Ready to post for tomorrow, Friday, February 23, 2024

Episode 511-Photojournalist Richard Frishman and essayist and professor Dr. B. Brian Foster are authors of Ghosts of Segregation, a photojournalism collection depicting a visual history of segregation through buildings and landscapes where racism has left its mark.

Mohawk Valley News The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown. https://www.dailygazette.com/

Friday, February 23, 2024

Episode 511-Photojournalist Richard Frishman and essayist and professor Dr. B. Brian Foster are authors of Ghosts of Segregation, a photojournalism collection depicting a visual history of segregation through buildings and landscapes where racism has left its mark.

Lincoln and Amsterdam
By Bob Cudmore

From The Gazette 2012

A new movie is focusing attention on Abraham Lincoln and his political skills after being elected to a second term.

Lincoln carried both the town of Amsterdam and Montgomery County in 1860. Lincoln trailed General George McClellan by 391 votes in Montgomery County in the 1864 election, although Lincoln did carry the town of Amsterdam by 131 votes that year.

Lincoln's funeral train stopped in Amsterdam at 5:25 p.m. on April 26, 1865 on its way back to Illinois.

The Lincoln funeral train was tremendous publicity for embalming. Embalming had become popular in the Civil War as the way to preserve fallen soldiers who had to be transported hundreds of miles home.

Amsterdam woodworker Isaac S. Shuler started making coffins in 1862 and after the Civil War was the first to begin offering local undertaking services.

When Shuler died, his undertaking business was taken over by W. Max Reid. Reid was a business booster who helped found the Board of Trade. Reid is also remembered as a historian for his 1901 book, The Mohawk Valley. Awards from the Historic Amsterdam League are called Maxies in Reid's honor.

OUTHOUSE REPAIR

Old Fort Johnson historic site is home to one of America's oldest outdoor toilets. The elegant privy was built in the 1700s and was restored to its former glory several years ago.

Site manager Scott Haefner said the privy started to float during flooding from Hurricane Irene in 2011, and then tipped on its side. Santos Construction of Amsterdam donated its services to lift the privy upright.

Haefner and Alessa Wylie of Old Fort Johnson said that in 2013 an effort will be made to clean the inside of the historic two hole outhouse, which is caked with mud from the flood.

Many colonists and early American leaders used the privy, possibly including Aaron Burr who considered buying the residence and George Washington .who visited the Mohawk Valley at the close of the Revolutionary War.

WHEEL OF LIFE

A few years before World War II, Mohawk Carpet Mills showed a flair for the dramatic and displayed artistic skill in making The Wheel of Life, perhaps the most spectacular carpet ever produced in Amsterdam. It took 16 weavers eight months to create the Chenille carpet for the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Park Avenue in New York City.

Amsterdam memorabilia collector Tom Foster wonders whether the carpet was created primarily to show off the skills of the designers and factory hands in Amsterdam.

The carpet depicts graphic and colorful scenes showing the progress of man from birth through death. The center design containing six picture groups was 18 feet in diameter. The carpet was installed in 1938 and covered a mosaic depicting the same scenes designed by French art deco artist Louis Rigal.

The carpet weighed 850 pounds and was delivered to the hotel by a telephone pole trailer because of its size. It arrived in New York City in the early morning to avoid traffic.

The carpet was removed several years later, uncovering the hotel's original Rigal mosaic. The mosaic is still there in the Waldorf Astoria's Park Avenue lobby.

After it left the hotel, the carpet went on tour. A 1946 newspaper ad promoted that a Spokane, Washington store was displaying the Wheel of Life. The ad said the carpet covered 333 square feet and used 15 million wool tufts in 69 colors.

Mohawk Mills displayed a large photo of the Wheel of Life at an industry convention in 1948 in Lake Placid. What happened to the carpet itself is not known. Today color prints of the Wheel of Life are offered for sale online.

Mohawk Valley News The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown. https://www.dailygazette.com/

This Friday, February 23, 2024-Episode 511-The Bob conversation with Photojournalist Richard Frishman and essayist and professor Dr. B. Brian Foster are authors of Ghosts of Segregation, a photojournalism collection depicting a visual history of segregation through buildings and landscapes where racism has left its mark.

A story for a cold Tuesday in February

Little Hollywood in Amsterdam
By Bob Cudmore

Paul Russo, who now lives in Johnstown, grew up in Hollywood, sometimes called Little Hollywood. That was the name for a residential neighborhood in Amsterdam apparently built primarily for middle managers employed at Bigelow Sanford Carpets.

Little Hollywood is off Locust Avenue and connected to Forest Avenue by Second Avenue, which bridges the North Chuctanunda Creek.

Russo wrote, Many of my neighbors were employees of Bigelow Sanford; however that was probably true of any neighborhood in Amsterdam.

The streets are not named for movie stars but for American presidents: McKinley, Harrison, Garfield, Taft, Roosevelt and Hayes. Interestingly, there is a Hollywood Road in the vicinity but not in Little Hollywood. Hollywood Road is near Amsterdam High School off Miami Avenue in the town of Amsterdam.

John C. Gilston, a descendant of the family that owned the John J. Turner & Sons construction company, said that the Turner firm built Hollywood. From 50 to 75 houses were constructed on land that once was part of the old Vedder farm.

Gilston said the project is mentioned in journals kept by one of John J. Turner's sons, Richard E. Turner. John J. Turner died in 1924. Richard took over the construction business following the death of his older brother John P. Turner in 1927 and kept a detailed journal for many years.

Richard E. Turner, who was deaf, headed the firm until his death in 1940 at age 56. He was owner of the Amsterdam Rugmakers baseball team and an accomplished photographer. Richard and his brother Thomas A. Turner are credited with building Wilbur H. Lynch school, the Century Club and other Amsterdam landmarks plus the Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga Springs.

In earlier years, skilled workers from the Turner firm spent four years renovating the mansion owned by the carpet-making John Sanford family on Church Street, now Amsterdam City Hall. Turner construction crews also built Bigelow Sanford's Clock Building, the trolley car power station in Tribes Hill and a number of buildings for General Electric in Schenectady and Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

STONE QUARRY
Russo said, I'd also like to find out a bit of the history of the abandoned stone quarry (where I played as a kid) off of what is now Second Avenue Extension. That area was just a cinder path when I was young. I remember being quite upset with my mother when I found out that she had signed a petition requesting that the path be paved to provide access to Forest Avenue.

CHRISTMAS EVE
Christmas Eve is an important occasion for many of Amsterdam's ethnic groups. The grandchildren of community leader Michael J. Wytrwal remember Christmas Eves when the needy always found a seat at the family table.

Wytrwal and his wife Josephine lived in a two-family home at 26 Cornell Street near St. Stanislaus Church. Wytrwal was a founder of the Polish National Alliance in Amsterdam and fostered creation of businesses on Reid Hill including a coal and oil company, a bank, drugstore and furniture store.

One grandchild said Wytrwal, eloquent in both Polish and English, was a broker between the Polish-speaking community and the English-speaking power structure.

He was a role model for granddaughter Mary Anne Krupsak, whose parents operated the family's pharmacy. Krupsak, who went on to be Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1974, ate lunch at her grandparent's home every day when she attended St. Stanislaus School. Krupsak saw a constant parade of people seeking assistance from her grandfather.

Josephine Wytrwal died in 1956. When Michael Wytrwal died in 1970, the Recorder editorialized that he was likeable, friendly, considerate, a progressive in the finest sense of the word.

Mohawk Valley News The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown. https://www.dailygazette.com/

New this Friday, February 23, 2024-Episode 511-Photojournalist Richard Frishman and essayist and professor Dr. B. Brian Foster are authors of Ghosts of Segregation, a photojournalism collection depicting a visual history of segregation through buildings and landscapes where racism has left its mark.

How William Johnson Made His Bones

By Bob Cudmore

   What made William Johnson important in Colonial America especially with his British overlords?

    You might borrow a phrase made popular by Godfather movies and Sopranos TV shows that Johnson “made his bones” by defeating the French who attacked him in the Battle of Lake George in 1755.

   Johnson was already doing well financially and culturally.  The Irish born immigrant had prospered in the fur trade and built a substantial stone home called Fort Johnson in 1749, today a significant and locally operated museum, Old Fort Johnson.

   By 1755 the British and their native allies were fighting the French and their native allies for dominance in North America.

   Johnson commanded a force of three thousand fighters from four colonies, 250 Mohawk Indian warriors and one British officer, according to historian Mark Silo.

   The objective of Johnson’s expedition was to attack the French Fort St. Frederic at Crown Point on Lake Champlain.  Fort St. Frederic was France’s southernmost base.  From it they launched raids against towns in New York and New England. 

   Johnson’s army cleared a road and made camp at the southern end of what the British called Lake George and the French called Lac du Saint Sacrement.

   Johnson sent a thousand of his soldiers to relieve Fort Edward.

   The French attacked this smaller group of Johnson’s forces about three miles from Lake George in an ambush called the Bloody Morning Scout.  Colonel Ephraim Williams from New England and Mohawk King Hendrick were among those killed.

   Silo said the survivors reeled back to Lake George while the men camped at the lake threw up a small defensive breastwork.

  “They grabbed logs, they grabbed wagons, they grabbed boats,” Silo said.  The breastworks gave soldiers something to hide behind to shield themselves from enemy fire.

  Silo spent the summer mapping out Johnson’s battle lines for the Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance.

   One source for finding locations in the Battle of Lake George was a painting that Silo said was drawn by an artist who observed the fighting.

   This October Silo plans to speak at the Fort Plain Museum’s conference on the American Revolution.  He doubts he will do a book since so much is already in print about the Lake George battle.

   He got a lot of strange looks from people who were camping when he “poked through” taking notes on his iPad for his research on the Lake George battle lines.

   Silo said Johnson had little military experience before this battle.  The limited victory made Johnson the first British hero of the war with France.

   British King George II was pleased and made Johnson a baronet in recognition of his victory, which made him “Sir” William Johnson.  Parliament awarded Johnson 5,000 pounds, a substantial sum.

   Britain had its losses but won the war.  The 1763 – Treaty of Paris awarded all French possessions east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans, to the British.  By then Sir William Johnson had built a larger home which is now a state historic site in Johnstown.

   Mark Silo is a native of Yonkers who relocated to Albany as a civil engineer with the state Department of Transportation. He is a volunteer for the Lake George Battlefield Park Visitor Interpretive Center.

  Silo is also author of “The 115th New York in the Civil War,” the history of a local volunteer Civil War regiment.

   He was attracted to the topic because his mother-in-law had ancestors who fought with the 115th regiment.

   Silo and his wife Kathy split their time between their home in Loudonville, a log cabin on the Schroon River near Lake George and other bucket list locations.

Mohawk Valley News The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown. https://www.dailygazette.com/

New this Friday, February 23, 2024-Episode 511-Photojournalist Richard Frishman and essayist and professor Dr. B. Brian Foster are authors of Ghosts of Segregation, a photojournalism collection depicting a visual history of segregation through buildings and landscapes where racism has left its mark.

How William Johnson Made His Bones

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History, Sunday, February 18, 2024

   What made William Johnson important in Colonial America especially with his British overlords?

    You might borrow a phrase made popular by Godfather movies and Sopranos TV shows that Johnson “made his bones” by defeating the French who attacked him in the Battle of Lake George in 1755.

   Johnson was already doing well financially and culturally.  The Irish born immigrant had prospered in the fur trade and built a substantial stone home called Fort Johnson in 1749, today a significant and locally operated museum, Old Fort Johnson.

   By 1755 the British and their native allies were fighting the French and their native allies for dominance in North America.

   Johnson commanded a force of three thousand fighters from four colonies, 250 Mohawk Indian warriors and one British officer, according to historian Mark Silo.

   The objective of Johnson’s expedition was to attack the French Fort St. Frederic at Crown Point on Lake Champlain.  Fort St. Frederic was France’s southernmost base.  From it they launched raids against towns in New York and New England. 

   Johnson’s army cleared a road and made camp at the southern end of what the British called Lake George and the French called Lac du Saint Sacrement.

   Johnson sent a thousand of his soldiers to relieve Fort Edward.

   The French attacked this smaller group of Johnson’s forces about three miles from Lake George in an ambush called the Bloody Morning Scout.  Colonel Ephraim Williams from New England and Mohawk King Hendrick were among those killed.

   Silo said the survivors reeled back to Lake George while the men camped at the lake threw up a small defensive breastwork.

  “They grabbed logs, they grabbed wagons, they grabbed boats,” Silo said.  The breastworks gave soldiers something to hide behind to shield themselves from enemy fire.

  Silo spent the summer mapping out Johnson’s battle lines for the Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance.

   One source for finding locations in the Battle of Lake George was a painting that Silo said was drawn by an artist who observed the fighting.

   This October Silo plans to speak at the Fort Plain Museum’s conference on the American Revolution.  He doubts he will do a book since so much is already in print about the Lake George battle.

   He got a lot of strange looks from people who were camping when he “poked through” taking notes on his iPad for his research on the Lake George battle lines.

   Silo said Johnson had little military experience before this battle.  The limited victory made Johnson the first British hero of the war with France.

   British King George II was pleased and made Johnson a baronet in recognition of his victory, which made him “Sir” William Johnson.  Parliament awarded Johnson 5,000 pounds, a substantial sum.

   Britain had its losses but won the war.  The 1763 – Treaty of Paris awarded all French possessions east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans, to the British.  By then Sir William Johnson had built a larger home which is now a state historic site in Johnstown.

   Mark Silo is a native of Yonkers who relocated to Albany as a civil engineer with the state Department of Transportation. He is a volunteer for the Lake George Battlefield Park Visitor Interpretive Center.

  Silo is also author of “The 115th New York in the Civil War,” the history of a local volunteer Civil War regiment.

   He was attracted to the topic because his mother-in-law had ancestors who fought with the 115th regiment.

   Silo and his wife Kathy split their time between their home in Loudonville, a log cabin on the Schroon River near Lake George and other bucket list locations.

Mohawk Valley News The Daily Gazette, The Recorder News, The Leader-Herald and Nippertown. https://www.dailygazette.com/

Wind Advisory in effect from February 15, 10:00 PM EST until February 16, 01:00 PM EST

Winter Weather Advisory in effect from February 15, 01:00 PM EST until February 16, 01:00 PM EST

Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder this Weekend

How William Johnson Made His Bones By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History

 What made William Johnson important in Colonial America especially with his British overlords?

A Thursday Story-Focus on History from March 2004

Preserving Fort Johnson The Montgomery County Historical Society
Bob Cudmore

More than a century after the pro-British Johnson family fled the Mohawk Valley because of the American Revolution, a local organization took the lead in preserving Old Fort Johnson, a fortified home built by Sir William Johnson in 1749.

The Montgomery County Historical Society formed in 1904. The private, non profit group met regularly at the new Amsterdam Free Library, which charged the historical association five dollars a month. The original goal was to establish a museum in Amsterdam but Old Fort Johnson, a mile west of the city, soon became the focus.

In 1904, carpet maker Stephen Sanford purchased a collection of arrowheads, tools and other Native American artifacts from A.S. Richmond and Samuel Frey of Canajoharie. This collection is still on display at the fort.

At the time, farmer and lawyer Ethan Akin owned the historic building. Ethan's son Theron, a dentist, led the drive to name the surrounding community the Village of Akin. Theron Akin was elected to Congress, moved to Amsterdam and spent four tumultuous years as mayor of the Carpet City. Later, the community around the fort was renamed Fort Johnson.
In 1905, the Society contracted to buy the fort from the Akin family for $5900. Amsterdam merchant W. Max Reid found a benefactor to put up the money, Major General John Watts DePeyster of Tivoli, New York. DePeyster was the grand nephew of Lady Mary Watts Johnson, wife of Sir John Johnson, Sir William's son.

Stephen Sanford came up with a $15,000 endowment in 1906 and a committee of women furnished the fort. A 1770s era carriage house became the home of the first caretakers, Alpha and Helen Child.

In 1915, Mrs. Fred Greene was elected the Society's first woman president, one of the first women in the state to head an historical society.

In 1919, $100 was spent on a pageant depicting the life of Sir William Johnson. The New York State Historical Association described it as the most elaborate historical pageant ever seen in the Mohawk Valley.

In 1937, the Society decided to charge a 25-cent adult admission; children got in for a dime. The fee was discontinued during World War Two and today a two-dollar donation is encouraged.

Charles E. French was a charter trustee of the Society in 1904, serving until his death in 1964 at the age of 93. French, president of Amsterdam Savings Bank, was the son of Samuel French, a Civil War Army surgeon from the Binghamton area who settled in Amsterdam. Samuel French was instrumental in securing $25,000 from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to build the city library in 1903.

In 1965, Rebecca Morris Evans became Society president and, in the 1970s, restored the fort to reflect the period when Sir William Johnson lived there. Evans secured National Historic Landmark status for the building in 1974.

Samuel and Lily Canavan became caretakers in 1959. A native of Northern Ireland, Sam Canavan also worked as custodian at the savings bank, where his energy and style impressed bank president and Historical Society board member Charles French. Canavan's daughter, Joan Canavan Los, said her father would sometimes break into poetry when leading tours of the fort. Lily Canavan died in 1980 and Sam Canavan moved back to Ireland in 1983 where he died in 1994.

The Old Fort opens for the season on May 15. Events are planned to mark the 100th anniversary of the Historical Society. On May 16th, Cecilia Brauer will present a program on a sweet sounding 18th century glass instrument that was invented and named by Benjamin Franklin, the armonica.

Information for this story was provided by Alessa Wylie and Scott Haefner of the Montgomery County Historical Society.

Read Bob Cudmore’s Focus on History column Saturdays in Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder.

How William Johnson Made His Bones

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History this Saturday, February 17, 2024

 What made William Johnson important in Colonial America especially with his British overlords?

A Wednesday Story from 2004