Montgomery County

Women Workers In Amsterdam’s Carpet Mills

May 11, 2015 by Bob Cudmore 2 Comments

Modestly but eloquently, Sue Fraczek described her life as an Amsterdam mill worker, “When I went to work, I was scared to death. It was my first time in a carpet mill. It was hot. It was noisy.”

Fraczek was surprised to see herself as a young mill worker in a still picture prominently featured in “Historic Views of the Carpet City,” the WMHT-TV documentary on Amsterdam first shown in 2000. Co-producer Steve Dunn chose the picture of the young woman at a yarn twisting machine to symbolize the documentary that he and I produced. [Read more…] about Women Workers In Amsterdam’s Carpet Mills

Fort Hunter Journal on The Historians Podcast

March 13, 2015 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

This week “The Historians” podcast features David Brooks from Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site in Fort Hunter with stories from an 1869 journal kept by a Fort Hunter man. David wrote a post on the journal that appeared here on New York History Blog. Listen at “The Historians” online archive at http://www.bobcudmore.com/thehistorians/
[Read more…] about Fort Hunter Journal on The Historians Podcast

Remembering Amsterdam’s Bishop Scully HS

February 9, 2015 by Bob Cudmore 4 Comments

When William Aloysius Scully was bishop of Albany, six new Roman Catholic high schools were established in the diocese. The school that opened on a 62-acre lot on upper Church Street in Amsterdam in 1966, three years before Scully’s death, was named in his honor.

St. Mary’s Institute on Forbes Street, which dates back to 1881, had been the city’s previous Catholic high school. It was adjacent to St. Mary’s Church in the heart of the city. Bishop Scully High school was built near the city’s outer limits. [Read more…] about Remembering Amsterdam’s Bishop Scully HS

Unseen Hand: An 1869 Fort Hunter Diary

February 3, 2015 by David Brooks 4 Comments

In 1988, a small leather-bound diary was bequeathed to Schoharie Crossing State Historic site by Clarke Blair, who received it from Gertrude Ruck – a descendent of Michael Brown. Brown was one of the brothers that owned and operated the Brown Cash Store located at Lock 30 in Fort Hunter, NY from the mid-19th to early 20th century.

The diarist is unknown – nonetheless, it is obviously a personal journal of a Fort Hunter resident, and references to notable local families, places and events of 1869 fill its yellowed pages. [Read more…] about Unseen Hand: An 1869 Fort Hunter Diary

Historians Podcast: Mario Cuomo, Fonda History

January 16, 2015 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

This week on “The Historians” podcast, Barry Wygel of Time Warner Cable TV News and I talk about the legacy of Mario Cuomo, an interview recorded January 1, the night that former Governor Cuomo died. Then it’s on to the Fonda Reformed Church where I gave a history talk January 5 to the Glen-Mohawk Senior Citizens. Stories are told about Elizabeth Luciano, known as Queen Libby of Fonda; a Perth, N.Y. valedictorian whose name may be inscribed on a plaque on the Moon and Washington Frothingham, a preacher and syndicated newspaper columnist who lived in Fonda. Listen at “The Historians” online archive at http://www.bobcudmore.com/thehistorians/
[Read more…] about Historians Podcast: Mario Cuomo, Fonda History

Amsterdam Icon: The Mohawk Teepee

January 12, 2015 by Bob Cudmore 7 Comments

The cover of Historic Amsterdam League’s 2015 calendar is a picture of the former Mohawk Teepee restaurant, built in an abandoned rock quarry adjacent to a waterfall in Amsterdam’s East End.

The Mohawk Teepee was the brainchild of Myron and Lidia Bazar, both natives of Ukraine. Myron was born in Ternopil and Lidia in Boryslav, according to Ukrainian Weekly. [Read more…] about Amsterdam Icon: The Mohawk Teepee

The Historians Podcast: Amsterdam Area Eateries

December 12, 2014 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

This week on “The Historians” podcast, an interview with Jerry Snyder of Historic Amsterdam League (HAL) on bygone eateries ranging from one of the first restaurants in the Mohawk Valley to be recommended by Duncan Hines, to side-by-side diners frequented by Kirk Douglas’s father, to an unusual fine dining restaurant built in an abandoned rock quarry. Pictures of the dining establishments are found in HAL’s 2015 Amsterdam Icons calendar.

Listen at “The Historians” online archive at http://www.bobcudmore.com/thehistorians/
[Read more…] about The Historians Podcast: Amsterdam Area Eateries

Amsterdam and the Flu Pandemic of 1918

November 11, 2014 by Bob Cudmore 3 Comments

When the world-wide influenza pandemic struck in 1918, Amsterdam had its share of disease and death.

The flu became more deadly in the fall of that year, near the end of World War I. From October 1918 through January 1919 there were 176 deaths in Amsterdam from flu or pneumonia, half of one percent of the city’s population.

Amsterdam had 23 cases of influenza in September and eight people had pneumonia. In October the number of flu cases jumped to an astounding 3,386; 255 people had pneumonia. Amsterdam had 43 flu deaths in October and 77 deaths from pneumonia, which often followed the flu. Both St. Mary’s and City Hospital were filled to capacity. [Read more…] about Amsterdam and the Flu Pandemic of 1918

John Philip Sousa’s Montgomery County Connection

October 28, 2014 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

John Philip Sousa, “The March King” who composed “The Stars and Stripes Forever”, unsuccessfully courted a woman from the Mohawk Valley and remained a close friend of hers through the years.

Jessie Zoller was born in 1856 in the hamlet of Hallsville in the town of Minden. Minden historian Christine Oarr Eggleston said Jesse was the daughter of egg farmer Abram Zoller and his wife Alma Tuttle Zoller. After the Civil War, Abram Zoller held a high post in the U.S. Treasury and his wife and daughter were living with him in Washington. [Read more…] about John Philip Sousa’s Montgomery County Connection

Amsterdam Mayor Arthur Carter Was An FDR ally

October 6, 2014 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

During the 1920s, Arthur Carter from Amsterdam worked as an auditor for the State Comptroller’s Office in Albany and got to know Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Roosevelt became President in 1933. Later that year, Carter was elected mayor of Amsterdam, defeating incumbent Republican Robert Brumagin by 1,169 votes.

The nation was gripped by the Depression. An estimated ten thousand people turned out in Amsterdam on a raw and windy November 9, two days after the city election, to parade for economic revival. [Read more…] about Amsterdam Mayor Arthur Carter Was An FDR ally