Please contribute to the 2023 Historians Podcast fund drive. Please donate online at The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  Thank you and on the way to Episode#500 this fall. (November 3, 2023)

The hero was a shoemaker

By Bob Cudmore

An immigrant from Alsace Lorraine in Europe settled in Canajoharie, learned shoemaking and then earned the Medal of Honor in the Civil War. According to a family history, Franz Joubert arrived in America 1858. When he applied to be a citizen in Fonda, officials interpreted his name as Shubert. From then on he was known as Frank Shubert.

Shubert worked for a year on a farm in Palatine Bridge. He later learned the shoemaking trade in Canajoharie. He enlisted in the Union Army as a private on August 15, 1861. He served in Company E of the 43rd regiment of the New York Infantry Volunteers, also known as the Albany Rifles.

Shubert fought in virtually every major campaign, survived several wounds, and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his valor during the Battle of Petersburg, Virginia in April, 1865. Then Sergeant Shubert captured two Confederate flags or markers.  Shubert was a Second Lieutenant when mustered out of the regiment in June 1865.

After the war, Shubert ran a shoe store in Canajoharie. He married Cecelia Lettice in 1868. They lived on Cliff Street and had four children, including one daughter.  In 1911 their daughter, Bertelle, married Edward Shineman, who went on to become the chairman of the board of Beech Nut.  

Frank Shubert died in 1920 and is buried at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Canajoharie. Edward Shineman, who died in 1968, is also buried at Prospect Hill.

Information for this story was provided by Ed Archinal of Amsterdam, “Shubert was the brother of my great grandmother. The store he sold shoes from still stands on Church Street in Canajoharie.”

RIVER ISLANDS

At least some of the islands in the Mohawk River in Montgomery County are named and some have been used for farming and recreation over the years. Historian Hugh Donlon wrote that Amsterdam had claim to being the first broom making location in New York because of broomcorn grown on islands and flats of the Mohawk River. Amsterdam residents used to row to the islands for summer picnics years ago. 

John Naple, a retired teacher who has a great interest in the outdoors, wrote, "Downstream from the Mohawk River bridge in Amsterdam can be seen Davey and Giording Islands. Upstream, near Amsterdam's Lock 11 can be seen Bronson Island.” The names come from Google maps.

The U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps name Pepper Island in the Mohawk across from Fort Johnson and Swart Island near the Schenectady County border, in the area of Swart Hill Road. 

Naple asked, “Does anyone own these islands? Were they there before the river was harnessed to form the Barge Canal in 1918?”

YANTAPUCHABERG AND TOUAREUNA

Historian Nelson Greene and a travel book put out by Knox Gelatin called “The Old Mohawk Turnpike” make reference to Yantaphuchaberg, the impressive 1,100 foot hill on the south shore of the Mohawk in Rotterdam opposite Hoffman’s. The name may mean “John-ear-of-corn-hill.” On the opposite north shore of the river is the slightly smaller Touareuna hill. One source says Touareuna is a Mohawk word meaning neighboring hills.

Wednesday, August 2, 2023-From the Archives- Episode 115, June 10, 2016-Historic Site Manager Wade Wells on “The Price of Loyalty: The Confiscation of Johnson Hall in Johnstown” at the start of the American Revolution.

Thursday, August 3, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Great graves of Upstate New York

Friday, August 4, 2023- Episode 486-Bob Cudmore has Focus on History columns on soda bottlers, walking for sport, a submarine rescue, Amsterdam’s clock tower building and more.

Mohawk Valley  Weather, Tuesday, August 1, 2023

A great 59 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:22AM

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Monday, July 31, 2023-Story behind the story-Amsterdam’s rye bakeries.

Bob Cudmore "A Sunday Walker"

Good weather, thinking about the next Gazette story

Tuesday, August 1, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Hero was a shoemaker

An immigrant from Alsace Lorraine in Europe settled in Canajoharie, learned shoemaking and then earned the Medal of Honor in the Civil War. According to a family history, Franz Joubert arrived in America 1858. When he applied to be a citizen in Fonda, officials interpreted his name as Shubert. From then on he was known as Frank Shubert.

Wednesday, August 2, 2023-From the Archives- Episode 115, June 10, 2016-Historic Site Manager Wade Wells on “The Price of Loyalty: The Confiscation of Johnson Hall in Johnstown” at the start of the American Revolution.

Thursday, August 3, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Great graves of Upstate New York

Friday, August 4, 2023- Episode 486-Bob Cudmore has Focus on History columns on soda bottlers, walking for sport, a submarine rescue, Amsterdam’s clock tower building and more.

By Bob Cudmore

   Rotterdam reader Paul Miknavich proposes another column on Amsterdam’s bakeries.

   Miknavich said, “When I was a teenager I used to help my dad deliver groceries from my uncle's store, the Forbes Street Market. One of our duties was picking up the warm loaves of rye and pumpernickel (from Maldutis Bakery) for re-sale. Stuff was fantastic, never had any that came close, I suspect it may have been sourdough. Crust like leather and crumb like a damp sponge.  Legend has it he took his recipes to the grave.”

   Maldutis Bakery was founded in 1926 in a section of Amsterdam’s East End where many Lithuanian immigrants lived. The founder was Lithuanian Peter Maldutis,

   According to Maldutis relative Dave Northrup, Chuck Maldutis was the last to take over the family business in 1947.

   Chuck died in 1967 at age 51, a short time after suffering a hemorrhage while driving back to Amsterdam from a Schenectady bread delivery.  Maldutis Bakery closed in 1968.

   Northrup said, "Nabisco wanted to purchase the bread recipes from (Chuck’s widow) Jean.  Despite several offers, she steadfastly refused to sell, and the recipes died with her when she passed in 2013.”

   Park Hill native Tom Pikul wrote that Third Avenue in his neighborhood adjacent to the Bigelow Sanford carpet mills was baker's lane.

   Park Hill had a large population of Polish Americans a generation ago who patronized Belmont Bakery, Allen's and SD Bakery.

   Ray Piech operated the Belmont Bakery after World War II, specializing in rye bread but also making wedding and birthday cakes.

   Miknavich said, “Belmont was the place for sweet goods - excellent Danish pastry, all

good cakes and cookies.”

   Pikul said, "He had the most delicious rye in town in my humble opinion.”  Piech died in his nineties in Florida.

   Allen's Bakery was at Third Avenue and Grand Street.

  Pikul said, "They had an excellent, very tasty rye loaf and were also known for their delightful pastries, especially the spice cake.”

   The third bakery was SD, at Third Avenue and Park Street.  Pikul said the bakery was run by a Polish family and made excellent rye bread.

   John Vidulich, a native of Austria, operated Vidulich’s Bakery at 63 Guy Park Avenue.  During the Depression he would give his youngest daughter the key to the shop when St. Mary’s played basketball at home.

   After each game, his daughter Virginia would lead a parade of ball players and girlfriends to the bakeshop where they enjoyed the treats inside.

   “It helped with my popularity,” said Vidulich.

   Izzy Demsky, who became the actor Kirk Douglas, came in to the bakery frequently for his favorite doughnuts.

   Miknavich said he enjoyed Streeter’s Bakery on Market Street hill, “My experience with Streeter's was limited.  It was located a few

doors away from Joe's market on Market Street.

   “Our family mostly got two products there; One I believe was called White Mountain Rolls which we used for hamburger buns when going on picnics to the state parks up north on Route 30, so it was in-and-out quick.

   “Now that I'm thinking about it, they also had really good jelly doughnuts.”

   My parents were regular customers of Paul’s uncle Ray Miknavich of Forbes Street Market.

   My mother grew up on Forbes Street and my father lived nearby on Eagle Street. 

   Mom made a list my father would take to the market after he worked the day shift as a weaver at Mohawk Carpet in the East End.

   This may be squeamish inducing but the list often included calf kidneys.  Our cat enjoyed them and so did we in the traditional English dish beef and kidney pie.

The Bob Cudmore conversation with Mark Dawidziak, all about Poe.

One of the many Historians podcasts on the way to Episode #500 this November

Episode 462-Author Mark Dawidziak investigates Edgar Allan Poe’s strange death in Baltimore, and revisits the moments of his storm-tossed life in his book A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe.

Please contribute to the 2023 Historians Podcast fund drive. Please donate online at The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  Thank you and on the way to Episode#500 this fall.

Mohawk Valley  Weather, Monday, July 31, 2023

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

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

By Bob Cudmore

   Rotterdam reader Paul Miknavich proposes another column on Amsterdam’s bakeries.

   Miknavich said, “When I was a teenager I used to help my dad deliver groceries from my uncle's store, the Forbes Street Market. One of our duties was picking up the warm loaves of rye and pumpernickel (from Maldutis Bakery) for re-sale. Stuff was fantastic, never had any that came close, I suspect it may have been sourdough. Crust like leather and crumb like a damp sponge.  Legend has it he took his recipes to the grave.”

   Maldutis Bakery was founded in 1926 in a section of Amsterdam’s East End where many Lithuanian immigrants lived. The founder was Lithuanian Peter Maldutis,

   According to Maldutis relative Dave Northrup, Chuck Maldutis was the last to take over the family business in 1947.

   Chuck died in 1967 at age 51, a short time after suffering a hemorrhage while driving back to Amsterdam from a Schenectady bread delivery.  Maldutis Bakery closed in 1968.

   Northrup said, "Nabisco wanted to purchase the bread recipes from (Chuck’s widow) Jean.  Despite several offers, she steadfastly refused to sell, and the recipes died with her when she passed in 2013.”

   Park Hill native Tom Pikul wrote that Third Avenue in his neighborhood adjacent to the Bigelow Sanford carpet mills was baker's lane.

   Park Hill had a large population of Polish Americans a generation ago who patronized Belmont Bakery, Allen's and SD Bakery.

   Ray Piech operated the Belmont Bakery after World War II, specializing in rye bread but also making wedding and birthday cakes.

   Miknavich said, “Belmont was the place for sweet goods - excellent Danish pastry, all

good cakes and cookies.”

   Pikul said, "He had the most delicious rye in town in my humble opinion.”  Piech died in his nineties in Florida.

   Allen's Bakery was at Third Avenue and Grand Street.

  Pikul said, "They had an excellent, very tasty rye loaf and were also known for their delightful pastries, especially the spice cake.”

   The third bakery was SD, at Third Avenue and Park Street.  Pikul said the bakery was run by a Polish family and made excellent rye bread.

   John Vidulich, a native of Austria, operated Vidulich’s Bakery at 63 Guy Park Avenue.  During the Depression he would give his youngest daughter the key to the shop when St. Mary’s played basketball at home.

   After each game, his daughter Virginia would lead a parade of ball players and girlfriends to the bakeshop where they enjoyed the treats inside.

   “It helped with my popularity,” said Vidulich.

   Izzy Demsky, who became the actor Kirk Douglas, came in to the bakery frequently for his favorite doughnuts.

   Miknavich said he enjoyed Streeter’s Bakery on Market Street hill, “My experience with Streeter's was limited.  It was located a few

doors away from Joe's market on Market Street.

   “Our family mostly got two products there; One I believe was called White Mountain Rolls which we used for hamburger buns when going on picnics to the state parks up north on Route 30, so it was in-and-out quick.

   “Now that I'm thinking about it, they also had really good jelly doughnuts.”

   My parents were regular customers of Paul’s uncle Ray Miknavich of Forbes Street Market.

   My mother grew up on Forbes Street and my father lived nearby on Eagle Street. 

   Mom made a list my father would take to the market after he worked the day shift as a weaver at Mohawk Carpet in the East End.

   This may be squeamish inducing but the list often included calf kidneys.  Our cat enjoyed them and so did we in the traditional English dish beef and kidney pie.

Monday, July 31, 2023-Story behind the story-Amsterdam’s rye bakeries.

Tuesday, August 1, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Hero was a shoemaker

Wednesday, August 2, 2023-From the Archives- Episode 115, June 10, 2016-Historic Site Manager Wade Wells on “The Price of Loyalty: The Confiscation of Johnson Hall in Johnstown” at the start of the American Revolution.

Thursday, August 3, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Great graves of Upstate New York

Friday, August 4, 2023- Episode 486-Bob Cudmore has Focus on History columns on soda bottlers, walking for sport, a submarine rescue, Amsterdam’s clock tower building and more.

Please contribute to the 2023 Historians Podcast fund drive. Please donate online at The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  Thank you and on the way to Episode#500 this fall.

On the road to our 500th episode.  Larry Gooley wrote the history of Adirondack serial killer Robert Garrow.  Gooley was interviewed in March 2015 on Episode 49 of The Historians Podcast.

Mohawk Valley  Weekend Weather, Sunday, July 30, 2023

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

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Saturday, July 29, 2023-From the archives-Episode 155, March 17, 2017-Christina Baker Kline discusses her historical novel “A Piece of the World.”  The book deals with artist Andrew Wyeth and Christina Olson, pictured in a provocative 1948 painting, “Christina’s World.”  Kline was author of the best-selling historical novel, “Orphan Train.”

From the New York Times best-selling author of the smash best seller Orphan Train, a stunning and atmospheric novel of friendship, passion, and art, inspired by Andrew Wyeth's mysterious and iconic painting Christina's World.

"Later he told me that he'd been afraid to show me the painting. He thought I wouldn't like the way he portrayed me: dragging myself across the field, fingers clutching dirt, my legs twisted behind. The arid moonscape of wheatgrass and timothy. That dilapidated house in the distance, looming up like a secret that won't stay hidden."

Sunday, July 30, 2023 -Focus on History-Amsterdam’s rye bakeries

Rotterdam reader Paul Miknavich proposes another column on Amsterdam’s bakeries.

This Weekend in The Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder
Bob Cudmore Focus on History-Amsterdam’s rye bakeries
Posted here on The Historians Sunday

Please contribute to the 2023 Historians Podcast fund drive. Please donate online at The Historians Podcast, organized by Bob Cudmore  or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  Thank you and on the way to Episode#500 this fall.

On the road to our 500th episode.  Larry Gooley wrote the history of Adirondack serial killer Robert Garrow.  Gooley was interviewed in March 2015 on Episode 49 of The Historians Podcast.

Mohawk Valley  Weekend Weather, Saturday, July 29, 2023

75 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:46AM

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Fort Plain Museum chairman Norm Bollen has announced that the museum has reached an agreement with a private collector to purchase an original portrait of Sir William Johnson painted in 1756.

“We are very excited to add this historic painting to our collections” said Bollen. The purchase of this painting is in line with our ongoing mission to preserve and collect the 18th century history of the Mohawk Valley for future generations to learn from and enjoy. The painting was originally owned by Robert Chambers, the author of more than 70 novels and short stories, many of which were about the Mohawk Valley in the American Revolution, with several turned into popular silent movies of that era.

The painting, currently on loan to the museum, will remain on exhibition while the museum raises the money to complete the transaction. Contributions supporting the purchase may be sent to the Fort Plain Museum, P.O. Box 324, Fort Plain, NY 13339.

By Bob Cudmore

An Amsterdam native who went on to be a patent attorney has contributed recollections of the former Castler’s Market from the days when the store was at 113 East Main Street.

Henry S. Miller, Jr., who lives now in Massachusetts, worked at Castler’s starting in 1948.  Miller’s father, Henry S. Miller, was a salesman for H.J. Heinz and was known to grocers as “the pickle man.”  The father became friends with Charles Castler.

 Eventually, the elder Miller worked weekends at the market and helped his son get a job delivering groceries on the weekend with Jack Davis in old-fashioned bushel baskets. 

“Typically, I would knock on the customer’s door and be invited into the kitchen, empty the contents of the basket on the table, and collect the fee,” Miller wrote. “Charlie was generous.  Every week, I would deliver several baskets to poor families and was instructed not to collect the fee.  When I came in from the run on Saturday afternoon, I would help my father make the hamburger.”

Miller said that Castler had a “magic potion” to add to hamburger so it would stay red all week.  Their motto was “not the cheapest, but the best.”  

“Jack Davis is a story in itself,” Miller said.  “He was much more comfortable driving a team of horses than driving a panel truck delivering groceries. He never understood the gearshift selection and would start up in the middle of Bell Hill in second gear, slipping the clutch until the vehicle finally moved.  I was about 14 at the time and I would have to remind him to shift in first gear.

In the wintertime when it snowed, we put chains on and he would simply spin the wheels until the chains broke or the truck moved.

“Jack lived up on Perth Road near the intersection of Log City Road. Another thing about Jack, he smoked a pipe and used Blue Boy tobacco.  Blue Boy was only sold in two places in town; one was Whelan’s Drug at the corner of Chuctanunda and Main Street.  The tobacco looked like some of the shavings my daughter uses in her hamster cage and smelled about the same.  Jack would spill more than he got into his pipe.  It was all over the inside of the truck.  Incidentally, the truck had only one seat and I sat on a wooden milk carton next to Jack, long before seatbelts.

“There was another meat cutter, Bill Barbuto. After he left, a meat cutter by the name of Fox worked there for a while, but he would slip out the back door several times a day and go over to the hotel on Washington Street for a pack of cigarettes.  The problem was, he was a good meat cutter.

I also remember Floyd Castler as Uncle Floyd and a small fellow named Les.  Les lived with his family on Market Street over a pool hall, if I recall.  Sadly enough, Les and his family lost all their worldly goods one night in a fire.  

“I remember Mike Sagarese had a vegetable concession in the front of the store and on the sidewalk in the summer.  He had a young fellow working for him, my age, named Herb Elliott. Herb and I had a friendly rivalry going because he played basketball for Amsterdam High School and I played for St. Mary's.”

Friday, July 28, 2023-Episode 485-On the road to our 500th episode.  Larry Gooley wrote the history of Adirondack serial killer Robert Garrow.  Gooley was interviewed in March 2015 on Episode 49 of The Historians Podcast.

Saturday, July 29, 2023-From the archives-Episode 155, March 17, 2017-Christina Baker Kline discusses her historical novel “A Piece of the World.”  The book deals with artist Andrew Wyeth and Christina Olson, pictured in a provocative 1948 painting, “Christina’s World.”  Kline was author of the best-selling historical novel, “Orphan Train.”

Sunday, July 30, 2023 -Focus on History-Amsterdam’s rye bakeries

Mohawk Valley  Weather, Thursday, July 27, 2023

75 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 5:59AM

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Thursday, July 27, 2023

Castler’s Market in  Amsterdam 

An Amsterdam native who went on to be a patent attorney has contributed recollections of the former Castler’s Market from the days when the store was at 113 East Main Street.

Friday, July 28, 2023-Episode 485-On the road to our 500th episode.  Larry Gooley wrote the history of Adirondack serial killer Robert Garrow.  Gooley was interviewed in March 2015 on Episode 49 of The Historians Podcast.

In the summer of 1973, a serial killer's rampage in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State changed the region forever. Innocent visitors and campers were brutally knifed to death, terrifying thousands of residents and vacationers. A peaceful part of America was lost, as people armed themselves and locked their doors, living and sleeping in fear. It was a reign of terror the likes of which the mountains had never seen. And it was all the vile handiwork of one very troubled, dangerous man: Robert Francis Garrow. But there is much more to Garrow's story than a series of murders.

Mohawk Valley  Weather, Wednesday, July 26, 2023

66 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:17AM

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Maldutis Bakery known for rye

By Bob Cudmore

   The choice at Maldutis Bakery in Amsterdam was between light rye and pumpernickel. 

   David Northrup, a relative of the owners, said the seedless light rye loaf “was oblong in shape and had a small white paper label glued to one end that read simply ‘Maldutis Bakery’ in green ink.” 

   The pumpernickel contained caraway seeds, according to Northrup, “was sold in a large round loaf, and was very sour tasting.”

   Northrup added, “I don't think I ever saw anything other than loaves of those two breads displayed in the two countertop glass cases.”

   The bakery was at 220 East Main Street at Dean Street, on the north side of East Main and west side of Dean. 

   Victor Orante, one of Northrup’s uncles on his mother’s side, had married a sister of Jean Shatas Maldutis.  Jean handled the retail store; her husband operated the bakery.  Northrup would be dispatched by his mother to buy Maldutis bread.

   Northrup said Jean knew who he was, “But, alas, the remote family connection never got me a discount on the bread!”

   Maldutis Bakery was founded in 1926 in a section of the East End where many Lithuanian immigrants lived.  The founder was a Lithuanian native, Peter Maldutis, who previously worked as a baker in Watervliet.

The Historians with Bob Cudmore, Episode #500 on the way Friday, November 3, 2023

https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022  Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. Thanks

   Maldutis married Anna Valukonis of Amsterdam.  They had a son, Charles (known as Chuck) born in 1916 when the family lived in Watervliet and a younger daughter, Frances, who married a man named Ben Rocher.

   Northrup said, “On two occasions in the spring of 1932 the independent bakeries in the city took out ads in the Recorder asking residents to buy only breads and other baked goods from the small bakeries in Amsterdam which were apparently losing business to larger commercial bakeries.”

   A city directory published in 1932 listed 17 bakers in Amsterdam.  In addition to Peter Maldutis were Raffaele Pepe on the South Side, Szymon Wojnar on Park Hill, John Vidulich on Guy Park Avenue, and several others.  Some establishments only listed business names: Federal, Home Dairy and New York Star. 

   Peter’s son Chuck and Jean Shatas of Amsterdam married in 1939.  They had no children.  Peter died in October 1945.  He had been ill for some time but his death was not expected. 

   Chuck took over the family business in 1947 and like his parents, he and Jean lived behind the bakery.  Chuck and Jean had a summer home at Galway Lake.

   Maldutis’s employed several bakers over the years and in the 1940s the shop closed for a couple weeks each July to give employees a vacation.  Their bread was sold wholesale to McLane’s Deli in Schenectady, 

   Chuck died in September 1967 at age 51, a short time after suffering a hemorrhage while driving back to Amsterdam from a Schenectady bread delivery. 

   The family story was that he died from cancer that may have been caused by inhaling flour dust.  Maldutis Bakery closed in 1968.

   Northrup said, “Once the bakery closed and the bread was no longer available, Nabisco wanted to purchase the bread recipes from Jean.  Despite several offers, she steadfastly refused to sell, and the recipes died with her when she passed in 2013.

   “There are many of us still around who grew up in the East End and fondly remember the bakery whose only form of direct advertising was a small paper label affixed to the loaves. Maldutis baked and sold only ‘European Style’ breads for over forty years to both local and regional customers, and was well enough known in the business to have Nabisco, a major US company by the 1960s, desire its recipes.”

Wednesday, July 26, 2023-From the Archives- Friday, April 12, 2019-Episode 261-Richard Ratajak, now 87, looks back on his life as a child in Amsterdam, a soldier in the Korean War, and a priest in training who served at Auriesville Shrine.  Ratajak left the priesthood to marry the woman he loved and held jobs in state government as he gradually lost his eyesight.  He served on the board of RISE, WMHT’s radio service for the blind.

Thursday, July 27, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Castler’s Market in  Amsterdam 

Friday, July 28, 2023-Episode 485-On the road to our 500th episode.  Larry Gooley wrote the history of Adirondack serial killer Robert Garrow.  Gooley was interviewed in March 2015 on Episode 49 of The Historians Podcast.

In the summer of 1973, a serial killer's rampage in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State changed the region forever. Innocent visitors and campers were brutally knifed to death, terrifying thousands of residents and vacationers. A peaceful part of America was lost, as people armed themselves and locked their doors, living and sleeping in fear. It was a reign of terror the likes of which the mountains had never seen. And it was all the vile handiwork of one very troubled, dangerous man: Robert Francis Garrow. But there is much more to Garrow's story than a series of murders.

Posted by JSeelow

YouTube

Abandoned Mohawk Carpet Mill
June 10, 2017
Abandoned Mohawk Carpet Mill in Amsterdam, NY

Mohawk Valley  Weather, Tuesday, July 25, 2023

64 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:02AM

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Monday, July 24, 2023-Story behind the story-Night time food wagons in Amsterdam

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Amsterdam’s Maldutis Bakery

The choice at Maldutis Bakery in Amsterdam was between light rye and pumpernickel. David Northrup, a relative of the owners, said the seedless light rye loaf “was oblong in shape and had a small white paper label glued to one end that read simply ‘Maldutis Bakery’ in green ink.” 

Wednesday, July 26, 2023-From the Archives- Friday, April 12, 2019-Episode 261-Richard Ratajak, now 87, looks back on his life as a child in Amsterdam, a soldier in the Korean War, and a priest in training who served at Auriesville Shrine.  Ratajak left the priesthood to marry the woman he loved and held jobs in state government as he gradually lost his eyesight.  He served on the board of RISE, WMHT’s radio service for the blind.

Thursday, July 27, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Castler’s Market in  Amsterdam 

Friday, July 28, 2023-Episode 485-On the road to our 500th episode.  Larry Gooley wrote the history of Adirondack serial killer Robert Garrow.  Gooley was interviewed in March 2015 on Episode 49 of The Historians Podcast.

In the summer of 1973, a serial killer's rampage in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State changed the region forever. Innocent visitors and campers were brutally knifed to death, terrifying thousands of residents and vacationers. A peaceful part of America was lost, as people armed themselves and locked their doors, living and sleeping in fear. It was a reign of terror the likes of which the mountains had never seen. And it was all the vile handiwork of one very troubled, dangerous man: Robert Francis Garrow. But there is much more to Garrow's story than a series of murders.

The Historians with Bob Cudmore, Episode #500 on the way Friday, November 3, 2023

https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022  Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. 

Night lunch wagons were popular a century ago

By Bob Cudmore

   Recorder columnist Hugh Donlon, born in 1896, fondly remembered the end of the era of downtown Amsterdam’s night lunch wagons.

   Two lunch wagons were drawn by horses each afternoon, one to Church and East Main Streets and the other to Market and West Main.  The wagons were owned by the McNally family, who stored them in sheds near what is now the post office on Church Street.

   In his 1980 book “Annals of a Mill Town,” Donlon wrote, “Wafted on the summer zephyr or swirled fiercely by the winter’s gale, the onionized fragrance of a McNally western egg sandwich could be sensed blocks away.”  A western egg sandwich cost a dime; a piece of pie was a nickel. 

   Eat-in or take out lunch wagons, predecessors of today’s food trucks, first appeared in Providence, Rhode Island in the 1870s. 

   According to an article by Joyce K. Schiller of the Norman Rockwell Museum, the temperance movement sometimes sponsored these mobile eateries as a way to keep hungry working people out of saloons at night.

   William McNally from Hudson, Massachusetts, established the first night lunch wagons in Amsterdam during the 1890s.

   “The business thrived from the outset,” according to McNally’s 1944 obituary, “Chiefly because of the industriousness of the originator and the sincere confidence of the public which he quickly gained.”

   Early in the twentieth century William McNally turned the operation over to his relatives, mainly John McNally, who may have been William’s cousin.  William continued as owner and frequently visited Amsterdam. 

   Some restaurant proprietors opposed the mobile eateries.  An attempt to ban the two McNally wagons and a third mobile eatery owned by William Cooper failed to pass the Amsterdam common council in 1904.  Cooper parked his wagon on East Main Street near the local trolley waiting room.

   The newspaper reported that McNally paid twenty-five dollars in local taxes, said to be as much as was paid by businesses with brick and mortar locations.

   William McNally was tapped to co-manage the restaurant at Amsterdam’s Central Hotel in 1906 and the Recorder reported he was picked because his wagons “have come to be known all over the state for the quality of food they put out.”

   On a below zero Valentine’s Day in 1916 this lunch wagon story was reported in the Recorder, “Traffic on the Main and Market Hill divisions of the trolley line was halted for half an hour due to difficulty experienced in getting one of John McNally’s night lunch wagons in its customary station at the corner of Market and West Main Streets.”

   On June 24, 1920 a worker’s lighted cigarette accidentally ignited gasoline being poured into a tank of one of McNally’s wagons in its Church Street shed.  Both wagons, called beaneries in the story, were destroyed in the fire, the shed collapsed and damage was estimated at $6,000.  A kitchen used to prepare food in the building was damaged. 

   But the McNally wagons rolled on.  As automobile traffic increased, the wagons finally disappeared in July 1926 after the death of John McNally.

   For many years Matty Curran was chef at the Church Street wagon.  Curran later operated Matty’s Lunch on West Main Street.  In late 1936 he disappeared from his Amsterdam rooming house and died three months later after being found wandering in Birmingham, Alabama, suffering from pneumonia.  There was speculation he was the victim of amnesia.

   In 1951 another former lunch wagon chef named Charles Munsey died in Amsterdam at age 91.  After the wagons closed, Munsey held other cooking jobs then worked for retailer Montgomery Ward.  His nickname from his cooking days was Charley Beans. 

Posted by JSeelow

YouTube

Abandoned Mohawk Carpet Mill
June 10, 2017
Abandoned Mohawk Carpet Mill in Amsterdam, NY

Mohawk Valley  Weather, Monday, July 23, 2023

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

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

The Historians with Bob Cudmore, Episode #500 on the way Friday, November 3, 2023

https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022  Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. 

Night lunch wagons were popular a century ago

By Bob Cudmore

   Recorder columnist Hugh Donlon, born in 1896, fondly remembered the end of the era of downtown Amsterdam’s night lunch wagons.

   Two lunch wagons were drawn by horses each afternoon, one to Church and East Main Streets and the other to Market and West Main.  The wagons were owned by the McNally family, who stored them in sheds near what is now the post office on Church Street.

   In his 1980 book “Annals of a Mill Town,” Donlon wrote, “Wafted on the summer zephyr or swirled fiercely by the winter’s gale, the onionized fragrance of a McNally western egg sandwich could be sensed blocks away.”  A western egg sandwich cost a dime; a piece of pie was a nickel. 

   Eat-in or take out lunch wagons, predecessors of today’s food trucks, first appeared in Providence, Rhode Island in the 1870s. 

   According to an article by Joyce K. Schiller of the Norman Rockwell Museum, the temperance movement sometimes sponsored these mobile eateries as a way to keep hungry working people out of saloons at night.

   William McNally from Hudson, Massachusetts, established the first night lunch wagons in Amsterdam during the 1890s.

   “The business thrived from the outset,” according to McNally’s 1944 obituary, “Chiefly because of the industriousness of the originator and the sincere confidence of the public which he quickly gained.”

   Early in the twentieth century William McNally turned the operation over to his relatives, mainly John McNally, who may have been William’s cousin.  William continued as owner and frequently visited Amsterdam. 

   Some restaurant proprietors opposed the mobile eateries.  An attempt to ban the two McNally wagons and a third mobile eatery owned by William Cooper failed to pass the Amsterdam common council in 1904.  Cooper parked his wagon on East Main Street near the local trolley waiting room.

   The newspaper reported that McNally paid twenty-five dollars in local taxes, said to be as much as was paid by businesses with brick and mortar locations.

   William McNally was tapped to co-manage the restaurant at Amsterdam’s Central Hotel in 1906 and the Recorder reported he was picked because his wagons “have come to be known all over the state for the quality of food they put out.”

   On a below zero Valentine’s Day in 1916 this lunch wagon story was reported in the Recorder, “Traffic on the Main and Market Hill divisions of the trolley line was halted for half an hour due to difficulty experienced in getting one of John McNally’s night lunch wagons in its customary station at the corner of Market and West Main Streets.”

   On June 24, 1920 a worker’s lighted cigarette accidentally ignited gasoline being poured into a tank of one of McNally’s wagons in its Church Street shed.  Both wagons, called beaneries in the story, were destroyed in the fire, the shed collapsed and damage was estimated at $6,000.  A kitchen used to prepare food in the building was damaged. 

   But the McNally wagons rolled on.  As automobile traffic increased, the wagons finally disappeared in July 1926 after the death of John McNally.

   For many years Matty Curran was chef at the Church Street wagon.  Curran later operated Matty’s Lunch on West Main Street.  In late 1936 he disappeared from his Amsterdam rooming house and died three months later after being found wandering in Birmingham, Alabama, suffering from pneumonia.  There was speculation he was the victim of amnesia.

   In 1951 another former lunch wagon chef named Charles Munsey died in Amsterdam at age 91.  After the wagons closed, Munsey held other cooking jobs then worked for retailer Montgomery Ward.  His nickname from his cooking days was Charley Beans. 

Monday, July 24, 2023-Story behind the story-Night time food wagons in Amsterdam

Tuesday, July 25, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Amsterdam’s Maldutis Bakery

Wednesday, July 26, 2023-From the Archives- Friday, April 12, 2019-Episode 261-Richard Ratajak, now 87, looks back on his life as a child in Amsterdam, a soldier in the Korean War, and a priest in training who served at Auriesville Shrine.  Ratajak left the priesthood to marry the woman he loved and held jobs in state government as he gradually lost his eyesight.  He served on the board of RISE, WMHT’s radio service for the blind.

Thursday, July 27, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Castler’s Market in  Amsterdam 

Friday, July 28, 2023-Episode 485-On the road to our 500th episode.  Larry Gooley wrote the history of Adirondack serial killer Robert Garrow.  Gooley was interviewed in March 2015 on Episode 49 of The Historians Podcast.

In the summer of 1973, a serial killer's rampage in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State changed the region forever. Innocent visitors and campers were brutally knifed to death, terrifying thousands of residents and vacationers. A peaceful part of America was lost, as people armed themselves and locked their doors, living and sleeping in fear. It was a reign of terror the likes of which the mountains had never seen. And it was all the vile handiwork of one very troubled, dangerous man: Robert Francis Garrow. But there is much more to Garrow's story than a series of murders.

The Historians with Bob Cudmore, Episode #500 on the way this November

You may donate online at https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022  Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  You may give anonymously and no contribution is too big or too small. We’ve now raised 3210 dollars, over 45% of our $7000 goal for the year.

Episode 484-Lorissa Rinehart has written a biography of groundbreaking female photojournalist and war correspondent Dickey Chapelle titled First to the Front.

North Chuctanunda Creek, Amsterdam, NY - Whitewater Kayaking

Posted by Homer D

Mohawk Valley  Weekend Weather, Sunday, July 23, 2023

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

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/