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Christmas in Amsterdam
Christmas in Amsterdam through the years
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History for Daily Gazette, Amsterdam Recorder
Amsterdam retail sales records were broken in the 1902 Christmas shopping season.The post office, then at the corner of East Main and Church streets, was extremely busy. So many packages and letters crowded the postal facility that employees had problems finding places to stand to do their jobs.
One of the sights in Amsterdam during the heyday of carpet manufacturing was the lighted outline of a Christmas tree installed on the front of the Clock Building on Prospect Street.
The Clock Building at the time was Amsterdam headquarters of Bigelow-Sanford. Carpets.During World War II Mohawk Carpets sent gift boxes to each of the mill’s soldiers. The 1943 box included candy, playing cards and a greeting card from company president, Howard Shuttleworth.
The city had a Christmas parade in 1947 featuring a balloon train. A picture shows parade watchers spilling onto East Main Street to view the engine. The Mohawk Mills Chorus, predecessor of the Mohawk Valley Chorus, appeared on NBC television in 1949 singing Christmas tunes with vocalist Roberta Quinlan on her Mohawk Carpet Showroom program.
In the 1950s Amsterdam held a Christmas Festival at Coessens Park in the East End, organized by Mayor Thomas F. Gregg. A Christmas village was built in the park and the festival lasted from early December through Christmas Day.
An estimated 35,000 attended the event. Santa talked with children and animals were brought in from the Catskill Game Farm, including eight fallow deer posing as Santa’s reindeer.
The festival cost a couple thousand dollars more than was raised. Although Mayor Gregg wanted to stage a festival the next year, that did not happen. Proprietor of a downtown butcher shop on Railroad Street, Gregg died in 1960.
In the 1950s Larrabee’s hardware store on Market Street sold Lionel and American Flyer model trains at Christmas. Each brand installed its own model railroad layout. The grandchildren of Polish American community leader Michael J. Wytrwal remember Christmas Eves when the needy found a seat at the family table on Cornell Street.
Albert “Kiddo” Zierak, tended bar Christmas Eve at Kiddo’s Tavern on Reid Street. He would send lonely people from the tavern to the house next door where his sisters lived, to enjoy the traditional Christmas Eve meal.
Alphonso and Catherine D'Alessandro owned the Gift & Hobby Shop at Lark and East Main Streets. On Christmas Eve Alphonso would stay late at the store, awaiting people coming to pick up their layaways.
At midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, all main lights at St. Casimir’s Roman Catholic Church then on East Main Street were turned off, smaller lights turned on. A parishioner recalled that with the smaller lights and candles, the church looked magical.
The Christmas Eve service at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church on Division Street was so crowded years ago that ushers set up extra chairs in the center aisle to accommodate everyone.
The matrons at the Children’s Home orphanage on Guy Park Avenue years ago asked each child for a list of three things wanted for Christmas. One woman remembered getting paper dolls and white socks.
When high school social life was dominated by sororities and fraternities, a high point of the holidays was Phi Delta sorority’s Christmas formal. In 1963 the dance was held at the Century Club on Guy Park Avenue. The girls of the sorority asked boys to attend.
Amsterdam wrapped up its bicentennial year in 2004 with City Hall display of a Christmas tree with ornaments made by students. Windmills on the tree paid tribute to Dutch heritage. One large windmill had holiday greetings in English, Italian, Polish and Spanish.
Bob Cudmore is a freelance writer.
518 346 6657
View all episodes
By Bob CudmoreChristmas in Amsterdam through the years
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History for Daily Gazette, Amsterdam Recorder
Amsterdam retail sales records were broken in the 1902 Christmas shopping season.The post office, then at the corner of East Main and Church streets, was extremely busy. So many packages and letters crowded the postal facility that employees had problems finding places to stand to do their jobs.
One of the sights in Amsterdam during the heyday of carpet manufacturing was the lighted outline of a Christmas tree installed on the front of the Clock Building on Prospect Street.
The Clock Building at the time was Amsterdam headquarters of Bigelow-Sanford. Carpets.During World War II Mohawk Carpets sent gift boxes to each of the mill’s soldiers. The 1943 box included candy, playing cards and a greeting card from company president, Howard Shuttleworth.
The city had a Christmas parade in 1947 featuring a balloon train. A picture shows parade watchers spilling onto East Main Street to view the engine. The Mohawk Mills Chorus, predecessor of the Mohawk Valley Chorus, appeared on NBC television in 1949 singing Christmas tunes with vocalist Roberta Quinlan on her Mohawk Carpet Showroom program.
In the 1950s Amsterdam held a Christmas Festival at Coessens Park in the East End, organized by Mayor Thomas F. Gregg. A Christmas village was built in the park and the festival lasted from early December through Christmas Day.
An estimated 35,000 attended the event. Santa talked with children and animals were brought in from the Catskill Game Farm, including eight fallow deer posing as Santa’s reindeer.
The festival cost a couple thousand dollars more than was raised. Although Mayor Gregg wanted to stage a festival the next year, that did not happen. Proprietor of a downtown butcher shop on Railroad Street, Gregg died in 1960.
In the 1950s Larrabee’s hardware store on Market Street sold Lionel and American Flyer model trains at Christmas. Each brand installed its own model railroad layout. The grandchildren of Polish American community leader Michael J. Wytrwal remember Christmas Eves when the needy found a seat at the family table on Cornell Street.
Albert “Kiddo” Zierak, tended bar Christmas Eve at Kiddo’s Tavern on Reid Street. He would send lonely people from the tavern to the house next door where his sisters lived, to enjoy the traditional Christmas Eve meal.
Alphonso and Catherine D'Alessandro owned the Gift & Hobby Shop at Lark and East Main Streets. On Christmas Eve Alphonso would stay late at the store, awaiting people coming to pick up their layaways.
At midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, all main lights at St. Casimir’s Roman Catholic Church then on East Main Street were turned off, smaller lights turned on. A parishioner recalled that with the smaller lights and candles, the church looked magical.
The Christmas Eve service at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church on Division Street was so crowded years ago that ushers set up extra chairs in the center aisle to accommodate everyone.
The matrons at the Children’s Home orphanage on Guy Park Avenue years ago asked each child for a list of three things wanted for Christmas. One woman remembered getting paper dolls and white socks.
When high school social life was dominated by sororities and fraternities, a high point of the holidays was Phi Delta sorority’s Christmas formal. In 1963 the dance was held at the Century Club on Guy Park Avenue. The girls of the sorority asked boys to attend.
Amsterdam wrapped up its bicentennial year in 2004 with City Hall display of a Christmas tree with ornaments made by students. Windmills on the tree paid tribute to Dutch heritage. One large windmill had holiday greetings in English, Italian, Polish and Spanish.
Bob Cudmore is a freelance writer.
518 346 6657