The Historians

This Friday The Historians takes a look at The Mohawk River 22,000 years ago(before our time)

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Episode 378-Ann Maria Bullock Schram of Amsterdam, was a volunteer nurse in the American Civil War.  Montgomery County NY historian Kelly Yacobucci Farquhar discusses her research on Schram’s life.

The Montgomery County Department of History & Archives, since its establishment in 1934, has been a Mecca for
genealogical researchers across the nation. The valuable resources and outstanding staff have made this research
library renowned to those in search of family history. While genealogy has helped attract visitors, the department is
also very dedicated to preserving Montgomery County’s local history, a history that has developed over the past 2
½+ centuries.

Tomorrow, Thursday, July 28, 2022

Yeggmen

The article from the Amsterdam Recorder reported, “A couple of professional yeggmen visited Mayfield late Saturday night or early Sunday morning...

Mary Zawacki

A graduate of SUNY-New Paltz who got her masters in Cultural Heritage Studies at Newcastle University in England

Friday, July 29, 2022-Episode 433-A history of the Mohawk River with Mary Zawacki, executive director of the Schenectady County Historical Society.  When the last Ice Age began to melt 22,000 years ago, the Mohawk River flowed with more force than Niagara Falls.

 Historians Podcast yearly fund drive now stands at $3,300.

...by this Weekend 

To stay on track to reach our $6,000 goal by year’s end we need to raise $100 by Sunday.  Please help by donating online here- 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.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, July 27, 2022

https://dailygazette.com/

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Make Us A Part Of Your Day

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The first ride on the Cayadutta trolley line

By Bob Cudmore

    The first electric trolley trip between Fonda and Gloversville in 1893 was a surprise wedding gift for the trolley line manager.  

   The story is told in Paul K. Larner’s book “Our Railroad: The History of the Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville Railroad.”  The F.J.&G. steam railroad was already in existence in 1893.  The electric line eventually became part of the F.J.&G,’s operation but at first was a separate entity, the Cayadutta Electric Railroad, named for the creek which flows from Fulton County to the Mohawk River in Fonda.

   In 1892, construction of the Cayadutta Railroad was mired in serious controversy. There had been a riot by unpaid Italian immigrant workers in Johnstown.  But work continued on the electrified line, including construction of an amusement area north of Fonda called Cayadutta Park.  By summer of 1893, the trolley line was getting ready to open.

   In June, Cayadutta Electric Railroad general manager T.C. Frenyear journeyed to Exeter, New Hampshire to marry Emma Chase.  Her minister father performed the ceremony and the Frenyears took an afternoon train for Gloversville.

   Frenyear appears to have been a popular person, despite the Cayadutta Railroad’s labor troubles.  A trade magazine called him “a most progressive man.” 

    In Gloversville a plan was hatched to meet the bridal couple in Fonda with trolley cars and take them back to Gloversville as the first official trip on the electric railroad.

   Several carloads of dignitaries made the run from Gloversville to Fonda to await the train from New Hampshire on June 29.

   A stop was made at the Cayadutta’s power house and, according to the Gloversville Leader, the passengers were impressed, “The massive boilers were looked at, and more than a casual observation was made of the huge engines, the massive wheels and broad belts and the whizzing dynamos which send the electric current along the line. The magnificent switchboard, with its levers for different circuits, was also an object of curiosity.”

   People along the route waved handkerchiefs at the electric cars and mill workers pushed their bodies halfway out of windows to salute the procession.

   T.C. and Emma Frenyear arrived in Fonda and returned to Pine and Beaver streets in Gloversville on car number 14.

   Larner wrote that the official opening of the line took place the next day. Seven electric cars were put into service and the combined load slowed the vehicles and eventually burned out a wire in Johnstown.  Cars and celebrants were stranded for two hours.  Regular scheduled service was instituted by August of 1893.  Soon, horse-pulled trolley cars disappeared from Fulton County.

   There still were problems for Italian immigrant workers who had failed to receive their pay from a contractor named H. Ward Leonard.  Larner wrote that the Cayadutta hired guards for its car barns and powerhouse.

   There was media frenzy over an unfounded report of a bomb being seen among unpaid workers.  No bomb was ever found.  The workers hired lawyers and the dispute eventually was settled in court.

   In 1894 the F.J.&G. leased the Cayadutta Railroad and the F.J.&G., Cayadutta and Amsterdam Street Railroad consolidated as the F.J. &G. Railroad Company in 1902.

   The electric line provided local trolley service in Gloversville, Johnstown and Amsterdam plus connected these cities and Fonda.  From 1903 to 1938, the F.J.&G. ran electric cars from Gloversville to Schenectady.  After shutting down the trolley line, the company provided bus service until 1956.

   In Amsterdam the abandoned trolley tracks seemed to take on a life of their own.  The metal rails were buried in the pavement but often reappeared in the spring thaw when potholes grew on Main Street and elsewhere.

Something New(Old) everyday on The Historians

Tomorrow

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Episode 378-Ann Maria Bullock Schram of Amsterdam, was a volunteer nurse in the American Civil War.  Montgomery County NY historian Kelly Yacobucci Farquhar discusses her research on Schram’s life.

County Historian/RMO Kelly Yacobucci Farquhar (center) and County Board of Supervisors Chairman John Thayer (right) accept the 2013 William H. Kelly Annual Archives Award for Excellence in Local Government Archival Program Development.

The Montgomery County Department of History & Archives, since its establishment in 1934, has been a Mecca for
genealogical researchers across the nation. The valuable resources and outstanding staff have made this research
library renowned to those in search of family history. While genealogy has helped attract visitors, the department is
also very dedicated to preserving Montgomery County’s local history, a history that has developed over the past 2
½+ centuries.

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Yeggmen and more 

Historian Christopher K. Philippo of Glenmont had to consult the Oxford English Dictionary to explain a newspaper account of a burglary in Mayfield in 1914.

Mary Zawacki

A graduate of SUNY-New Paltz who got her masters in Cultural Heritage Studies at Newcastle University in England

Friday, July 29, 2022-Episode 433-A history of the Mohawk River with Mary Zawacki, executive director of the Schenectady County Historical Society.  When the last Ice Age began to melt 22,000 years ago, the Mohawk River flowed with more force than Niagara Falls.

Thanks to donations from Dave Northrup, Linda Wisniewski and John Woodward the Historians Podcast yearly fund drive now stands at $3,300.

You may give anonymously and no donation is too small. 

To stay on track to reach our $6,000 goal by year’s end we need to raise $100 by this Sunday, July 31, 2022  Please help by donating online here- 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.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, July 26, 2022

https://dailygazette.com/

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Posted on The Historians this Sunday, July 31, 2022

Focus on History 

The undertaker and the telephone.

Monday, July 25, 2022- The story behind the story podcast-Last flight over Japan 

Tuesday, July 26, 2022- From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-A surprise for the railroad boss

   The story is told in Paul K. Larner’s book “Our Railroad: The History of the Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville Railroad.” 

Wednesday, July 27, 2022-From the Archives- Friday, July 9, 2021-Episode 378-Ann Maria Bullock Schram of Amsterdam, was a volunteer nurse in the American Civil War.  Montgomery County NY historian Kelly Yacobucci Farquhar discusses her research on Schram’s life.

What is a Yeggmen?

Thursday, July 28, 2022- From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-Yeggmen and more

Friday, July 29, 2022-Episode 433-A history of the Mohawk River with Mary Zawacki, executive director of the Schenectady County Historical Society.  When the last Ice Age began to melt 22,000 years ago, the Mohawk River flowed with more force than Niagara Falls.

Last flight over Japan

By Bob Cudmore

Focus on History Posted in The Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder each Saturday or Sunday

   Amsterdam attorney Robert N. Going, who died in 2019, wrote “Honor Roll: The World War II Dead of Amsterdam, N.Y.” in 2010.

   Using Recorder clippings, museum collections and personal diaries, Going compiled information on 176 men from the Amsterdam area who died in the war.

   The first was William E. Hasenfuss, Jr. from a family of nine children on Northampton Road.  Hasenfuss had flown airplanes at an air field in Perth before enlisting in 1939.  He died at Hickham Air Field in Hawaii during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

   The last Amsterdam casualty was listed in the book as Seaman Orlie Charles Thomas, who died in Brooklyn Naval Hospital on November 23, 1945.  He had served aboard the battleship Mississippi in the Pacific.

   However in his blog called the Judge Report issued online some time after “Honor Roll” was published, Going wrote, “In researching old newspapers for the Amsterdam war dead of World War II, I stopped on June 30, 1946.  I should have kept going, as I now learn that yet another Amsterdam hero has gone unrecognized, and his may, in fact, be Amsterdam's last combat death of World War II, bringing the total up to about 180.”

   The Recorder reported on July 8, 1946, “Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Gawron, 7 Catherine Street, have been notified by the War Department that their son, Technical Sergeant Edward F. Gawron, previously reported missing in action July 3, 1945 over Japan, has now been officially declared dead. He was killed in action over Japan on the same date that he had been reported missing.”

   Born in Amsterdam in 1925, Gawron graduated from Wilbur H. Lynch High School in 1942.  His family called him Patch.  He was 20 years old when he died.

   He worked at Mohawk Carpet Mills while attending high school and after graduation was employed at the Naval Supply Depot in Scotia.  Inducted into military service April 10, 1943, he spent two months with the Medical Corps.  He requested and received a transfer to the Army Air Forces to become an air cadet. He attended gunnery school then went to Fort Myers, Florida to take training flights.

   Gawron came home on a 15-day furlough before going to the Mariana Islands with the 20th Air Force as a B-29 gunner. He was flying his 35th mission when his B-29 was shot down on Honshu Island by anti-aircraft fire.  

   The crew was on its last bombing mission which would have completed their tour of duty.  The war ended September 2, 1945.   

   According to Find A Grave Web site, Gawron’s plane was called Miss Hap.  The Web site also reported that Gawron was buried at a military cemetery in Missouri.  

   The condolences letter from Adjutant General Edward Witsell continued, “I realize the anguish you have suffered since he was first reported missing in action and I deeply regret the sorrow this later report brings you. May the knowledge that he has made the supreme sacrifice for his home and country be a source of sustaining comfort.”

   T/Sergeant Gawron was survived by his parents, Stephen and Julia Zintack Gawron; four brothers. Peter, Leonard, Joseph and Richard; six sisters, Connie, Sally, Veronica, Irene, Dolores and Mary. 

   Richard Gawron provided information for this column.  Richard and his wife Frances now live in Niskayuna.

   Richard’s parents were born in Poland.  Richard said his father built their house on Catherine Street off upper Church Street.  The family raised chickens.

   A 1932 City Directory listed Stephen Gawron’s job as a driver.  He also held jobs at M.J. Wytrwal Coal and Oil in Amsterdam and American Locomotive in Schenectady.

Thanks to donations from Dave Northrup, Linda Wisniewski and John Woodward the Historians Podcast yearly fund drive now stands at $3,300.  To stay on track to reach our $6,000 goal by year’s end we need to raise $100 by Sunday, July 31, 2022  Please help by donating online here- 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 donation is too small.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, July 25, 2022

https://dailygazette.com/

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Last flight over Japan

By Bob Cudmore

   Amsterdam attorney Robert N. Going, who died in 2019, wrote “Honor Roll: The World War II Dead of Amsterdam, N.Y.” in 2010.

   Using Recorder clippings, museum collections and personal diaries, Going compiled information on 176 men from the Amsterdam area who died in the war.

   The first was William E. Hasenfuss, Jr. from a family of nine children on Northampton Road.  Hasenfuss had flown airplanes at an air field in Perth before enlisting in 1939.  He died at Hickham Air Field in Hawaii during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

   The last Amsterdam casualty was listed in the book as Seaman Orlie Charles Thomas, who died in Brooklyn Naval Hospital on November 23, 1945.  He had served aboard the battleship Mississippi in the Pacific.

   However in his blog called the Judge Report issued online some time after “Honor Roll” was published, Going wrote, “In researching old newspapers for the Amsterdam war dead of World War II, I stopped on June 30, 1946.  I should have kept going, as I now learn that yet another Amsterdam hero has gone unrecognized, and his may, in fact, be Amsterdam's last combat death of World War II, bringing the total up to about 180.”

   The Recorder reported on July 8, 1946, “Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Gawron, 7 Catherine Street, have been notified by the War Department that their son, Technical Sergeant Edward F. Gawron, previously reported missing in action July 3, 1945 over Japan, has now been officially declared dead. He was killed in action over Japan on the same date that he had been reported missing.”

   Born in Amsterdam in 1925, Gawron graduated from Wilbur H. Lynch High School in 1942.  His family called him Patch.  He was 20 years old when he died.

   He worked at Mohawk Carpet Mills while attending high school and after graduation was employed at the Naval Supply Depot in Scotia.  Inducted into military service April 10, 1943, he spent two months with the Medical Corps.  He requested and received a transfer to the Army Air Forces to become an air cadet. He attended gunnery school then went to Fort Myers, Florida to take training flights.

   Gawron came home on a 15-day furlough before going to the Mariana Islands with the 20th Air Force as a B-29 gunner. He was flying his 35th mission when his B-29 was shot down on Honshu Island by anti-aircraft fire.  

   The crew was on its last bombing mission which would have completed their tour of duty.  The war ended September 2, 1945.   

   According to Find A Grave Web site, Gawron’s plane was called Miss Hap.  The Web site also reported that Gawron was buried at a military cemetery in Missouri.  

   The condolences letter from Adjutant General Edward Witsell continued, “I realize the anguish you have suffered since he was first reported missing in action and I deeply regret the sorrow this later report brings you. May the knowledge that he has made the supreme sacrifice for his home and country be a source of sustaining comfort.”

   T/Sergeant Gawron was survived by his parents, Stephen and Julia Zintack Gawron; four brothers. Peter, Leonard, Joseph and Richard; six sisters, Connie, Sally, Veronica, Irene, Dolores and Mary. 

   Richard Gawron provided information for this column.  Richard and his wife Frances now live in Niskayuna.

   Richard’s parents were born in Poland.  Richard said his father built their house on Catherine Street off upper Church Street.  The family raised chickens.

   A 1932 City Directory listed Stephen Gawron’s job as a driver.  He also held jobs at M.J. Wytrwal Coal and Oil in Amsterdam and American Locomotive in Schenectady.

Fort Plain Museum Book Store

With 5-plus days of Temperatures over 90 degrees here in the Mohawk River Valley, we thought this would be a great time to show all of our Loyal (and Loyalists) Supporters the Red Hot Deals on this Summer's Newest Book Releases.

https://fortplainmuseum.square.site/ 

This Weekend in The Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder

Focus on History 

https://dailygazette.com/

The undertaker and the telephone.

Posted hear on The Historians next Sunday, July 31, 2022

Mohawk Valley Weather, Sunday, July 24, 2022

https://dailygazette.com/

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Make Us A Part Of Your Day

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This Weekend in The Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder

Focus on History 

https://dailygazette.com/

The undertaker and the telephone.

Bob is working on the email blast to friends, readers and listeners of The Historians and will dispatch today.

Historians Go Fund Me Please help by donating online here- 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. Much Thanks

Bob Cudmore and The Historians Podcast can be found on The Radio today and tomorrow across The Mohawk Valley and Southern Tiew of New York State

Eastern Mohawk Valley at 106.9FM Amsterdam and 99.5FM in the Binghamton area.

Saturday, July 23 2022

Episode 233 David Fiske talks about a Charles Zimmy’s epic Hudson River swim from Albany to Manhattan in 1937.

Tomorrow, Sunday, July 24, 2022

Focus on History from Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder-Last flight over Japan

Born in Amsterdam in 1925, Gawron graduated from Wilbur H. Lynch High School in 1942.  His family called him Patch...

The Historians interviews with Devin Lander and Lauren Roberts can be found "Down the Page"

WAMC

A New York Minute in History

Fort Ticonderoga today and tomorrow.

Call Ahead

1759 Siege of Carillon Battle Reenactment, July 23-24, 2022

https://www.fortticonderoga.org/event/reenactment-1759-siege-of-carillon/2022-07-23/

Don’t miss the epic two-day 1759 Siege of Carillon Battle Reenactment, July 23-24, 2022 as Fort Ticonderoga recreates this dramatic 1759 battle for the first time since 2011! Through a combination of demonstrations, vignettes, and battle reenactments, visitors will experience the British advance for Lake George, pushing through stiff French resistance to gain a foothold upon the previous year’s battlefield, overlooking the French-held fort.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Saturday, July 23, 2022

https://dailygazette.com/

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

The Historians Podcast yearly fund drive is now at $3125.  To stay on track to reach our $6,000 goal by year’s end we need to raise $100.00 this weekend.  Please help by donating online here- 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 donation is too small.

Controversy raged when Akin was mayor

By Bob Cudmore

   Personal attacks and viciousness dominated the four years that Theron “Doc” Akin was Amsterdam mayor in the 1920s.

   Historian Hugh Donlon wrote that political pamphlets were full of “innuendos so gross and vicious that some of the campaign literature was later prized as collectors’ items.”

   Akin was born in Johnstown in 1855. His father Ethan was a prosperous farmer, attorney and landowner who lived near Amsterdam in Old Fort Johnson, which had been the home of the British colonial Indian agent Sir William Johnson.  In 1905, the Montgomery County Historical Society bought the old fort from the Akin family and continues to operate it as an historic site. 

   The younger Akin was a farmer and a dentist.  In 1909, he led the campaign to incorporate the area around the fort as the village of Akin and became the first village president.  

   Akin was elected to Congress in 1910, narrowly defeating popular Republican Cyrus Durey from Fulton County.

   A Progressjve, Akin’s campaign slogan was “The Full Dinner Pail.”  His posters showed a dinner pail empty except for a lemon.  He campaigned, some said, by trying to expose the errors of his opponents.

   In Washington, Akin angered the poor and powerful.  He berated a messenger on Capitol Hill who did not know who Akin was.  He had harsh words for President William Taft and called New York Senator Elihu Root “That refrigerated vulture of the dead.”

   While he was in Washington, the people of Akin, concerned with his antics in Congress, voted to change the name of their village to Fort Johnson.

   Akin tried but failed to get elected to Congress in 1912 and 1914.  At one rally in Gloversville he said, “You have more hypocrites in this city than any other place I know of.”

  Akin then set his sights on becoming mayor of Amsterdam, much to the chagrin of city leaders.  Running as both a Democrat and Republican, Akin was elected mayor in 1919.  

   Shortly after taking office, Akin suspended a longtime opponent, Police Chief Fred Packwood.  Akin appointed new members to the city health board after the existing board threatened to stop garbage and ash collection to embarrass the mayor.

   Akin began an investigation of illegal gambling. He disguised himself as a hoodlum and was arrested to probe conditions in the city jail.

   Leon Hall ran for mayor in 1921 with the slogan “Hall Akin Out.”  Akin trounced Hall by over three thousand votes. 

   Akin’s personal life raised some eyebrows.  He was married four times.  His first wife was Carrie Wallace Bell.  They had two children.  After the divorce, Bell founded an Amsterdam elementary school. 

   Akin’s second wife was Mary Sanford, the daughter of David Sanford.  She and Akin had one child.  Mary hauled Akin into court shortly after his term in Congress for non-payment of alimony.  Akin said he had not been able to save any money while he was a Congressman.  Akin’s third wife was Jenny Shelp Roberts, who left him in 1912.

   Mayor Akin and a woman named Jennie Bornt mysteriously left Amsterdam for three days early in his second term.  The Recorder learned the mayor had traveled to Bennington, Vermont, where a Methodist pastor married the couple in the church parsonage. 

   Republican Carl S. Salmon was elected Amsterdam mayor in 1923 and served for three terms of relative calm.  City employees did give Akin a watch and chain when he left office.  In 1927, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor.

   When Akin died of a stroke in 1933 he was 78 and living with his daughter.  He was buried at Pine Grove Cemetery in Tribes Hill.

Friday, July 22, 2022-Episode 432-The third Highlights Edition of 2022 has excerpts from 12 podcasts including stolen Little League Dreams, an Erie Canal balladeer and a boy’s life in Ilion, New York.

Saturday, July 23 2022

Episode 233 David Fiske talks about a Charles Zimmy’s epic Hudson River swim from Albany to Manhattan in 1937.

Fort Ticonderoga this Weekend

1759 Siege of Carillon Battle Reenactment, July 23-24, 2022

https://www.fortticonderoga.org/event/reenactment-1759-siege-of-carillon/2022-07-23/

Don’t miss the epic two-day 1759 Siege of Carillon Battle Reenactment, July 23-24, 2022 as Fort Ticonderoga recreates this dramatic 1759 battle for the first time since 2011! Through a combination of demonstrations, vignettes, and battle reenactments, visitors will experience the British advance for Lake George, pushing through stiff French resistance to gain a foothold upon the previous year’s battlefield, overlooking the French-held fort.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, July 21, 2022

https://dailygazette.com/

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Stephen Riegel is author of Finding Judge Crater: A Life and Phenomenal Disappearance in Jazz Age NY.

Despite a decades-long international manhunt led by the New York Police Department’s esteemed Missing Persons Bureau, the reason for Crater’s disappearance remains a confounding mystery. In the early months of the investigation, evidence implicated and imperiled New York’s top officials, including then-Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mayor Jimmy Walker, as well as the city’s Tammany Hall political machine, lawyers and judges, and a theater mogul.

Thursday, July 21, 2022

Mayor Theron Akin 

   Akin was elected to Congress in 1910, narrowly defeating popular Republican Cyrus Durey from Fulton County.

Friday, July 22, 2022-Episode 432-The third Highlights Edition of 2022 has excerpts from 12 podcasts including stolen Little League Dreams, an Erie Canal balladeer and a boy’s life in Ilion, New York.

Saturday, July 23 2022

Episode 233 David Fiske talks about a Charles Zimmy’s epic Hudson River swim from Albany to Manhattan in 1937.

Fort Ticonderoga this Weekend

1759 Siege of Carillon Battle Reenactment, July 23-24, 2022

https://www.fortticonderoga.org/event/reenactment-1759-siege-of-carillon/2022-07-23/

Don’t miss the epic two-day 1759 Siege of Carillon Battle Reenactment, July 23-24, 2022 as Fort Ticonderoga recreates this dramatic 1759 battle for the first time since 2011! Through a combination of demonstrations, vignettes, and battle reenactments, visitors will experience the British advance for Lake George, pushing through stiff French resistance to gain a foothold upon the previous year’s battlefield, overlooking the French-held fort.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Wednesday, July 20, 2022

https://dailygazette.com/

https://www.recordernews.com/

Leader Herald

Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/

...according to Bobs cousin Betty

Cranesville restaurant had national reputation

By Bob Cudmore

          Amsterdam memorabilia collector Jerry Snyder has provided a postcard view of the Tower Inn on old Route 5 in Cranesville when operated by Marion Bennett.  The building today is still a restaurant, Valentino’s.

My cousin, Betty Segen Pronk was a waitress at the Tower from her senior year in high school through her early years as a teacher.  Norma-Jean Qualls was the daughter of a woman who was also a Tower waitress and a teacher.  Pronk and Qualls provided the following information. 

Fred and Marion Bennett came from Westerly, Rhode Island, in the 1930s.  Their money may have derived from Mrs. Bennett’s mother, Mary Betty Chapman Campbell Lockwood.  There was a Southern aura about Mrs. Lockwood and the recipes at the Tower.

To start their restaurant, the Bennetts bought the summer home of the Morris family, local mill owners.  When the Morrises lived there, the nearby railroad meant the maids changed the linens every day because of soot.  Tower waitresses swept the porch daily to get rid of cinders.

Fred Bennett died during the 1940s.  By then, the Tower had received five stars from Duncan Hines, the Kentucky-born food critic.  Even during gasoline-starved World War II, people beat a path to the door.

Specialties included half a baked chicken (the staff meal), steak, fish, ham and lobster.  Delectable dinner rolls and sweet cinnamon buns were baked first by Mrs. Lockwood, then by Mrs. Bennett.  In 1948, steak cost $5 and chicken was $2.50.

Mrs. Bennett, her mother and the cook, Loutie Myers, all lived at the Tower, along with three cats.  A tiger cat lived with Myers on the third floor and Mrs. Bennett had two troublesome Persian cats—Brucie and Dickie. 

Pronk said, “Dickie was usually the worst but one time after we girls had set a big dinner, Brucie came tearing down the stairs and went flying down the banquet table.  We had to start all over again.”

Mrs. Bennett was active in Republican politics and a friend of Governor Thomas Dewey, almost elected President in 1948.  When that election approached, Mrs. Bennett wondered if Pronk’s parents—Peter and Jane Segen-- would vote for Dewey.  Pronk said her mom would but her father couldn’t, as he wasn’t a citizen, lacking papers from when he came from Ukraine.  Mrs. Bennett fixed it so Peter Segen became a citizen and a Dewey supporter.

Amsterdam’s doctors, lawyers, bankers, and mill executives dined regularly at the Tower.  People rushed there after the Saratoga track in the summer as the restaurant stopped serving at 8:30 p.m.

Qualls, who was four when her mother started at the restaurant, said, “I ‘helped’ Mr. Bennett greet customers and assisted the ‘girls’ in setting up the tables late at night. Often I would fall asleep on the floor--it was long past my bedtime.”

Qualls said, “They had an Oldsmobile two-door coupe with a large trunk, and it was a workhorse.  Mrs. Bennett would load it with a barrel of live lobsters from (I think) Quandts, fresh veggies from the Menands Market where she drove at least once a week, or to Cooperstown to get Black Angus steaks.  She also picked up her peppermint ice cream from Voorhees Ice Cream shop on Prospect Street--in metal cans.   I traveled with her on many of these trips!”

Mrs. Bennett succumbed to stomach cancer, around 1960.  The funeral was held at the restaurant and burial was in Rhode Island. 

A niece or adopted child named Jean Bennett survived and oversaw the sale of the building and possessions.  Mrs. Bennett’s mother outlived her daughter, spending her last years on Market Street in Amsterdam.

Your donations to The Historians thru Go Fund Me or in the US Mail help keep the electricty on for the gadgets in this picture

Bob Cudmore at the controls in 19 something

The Historians Podcast yearly fund drive at $3125.  To stay on track to reach our $6,000 goal by year’s end we need to raise $150.00 by this Friday, July 22, 2022.  Please help by donating online here- https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022  Or send a check in The U.S. Mail made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

Tomorrow  

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Stephen Riegel is author of Finding Judge Crater: A Life and Phenomenal Disappearance in Jazz Age NY.

Despite a decades-long international manhunt led by the New York Police Department’s esteemed Missing Persons Bureau, the reason for Crater’s disappearance remains a confounding mystery. In the early months of the investigation, evidence implicated and imperiled New York’s top officials, including then-Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mayor Jimmy Walker, as well as the city’s Tammany Hall political machine, lawyers and judges, and a theater mogul.

“That refrigerated vulture of the dead.”

Thursday, July 21, 2022- From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-Mayor Theron Akin 

   In Washington, Akin angered the poor and powerful.  He berated a messenger on Capitol Hill who did not know who Akin was.  He had harsh words for President William Taft and called New York Senator Elihu Root “That refrigerated vulture of the dead.”

Friday, July 22, 2022-Episode 432-The third Highlights Edition of 2022 has excerpts from 12 podcasts including stolen Little League Dreams, an Erie Canal balladeer and a boy’s life in Ilion, New York.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, July 19, 2022

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The Historians Podcast yearly fund drive at $3125.  To stay on track to reach our $6,000 goal by year’s end we need to raise $150.00 by this Friday, July 22, 2022.  Please help by donating online here- https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-historians-podcast-2022  Or send a check in The U.S. Mail made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  

Monday, July 18, 2022- The story behind the story podcast-Twilight League baseball, paging the doctor at the Glove Theatre

Tuesday, July 19, 2022- From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-The Tower Inn

My cousin, Betty Segen Pronk was a waitress at the Tower from her senior year in high school through her early years as a teacher.  Norma-Jean Qualls was the daughter of a woman who was also a Tower waitress and a teacher.  Pronk and Qualls provided the following information. 

The Twilight League; Paging the Doctor

By Bob Cudmore

   After minor league baseball ended in Amsterdam in the 1950s, town resident Frederick J. Mitchell recalled that two Amsterdam teams participated in the Schenectady Twilight League, playing home games at what was still called Mohawk Mills Park.

   There were about eight teams in the Twilight League which Mitchell recollected existed from 1959 to 1967.  One Amsterdam squad was called the Rugmakers, the same name used by the former New York Yankees minor league franchise.   

   Mitchell said the Rugmakers were mainly college and high school students, in general younger than members of the other Amsterdam team, called the Textiles, many of whom had played minor league ball in the area.  The Textiles were sponsored by the carpet mill union, the Textile Workers Union of America.

   Mitchell wrote, “Both teams enjoyed very good fan support and the attendance in Amsterdam exceeded that of any club from Schenectady.  A rivalry developed here, needless to say, but never a bitter one.  In fact, most fans supported both entities.” 

BILL FENNHAHN 

   In 1961 Bill Fennhahn pitched for the Amsterdam Textiles.  The junior high textile shop instructor, Fennhahn was president of the city teachers’ union.

   Fennhahn was wounded several times in World War II.  His worst injuries were sustained when his legs were broken and nerve fibers severed by machine gun fire in Germany. 

   Fennhahn’s daughter, Patricia Fennhahn Dunn, said her dad became a teacher when his injuries prevented him from signing on with St. Louis to play baseball.

ALL STARS

   Mitchell said at least during one year, two all-star games were played in the Twilight League, one at Schenectady’s Central Park and the other in Amsterdam.

   Mitchell said, “At that late game I recall watching a walk off home run sail over the left field screen.  It was hit by Billy Connors, who later became a Yankee pitching coach.” 

   Mitchell is grateful to the Amsterdam Mohawks, who now play at the refurbished former Mohawk Mills Park. 

   The ball field was renamed Shuttleworth Park to honor the late Herbert Shuttleworth II, the carpet mill executive who at one time headed the Rugmakers in the Canadian-American League and who continued the Mohawk Carpet company practice of financially supporting the ballpark. 

   In the Twilight League era, Mitchell recalled that food and soft drinks were available, but no beer.  Mitchell said beer was not sold there during the Shuttleworth years, even when the team was the Yankee farm team in the Canadian American League.

   Mitchell said, “The Yankees (who played twice in Amsterdam in the 1940s) were not at all happy with that, so I’ve been told.”

PAGING THE DOCTOR

   A sign that could flash a number hung inside the Glove Theatre in downtown Gloversville sixty years ago, next to the clock that advertised WENT radio. 

   Bob Landrio of Johnstown wrote, “I was told doctors attending a movie would be issued a number and if they had an emergency call the number would illuminate to go to the office.”

   Landrio said that there frequently was a long line to get into the Glove Theatre, “And you learned quickly where and where not to sit.  Staying out of firing range of the balcony was a priority, especially with a date!” 

   Landrio and his wife Debbie have created the Town Line Museum on Route 29 that remembers the 1950s and early 1960s with memorabilia ranging from jukeboxes and arcade games to Pez dispensers. 

   They have turned a building on their family property into a replica of a 1962-era gas station, ice cream parlor, barbershop, grocery store and more.  The museum is open until Labor Day by appointment made by calling 762-5853.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022-From the Archives- December 3, 2021-Episode 399 Stephen Riegel is author of Finding Judge Crater: A Life and Phenomenal Disappearance in Jazz Age NY.

Thursday, July 21, 2022- From the Archives of the Daily Gazette-Mayor Theron Akin 

Personal attacks and viciousness dominated the four years that Theron “Doc” Akin was Amsterdam mayor in the 1920s. 

   Historian Hugh Donlon wrote that political pamphlets were full of “innuendos so gross and vicious that some of the campaign literature was later prized as collectors’ items.”

Friday, July 22, 2022-Episode 432-The third Highlights Edition of 2022 has excerpts from 12 podcasts including stolen Little League Dreams, an Erie Canal balladeer and a boy’s life in Ilion, New York.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, July 18, 2022

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