Amsterdam’s Rockton Wye

By Bob Cudmore

   The electric trolley car came to the Carpet City with the Amsterdam Street Railway Company in 1890.  By 1901, the line expanded to Rockton and some pictures show trolleys with the name Amsterdam & Rockton Street Railway.  In 1902, the tracks were extended to Hagaman.

   Also in 1902, the Amsterdam trolley company was acquired by the Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville Railroad, the F.J. & G.  That company operated a steam railroad from Fonda to Johnstown and Gloversville with branches to Broadalbin and Northville.  It ran trolley service in Johnstown, Gloversville and Amsterdam.  An F.J. & G. trolley line went east from Amsterdam and connected with Capital District trolleys in Schenectady. 

   Starting in 1911, the three way Amsterdam intersection known as the Rockton Wye was built to connect trolley lines which went from the Rockton Wye to Hagaman, Amsterdam’s Vrooman Avenue in the East End and Market Street in the heart of the city.  

   A “wye” in railroad terms is a track configuration resembling a triangle with each point leading to a different route.  Rockton Wye was at the intersection of Clizbe Avenue, Lyon Street, Northern Boulevard and Hewitt Street

   F.J. & G. railroad historian Paul Larner wrote, “The track configuration at that point permitted the trolleys to run direct to and from Hagaman via either the original line up Market Street Hill or via Vrooman Avenue and also, by a connecting track, directly around the city, hence the term "belt" line. 

   “Stockholders of the railroad had interests in electric power, real estate and industry besides providing local transportation.  Trolleys ran both directions around the "belt" offering the new residents of that area a convenient means of getting to Main Street, their employment, local recreation areas and the world via the New York Central Railroad.  As an aside, those new homes in Rockton would use electricity generated by a company in which the president of the F.J. & G. had a principal interest.”

   There was a problem though for trolleys which had to climb the severe grade on Amsterdam’s Vrooman Avenue.

   “One was never quite sure when the car wouldn't be able to make the turn at East Main Street descending, or, equally as dangerous, when the car wouldn't be able to get up the hill, sliding back to East Main,” Larner said.  “Men were employed by the railroad to place sand on the rails when (weather) conditions required additional traction.  As an additional safety measure, the cars were equipped with magnetic brakes. 

   “By relocating the (electric rail) junction with East Main Street west to Lark Street and using Forbes Street to avoid part of Vrooman hill, much of the danger was eliminated.”

ROCKTON

   Rockton, originally called Rock City, was an independent village settled in the late 1700s or early 1800s.  Jerry Snyder of Historic Amsterdam League said, “The name came from the rock quarries and lime kilns being operated there.” 

   The name of the village was changed to Rockton in the late 1880s and the village was annexed by the growing city of Amsterdam in 1901.

   Trolley cars had vanished from the Mohawk Valley by the end of the 1930s.  The buried trolley tracks would re-appear from time to time during spring pot hole season. 

   When I was a child in the 1950s we still called the intersection Rockton Wye.  Sunday after church we’d stop at a market located there to pick up the hefty Sunday newspaper.

   Rockton had its own taverns, restaurants, markets, auto repair shops and candy stores.  Ann Firth Torgusen said her father, William David Firth, owned Firth’s Finer Foods at 379 Locust Avenue until the 1970’s. 

Monday, May 15, 2023-Story behind the story-The Rockton Wye was the gateway to the world

Tuesday, May 16, 2023-Bustling Amsterdam Exposition

America was prospering in 1925 and local businesses staged Amsterdam’s Progress Exposition and Auto Show that year to show off that prosperity.

Wednesday, May 17, 2023-Excerpts are heard from the documentary: Harnessing Nature-Building the Great Sacandaga Lake. One of the producers, Saratoga County historian Lauren Roberts, discusses how the film came to be.

Thursday, May 18, 2023-Alex Isabel (Bob Cudmore story from The Daily Gazette)

Friday

Phyllis Chapman of Friends of the Bennington Battlefield describes the battle and its impact on the Battle of Saratoga.

May 19, 2023-Episode 475-The Battle of Bennington preceded the 1777 Battle of Saratoga during the American Revolution.  It was fought in the hamlet of Walloomsac in the Town of Hoosick New York on August 16 1777—about ten miles from Bennington, Vermont.  

Bob Cudmore "History stories from The Mohawk Valley"

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Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, May 14, 2023

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 Rockton Wye was gateway to rest of world

By Bob Cudmore

          A recent column about the Rockton Wye section of Amsterdam prompted this query from Amtrak engineer and rail fan Paul Larner,  “Are you aware of the origin of the name Rockton Wye?”

          A native of Gloversville, Larner is working on a history book about the Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville Railroad (F.J. & G.).

The Rockton Wye is the intersection of Clizbe Avenue, Lyon Street, Hewitt Street and Northern Boulevard.  A “wye” in railroad terms is a track configuration resembling a triangle with each point leading to a different route. 

          The F.J. & G. was a traditional railroad linking the cities in its name along with branch lines to Broadalbin and Northville.  In the 1890s, the railroad also established electric trolley lines in Johnstown and Gloversville.   

The electric trolley car came to the Carpet City with the Amsterdam Street Railway Company in 1890.  By 1901, the line expanded to Rockton and some pictures show trolleys with the name Amsterdam & Rockton Street Railway.  In 1902, the line was extended to Hagaman.  Also in 1902, the Amsterdam trolley company was acquired by the F.J. & G.  

Starting in 1911, the three way intersection known as the Rockton Wye was built to connect the F.J. & G. trolley lines that went from the Rockton Wye to Hagaman, Amsterdam’s Vrooman Avenue and Market Street in the city.

Larner wrote, “The track configuration at that point permitted the trolleys to run direct to and from Hagaman via either the original line up Market Street Hill or via Vrooman Avenue and also, by a connecting track, directly around the city, hence the term "belt" line. 

“Stockholders of the railroad had interests in electric power, real estate and industry besides providing local transportation.  Trolleys ran both directions around the "belt" offering the new residents of that area a convenient means of getting to Main Street, their employment, local recreation areas and the world via the New York Central Railroad.  As an aside, those new homes in Rockton would use electricity generated by a company in which the president of the F.J. & G. had a principal interest.”

Larner said there were problems with trolleys that had to climb the severe grade on Vrooman Avenue. 

“One was never quite sure when the car wouldn't be able to make the turn at East Main Street descending, or, equally as dangerous, when the car wouldn't be able to get up the hill, sliding back to East Main,” Larner said.  “Men were employed by the railroad to place sand on the rails when conditions required additional traction.  As an additional safety measure, the cars were equipped with magnetic brakes. 

“By relocating the junction with East Main Street west to Lark Street and using Forbes Street to avoid part of the hill, much of the danger was eliminated.

Some of your most experienced readers may be able to share firsthand accounts of riding that line.” 

The Vrooman Avenue line was abandoned in 1928.  All F.J. & G. electric trolley service ended in 1938, supplanted by bus transportation.  And whether bus service will continue in Amsterdam continues to be a story in the local news today.

“I suppose otherwise the Rockton Wye was unremarkable,” Larner concluded.  “Created as a function of providing trolley transportation for the growing city, it is interesting that the term is being carried on.  The rails embedded in the ground at the location of the wye, the bridge abutments across the creek and the curve from Vrooman into Forbes are reminders of the early days in Amsterdam when you could hop on a trolley and travel to find your future.”

Friday, May 12, 2023-Episode 474-New York City correspondent Jim Kaplan reports on how Harlem was economically developed in the early 1900s.  Jewish financiers joined with Black realtor Phillip Payton and other black businessmen to improve race relations in New York City.

Saturday May 13, 2023-From the Archives-December 17, 2021-Episode 401-Musicians Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle perform songs about the labor union movement in America.

Sunday, May 14, 2023

More about The Rockton Wye

Focus on History-The Rockton Wye was the gateway to the world.

The electric trolley car came to the Carpet City with the Amsterdam Street Railway Company in 1890.  By 1901, the line expanded to Rockton and some pictures show trolleys with the name Amsterdam & Rockton Street Railway.  In 1902, the tracks were extended to Hagaman.

Bob Cudmore "History stories from The Mohawk Valley"

Email [email protected]

Jerry Snyder of Historic Amsterdam League recounts the story of the League’s popular “ghost tours” of Amsterdam’s Green Hill Cemetery. He also discusses the history of the Amsterdam Fire Department.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, May 11, 2023

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

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Thursday, May 11, 2023-From the Daily Gazette

The Rockon Wye

The Rockton Wye is the intersection of Clizbe Avenue, Lyon Street, Hewitt Street and Northern Boulevard.  A “wye” in railroad terms is a track configuration resembling a triangle with each point leading to a different route. 

Jim Kaplan

Friday, May 12, 2023-Episode 474-New York City correspondent Jim Kaplan reports on how Harlem was economically developed in the early 1900s.  Jewish financiers joined with Black realtor Phillip Payton and other black businessmen to improve race relations in New York City.

Bob Cudmore "History stories from The Mohawk Valley"

Email [email protected]

Historian Episode #500 this November

An update on the design of the New York State Thruway and other stories from Tim Tielman of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

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Oh! as the lady said, this is an Amsterdam site, this is true.

The Historians Podcast fund drive has raised $1535 toward our $7000 goal for 2023.  Once again donations are at a standstill.  PLEASE DONATE online at https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast  or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. Thank you-every contribution, large or small, is appreciated.

Marching Drum Corps Fueled Patriotism during World War Two

By Bob Cudmore

After all these years, Sylvia Zimolka Stock and Frank Yazum remember the colors their rival Amsterdam drum corps wore during World War Two.

Stock and the other young women of the St. Johns Fife and Drum Corps looked sharp in blue and gold uniforms while the co-educational Polish National Alliance (P.N.A.) Drum and Bugle Corps took the field wearing maroon and white. Yazum was glad his P.N.A. corps contained boys and girls. We had it made, he said.

The separate musical organizations came from adjacent Polish neighborhoods. Park Hill was home to the St. Johns corps and the church of the same name. Originally, the group was known as the Seventh Ward Fife and Drum Corps. The P.N.A. Hall is located at Reid and Church Streets and most members of its drum corps were drawn from Reid Hill, the parish of St. Stanislaus Church. One of the P.N.A. buglers, Frank Ratka, went on to a career as business manager for symphony orchestras in Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma City and Atlanta.

Another martial music group of the 1940s was the all-female Fort Johnson Fife and Drum Corps, who wore bright red uniforms. 

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Marching drum corps in World War II

The three organizations were led by local musicians and were taught marching by military veterans. The groups competed against each other and corps from out of town in appearance and performance. Inspections and competitions were held at Sanford Field, now Veterans Field on Locust Avenue.

Competitions also took place out-of-town with groups such as the Tioga Cadets from Johnstown.

 Mike Wancewicz, who belonged to the P.N.A corps, said the Johnstown unit wore dressy black uniforms and were tough competitors. Troy had a corps that dressed in green, the Mighty Callahan, and the local groups competed against other Upstate New York and Massachusetts drum corps

Marge Vertucci Habla was filling in as a flag bearer with the Fort Johnson Fife and Drum Corps during one Memorial Day parade in the 1940s. Habla and majorette Grace Bender had received conflicting marching orders. Habla took a turn and starting marching toward the Old Fort, with soldiers saluting along the way. However, the music was getting fainter and the crowd was beginning to laugh.  

Behind Habla, Bender had not taken the turn and was leading the instruments in a different direction.

It was during the war and something that was very patriotic at the time, Stock said in explaining why she joined the St. Johns corps at age 11. Stock began as a flag bearer then played drums. Yazum joined the P.N.A. corps in 1937 and played a bugle.

Stock and Yazum said their groups played traditional marches plus some current popular music set to a march tempo.

We would go down to New York City for the Thaddeus Kosciusko day parade, Stock said. Kosciusko was an American Revolution war hero from Poland.

Stock added: We would go to Fort Smith near Peekskill where Company G of the National Guard from Amsterdam was stationed. We would go different cities to parade. Yazum said the P.N.A. corps also traveled to New York City and to Massachusetts.

When V-E Day occurred on May 8, 1945, the Allied victory in Europe, Stock said of the St. Johns group: We marched through the streets of Amsterdam because everybody was out celebrating. It was a great day.

Yazum did not recall if the P.N.A. corps marched that day, but said: We just went around kissing all the girls.

After the end of the war, the local drum corps disbanded within two or three years, Stock and Yazum recalled.

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Folksingers Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle perform songs from the early days of the Erie Canal.  The building of the canal began two hundred years ago.  Cosby and Tom have also appeared on Historians Podcast with songs about being a lumberjack, poetry of Poe and Kipling put to music, and labor union songs.

Reverbnation "The Songs of Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle"

https://www.reverbnation.com/cosbygibsonandtomstaudle

Thursday, May 11, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-The Rockon Wye

A recent column about the Rockton Wye section of Amsterdam prompted this query from Amtrak engineer and rail fan Paul Larner,  “Are you aware of the origin of the name Rockton Wye?”

New, you know, old this Friday

Friday, May 12, 2023-Episode 474-New York City correspondent Jim Kaplan reports on how Harlem was economically developed in the early 1900s.  Jewish financiers joined with Black realtor Phillip Payton and other black businessmen to improve race relations in New York City.

Bob Cudmore "History stories from The Mohawk Valley"

Email [email protected]

Historian Episode #500 this fall

Evacuation Day was November 25, 1783, the day the British left New York City finally ending the American Revolution. Attorney and historian Jim Kaplan discusses the significance of Evacuation Day and how the day has been commemorated through the years.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

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The Historians Podcast fund drive has raised $1535 toward our $7000 goal for 2023.  Once again donations are at a standstill.  PLEASE DONATE online at https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast  or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. Thank you-every contribution, large or small, is appreciated.

Monday, May 8, 2023

Amsterdam Mayor Burt Deal

Tuesday, May 9, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Marching drum corps in World War II

After all these years, Sylvia Zimolka Stock and Frank Yazum remember the colors their rival Amsterdam drum corps wore during World War Two

Wednesday, May 10, 2023-From the Archives- Episode 158, April 7, 2017-Folksingers Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle perform songs from the early days of the Erie Canal.  The building of the canal began two hundred years ago.  Cosby and Tom have also appeared on Historians Podcast with songs about being a lumberjack, poetry of Poe and Kipling put to music, and labor union songs.

Thursday, May 11, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-The Rockon Wye

A recent column about the Rockton Wye section of Amsterdam prompted this query from Amtrak engineer and rail fan Paul Larner,  “Are you aware of the origin of the name Rockton Wye?”

Friday, May 12, 2023-Episode 474-New York City correspondent Jim Kaplan reports on how Harlem was economically developed in the early 1900s.  Jewish financiers joined with Black realtor Phillip Payton and other black businessmen to improve race relations in New York City.

By Bob Cudmore

   Longtime Amsterdam mayor Burtiss Deal was five foot five and weighed 150 pounds when he played varsity football for Amherst College in Massachusetts.

   Into his seventies Deal was able to make an impact on a conversation by jumping onto a table from a standing position,

   Born January 29 1882 at a home on Amsterdam’s Division Street, he was the son of entrepreneur Charles Deal and Eugenia Deal. 

   Charles Deal moved his family to West Galway after Burt was born and the elder Deal operated a shoddy mill.  The mill used scraps from woolen underwear to make new but inferior woolen yarn.

   When Burt was six years old the Blizzard of 1888 and his younger brother Howard arrived simultaneously.  The doctor was marooned with the Deals for several days until the roads were cleared.

   The Deals after a time moved back to Amsterdam and Burt graduated from Amsterdam High School, then on Academy Street. 

   He helped principal Wilbur H. Lynch pack his books for a trip to Mexico for an administrative teaching job. 

   In 1900 Deal pitched for the Creelers baseball team, named for the textile workers who tended Amsterdam’s carpet weaving looms.

   Deal went to college in 1903, joined a fraternity and played football.  He had to leave without a degree and come back to Amsterdam because his family had financial reverses.

   Deal went to work.  He was with the production department of General Electric in Schenectady and then in sales for 17 years at International GE.  He was employed at Mohawk Carpet Mills in Amsterdam for five years.

   Amsterdam Mayor James Cline appointed Deal to his first political job on the Civil Service Commission.  A Republican, Deal was elected as Sixth Ward Alderman from 1932 to 1938.

   Deal opposed Democratic Mayor Arthur Carter and Carter’s New Deal programs.  Deal said despite his last name he had no connection to President Roosevelt’s New Deal or President Truman’s Fair Deal.  As a tribute to his people skills, however, he was elected vice president of the Democratic Party controlled common council in 1937.

   Deal’s former high school principal Wilbur H, Lynch succeeded Carter as mayor.  Lynch appointed Deal the city clerk in 1944 and 1945.

   Democrat Joseph Hand was elected mayor in 1945 but lost to Deal in the 1947 election.  Deal was reelected three times.

   Deal enjoyed establishing a friendship with Jan D’Ailly, the mayor or burgomaster of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.  He once took the burgomaster on a fall tour of upstate New York.

   Deal was not an activist mayor and was friendly to industry.  Unfortunately many problems caused decline of industry in the area including Amsterdam’s carpet mills.

   Deal was the mayor in 1954 when Amsterdam’s sesquicentennial was celebrated with a huge parade and other festivities.

   In 1955, as Deal’s fourth term was coming to an end, Bigelow Sanford carpet announced it was leaving Amsterdam.  Deal and city Republican chair Walter Going decided it was time for a change. 

   Frank Martuscello ran that year on the GOP ticket and was elected, the city’s first Italian-American mayor.

   Deal was 73 when he left politics.  His eightieth birthday was the occasion for stories about his career by two giants of local journalism, Sam Zurlo in the Gazette and Hugh Donlon in the Recorder.  Deal’s life is also chronicled in one of Michael Cinquanti’s books on Amsterdam birthdays. 

   Deal never married and lived in a house on Division Street which he called Gracie Mansion, a reference to the mayoral residence in New York City.

   Deal died in 1967 at the Lamp Nursing Home.  He was 84 and was buried at Green Hill Cemetery.

Bob Cudmore "History stories from The Mohawk Valley"

Email [email protected]

Historian Episode #500 this fall

Bryan Jackson is author of Why the Titanic Was Doomed.
Titanic – the most magnificent ocean liner of her time – was doomed and destined for disaster before she ever left the docks at Southampton. Doomed by her owner, doomed by her designers, doomed by the men who sailed her -- doomed even by her sister ship.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, May 8, 2023

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By Bob Cudmore

   Longtime Amsterdam mayor Burtiss Deal was five foot five and weighed 150 pounds when he played varsity football for Amherst College in Massachusetts.

   Into his seventies Deal was able to make an impact on a conversation by jumping onto a table from a standing position,

   Born January 29 1882 at a home on Amsterdam’s Division Street, he was the son of entrepreneur Charles Deal and Eugenia Deal. 

   Charles Deal moved his family to West Galway after Burt was born and the elder Deal operated a shoddy mill.  The mill used scraps from woolen underwear to make new but inferior woolen yarn.

   When Burt was six years old the Blizzard of 1888 and his younger brother Howard arrived simultaneously.  The doctor was marooned with the Deals for several days until the roads were cleared.

   The Deals after a time moved back to Amsterdam and Burt graduated from Amsterdam High School, then on Academy Street. 

   He helped principal Wilbur H. Lynch pack his books for a trip to Mexico for an administrative teaching job. 

   In 1900 Deal pitched for the Creelers baseball team, named for the textile workers who tended Amsterdam’s carpet weaving looms.

Monday more from Bob "The story behind the Story" (a six minute podcast)

   Deal went to college in 1903, joined a fraternity and played football.  He had to leave without a degree and come back to Amsterdam because his family had financial reverses.

   Deal went to work.  He was with the production department of General Electric in Schenectady and then in sales for 17 years at International GE.  He was employed at Mohawk Carpet Mills in Amsterdam for five years.

   Amsterdam Mayor James Cline appointed Deal to his first political job on the Civil Service Commission.  A Republican, Deal was elected as Sixth Ward Alderman from 1932 to 1938.

   Deal opposed Democratic Mayor Arthur Carter and Carter’s New Deal programs.  Deal said despite his last name he had no connection to President Roosevelt’s New Deal or President Truman’s Fair Deal.  As a tribute to his people skills, however, he was elected vice president of the Democratic Party controlled common council in 1937.

   Deal’s former high school principal Wilbur H, Lynch succeeded Carter as mayor.  Lynch appointed Deal the city clerk in 1944 and 1945.

   Democrat Joseph Hand was elected mayor in 1945 but lost to Deal in the 1947 election.  Deal was reelected three times.

   Deal enjoyed establishing a friendship with Jan D’Ailly, the mayor or burgomaster of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.  He once took the burgomaster on a fall tour of upstate New York.

   Deal was not an activist mayor and was friendly to industry.  Unfortunately many problems caused decline of industry in the area including Amsterdam’s carpet mills.

   Deal was the mayor in 1954 when Amsterdam’s sesquicentennial was celebrated with a huge parade and other festivities.

   In 1955, as Deal’s fourth term was coming to an end, Bigelow Sanford carpet announced it was leaving Amsterdam.  Deal and city Republican chair Walter Going decided it was time for a change. 

   Frank Martuscello ran that year on the GOP ticket and was elected, the city’s first Italian-American mayor.

   Deal was 73 when he left politics.  His eightieth birthday was the occasion for stories about his career by two giants of local journalism, Sam Zurlo in the Gazette and Hugh Donlon in the Recorder.  Deal’s life is also chronicled in one of Michael Cinquanti’s books on Amsterdam birthdays. 

   Deal never married and lived in a house on Division Street which he called Gracie Mansion, a reference to the mayoral residence in New York City.

   Deal died in 1967 at the Lamp Nursing Home.  He was 84 and was buried at Green Hill Cemetery.

Monday, May 8, 2023

Amsterdam Mayor Burt Deal

Tuesday, May 9, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Marching drum corps in World War II

After all these years, Sylvia Zimolka Stock and Frank Yazum remember the colors their rival Amsterdam drum corps wore during World War Two

Wednesday, May 10, 2023-From the Archives- Episode 158, April 7, 2017-Folksingers Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle perform songs from the early days of the Erie Canal.  The building of the canal began two hundred years ago.  Cosby and Tom have also appeared on Historians Podcast with songs about being a lumberjack, poetry of Poe and Kipling put to music, and labor union songs.

Thursday, May 11, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-The Rockon Wye

Friday, May 12, 2023-Episode 474-New York City correspondent Jim Kaplan reports on how Harlem was economically developed in the early 1900s.  Jewish financiers joined with Black realtor Phillip Payton and other black businessmen to improve race relations in New York City.

Historians Broadcast Schedule

Sunday, May 7 WBDY Binghamton 99.5FM and this Monday and Wednesday WMHT89.1FM Public Radio Albany RISE. 

Joyce Stah, on the history of RISE, WMHT's radio information service for the blind and print disabled in New York's Capital Region and Hudson Valley. RISE volunteers read articles from newspapers, periodicals and books to audiences who would otherwise be unable to access such information. RISE depends on donations from organizations and individuals. RISE also carries each episode of The Historians Podcast.

Bob Cudmore "History stories from The Mohawk Valley"

Email [email protected]

Historian Episode #500 this fall

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, May 7, 2023

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Shell guns were developed just before the Civil War, Von Hasseln said.  They fired spherical shells filled with explosives that could tear “jagged holes” in wooden ships as well as igniting “powder, shells, combustibles, and the like.” 

The cannon at Amsterdam’s Fairview Cemetery

By Bob Cudmore

   A large cannon that marks the veterans’ plot at Amsterdam’s Fairview Cemetery was forged during the Civil War.

   City historian Robert H. von Hasseln did extensive research in federal archives and local newspapers on the history of the gun.

   Von Hasseln wrote, “It was born in 1864 in the fires of the cast iron forges of Builders Foundry in Providence, Rhode Island.”  It was the 183rd eleven inch Dahlgren Shell Gun manufactured for the United States Navy.  These guns were named for their inventor, Rear Admiral John Dahlgren.

   Shell guns were developed just before the Civil War, Von Hasseln said.  They fired spherical shells filled with explosives that could tear “jagged holes” in wooden ships as well as igniting “powder, shells, combustibles, and the like.” 

   Gun number 183 appeared in federal records at the Mare Island Naval Yard near San Francisco in 1866, according to Von Hasseln.  It is not known if the gun had been mounted on any ship prior to 1877 when number 183 was among about fifty Dahlgren guns converted into eight inch rifles.

Builders Foundry Link

http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=1951

   Von Hasseln wrote, “It became clear the best way to defeat armored vessels was a pointed rifled projectile (think giant rifle bullet): spinning on its longitudinal axis like a well-thrown football.”  The conversion of number 183 was probably done at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, New York.

   Visible on the gun is this notation “P; EJH: 1877” which Von Hasseln said means the gun was proved (test fired), with initials of the federal inspector and the date.  Also on the piece you can read: “8 Inch Rifle; 17,240 lbs; No. 13.”  This indicates caliber and type, weight of tube alone and a new registry number. 

   The red cannonballs stacked next to the Fairview gun, Von Hasseln said, are eleven inch spherical shells that the piece originally fired, not the eight inch conical rifle shells it fired after conversion.

   Gun 183-13 saw service around the world on the USS Monongahela, Pensacola and Essex.  It was later used for training and tests, then stored at the Washington Navy Yard.  Some converted eleven inch shell guns were used on ships guarding the East Coast in the Spanish American War.

   Fairview Cemetery was established off Steadwell Avenue in Amsterdam’s west end in 1899.  Members of the E. S. Young Post 33 of the Grand Army of the Republic, an association of Union Civil War veterans, decided to create a veterans’ plot at Fairview as they had at Green Hill Cemetery.

   In early 1906, the Reverend Putnam Cady of Emmanuel Presbyterian Church on Guy Park Avenue gave a talk about his world travels to raise funds to ship and mount the gun. Other fundraisers would continue for two more years, although the cannon was delivered and installed with a flag pole in July of that year.

   At the dedication, Reverend Cady said: “Mounted on the decks of men-of-war, it was ever ready to obey the gunner’s will, and with its brazen throat commands respect for the stars and stripes that floated above it. Now that its active usefulness is past what better place could it occupy than this where sleep the men who have fought and stacked their arms for the last time?”  

   Von Hasseln said “in one of those strange twists of history,” Reverend Cady lived in the same house in Amsterdam where Von Hasseln and his wife Maria Riccio Bryce now reside. 

      Von Hasseln wrote that most of the original eleven inch shell guns were scrapped, “Others became pier-side and traffic bollards, a few museum displays, and one – an everlasting memorial to Amsterdam veterans.”

The Historians with Bob Cudmore on local and Public Radio the WWW and in print every weekend Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder

The 2023 Go Fund Me needs your contribution https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast U.S. Mail 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302. 

Tomorrow 

Friday, May 5, 2023-Episode 473-Bob Cudmore provides a Focus on History podcast with topics including an eccentric philosopher, the Demskys of Eagle Street, Amsterdam’s agile mayor Burt Deal and how boxing flourished in 1930s Amsterdam.  Dave Greene remembers how he met boxing great Jake LaMotta.

Bob Cudmore "History stories from The Mohawk Valley"

Email [email protected]

Historian Episode #500 this fall(we think in the month of November)

New York State historian Devin Lander discusses plans to observe the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, May 4, 2023

A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 55. Northeast wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

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Tomorrow, Thursday, May 4, 2023

The cannon at Fairview Cemetery

Von Hasseln wrote, “It was born in 1864 in the fires of the cast iron forges of Builders Foundry in Providence, Rhode Island.” 

Builders Foundry

 “In marked contrast to the equipment are the buildings themselves. They are simply a series of additions made from time to time, to an original foundry building, as business demanded it. The original building was erected as early as 1822, and probably earlier, before the days of railroads and steamboats. This fact explains the unsatisfactory location of the works.

http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=1951

The Historians with Bob Cudmore on local and Public Radio the WWW and in print every weekend Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder

A new conversation posted each Friday on The Historians. Working to podxcast #500 this fall

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Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Margaret Weitekamp  

In addition to serving as the department chair, Dr. Margaret A. Weitekamp curates the Museum's social and cultural history of spaceflight collection, more than 5,000 artifacts that include space memorabilia and space science fiction objects. These everyday mementos of the space age—which include toys and games, medals and awards, buttons and pins, as well as comics and trading cards—complete the story about spaceflight told by the Museum's collection of space hardware and technologies. 

Friday, May 5, 2023-Episode 473-Bob Cudmore provides a Focus on History podcast with topics including an eccentric philosopher, the Demskys of Eagle Street, Amsterdam’s agile mayor Burt Deal and how boxing flourished in 1930s Amsterdam.  Dave Greene remembers how he met boxing great Jake LaMotta.

Bob Cudmore "History stories from The Mohawk Valley"

Email [email protected]

Historian Episode #500 this November

James Kirby Martin is executive producer of the documentary Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed. The film is based on Martin’s 1997 book Benedict Arnold Revolutionary Hero. The documentary is streaming on several TV platforms, narrated by Martin Sheen and stars Peter O’Meara. Three men from the Mohawk Valley area created the documentary: Niskayuna native Chris Stearns, Saratoga Springs native Tom Mercer and Fort Johnson native Anthony Vertucci.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, May 3, 2023

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