New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

John Conway

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

1969: A Catskills Convention Center Never Built

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State Senator Warren M Anderson in Sullivan County for a groundbreaking of a convention center that was never builtIt was late August of 1968, and the people of Sullivan County, NY were all abuzz about the latest development in a long list of attempts to save their sagging economy.

The county’s Golden Age of Catskills tourism had ended three years before, and although no one likely realized yet how bad things would get before they got better, county officials and resort owners were trying desperately to right the sinking ship. True to form, however, all efforts to do so had been continually thwarted by a difference of opinion as to what course to follow. [Read more…] about 1969: A Catskills Convention Center Never Built

The 1952 Vacation Boom in Sullivan County

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Youngs Gap Hotel in Parksville, Sullivan CountyIn 1952 the bungalow industry in Sullivan County, NY, believed to be the largest in New York State, reported that rentals for the summer were at 100 per cent, “the greatest season in its history.”

Likewise, during the peak summer season the county’s hotels “had not a single room to spare.” The Liberty Register newspaper reported in its September 11 edition that year that “the county’s 534 resort hotels — the largest concentration of such hotels in the world — with 34,000 rooms, operated at 100 per cent capacity.” [Read more…] about The 1952 Vacation Boom in Sullivan County

The Execution of Noah Bigelow

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Noah Bigelow Sullivan County Murder (New York Herald)On July 15, 1869, Noah Bigelow of North Branch in the town of Callicoon, NY, became the third man to be hanged for murder in Sullivan County’s history.

Just three days earlier, New York Governor John T. Hoffman had announced that he would not commute Bigelow’s sentence, saying that the sentence was just and that he “had no right to set aside the provisions of the law, even if the culprit was weak of intellect.” [Read more…] about The Execution of Noah Bigelow

The Ice Pick Murder of Gangster Walter Sage

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BigGangiMugshotsLate in the afternoon of Friday, June 21, 1940, a jury of 11 men and one woman delivered a verdict in one of the most famous trials ever conducted in Sullivan County Court. They found Irving “Big Gangi” Cohen not guilty in the ice pick murder of gangster Walter Sage nearly three years before. [Read more…] about The Ice Pick Murder of Gangster Walter Sage

Fort Delaware: An Early Theme Park, Now A Museum

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Fort Delaware Museum in 2009 (photo courtesy Bill Coughlin)Although some consider California’s Disneyland, which opened in 1955, to be the first American theme park — not to be confused with an amusement park, which dates back far earlier — most argue that the first was actually Santa Claus Land in Santa Claus, Indiana, which opened in 1946. [Read more…] about Fort Delaware: An Early Theme Park, Now A Museum

When Sullivan County Was A Sportsman’s Paradise

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Callicoon Erie Railroad Train Station in Sullivan CountyLong before the Ontario and Western Railway touted the healing environment that was Sullivan County beginning in the 1880s, the Erie Railroad had been established along the county’s western edge. By 1850, the Erie had been completed through the county, and it was largely through its promotional efforts that the upper Delaware Valley began to receive notice as “a sportsmen’s paradise.”

By the 1870s, hundreds of people were traveling each weekend to dozens of resorts in the approximately 60-mile-long valley from the Delaware Water Gap to Narrowsburg. These people were drawn here by the river, lakes, and streams. They came to fish and to boat and to hunt. [Read more…] about When Sullivan County Was A Sportsman’s Paradise

The Real Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

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Jean CarrollIt seems as if a number of those who chose to celebrate April as National Humor Month last month by taking in this columnist’s presentation of “Laughter is the Best Medicine: The Borscht Belt and American Comedy” at the Ethelbert Crawford Public Library in Monticello got more than they were expecting. [Read more…] about The Real Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

New York State & Washington’s Cherry Trees

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jokichi takamineOn March 27th, 1912, the first two of thousands of Japanese cherry trees were planted along the banks of the Potomac River in Washington, DC by First Lady Helen Taft, the wife of President William Howard Taft, and the Viscountess Chinda, the wife of the Japanese Ambassador to the United States.  [Read more…] about New York State & Washington’s Cherry Trees

Not Until 1937 Could Women Serve On Juries in New York

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J. Maxwell KnappWomen’s inexorable march toward equality in politics and government in this country has been one of small steps, and there have been many obstacles to overcome. Sometimes in looking back, it is difficult to believe that certain milestones along the journey took so long to achieve. For example, it wasn’t until 1937 that women were eligible to serve on juries in New York State. [Read more…] about Not Until 1937 Could Women Serve On Juries in New York