In July, 1973 Robert Francis Garrow Sr. went on an 18-day killing spree in the Adirondacks, stabbing four people to death before being apprehended. This week on the Historians Podcast, author and New York Almanack contributor Lawrence Gooley talks about the Garrow murders and his book Terror in the Adirondacks (Bloated Toe Press, 2009). [Read more…] about Terror in the Adirondacks: Robert Garrow’s 1973 Rampage
Dannemora
The Geology of Clinton County and History
The geology of Clinton County has shaped the county’s history in complex ways. There are five major geologic rock types in the county, each mined for its beauty and strength. You can see them in the buildings. [Read more…] about The Geology of Clinton County and History
The Most Negative Sales Pitch Ever: An Adirondack Story
A little more than a century ago, a horrendous description of an Adirondack village appeared in newspapers, including the Mail and Express published in New York City. At issue was the placement of a yet-to-be-built tubercular sanitarium. Feelings ran so high at the time, you’d swear they were selecting the next Supreme Court justice. But taking sides is nothing new, as proved by use of the written word back then to describe one of the candidate locations. As you’ll see, it’s hard to believe they were talking about the same place. [Read more…] about The Most Negative Sales Pitch Ever: An Adirondack Story
The Old Trail: A Lyon Mountain History
Many years ago, a new trail replaced the old trail on Lyon Mountain in the town of Dannemora in Clinton County, NY, which had degraded with sections ranging from grassy to rocky to bouldery to muddy to extremely steep, muddy, and slippery.
It was a mess compared to paths built by modern trail crews. In 2006, ADK’s Algonquin Chapter completed the plans for a new trail, which was built in the summer of 2008. [Read more…] about The Old Trail: A Lyon Mountain History
NYS Awards $8M in Clean Water Project Grants to Adirondack Communities
The NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) has awarded $638 million in grants to municipalities statewide for water infrastructure projects and Town of Indian Lake in Hamilton County was the biggest winner among Adirondack communities. [Read more…] about NYS Awards $8M in Clean Water Project Grants to Adirondack Communities
The 10 Deadliest Accidents in the Adirondack Region
Some of tragic accidents have occurred in the Adirondack region.
Here is a list of the ten believed to have been among the deadliest: [Read more…] about The 10 Deadliest Accidents in the Adirondack Region
Remembering Murdered Game Warden William Jackson
The LaGoy brothers were rough. A neighbor near Severence, on the road between the village of Schroon Lake and Paradox Lake in the Adirondacks, once wrote a letter to a local newspaper asking for a telling retraction.
“I was not lost,” D.S. Knox wrote. “My wife was much excited by the delay of about an hour of time over due, thinking as I have an organic heart trouble, caused to give her alarm, and not ever thinking of any of the LeGoy family causing any harm as neither of us believe that any of the LeGoy family ever would cause any personal harm without a provocation.”
It was rather important to Knox to make it clear to the world, that even if his wife had been talking out of school, neither of them harbored any ill will toward the LaGoys. [Read more…] about Remembering Murdered Game Warden William Jackson
The 1892 Troy Murder of William Wesson
On the evening of June 27, 1892, in a St. John’s Street boarding house in South Troy, New York, 66-year-old Thomas Jones was nearing the end of a three-day bender. He was fond of drawing a .32-caliber pistol and showing it off, something Jones had done repeatedly that day, much to the alarm of others. He hadn’t been on the job for several days at the Burden iron works, and had argued repeatedly with a coworker and co-resident of the boarding house, 22-year-old William Wesson, even offering to fight him in a duel. It was dismissed as nothing more than the ramblings of an old, annoying drunk. [Read more…] about The 1892 Troy Murder of William Wesson
Dannemora’s Death House Historians Podcast
This week on The Historians Podcast, Adirondack author Larry Gooley discusses two books he was written about Dannemora Prison in Northern, New York.
His most recent book is Dannemora’s Death House: The Crimes and Fates of 41 Killers Sentenced to Die in Clinton Prison’s Electric Chair.
Listen to the podcast here. Buy the book here. [Read more…] about Dannemora’s Death House Historians Podcast
Jack Lagree: Dannemora’s Bobsled Guru
Long before the 2015 escape of Richard Matt and David Sweat, the word Dannemora instantly conjured images of the prison. While the high wall dominates the landscape, the village does have other historical connections, some of them in the world of sports, including one through the person of John “Jack” Lagree. Jack was a native of Churubusco, a tiny hamlet in northwestern Clinton County.
Blessed with engineering talent, mechanical skill, and a strong, traditional, North Country work ethic, he rose to national prominence in the world of bobsleigh competition (referred to hereafter by the more popular term, bobsled). [Read more…] about Jack Lagree: Dannemora’s Bobsled Guru