Washington County, NY is an area rich in historical and cultural significance along New York’s border with Vermont, at the head of Lake Champlain and east of Lake George. Many of the County’s towns have been around since before the American Revolution. The county is bisected by the Champlain Canal and the Hudson River. [Read more…] about 10 Washington County Museums Worth A Visit
Granville
‘New Deal For Artists’ Opening Adirondack History Museum Film Series
With the failure of President Herbert Hoover’s policies and the ensuing Great Depression, Americans were desperate for help. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s pragmatic New Deal programs aimed to help Americans back to their feet by providing them with jobs. Several innovative public arts program were designed to provide economic relief and jobs for all kinds of artists from sculptures to painters and performers. [Read more…] about ‘New Deal For Artists’ Opening Adirondack History Museum Film Series
Northern New York Railroad News, 1880-1895
In 1895, railroad travel through the Champlain Valley got a service upgrade. “Vestibule dining room cars will be run on three of the Delaware and Hudson trains beginning July 1,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on June 29, 1895. “Train No. 102’s dining car will run from Plattsburg to Whitehall, No. 101 from Whitehall to Rouses Point, and Train No. 8 will serve supper from Rouses Point to Plattsburg.”
In other 19th century railroad news collected from Northern New York historic newspapers: [Read more…] about Northern New York Railroad News, 1880-1895
Thanksgiving Dinner News Collected from Historic Newspapers
The rule at a wedding is don’t show up the bride. The rule at Thanksgiving dinner is don’t show up the bird.
“The Thanksgiving Dinner should always be plain and plentiful,” The Granville Sentinel suggested on Nov. 30, 1894. “The turkey is so grand a dish that it should not be obscured by its surroundings.”
In other Thanksgiving dinner news collected from historic newspapers in Northern New York: [Read more…] about Thanksgiving Dinner News Collected from Historic Newspapers
Warren and Washington County Suffragists
When you think of the Women’s Suffrage Movement in Upstate New York, you may conjure images of women in white with purple sashes marching through the streets of Albany or New York City, but rural Warren, and especially Washington County also played a major role in the fight for equal voting rights for women.
The idea of women’s suffrage resonated in agricultural regions where women worked the farm alongside men and shared equally the burdens and rewards. In fact, many of the members of Political Equality Clubs throughout New York’s rural counties were farm wives seeking to have their voices heard. [Read more…] about Warren and Washington County Suffragists
The Black Church in New York: Excerpts from Carter G. Woodson
What follows are excerpts from Carter G. Woodson’s The History of The Negro Church (1921) which illuminate the early development of the organized Black churches in what is now New York State before about 1800. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) was a prominent black leader and intellectual of the first half of the twentieth century. Born in Virginia in 1875 to formerly enslaved parents, he was educated at Berea College in Kentucky, the University of Chicago, and finally, Harvard, where he earned his Ph.D. in History. Woodson championed awareness of black historical experience by teaching and initiating the first Black History Week, which became the basis for the later Black History Month. He was a tireless writer also who published many volumes during his life, including his classic The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933). [Read more…] about The Black Church in New York: Excerpts from Carter G. Woodson
19th Century Railroad News from Northern New York
It was high-speed rail – a little too high speed for some passengers’ comfort level. “The fastest time on the new railroad was made yesterday by the accommodation freight train, which ran from this place [Glens Falls] to Lake George in eleven minutes,” the Glen’s Falls Messenger reported on June 23, 1882. [Read more…] about 19th Century Railroad News from Northern New York
Political News & Wit From 1890s Northern New York
A tailor in the Trades Building in Glens Falls, NY, conducted a political guessing contest to drum up business. “A ten-dollar pair of trousers to the person guessing the nearest to the plurality of our next Governor,” the tailor advertised in The Morning Star of October 30, 1894. “If a lady guesses it, I will make her a pair of BLOOMERS.” Republican Levi Morton won with a more than 156,000-vote plurality.
In other lighter side of politics news collected from northern New York historic newspapers: [Read more…] about Political News & Wit From 1890s Northern New York
Wit & Wisdom From Northern NY Newspapers
Triva clue: He was honored as “No. 1 Eagle Scout.” Correct response: Who is Gerald Ford?
“Joe Wykoff, Detroit area scout director, holds up a sign designating Gerald Ford as ‘No. 1 Eagle Scout’ above a laughing vice president during a dinner in Cobo Hall in Detroit, as protestors outside carried various messages for the vice president,” The Post-Star captioned a photo package published on Feb. 11, 1974. [Read more…] about Wit & Wisdom From Northern NY Newspapers
Oh What Pun! Some 19th Century Puns
Some 19th century puns were coined for marketing purposes — not just entertainment.
“Why is Julian Mills flour like a well-bred gentleman? — Because it always rises in the presence of ladies,” the flour company advertised in The Fort Edward Ledger on Oct. 22, 1858. [Read more…] about Oh What Pun! Some 19th Century Puns
Forest Rangers Kept Busy With Multiple Adirondack, Catskills Rescues
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people.
What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers. [Read more…] about Forest Rangers Kept Busy With Multiple Adirondack, Catskills Rescues
Granville’s WPA Mural of Working in a Slate Quarry
“Men Working in Slate Quarry,” the 1939 Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded mural displayed at the Slate Valley Museum in Granville, Washington County, NY is as good an example as you will find of “Art for the People.”
The subject of the museum’s current exhibition “One Painting, Many Stories,” explores many of the artistic, cultural and political contexts within which the mural was created. [Read more…] about Granville’s WPA Mural of Working in a Slate Quarry
Flowery & Imprecise: 19th Century Weather Reports
The Whitehall correspondent submitted a long-winded, pun intended, weather report for the Dec. 28, 1889 issue of The Granville Sentinel: “The atmosphere was in great commotion here Sunday night – evidently having urgent business elsewhere – and things movable presented a decidedly twisted appearance in town Monday morning.”
A contemporary editor likely would ask the reporter to consult the National Weather Service about the speed of the wind, and would have boiled down the verbiage to something like, “Severe winds in Whitehall uprooted trees and blew off roofs at Whitehall on Sunday. But dramatics frequently trumped details in 19th century newspapers. [Read more…] about Flowery & Imprecise: 19th Century Weather Reports
‘Trouble at the Quarries’: The 1890 Slate Workers Strike
Huge demand for slate in 1890 boosted prices for quarry owners and manufacturers in the Granville area of Washington County, NY, and workers sought a share of the wealth.
“The slate business is booming,” The Granville Sentinel reported on June 13, 1890, followed a week later with the report, “There is trouble at the quarries.” [Read more…] about ‘Trouble at the Quarries’: The 1890 Slate Workers Strike
The New Year in 1887, Granville, Washington County
The year 1886 in Washington County, New York, ended on an optimistic tone.
“But thou, the old year, has not been a very hard one, especially,” The Granville Sentinel reported on December 31st, 1886.
Extended periods of drought followed by weeks of unseasonal warm rain gave way in the final days of the year to seasonal weather. [Read more…] about The New Year in 1887, Granville, Washington County
The Joys of a January Freeze, 1887
Lake Champlain froze completely on January 8th, 1887, missing by just two days the seventy-year record for earliest freeze.
“Saturday morning (January 8th) was the coldest of the season, the mercury registering 26 below zero – in the shade,” The Granville Sentinel reported on January 14th. [Read more…] about The Joys of a January Freeze, 1887
A Washington County Political Newspaper Brawl
If there was one thing 19th century Granville Sentinel publisher Anna McArthur disliked more than Democrats, it was a competing newspaper attempting to siphon off Republican readership. [Read more…] about A Washington County Political Newspaper Brawl
A Plague of Potato Bugs in 1877 Washington County
The weather at Granville, in Washington County, in June 1877, was ideal for agriculture.
“This is the weather that makes farmers happy,” The Granville Sentinel reported.
Corn and flax crops looked promising, but “vigilance and perseverance is to be the price of potatoes.” [Read more…] about A Plague of Potato Bugs in 1877 Washington County
Local Newspaper Editor Ponders Election of 1876
Presidential elections can strain neighborly relations, as reiterated in Washington County’s Granville Sentinel in 1876.
“The one pleasant thing about it, when the cruel suspense is over, they’ll be less lying in the newspapers and less personal defamation in the streets,” the Sentinel quipped on October 29th. [Read more…] about Local Newspaper Editor Ponders Election of 1876
First World War Program at Slate Valley Museum
The Slate Valley Museum has been awarded a Library of America Grant for programming connected to the Library’s World War I and America project commemorating the centennial of World War I and the entry of United States forces on April 6, 1917. With the funds the Museum is planning three events through 2017 that will highlight writings and discussions around issues important to those who fought and the family and friends left behind. The first talk will be Saturday, April 29 at 2 pm at the Slate Valley Museum in Granville, Washington County. [Read more…] about First World War Program at Slate Valley Museum