“A self-made man is the description which best fits Karl Peterson, a manufacturer of Jamestown. He has a natural gift for mechanics and is of an inventive turn of mind, quick to grasp the possibilities in any circumstance which may arise, and equally quick to develop the new idea presented to him,” wrote John P. Downs and Frederick Y. Hedley in their 1921 History of Chautauqua County. [Read more…] about Karl Peterson: New York’s Crescent Wrench King
Aviation History
Mitchel Field, Long Island Aviation History
From shortly after the nation’s first flight through and beyond World War II, the skies over Long Island’s Hempstead Plains buzzed with activity as the men and women of Mitchel Field faced the risks and dangers of military flight.
These were new challenges and dangerous times for military aviators in the skies and their support crews on the ground. And sometimes, the danger won. [Read more…] about Mitchel Field, Long Island Aviation History
1925: Floyd Bennett & The MacMillian Arctic Expedition
It was a carnival-like atmosphere as the two ships in Donald Baxter MacMillan’s latest Arctic expedition were about to sail from Wiscasset, Maine.
School children released multi-colored balloons, the 5th Infantry Band played “Aud Lang Syne,” and thousands of well-wishers gathered to see him off shouted, “See you in September, Mac,” the Associated Press reported on June 20, 1925. [Read more…] about 1925: Floyd Bennett & The MacMillian Arctic Expedition
1925 Northern New York Radio History
Orrie Gould had a radio and would travel. “Gordon Russell and George Wilson were at J. Hebert Bly’s Sunday evening and enjoyed a radio entertainment furnished by Orrie Gould of Ticonderoga. The main feature was a church service from Albany, after which several stations were tuned in for musical selections,” the Crown Point Merchant’s Row correspondent reported in the Ticonderoga Sentinel on April 11, 1925.
“A few of our members were privileged to listen to a radio entertainment at the home of John Andre Saturday yesterday evening,” the Crown Point correspondent reported April 23rd. Orrie Gould of Ticonderoga brought the radio. [Read more…] about 1925 Northern New York Radio History
Farmingdale Long Island’s Local History Librarian
Chances are that your local public library has a local history librarian who oversees a rich collection of images, artifacts, and information about your community. This episode of the Long Island History Project podcast highlights and celebrates one member of this unique group – Natalie Korsavidis. She is the local history librarian at Farmingdale Public Library in Nassau (and a little bit of Suffolk) County. [Read more…] about Farmingdale Long Island’s Local History Librarian
A 1973 Warren County UFO Mystery
In 1947, a sighting of an unidentified flying object (UFO) near Mount Rainier in Washington state introduced this phenomenon to the American public. Over a quarter-of-a-century later in December 1973, a mysterious aerial craft may have touched down on the shores of Warren County‘s Glen Lake in the Town of Queensbury.
The picturesque waterway is located four miles south of Lake George. [Read more…] about A 1973 Warren County UFO Mystery
Putnam County Takes Flight: National Air Mail Week, 1938
In 1938, the U.S. Post Office sponsored National Air Mail Week, held from May 15 to 21, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the inauguration of Air Mail service, first launched by the Post Office on May 15, 1918. Carmel NY Postmaster Thomas Townsend served as chairman of the National Air Mail Observance Committee for Putnam County.
He fully embraced the celebration, which was aimed at boosting postal revenue during a time when the nation was emerging from the Great Depression and still reeling from the airmail contract scandal earlier that decade. [Read more…] about Putnam County Takes Flight: National Air Mail Week, 1938
Beware the Enemy: World War II Upstate New York Manhunts
It was July 1942, the seventh month of the United States in World War II (1941–1945). The German military had driven into the Caucasus region of southeastern Europe. New York residents were shocked, too, by news that fascists from a German U-boat had landed several weeks earlier in eastern Long Island but the Nazi agents were captured.
Then the media reported that on July 16, six parachutists had been spotted in the skies near Hyde Park, NY, home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The government worried that enemy spies or assassins might be near Roosevelt’s Hudson Valley residence. [Read more…] about Beware the Enemy: World War II Upstate New York Manhunts
The Day Planes Fell Out of the Sky at Lake George
It was nearly two years after World War Two (1939–1945) had ended, but to some it may have seemed like aircraft were being shot out of the sky at Lake George, New York.
It was Saturday afternoon, July 12, 1947. A light monoplane was making a landing on the lake surface in the Diamond Point vicinity when the amphibious aircraft unexpectedly plunged into the waterway. [Read more…] about The Day Planes Fell Out of the Sky at Lake George
1936: The Airship Hindenburg Over Lake George
With a length of 803.8 feet, it was a massive airship, only 80 feet shorter than the 1912-sunk, ocean-liner Titanic.
Along with its sister craft, the LZ-130, the LZ-129 Hindenburg was the largest-man-made object to ever fly. [Read more…] about 1936: The Airship Hindenburg Over Lake George
Some History of the US Postal Service
You might say that the history of our postal system began when Benjamin Franklin, age 31, was appointed Postmaster of Philadelphia by the colonial British authorities in 1737.
Not that there hadn’t been earlier embryonic attempts at mail service in the colonies, but Franklin was already the very successful proprietor of a print business and publisher of a newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette. His experience had taught him to be a meticulous record-keeper and a master of organization. So it’s hardly surprising that he shaped the Philadelphia mails into a swift and responsive enterprise. [Read more…] about Some History of the US Postal Service
Otto Hillig: Photographer, Aviator, and Castle-Builder
Robert Penn Warren once wrote that there are two main types of American hero. President George Washington is the first type: His inspiring biography and accomplishments have acquired the luster of myth. He’s become an unapproachable ideal. Less lofty is Benjamin Franklin’s type of hero. Franklin shared America’s love of gadgets and applied science.
We admire him for being, as Warren writes, “the very model of the Industrious Apprentice who, by…. thrift, self-denial, temperance, prudence, and…. calculation… rises, without social, financial, or intellectual advantages, to high solvency and world fame.” His limitation was: He “seems what you yourself, with just a little luck, might be,” as well.
Otto Hillig, photographer and adventurer, was that second type of hero. [Read more…] about Otto Hillig: Photographer, Aviator, and Castle-Builder
Johnny Mancini’s Grotto: A Saratoga County Man Lost Near Guadalcanal
A grotto shrine is built into and/or made from rocks. Grotto shrines can be natural or man-made. The story of a small grotto in Ballston Lake in Upstate New York is a complicated one – it’s the story of a boy’s sickly childhood, a compassionate priest, a grateful man, and a tragic death. [Read more…] about Johnny Mancini’s Grotto: A Saratoga County Man Lost Near Guadalcanal
La Guardia’s Stunts: Prohibition, His Airport, and the Sunday Funnies
New York State history is full of exciting characters who made a real difference in our historical development.
One of the most colorful is Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947) who served in the Army air corps in the First World War, and later as a member of Congress (1923-1933) and Mayor of New York City (1933-1946). [Read more…] about La Guardia’s Stunts: Prohibition, His Airport, and the Sunday Funnies
Lake George Aviation Pioneer Harold Bixby
More than any other single individual, a summer resident of Bolton Landing on Lake George was responsible for opening Asia to international air traffic. That man – Harold McMillan Bixby — was among the first Americans to imagine that routine, transpolar air travel from New York to Asia was possible. [Read more…] about Lake George Aviation Pioneer Harold Bixby
Floyd Bennett: New York Aviation Legend
Among the rock-star personas of the Roaring Twenties were a number of aviators who captured the public’s imagination. Some were as popular and beloved as movie stars and famous athletes, and America followed their every move.
It was a time of “firsts” in the world of aviation, led by names like Charles Lindbergh, Richard Byrd, and Wiley Post. Among their number was an unusually humble man, Floyd Bennett. He may have been the best of the lot. [Read more…] about Floyd Bennett: New York Aviation Legend
New York City During World War Two
As Nazi Germany began its domination of Europe, America was woefully unprepared for fighting. Our military was small, poorly supplied and without the prospect of a robust manufacturing sector that might have provided the arms, planes, ships, tanks and other equipment it would have needed.
And then, on December 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. [Read more…] about New York City During World War Two
Finger Lakes Technology: From Agriculture to Auto Racing
In 1904, the New York State legislature passed a bill to create the New York State College at Cornell. The bill created a land-grant college with an agriculture focus within Cornell and guaranteed fields of study related to agriculture would receive significant public funding. [Read more…] about Finger Lakes Technology: From Agriculture to Auto Racing
World War II Oral Histories at the National Archives
The National Archives record series World War II Oral Histories, Interviews and Statements, ca. April 1942–ca. December 1946 has been a transcription mission for the last few months where Citizen Archivists have transcribed more than 6,800 pages. Each transcribed word is now searchable in the catalog, and their stories even more accessible to the public. [Read more…] about World War II Oral Histories at the National Archives
The Story of Empire Airlines, 1976 – 1985
Empire Airlines was founded in the 1975 as Oneida County Aviation, a small carrier based in Utica, NY.
After the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, the airline saw potential to grow a hub operation at larger nearby Syracuse using a fleet of 80-seat Fokker F28 Fellowship twin jets and smaller 19-seat Swearingen Metro II propjets. [Read more…] about The Story of Empire Airlines, 1976 – 1985