democrat, Neahr held some government jobs--post inspector and overseer of the poor. 

   Neahr received his Medal of Honor in the 1890s after petitioning for it.  He died from tuberculosis on July 21, 1903.  He was living on Mill Street in Canajoharie and was buried at Canajoharie Falls Cemetery.  His death and the Fort Fisher connection received newspaper coverage in New York City, Syracuse and Rochester.

   Anderson then hired a lawyer and finally got his medal in 1914, as did two other Fort Fisher attack survivors, Alaric Chapin and George Merrill. Dewitt Hotchkiss never received his medal.

   Anderson spent the last years of his life in Illinois and Amsterdam.  He died in 1922 at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany and was buried at Green Hill Cemetery in Amsterdam.

   According to an article by historian Daniel Weaver, Bruce Anderson’s grandson, Ambrose “Cowboy” Anderson of Gloversville, learned of his grandfather’s bravery a few years ago.  Ambrose Anderson attended a recent cemetery tour that included a stop at his grandfather’s grave conducted by Montgomery County historian Kelly Farquhar.

   Ambrose Anderson was one of the first African American Montford Point Marines, who entered World War II in 1943. 

   Anderson survived Japanese kamikaze attacks getting to the island of Iwo Jima. He hauled ammunition and supplies to infantry units while under fire from the Japanese during the 1945 battle of Iwo Jima.

   Anderson, a corporal, served in Japan during the U.S. occupation after the war.  In 2012 he received the Congressional Gold medal, the nation's highest civilian award.

Mohawk Valley Weather for a new week, Monday, October 2, 2023

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

Veteran suicide awareness display unveiled outside Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Monday

GLEN — About 22 veterans commit suicide each day. On Monday, that statistic will be represented by...

New York bans the use of facial recognition technology in schools

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October on The Historians and the print story today "The Storming of Fort Fisher"

Scroll Down

Friday, October 6-Episode 495-David Brooks on the 115th New York Volunteer Regiment in the Civil War.  The regiment was composed of men from Montgomery, Fulton, Saratoga and Hamilton Counties.  Commanded by Simeon Sammons the troops went to war from Fonda.  Brooks is a member of the board of the Fulton County Historical Society.  

Friday, October 13- An encore performance of Historians Podcast Episode 408, first aired February 4, 2022-WGY radio’s 100th anniversary in 2022-featuring Kolin Hager, Martha Brooks, Howard Tupper, Earl Pudney, Don Tuttle, Elle Pankin, Diane Ward and Bob Cudmore.  WGY news anchor Mike Patrick describes podcasts he has recorded with WGY veterans.

Friday, October 20-Episode 496-David Pietrusza on organized crime in the 1920s in New York City, Gangsterland.  

Friday, October 27-An encore performance of Historians Podcast Episode 416 from April 1, 2022-Neil Lanctot is author of The Approaching Storm: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jane Addams and Their Clash Over America’s Future. 

Listen and download The Historians Podcast on Soundcloud (search for Bob Cudmore), Google and Apple iTunes. 

Anderson spent the last years of his life in Illinois and Amsterdam.  He died in 1922 at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany and was buried at Green Hill Cemetery in Amsterdam.

Storming Fort Fisher in the Civil War

By Bob Cudmore

   Bruce Anderson, an African American war hero buried in Amsterdam, fought alongside a Canajoharie white man, Zachariah Neahr, in a daring mission during the battle of Fort Fisher, North Carolina, near the end of the Civil War.

   Anderson was born in 1845, presumably in Mexico City, then worked as a farmer in New York.  He was among a small number of African Americans who enlisted in white Union regiments.

   Neahr was born in Palatine in 1830 and lived most of his life in Canajoharie.  Neahr married Sophia Martin in 1854. 

   He and Anderson enlisted in Company K of the 142nd New York Infantry Regiment at Schenectady.

   Fort Fisher protected the rebel port of Wilmington, North Carolina, where blockade runners brought in supplies for Confederate troops.  The Union tried unsuccessfully to capture the fort in late 1864.

   Union warships sailed to Fort Fisher again in January, 1865.  Major General Alfred Terry’s soldiers approached by land. 

   The Union armada shelled the fort.  A landing party went ashore but the lightly armed force was decimated by Confederate fire.  The 142nd New York was one of four regiments approaching Fort Fisher by land.

   A wall made of wooden stakes was held by rebel sharpshooters, making the Union advance impossible.  General Terry asked for volunteers to move forward with axes and chop a breach in the wall.  Privates Anderson and Neahr were among the volunteers.

   Neahr later said, “Right there I gave up my life for my country.” 

   The small party cut an opening in the wall that other soldiers passed through.  Most of the volunteers with axes, however, were killed. 

   Only Anderson, Neahr, Alaric Chapin, George Merrill and Dewitt Hotchkiss survived.

   The Confederates surrendered that night.  The next day the main powder magazine at the fort exploded, killing 200 men on both sides.

   The survivors of the raid on the wooden wall or palisade were recommended for Congressional Medals of Honor after the battle but the paperwork was lost. 

   Neahr returned to Canajoharie later in 1865.  He had a son Charles and a daughter who became Mrs. Albert Hatter.  A prominent Democrat, Neahr held some government jobs--post inspector and overseer of the poor. 

   Neahr received his Medal of Honor in the 1890s after petitioning for it.  He died from tuberculosis on July 21, 1903.  He was living on Mill Street in Canajoharie and was buried at Canajoharie Falls Cemetery.  His death and the Fort Fisher connection received newspaper coverage in New York City, Syracuse and Rochester.

   Anderson then hired a lawyer and finally got his medal in 1914, as did two other Fort Fisher attack survivors, Alaric Chapin and George Merrill. Dewitt Hotchkiss never received his medal.

   Anderson spent the last years of his life in Illinois and Amsterdam.  He died in 1922 at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany and was buried at Green Hill Cemetery in Amsterdam.

   According to an article by historian Daniel Weaver, Bruce Anderson’s grandson, Ambrose “Cowboy” Anderson of Gloversville, learned of his grandfather’s bravery a few years ago.  Ambrose Anderson attended a recent cemetery tour that included a stop at his grandfather’s grave conducted by Montgomery County historian Kelly Farquhar.

   Ambrose Anderson was one of the first African American Montford Point Marines, who entered World War II in 1943. 

   Anderson survived Japanese kamikaze attacks getting to the island of Iwo Jima. He hauled ammunition and supplies to infantry units while under fire from the Japanese during the 1945 battle of Iwo Jima.

   Anderson, a corporal, served in Japan during the U.S. occupation after the war.  In 2012 he received the Congressional Gold medal, the nation's highest civilian award.

Episode 494-Highlights edition #5-Christopher Gorham with the story of FDR aide Anna Rosenberg; Gregg Ficery tracing the origin of the National Football League; Scott Shane chronicling the life of Thomas Smallwood, an African American who named the Underground Railroad and interviews from the 2015 Fort Plan Museum conference on the American Revolution.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, October 1, 2023

55 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:13AM 

Herb Kopper

Lubbock, TX – A long-time resident of Galway, Herb Kopper passed away at 88 of natural...

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Model of World War II-era USS Amsterdam returns to Walter Elwood Museum Saturday
AMSTERDAM — Decades after he’d last seen it, Stanley Krolikowski suddenly decided to visit the Walter Elwood Museum to view…https://www.recordernews.com/

This weekend in The Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder and hear on The Historians Sunday Focus on History-Storming Fort Fisher in the Civil War by Bob Cudmore

Anderson was born in 1845, presumably in Mexico City, then worked as a farmer in New York. 

  We have raised $3735.00.  We still have a long way to go to reach our $7000 goal by year’s end.  Please donate online here: The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

Episode 494-Highlights edition #5-Christopher Gorham with the story of FDR aide Anna Rosenberg; Gregg Ficery tracing the origin of the National Football League; Scott Shane chronicling the life of Thomas Smallwood, an African American who named the Underground Railroad and interviews from the 2015 Fort Plan Museum conference on the American Revolution.

On the scene that morning was one of the laundry’s founders, Franklin Robison of Gloversville who had started the business with Willard Smith decades earlier. 

Tragedy at the laundry

By Bob Cudmore

A steam pipe that broke in the boiler room of an Amsterdam laundry in 1947 claimed three lives, seriously injured another man and left Donald F. Lasher of Fort Johnson with indelible memories.

Lasher was a 19-year old truck driver working for contractor Adam Haberek on the expansion of the Robison & Smith laundry on West Main Street in Amsterdam on Wednesday, October 8, 1947.  A steam line with 250 pounds of pressure ran from a separate boiler room into the existing laundry.

On the scene that morning was one of the laundry’s founders, Franklin Robison of Gloversville who had started the business with Willard Smith decades earlier. 

Lasher said that Robison asked the power shovel operator, Steve “Smitty” Kaufman, “To trim off the projections hanging from the end of the wall.  Kaufman put the shovel under the wall, raised the whole wall off the ground and settled the wall down.”  Kaufman said he couldn’t “Get anything off.”  He removed the power shovel from the site.

Lasher said, “Mr. Haberek arrived to inspect the job.  At that moment Mr. Robison noted that dirt had crumbled from under the supporting wall.  Steam was starting to leak from the flanged joint in the line outside the building.”

Realizing the line would soon break, Robison sent boiler operator William Rule into the boiler room to shut down the system.  Robison followed him.  Another worker, DeMilt Quackenbush, and Lasher trailed behind.

Lasher said, “I stood by the side door and was wiping the closed door window to see the action outside when I suddenly found myself on the floor in a steam-filled room.  When the wall fell, the pipe had broken outside.  It swung down inside with the open end three feet from the floor.  Five inches of 250 pound steam was escaping into the room.”

Lasher continued, “I realize now the good Lord was with me for before me was light.  I crawled through the door that was letting in the light.  It had blown open enough for me to get through.  I escaped without a scratch.”

Lasher ran to the back entrance.  Quackenbush, 51 from Fort Hunter, tried desperately to get out but the green swinging doors opened inward.

“An arm came crashing through the window, extended slowly and slid back into the building never to be seen again,” Lasher said. 

Lasher’s truck was nearby.  He started the truck and forced the doors open with the truck’s bumper.  He parked the truck and ran back to the side entrance.

Lasher said, “Quackenbush made it to the back of the room but not out.  Mr. Robison wandered around in the room, trying to shut off the boilers.  Like the walking dead, he came out.”  Robison, 62, died two days later.

Rule, the boiler man who lived on Division Street in Amsterdam, came out and could not speak.  Lasher’s wife Helen later told her husband that Rule’s adrenaline brought him out of the building.  He died later that day.

The boilers were turned off although steam was still escaping as screaming sirens announced the arrival of firemen.  Quackenbush was dead when firemen found him inside.  Haberek was rescued, coming out supported on either side by firemen.

Lasher said, “He had found refuge in the runoff ditches along the walls of the boiler room where he had crouched in a fetal position.  His burns were limited to whatever skin had been exposed.  He didn’t totally recover for at least a year, when he went back to work.

A coroner’s inquest ruled the deaths of Quackenbush, Robison and Rule accidental.  Lasher said, “I escaped because I saw the light to clear outside air.  Thank you, God Almighty.”

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, September 30, 2023

57 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:08AM 

Schenectady County to honor brothers killed in WWII
SCHENECTADY — Growing up, AmyMarie Kehoe Lis never knew that her father had two uncles who were killed in action…

APD: Amsterdam man charged following domestic incident involving gun

AMSTERDAM — An Amsterdam man is facing multiple charges after allegedly threatening harm with a...

Milk Thistle Cafe and Creamery planned along Chuctanunda Creek in Amsterdam

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...near the end of the Civil War

This weekend in The Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder and hear on The Historians Sunday Focus on History-Storming Fort Fisher in the Civil War by Bob Cudmore

  We have raised $3735.00.  We still have a long way to go to reach our $7000 goal by year’s end.  Please donate online here: The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

Tragedy at the laundry

By Bob Cudmore

A steam pipe that broke in the boiler room of an Amsterdam laundry in 1947 claimed three lives, seriously injured another man and left Donald F. Lasher of Fort Johnson with indelible memories.

Lasher was a 19-year old truck driver working for contractor Adam Haberek on the expansion of the Robison & Smith laundry on West Main Street in Amsterdam on Wednesday, October 8, 1947.  A steam line with 250 pounds of pressure ran from a separate boiler room into the existing laundry.

On the scene that morning was one of the laundry’s founders, Franklin Robison of Gloversville who had started the business with Willard Smith decades earlier. 

Lasher said that Robison asked the power shovel operator, Steve “Smitty” Kaufman, “To trim off the projections hanging from the end of the wall.  Kaufman put the shovel under the wall, raised the whole wall off the ground and settled the wall down.”  Kaufman said he couldn’t “Get anything off.”  He removed the power shovel from the site.

Lasher said, “Mr. Haberek arrived to inspect the job.  At that moment Mr. Robison noted that dirt had crumbled from under the supporting wall.  Steam was starting to leak from the flanged joint in the line outside the building.”

Realizing the line would soon break, Robison sent boiler operator William Rule into the boiler room to shut down the system.  Robison followed him.  Another worker, DeMilt Quackenbush, and Lasher trailed behind.

Lasher said, “I stood by the side door and was wiping the closed door window to see the action outside when I suddenly found myself on the floor in a steam-filled room.  When the wall fell, the pipe had broken outside.  It swung down inside with the open end three feet from the floor.  Five inches of 250 pound steam was escaping into the room.”

Lasher continued, “I realize now the good Lord was with me for before me was light.  I crawled through the door that was letting in the light.  It had blown open enough for me to get through.  I escaped without a scratch.”

Lasher ran to the back entrance.  Quackenbush, 51 from Fort Hunter, tried desperately to get out but the green swinging doors opened inward.

“An arm came crashing through the window, extended slowly and slid back into the building never to be seen again,” Lasher said. 

Lasher’s truck was nearby.  He started the truck and forced the doors open with the truck’s bumper.  He parked the truck and ran back to the side entrance.

Lasher said, “Quackenbush made it to the back of the room but not out.  Mr. Robison wandered around in the room, trying to shut off the boilers.  Like the walking dead, he came out.”  Robison, 62, died two days later.

Rule, the boiler man who lived on Division Street in Amsterdam, came out and could not speak.  Lasher’s wife Helen later told her husband that Rule’s adrenaline brought him out of the building.  He died later that day.

The boilers were turned off although steam was still escaping as screaming sirens announced the arrival of firemen.  Quackenbush was dead when firemen found him inside.  Haberek was rescued, coming out supported on either side by firemen.

Lasher said, “He had found refuge in the runoff ditches along the walls of the boiler room where he had crouched in a fetal position.  His burns were limited to whatever skin had been exposed.  He didn’t totally recover for at least a year, when he went back to work.

A coroner’s inquest ruled the deaths of Quackenbush, Robison and Rule accidental.  Lasher said, “I escaped because I saw the light to clear outside air.  Thank you, God Almighty.”

Friday, September 29, 2023-Episode 494-Highlights edition #5-Christopher Gorham with the story of FDR aide Anna Rosenberg; Gregg Ficery tracing the origin of the National Football League; Scott Shane chronicling the life of Thomas Smallwood, an African American who named the Underground Railroad and interviews from the 2015 Fort Plan Museum conference on the American Revolution.

Saturday, September 30, 2023-From the archives- Episode 472-In Unearthed Meryl Frank tells the story of her cousin Frany Winter, a celebrated Yiddish actress in Vilna in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust.  Frank spent many years researching how her cousin Frany died.

Sunday, October 1, 2023-Focus on History-Storming Fort Fisher in the Civil War 

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, September 28, 2023

49 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:05AM 

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We recently received generous donations for the Historians Podcast yearly fund drive from John Woodward, an anonymous donor, Bob Burns and Thanks to Scott Lorenz.  We have raised $3735.00.  We still have a long way to go to reach our $7000 goal by year’s end.  Please donate online here: The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

Wednesday, September 27, 2023-From the Archives- Episode 99, February 21, 2016-David Fiske is author of “Solomon Northup’s Kindred: The Kidnapping of Free Citizens before the Civil War.”

Thursday, September 28, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Tragedy at the laundry 

Friday, September 29, 2023-Episode 494-Highlights edition #5-Christopher Gorham with the story of FDR aide Anna Rosenberg; Gregg Ficery tracing the origin of the National Football League; Scott Shane chronicling the life of Thomas Smallwood, an African American who named the Underground Railroad and interviews from the 2015 Fort Plan Museum conference on the American Revolution.

In 1954 city had a celebration

By Bob Cudmore

   In July 1954, Amsterdam observed its 150th birthday with a ten-division parade.

   The Sesquicentennial, as it was called, was a joyous and raucous event that took place at the beginning of the end of the city’s prominence as a carpet-manufacturing center.

   One float in the parade was a flying carpet. Within a year, Bigelow-Sanford, one of the city’s two major carpet makers, was moving out of town.

   The sesquicentennial booklet contains a description of a dramatic spectacle called “Horizons” that played for seven nights that July at Mohawk Mills Park, today’s Shuttleworth Park. 

   Starting with the Mohawk Nation, the pageant showed scenes through Amsterdam’s history through the end of World War II with an optimistic conclusion about the future.  The final scene predicted that America is “certain to make the Atomic Age the age of Utopia.”

       The booklet features pictures of two queens of the celebration.  Dorothy Wozniak was Miss Amsterdam Sesquicentennial and Nancy O’Meara was Miss Mohawk Valley.

   One of the features of the 1954 celebration was creation of over 60 neighborhood chapters of the Brothers of the Brush, who did not shave, and Sisters of the Swish, who were long dresses.  Amsterdam’s many taverns were among the sponsors of these social clubs that held a kangaroo court, dances and otherwise engaged in revelry. 

   According to Tony Pacelli’s history book, “Past and Present,” the kangaroo court was at the corner of East Main Street and Vrooman Avenue.

   “If any member broke a rule, such as shaving or a change in costume they went before a judge and jury and were fined,” Pacelli wrote.  “I recall a friend of mine was to buy a keg of ale, another bought candy for the youngsters.”

   Harriet DePaulo was chairwoman of the Sisters and the chairman of the Brothers was Clement Ciulik. 

   The names of the chapters were indicative of the high spirits of the sesquicentennial season, which lasted about ten weeks and included a huge parade. 

   Sisters of the Swish chapters included the Swishers of Veddersburg, Jezebelles, Dizzy Dames, Flora Dorettes of Florida and the Gabby Ups.    

   Organizers produced a 50-cent souvenir program for the sesquicentennial.  There are fascinating stories in the sesquicentennial book giving details on businesses and institutions that existed in 1954.

       One advertisement entitled “This Is My Story” tells of Felix Dylong’s meat market at 39 Milton Avenue:

       “I came to Amsterdam in December, 1906.  As a young boy I looked for the golden opportunity, as did millions of others.  My first job was at the Sanford Carpet Mills.  I worked sixty hours a week at ten cents an hour.

       “I entered the U.S. Army March 11, 1914 and served through the Mexican trouble and World War I.  I was discharged in June 1920 with the rank of first sergeant.

       “Being the son of a small business family, I always dreamed of one day owning my own business.  In 1924, I bought the meat market business from my former employer.  In 1931, I purchased the building and expanded the store.  From 1924 to 1954, the store has been remodeled three times.  My older son, Felix, Junior, on completion of his military service is a partner in the business: Dylong & Son, dean in making Polish kielbasa.  Don’t just guess, buy the best.  Through our doors pass the nicest people in the world and we do appreciate them very much.”

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, September 26, 2023

56 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 4:12AM 

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