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John Conway

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian and teaches a class on Sullivan County history at SUNY-Sullivan.

Jack Niflot: Olympic Gold Medal Wrestler

May 11, 2022 by John Conway Leave a Comment

Isidor “Jack” NiflotNew York State’s connection to Olympic wrestling goes all the way back to 1904, the very first year freestyle wrestling was included in the summer games, when Isidor “Jack” Niflot, then of New York City, but later a longtime Sullivan County resident, won a gold medal in the bantamweight division. [Read more…] about Jack Niflot: Olympic Gold Medal Wrestler

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Manhattan, New York City, Olympic History, Queens, Sports History, Sullivan County

Dr Rosetta Sherwood Hall: Catskills to Korea

April 13, 2022 by John Conway Leave a Comment

Rosetta Sherwood HallDr. Rosetta Sherwood Hall was born in Liberty in Sullivan County, NY on September 19th, 1865, grew up on the family farm and attended the Chestnut Ridge School and the Liberty Normal Institute.

After receiving her teaching degree from Oswego, she taught in local schools for a few years before entering the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1886, and becoming a missionary doctor in Korea in 1890.

Her pioneering work with deaf and blind Korean children and her founding of what eventually became the Korea University College of Medicine in Seoul. [Read more…] about Dr Rosetta Sherwood Hall: Catskills to Korea

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Catskills, Medical History, Religious History, Sullivan County, womens history

Monticello Amusement Park: Some History

April 3, 2022 by John Conway 1 Comment

the entrance to the Monticello Amusement ParkFor myriad reasons — perhaps most importantly the influence of the fortress hotels — the amusement park was never a big part of Sullivan County’s tourism industry.

There have been numerous attempts in the county over the years to capitalize on America’s love affair with places like Coney Island’s Luna Park, Disneyland, and Palisades Park, but none that succeeded for more than a few years. [Read more…] about Monticello Amusement Park: Some History

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Amusement Parks, Catskills, Monticello, Sullivan County, Tourism

Stephen Crane’s Monster: A Story About Community Courage

February 27, 2022 by John Conway 1 Comment

Stephen_Crane's_The_Monster_illustrationIn the summer of 1898, Harper’s Magazine published a novella by the noted author Stephen Crane entitled, The Monster. It is one of the first pieces of American fiction to realistically deal with racism and discrimination.

Crane, in the aftermath of the meteoric rise to fame that accompanied the publication of his Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage some three years before, was living in England when the story was published, but both his and the story’s ties to Upstate New York are undeniable. [Read more…] about Stephen Crane’s Monster: A Story About Community Courage

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Black History, Books, Crime and Justice, Literature, Orange County, Stephen Crane, Sullivan County

James Eldridge Quinlan: Catskills Publisher, Historian & Copperhead

February 21, 2022 by John Conway Leave a Comment

James Eldridge QuinlanDecades of polls of the general public and of noted scholars alike have repeatedly shown that most Americans consider Abraham Lincoln our greatest president.

That was not always the case.

And it wasn’t just those living below the Mason-Dixon Line who reviled our sixteenth president while he was in office. There was a strong anti-Lincoln sentiment in parts of the North, too, including here in Sullivan County, where a number of notable Monticello men were known to be pro-slavery Southern sympathizers, or Copperheads, as they became known.

James Eldridge Quinlan, editor of one of the county’s most prominent newspapers, The Republican Watchman, was one such man. Quinlan made no secret of his political leanings, and in fact his sentiments were so well known that at one point a group of men with opposite leanings threatened to blow up the Watchman office in order to eliminate Quinlan’s platform. [Read more…] about James Eldridge Quinlan: Catskills Publisher, Historian & Copperhead

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Abe Lincoln, Civil War, Political History, Sullivan County

Catskills Klan: The KKK in Sullivan County, New York

January 23, 2022 by John Conway 1 Comment

KKK cross burning LOCMany people – even those with more than a passing interest in Sullivan County history – are surprised to learn that the Ku Klux Klan was once fairly active in parts of the county. And yet, throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, there were several chapters in the Catskills, most set up by recruiters from the Binghamton area.

These Klan chapters, whether in Livingston Manor, Jeffersonville, Liberty, Woodbourne or some other hamlet, often started out as social organizations, and it was not unusual to see newspaper articles and even advertisements about their charitable activities or their clambakes, sometimes in conjunction with the Kamelias, the organization’s women’s auxiliary. [Read more…] about Catskills Klan: The KKK in Sullivan County, New York

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Binghamton, Black History, Catholicism, Catskills, Crime and Justice, Jewish History, Ku Klux Klan, Livingston Manor, Sullivan County

Winter In the Catskills: The Columbia Ski Resort

January 16, 2022 by John Conway Leave a Comment

early 1960s photo advertising the ski hill at the Columbia Hotel in HurleyvilleIt is unlikely that when he built the hotel with the spectacular vistas in 1891 John Harms Knapp envisioned it ever being a year-around resort, let alone one that advertised “superlative skiing,” and yet that is exactly what the Columbia Hotel in Hurleyville in the Catskills became in the early 1960s.

And of all the ski areas in Sullivan County — from Glen Hill to Christmas Hills — the Columbia’s was among the most successful, albeit for a relatively short time. [Read more…] about Winter In the Catskills: The Columbia Ski Resort

Filed Under: Hudson Valley - Catskills, Recreation Tagged With: Catskills, skiing, Sullivan County, winter, winter sports

Scoopers: Popular Catskills Slang

January 13, 2022 by John Conway Leave a Comment

19th Century wooden shovel fashioned by a "scooper"During the nearly 35 years I’ve spent answering questions about Sullivan County, NY’s rich and colorful history, a few topics come up far more than any others.

For example, lots of people want to know about the location of the very first summer hotel in Sullivan County, and the question of whether Al Capone ever owned Lake Louise Marie — and is it named for the gangster’s wife and/or girlfriend? — never seems to go out of style.

But possibly the most asked question of all is about the origin of the colloquial term “scooper.” Whether a person is hearing the word for the first time, or they have lived in Sullivan County all their lives and have grown up hearing — and using – the term, most people have no idea how it came to be. [Read more…] about Scoopers: Popular Catskills Slang

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Forestry, Labor History, Linguistics, Sullivan County, Ulster County, wood products

A Little-Known Civil War Hero From The Catskills

December 19, 2021 by John Conway 2 Comments

William Henry NewmanHe was born on December 12, 1838 in Highland Mills, in Orange County, and moved with his family to Sullivan County while still a young boy.

He enlisted in the Union Army shortly after the Civil War broke out, eventually achieving the rank of Captain.

In April of 1865, while serving with Company B of the 86th New York Infantry at Amelia Springs, Virginia, he captured the Confederate flag, and a month later was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. [Read more…] about A Little-Known Civil War Hero From The Catskills

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Callicoon, Catskills, Civil War, Military History, Sullivan County

A Sullivan County Classic Reissued in Time for the Holidays

December 7, 2021 by John Conway 1 Comment

To The Mountains by RailIt was back in August of 2010 that Myron Gittell received the first proof of the reprint he had decided to finance of the iconic book about Sullivan County, Manville B. Wakefield’s To The Mountains by Rail.

Gittell found the quality of that proof to be unacceptable, as were approximately 20 proofs he would look at thereafter, but he did not give up. Having received permission from Wakefield’s widow Barbara to reprint the 1970 classic, he was determined to get it done. [Read more…] about A Sullivan County Classic Reissued in Time for the Holidays

Filed Under: Books, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Catskills, O&W Railway Historical Society, Sullivan County, Sullivan County Historical Society

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