1980: A Year of Baseball in Glens Falls

Harold Lloyd Jenkins was torn between three potential careers when he graduated high school: music, the clergy, and baseball.

A contract the Philadelphia Phillies offered tipped the scales in one direction, but his decision process was interrupted.

“He never had to choose,” The Post-Star reported on April 15, 1980. “Uncle Sam intervened and Harold Jenkins was drafted into the Army.”

During his Army days, Jenkins, later known as Conway Twitty – a name taken from the communities of Conway, Ark., and Twitty, Texas – formed a band known as the Cimarrons that played clubs around Japan.

By the time of his discharge, he knew music was the career he wanted, even though the Phillies tried once again to recruit him.

To recognize the country music star’s interest in baseball, the new Glens Falls White Sox “drafted” Twitty as an honorary player when he performed May 2 at Glens Falls Civic Center – the first country concert at the new arena now known as Cool Insuring Arena.

East Field in 1980 • Courtesy of The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library

1980 was a year of baseball in Glens Falls, highlighted with Mayor Edward Bartholomew’s whirlwind recruitment of the White Sox, the Double A franchise of the Chicago White Sox, that played at East Field in Glens Falls for five seasons.

Glens Falls was in competition with Schenectady and Pittsford and Worcester, Mass., among other cities, to land the team when Eastern Baseball League President Patrick McKiernan visited on Feb. 29, according to Post-Star archived reports.

On March 5, McKiernan told the city Common Council, “If you can deliver a field, you can have a baseball team.”

On March 12, the Common Council voted unanimously to develop East Field on Dix Avenue as a lighted-multi-use sports stadium.

Team ownership agreed to play home games the first season in the afternoons, if the city could install lights for the 1981 season.

As it turned out the lights were installed partway through the 1980 season.

The contract was signed April 7, and on April 19, Bartholomew, dressed in a White Sox uniform, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the home opener.

“God only knows how the White Sox franchise will fare in Glens Falls,” Post-Star reporter Dan Amon wrote. “But he at least gave a hint Saturday with mid-60s sunshine that attracted more than 6,000 fans to the hone opener at East Field.”

The announced attendance was 6,124, but many more watched the game for free from outside the East Field fence, Amon reported.

It seemed inconsequential that the White Sox lost the game to the Waterbury Reds.

Glens Falls was ready for baseball – and not a minute late.

“It was none of that nine-to-five stuff that got the field ready, but round-the-clock cooperation,” said city Public Works Superintendent Nicholas Sciartelli.

Another big crowd was on hand on Aug. 12 for a double header against the Lynn, Mass. Sailors, when the new field lights were turned on for the second game.

Lynn won the first game, but Glens Falls triumphed under the lights.

“The story Tuesday night may have been the lights at East Field, but the Glens Falls White Sox put on their own light show, bombing the Lynn Sailors 14-3,” The Post-Star reported.

East Field in 1980 • Courtesy of The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library

The baseball theme in 1980 continued on Nov. 2, which Bartholomew proclaimed “Dave Palmer Day,” in honor of the Glens Falls High School graduate who was pitcher for the Montreal Expos.

“Dave Palmer has a lot of friends in Glens Falls,” wrote Post-Star sports writer Jeff Wilkin.

Activities included an afternoon meet-and-greet, autograph signing event at Glens Falls Civic Center, with free admission, free hot dogs and soda for all, and free autographed photos to the first 500 children attending.

About 200 people attended an evening banquet to honor Palmer, in his second year with the Expos.

Speakers included Bartholomew, Hal Williams, field manager of the Glens Falls American Legion team Palmer formerly played on, and Pete Davidson, Glens Falls High School baseball coach.

Palmer, a right hander, pitched six seasons with Montreal, two seasons with Atlanta, one with Philadelphia and one with Detroit.

1984 Season Program • Courtesy of The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library

See more from our History series here.

Back in the Day: The Blizzard of 1914

The thermometer on the piazza of the Hotel Madden on South Street registered 13 degrees at 2:30 a.m. Feb. 6, 1914, the most up-to-date reporting before printing of The Post-Star that morning.

“Persons who noticed boys playing marbles in Glens Falls yesterday and thought spring had come have another thing coming. Spring is several weeks off yet, and the thermometers this morning are the best evidence that winter still has us in its grip.”

Photo courtesy of Chapman Historical Museum in Glens Falls

Indeed, Old Man Winter, or Mother Nature, whichever gender metaphor you prefer, had been merely taking a nap to awake eight days later and dump more than two-and-a-half feet of snow on Glens Falls and the surrounding area in a Valentine’s Day blizzard that was anything but a sweetheart.

“The city and the surrounding district was at the center of the storm scene, and, according to Professor C.L. Williams, between 30 and 32 inches had fallen before the wrath of the elements had been spent,” The Post-Star reported.

Williams, a physics and chemistry teacher at Glens Falls Academy, tracked the local weather and filed detailed monthly reports with the city Water Department.

Thirty-two inches of snow was reported in Hudson Falls, 39 inches in Fort Edward, and 45 inches in Corinth, the hardest hit of communities in the region.

In Glens Falls, it was the heaviest 24-hour snow fall since 1888, coming after just 13.5 inches of snow in the entire month of January 1914.

“Those people who long wished for an old fashion winter have no cause to complain of the blizzard which descended in our midst and promises to remain for some time,” The Post-Star editorialized.

Light snow began falling in Glens Falls at 10 p.m. Feb. 13, and had grown heavy by the next morning, continuing to fall until about 4 p.m. on Saturday, Valentine’s Day.

Drifting would continue to be a problem, particularly on rural highways, for several days.

Downtown shops and many area factories closed at noon Saturday.

The Union Bag Company shut down machines, fed its workers 600 sandwiches and then sent them home, staying shut down until Wednesday.

The twenty-five cent chicken pie supper at Psychical Hall was postponed until Tuesday.

Trolley and rail service was interrupted, shifting transit demand to a limited number of horse-drawn taxies.

“A well-known liveryman stated last evening that if all the horses in the city could have been secured Saturday noon they could not possibly have accommodated the demand for them.”

Photo courtesy of Chapman Historical Museum in Glens Falls

Even horses had difficulty getting through the snow.

“One (Hudson Falls) grocery firm with possibly more determination than its competitors sent its delivery sleigh across the Whitehall bridge,” The Post-Star reported. “Upon reaching a point near Feeder and LaBarge streets, the snow was found to be so deep that the animal could not move.”

It was peril mixed with artistry.

“After the storm, the city, especially the business district, presented a sight beautiful to the eye,” The Post-Star reported.

A Norse spirit prevailed as residents planted U.S. flags and comical signs in the tops of 10-to-12-foot snow banks.

Where a tunnel was shoveled through a snow bank to the entrance of Eastern Estate Tea Company, someone planted a sign, “Subway to Eastern Estate Tea Company.”

The blizzard brought an economic boom for able-bodied workers.

“Scores of men who had been out of work for months were made happy by being given employment shoveling snow.”

Yet, the employment came at a cost.

The Hudson Valley Railway Co. took a $7,500 hit to its bottom line – the equivalent of $195,000 in 2019 dollars -- $5,000 for manpower and an estimated $2,500 in lost fares.

The company hired 75 men and used 15 teams of horses to clear snow from the tracks and haul the snow away.

Trolley service was resumed in phases, starting with service between Glens Falls, Hudson Falls and Fort Edward at 6 p.m. Saturday and the first trolley car sent from Glens Falls to Troy at noon Sunday.

The Post-Star editorialized that city officials should not be lax in clearing snow from the streets.

“It is not the time to stop to consider the expense. The health and comfort of our residents count more than money,” the editorial advised. “Get busy, ye city servants, and remove the snow.”

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Sources: The Post-Star Feb. 3, 6, 16, 18, 19, 1914.

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary film producer specializing in regional history. Thompson is collaborating with Snarky Aardvark Films to produce a documentary about Charles Evans Hughes and the Adirondacks, which is expected to release in 2020. See the trailer here.

Back in the Day: We All Scream for Ice Cream

It was a busy day of scooping when Hall Ice Cream Co. sold more than 500 gallons of ice cream in a single afternoon, about one third of the ice cream sold in downtown Glens Falls that day.

“Glens Falls was in the grip of a heatwave yesterday and local dealers in ice cream are congratulating the weather man on his exceedingly good judgement in choosing Sunday as the day for intense warmth,” The Post-Star reported on June 23, 1913.

Hall Ice Cream Co., Maple Street, 1925 (Courtesy of Chapman Museum)

Hall’s, established in the early 1900s, sold its ice cream around Glens Falls from horse-drawn wagons as well as at its plant, and was a wholesale supplier to restaurants and grocery stores.

It is among several former ice cream manufacturers in Glens Falls.

Others include The Sugar Bowl and Dobert’s.

By 1922 Hall’s was a major wholesale supplier of premium ice cream around northern New York and Vermont.

“It’s a broad statement but nevertheless a true one that go where you may you will find no more completely equipped ice cream plant than that operated by Hall Ice Cream Company on Maple Street,” The Post-Star reported.

Local customers could call “Ate-Ate-Ate,” a tongue-in-cheek homonym for the actual three-digit telephone number, to place an order.

The company advertised its product as a healthy dessert option.

“One quart of ice cream is equal in energy food value to 1 2/3 lbs. of beefsteak; 3 ¾ lbs. of chicken; 4 1/3 lbs. of beans; 10 ¾ lbs. of tomatoes; 1 1/6 dozen of eggs,” claimed a 1921 advertisement in The Post-Star.

Byron E. Hall established Hall Ice Cream in the early 1900s at the Crandall Block, at the corner of South and Glen Streets.

He later incorporated the company with himself as president, Charles Smith, the plant superintendent, as vice president, and Powell J. Smith, brother of Charles, as secretary/ treasurer.

Powell J. Smith also was associated with Empire Automobile Co.

The company moved in 1910 to 2 Maple Street, and then in 1914 to a newly constructed brick plant at 4 Maple St., the building that now is the offices of the Newell & Klingbiel law firm.

By 1915 the company was making 15 flavors of ice cream.

In 1916, the company had $25,000 in capital – the equivalent of $604,702 in 2020 dollars.

In January 1930, the company and plant were sold to Borden’s Ice Cream, which continued to use the Hall name, at least for a time.

Hall moved to Warrensburg, bought a restaurant, and was president of Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce.

Charles Smith stayed on with Borden as manager of the Glens Falls plant, and later managed other Borden plants.

Powell J. Smith increased his role with Empire Automobile Co.

The Sugar Bowl, circa 1960 (Courtesy of Chapman Museum)

The Sugar Bowl, on a smaller scale, operated 43 years before it closed in 1963.

“The Sugar Bowl at 103 Glen Street makes its own homemade ice cream right in the shop,” The Post-Star reported in 1935. “The appetizing quality of flavors and the smooth consistency of this ice cream are the result of new fast freezing process made possible by new, up-to-date equipment.”

The Sugar Bowl, circa 1945 (Courtesy of Warren County Historical Society)

Norman Dobert Sr. started Dobert’s Dairy at 68 Third Street as a milk route in 1931.

He expanded into milk distribution and ice cream manufacturing.

His son and grandsons expanded into a whole sale food service supplier, yet the dairy remained a popular place for Glens Falls residents to stop for a cone.

Around Glens Falls, Dobert’s was known for its cranberry sherbet sold during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season.

Dobert’s acquired the recipe from Nettie Patterson, for many years the “official hostess” for social gatherings at Christ Church United Methodist in Glens.

Patterson provided the recipe under an agreement that Dobert’s would supply sherbet each year for the annual Christ Church women’s Christmas Tea.

Three generations of the Dobert family operated the business until it closed around 2013.

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Sources: The Post-Star May 23, 1910; June 23, 1913; Aug. 20, 1914; Nov. 30, 1915; April 25, 1916; Jan. 12, Dec. 23, 1921; April 17, 1922; Jan. 21, 1930; Oct. 8, 1935; Oct. 3, 2009; Jan. 22, 2011

MAURY THOMPSON

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary film producer specializing in regional history. Thompson is collaborating with Snarky Aardvark Films to produce a documentary about Charles Evans Hughes and the Adirondacks, which is expected to release in September 2020. See the trailer here. Read his full bio here.

Back in the Day: The Boston Store

The Morning Star was careful to give equal praise to both competing downtown Glens Falls dry goods merchants.

“Note the array of bargains for today at the Boston Store,” the Glens Falls daily newspaper reported in its business column on March 12, 1887. “See B.B. Fowler’s big advertisement on collars, cuffs and shirts.”

George F. Bayle and junior partner W.T. Marsh opened the Boston Store on Glen Street on March 11, 1884, bringing new competition for B.B. Fowler, a long-time downtown retailer.

The store was located across Glen Street from Fowler’s, in a previous structure at the location that now is the Charles R. Wood Theater. 

The Boston Store on Glen Street, circa 1890 • Photo courtesy of Bob Bayle

“The interior of the (Boston) store presented a very inviting appearance, and from early in the morning until the doors were closed at night an almost continuous stream of visitors passed in and out of the building. All were loud in their praise of the new establishment,” The Morning Star reported.

“Mr. Bayle is well known in Glens Falls, and he has a long experience in the dry goods business. He is ably assisted by William Donnelly, well known as a competent salesman. The firm starts out with every prospect of success.”

Bayle had previously worked for B.B. Fowler from 1874 to 1880, when Bayle left to work in New York City.

He returned to Glens Falls to open the Boston Store.

Competition between the Boston Store and B.B. Fowler was friendly, whether it be in business or in sports.

Employees of the Boston Store defeated employees of B.B. Fowler 22-18 in a baseball game on June 21, 1886.

The Boston Store team went on to defeat employees of the Rochester Clothing Company store 14-1 on June 26.

Baseball wasn’t the only social activity employees enjoyed.

“The salesmen employed at the Boston Store enjoyed an oyster supper at the Globe Hotel last evening at the expense of Messrs. Bayle and Boyd,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 4, 1886

The Boston Store • Photo courtesy of Bob Bayle

Bayle and his associates quickly became known for quality and value.

“The firm marks goods in plain figures and have only one price,” The Morning Star reported on March 31, 1884.

“The good results of enterprise, industry, fair dealing and a vigorous application to the details of one’s business are truly exemplified in the career of the young and successful dry goods house of G.F. Bayle & Co.,” The Morning Star reported on May 16, 1886.

“The name of G.F. Bayle & Co., of the Boston Store, has evolved into a synonym of enterprise and business sagacity,” The Morning Star reported on Dec. 16, 1889.   

The store sold clothing, fabric, home decorating items, books and more.

In May 1884, Bayle opened a women’s hat department on the second floor, and hired L. Bidwell, “an experienced milliner of New York” City to manage the department.

Revenue in September 1885 was triple that of the previous year. 

Christmas season business was brisk in 1885.

“G.F. Bayle, of the young and enterprising G.F. Bayle & Company, was too busy to give the reporter much information, but it was evident from the throng about the counters that the firm’s goods and prices are elements that constitute a strong magnet.”

In 1886, an interior wall was removed to expand into space of an adjoining storefront, nearly tripling the amount of floorspace. 

Electric lighting was added in 1887.

“G.F. Bayle & Co., the enterprising proprietors of the Boston Store, have placed two electric lights in the north section of their store and it now presents a most affordable appearance.”

The Boston Store • Photo courtesy of Bob Bayle

By 1888, the Boston Store book department numbered 1,000 volumes.

Bayle left active management of the Boston Store, but remained its primary investor, in 1893 to become vice president and general manager of Denholm-McKay Company in Worcester, Mass.

He returned to Glens Falls in 1905 to become president of Glens Falls Portland Cement Co.

The Boston Store closed on Jan. 20, 1932 after nearly 48 years in business.

Merkel and Gelman department store, another downtown retailer, paid tribute.

“One of Glens Falls’ oldest institutions, one of our best friends and neighbors, the Boston Store! Tonight, its doors will be closed, terminating a notable business career,” read a Merkel and Gelman display ad in The Post-Star. “It is with regret that the entire Merkel and Gelman organization says good-bye.”

Bayle died March 10, 1939 at age 79.

“Mr. Bayle was one of the city’s foremost business men, and his career was one of success and achievement, coupled with a philanthropic activity practically unlimited in scope,” The Post-Star reported.

Bayle served on the Glens Falls Charter Committee in 1908, when Glens Falls became a city.

Previously he was the village Board of Public Safety and Glens Falls Board of Education.

In 1887, Bayle was a charter member of the Glens Falls Board of Trade, a precursor to the local Chamber of Commerce.

Bayle was president of the Warren County Committee for the Prevention of Tuberculosis from 1910 to 1928, and was a charter member of the Glens Falls Rotary Club in 1922. 

In Dec. 1922, Bayle announced at a Glens Falls Rotary Club meeting that the Warren County Christmas Seal campaign for prevention and treatment of tuberculosis raised more money per capita than any other county in the state.

He was grand knight of the Glens Falls Knights of Columbus in 1923, ‘24 and ’25.

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Sources: The Post-Star Jan.20, 22, 1932; March 11, 1939; The Morning Star March 31, May 17, Nov. 4, 1884; May 11, 17, June 22, 28, 1886; Feb. 3, 27, March 12, 17, 1887; Dec. 16, 1889; “Glens Falls: The Empire City,” 1908

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P.S. See more from our Back in the Day series here.

Back in the Day: Augustus Sherman

Augustus Sherman of Glens Falls spent the last hours of his life doing what he loved best –negotiating a business deal.

“Yesterday morning he arose about half-past eight o’clock, apparently much improved in his condition. In fact, he remarked to his wife that he had not felt so well in several days,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported the day after Sherman’s Dec. 3, 1884 death. “About 9 o’clock, W.J. Reed, a prominent lumber man of Indian Lake, called at the house for the purpose of transacting some business with Mr. Sherman, and was shown to his room.”

Augustus Sherman • Photo courtesy of Glens Falls Senior Center

Dr. R.J. Eddy, the family physician, was sent for a few minutes later, when Sherman complained of feeling ill, and the 83-year-old Sherman, reportedly the wealthiest man in Warren County, died at about 9:30 a.m.

Sherman had been at Potsdam, in Saint Lawrence County, checking on his saw mills there, for about a week previous when he developed a cold and had an asthma attack.

He returned to Glens Falls on Nov. 29, after stopping over in Albany to spend Thanksgiving with his daughter.

On Dec. 2, Sherman, who was president of First National Bank of Glens Falls, signed checks totaling $8,000, many of which were cashed the day that he died.

“Teller Pruyn says that the (bank) president’s signature was as perfect and legible as ever,” The Glens Falls Times reported. “The news was so unexpected that everyone received it with much surprise, and particulars of his untimely demise were eagerly sought for.”

Sherman’s long-time home, where he died, is now the Glens Falls Senior Citizens Center, at the corner of Glen Street and Sherman Avenue.

The Sherman House, as seen in this 1935 postcard

The building, constructed in 1859, was twice slated for demolition before a group of area residents including Harold Wakefield, Betty McAndrew and Robert Joy listed it on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

The senior center recently completed $500,000 of renovations and improvements to the mansion, an example of early Italianate Villa architectural style, as evidenced by its arched windows, shallow roof slopes, chimneys and a rooftop cupola.

Sherman supposedly had the cupola built so he could look out at all his vast real estate holdings in the region.

The Sherman House • Photo courtesy of Glens Falls Senior Center

Sherman, who had interests in lumber, forestland, lime, paper, banking, and more, left an estate of between $2 million and $3 million – the equivalent of between $55.5 million and $83.7 million in 2021 dollars.

He was regarded as the largest saw mill operator in the world, processing 33 million feet of lumber annually at his mills – three in the Glens Falls area, two at Potsdam, and one each at Ottawa and Black River in Canada.

He had been president of First National Bank since 1858, and held $100,000 in the bank’s stock at the time of his death.

Sherman was president of Glens Falls Paper Co. in South Glens Falls, president of Glens Falls Transportation Co., president of Sherman Lime Co., a director of Glens Falls Insurance Co., and had been partner with Frederick Johnson in a banking firm that was dissolved when Johnson, a Republican, was elected to Congress.

Sherman owned stock in First National Bank of Albany, Lapham & Co. grist mill, Bugg & Co. saw mills, slate quarries in Vermont, and an insurance company at Albany.

“His death has caused a vacancy in the business circles of northern New York which will be hard to fill,” The Argus, of Albany, reported.

Sherman was an important enough figure locally that, while he was still alive, the street next to his house, originally known as Hawkeye Street, was renamed Sherman Avenue.

It is believed he was the first person to own and operate canal boats on the Feeder Canal.

Sherman, born at Arlington, Vt. in 1801, was a direct descendant of Roger Sherman of Connecticut, who signed the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution.

Augustus Sherman • Photo courtesy of Glens Falls Senior Center

Augustus Sherman was a self-made man.

“Early in life he learned the lessons of exhaustive, rough manual labor working with his father in the mingled pursuits of farming and lumbering,” wrote biographer Joseph E. Barnes.

At age five, he moved with his family to Kingsbury, and a few months later to Luzerne.

By age 15, Sherman was hauling horse loads of lumber to Albany by himself, and by age 19 he was operating his own lumber and grist mills.

“He had no educational advantages worthy of note, and, like the majority of men who have risen to prominence in the present century by diligence, shrewdness and an active brain, attended a country school for a limited period during winter months,” The Glens Falls Times reported.

Around 1840, Sherman sold his family holdings at Luzerne and moved to Glens Falls.

Sherman was an employer who led by example, Calvin W. Eaton, vice president of the Glens Falls Board of Lumber Dealers, wrote in a tribute a few days after Sherman died.

“Even in old age, he was not afraid of manual labor, always saying to his men, ‘Follow me,’ when he called them to any of the dangerous work required in rafting logs to the mills.”

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Sources: The Morning Star, Glens Falls, Dec. 4, 5, 1884; The Glens Falls Times, Dec. 4, 1884; The Post-Star, April 9, 2017; The Argus, Albany, Dec. 4, 7, 1884; Courier and Freeman, Potsdam, Dec. 10, 1884; The Columbus Journal, Columbus, Nebraska, March 11, 1885; “Profiles in Banking,” Joseph E. Barnes, published 1990 by First National Bank of Glens Falls; biographical essay by Glens Falls City Historian Wayne Wright

Back in the Day: Radio Concerts in the Park

Pedestrians around downtown Glens Falls had difficulty figuring out where the music was coming from on Sept. 18, 1922.

The music was live, but not in person.

The owners of Morf and Galusha electrical store, across Maple Street from City Park, were testing emerging broadcast technology to determine the feasibility of holding regular “radio concerts” in City Park the next year.

Morf and Galusha Electrical Store is in the row of buildings along Maple Street, across from City Park, in this circa 1920 photograph • Photo courtesy of The Folk Life Center at Crandall Public Library

A “loud sounding horn” speaker was set up on the shop’s front counter, and the door was opened to determine if the music could be heard in the park and elsewhere.

The test was deemed a success.

“Every note could be clearly heard as far away as the front of the Empire Theatre (about a block-and-a-half away on South Street) and in the rear of City Hall,” The Post-Star reported the next day. “No static nor any other disturbances marred the entertainment. The music and songs could be plainly heard throughout the park, as plainly and clearly as a band,” The Post-Star reported.

Some mistakenly thought the music was coming from a phonograph.

“The best tribute to the genius of the members of the firm was the comment of one man that he never appreciated radio until he heard last night’s concert.”

The concert included a full-live concert broadcast from WGY in Schenectady, other musical selections broadcast from stations in Louisville, Kentucky and Minneapolis, Minnesota, and news reports from The Detroit News.

Early on in commercial radio, music was primarily performed live.

Federal law required stations to notify listeners if the station was broadcasting recorded music.

WGY, which broadcast into the Glens Falls area, was one of the nation’s first commercial radio stations.

Edgar A. Rice, a young Schenectady musician, conducted the studio orchestra when WGY made its first broadcast at 7:47 a.m. on Feb. 20, 1922, according to a station history on file at The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library.

WGY and its owner, General Electric Co., were pioneers in virtual concert technology, developing the first condenser microphone used in commercial radio in August 1922.

In 1922, relatively few families had radios in their homes.

“I now have a radio receiving outfit in my library where I am entertained and inspired after a day or evening of work,” syndicated columnist George Matthew Adams wrote in his “Today’s Talk” column, published May 6, 1922 in The Post-Star. “I wish and hope that the time will come when every home may listen in. … It’s so marvelous!”

Retailers such as Morf and Galusha staged public radio concerts to introduce radio technology, and hopefully entice people to buy radios.

“A radio demonstration will be given under the auspices of the Odd Fellows in I.O.O.F. hall Friday evening at 7:30, old time. Richard Lawton of Glens Falls will be the operator. … A program of music and speeches will be given, broadcasted by the General Electric station in Schenectady. It is probable that Pittsburgh and Newark (stations) also will be heard,” The Post-Star reported on March 4, 1922.

A radio concert was to be the main attraction of the upcoming Christian Endeavor Society fundraising social and sale at Hudson Falls Baptist Church, The Post-Star reported on June 7, 1922.

“Glen Cornell, a local radio agent, will provide the equipment and furnish the operator. … “All those who desire are cordially invited to come and listen to the radio,” The Post-Star reported on June 7, 1922.

The second annual Industrial Exposition for Warren and Washington Counties, Sept. 11-16, 1922, at the Glens Falls Armory, featured radio concerts each afternoon and evening.

Radio dealers weren’t the only ones using radio concerts to attract business.

“C. Fay Newell has installed a radio phone in the read of his Broadway (Fort Edward) jewelry store and yesterday afternoon several invited friends listened with much interest to a concert given in the General Electric Company’s building in Schenectady,” The Post-Star reported on April 6, 1922.

Radio enthusiasts in Glens Falls formed a club that had a club house on Thomson Avenue.

Membership, like many social clubs of that era, was exclusive to males, but women were invited to some gatherings.

“The Glens Falls Radio Club members last evening held the first in a series of ladies’ nights,“ The Post-Star reported on April 8, 1922. “More than fifty persons listened to a fine program picked up from several broadcasting stations and set their watches by the Arlington time signals.”

Leonard Williams gave a talk about radio waves and the parts and functions of radios.

“After the radio program, instrumental and vocal selections were rendered by members of the club, vocal numbers by Henry Gilbert being particularly pleasing.”

Later in April, club members gathered to listen to a WGY experimental live broadcast of chimes being played at Watervliet, where they were recently cast for installation at the McKim Memorial Tower of the Church of the Epiphany at Washington, D.C.

“Those who heard the concert said the chimes could be heard distinctly,” The Post-Star reported on April 28, 1922.

It would be more than two decades before AM radio broadcasting would take root in Glens Falls.

The first of several short-lived local radio stations went on the air in 1930.

WWSC, the longest continuously operating radio station in Glens Falls, went on the air Dec. 18, 1946, and will celebrate its 75th anniversary this winter.

WSET, later WBZA and now WMHL, went on the air on May 28, 1969.

Back in the Day: Bicycle Craze

In a witty, late 19th century pun about leisure-time recreation, the first speaker says, “How wonderfully cheap clothing is getting to be. Trousers have come down one-half.”

The second speaker, as published Sept. 26, 1896 in The Morning Star of Glens Falls, quips, “Yes – just about one-half. Since this bicycle craze, they only come down to the knees.”

Glens Falls Bicycle Club circa 1900 • Photo courtesy of the Folklife Center at Crandall Library

The Glens Falls region enthusiastically embraced the “bicycle craze” of the 1880s and 1890s, a national phenomenon brought on by the inventions of safety bicycles, pneumatic bicycle tires and coaster brakes.

Numerous bicycle clubs were formed in the greater Glens Falls area, 

“It is stated that several bicyclists of Glens Falls and Sandy Hill contemplate organizing a local club and joining the National Wheelman’s League,” The Morning Star reported on July 13, 1883.

“A movement is a foot among several young bicyclists of Glens Falls to organize a club here, which will doubtless be accomplished in a few weeks, providing suitable quarters can be obtained,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 3, 1883. “About forty persons have already signified their intention of becoming members of the organization, nine of whom are owners of machines in the Columbia pattern,” with a large front wheel and a tiny back wheel.

One of the local bicycle clubs, The Glens Falls Bicycle and Athletic Club, was established on March 22, 1887, and by early May had 107 members.

The club evolved into The Glens Falls Club, an elite men’s social club that had its club rooms on the upper floors of the building at the corner of Glen and Ridge Streets, the building where Northeastern Fine Jewelry is now located.

The Fort Edward Bicycle Club, another local club, often joined cross-country touring bicycle groups that passed through the area, riding along on the stretch between Fort Edward and Glens Falls, and sometimes on to Lake George.

Local clubs included several exclusive “century” clubs, so named because membership was restricted to cyclists that had ridden at least 100 miles in a single day.

The bicycle craze dwindled in the early 1900s, due to multiple factors, including the advent of the automobile, the laying of trolley tracks along road-side paths that bicyclists had used, and the development of other recreational pursuits, according to the National Museum of American History.

Between 1900 and 1905, the number of bicycle manufacturers in the United States dropped from 312 to 101.

For about the next 50 years, bicycling would be a mode of transportation primarily limited to children and teenagers.

But at the peak of the craze, bicycling was enjoyed by riders of all ages.

“The bicycle craze has struck the line of boys over sixty years old, and several have ordered wheels,” The Morning Star reported on June 17, 1898.

Bicycle racing also was popular in Glens Falls.

“Nature donned one of her highest smiles yesterday after noon, and the managers of the bicycle meet were correspondingly happy,” The Morning Star reported on Aug. 6, 1895. “The attendance was large and all things conspired to make the event a success.”

The program at The Mile Track, a harness racing track on Upper Coolidge Avenue, between Dixon Road and Sherman Avenue, featured both competitive and exhibition events.

The old One-Mile Track at Broadacres, where harness racing and bicycle racing was held in the late 19th and early 20th centuries • Photo courtesy of The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library.

“A novelty was introduced when M.H. Donovan of South Glens Falls came on the track to attempt to walk one mile while a tandem team, consisting of George Eddy and C.H. Austin, wheeled three miles. The effort was successful. Donovan covered the mile in 7:14, several minutes ahead of the tandem.”

The quarter-mile speed race was particularly noteworthy.

James G. Budd won the first heat, with a time of 32 seconds, advancing to the championship heat against several other qualifying riders, including Harry D. Elkes, who won the second heat, with a time of 33.75 seconds.

The championship heat was close.

“Budd and Elkes finished a splendid exhibition of speed, and finished close together, with the former slightly in the lead.”

Budd won with a time of 32.25 seconds.

Budd and brother Delmar A. Budd operated a bicycle factory on Maple Street that made the D & H brand bicycle., according to former Post-Star history columnist Howard Mason, whose writing is collected in the anthology “Backward Glances,” which Warren County Historical Society published in 2014.

Elkes went on to become a professional bicycle racer who broke several records, racing in the United States and Europe.

Elkes was killed May 30, 1903, in a bicycle accident during a race in Boston, and he is buried in the Glens Falls Cemetery on Bay Street.

Back in the Day: B.B. Fowler

Revenue at the B.B. Fowler Dry Goods store in 1885 reached “the enormous figure of $100,000,” – the equivalent of $2.73 million in 2021 dollars, more than quadruple the revenue of $22,000 in 1872.

Fowler celebrated by giving each employee “a nice fat turkey” on Christmas Eve, and set out to undertake a major expansion of his store at the corner of Glen and Exchange streets in downtown Glens Falls.

The expansion added 2,500 square feet of floor space, bringing total space to 7,000 square feet.

 The grand opening was held May 1, 1886.

The B.B. Fowler store at far right • Photo courtesy of The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library

“We are now ready to receive. Our reception, however, will be informal. Visitors are not required to appear in full dress,” Fowler advertised. “Seriously speaking, we are not much given to fuss and feathers, but we extend a cordial invitation to all who visit our new quarters, and we will endeavor to make the visit both pleasant and profitable.”

The Morning Star editorialized: “The grand opening of B.B. Fowler’s enlarged dry goods emporium, last Saturday, furnishes an apt illustration of what straight forward business methods and judicious advertising will accomplish, when backed by tact and ability.”

Fowler employed 10 salesmen, two sales ladies, and a bookkeeper, at the time.

“Mr. Fowler aims to employ none but the best help, pays liberal wages for such, and attributes much of his success to their efficiency.”

Fowler made certain that children felt welcome when they came shopping with their parents.

“He always kept a bushel basket full of candy on hand, and regardless of what he was doing, he would always find time to give a lolly pop to every child who appeared in the store.”

Fowler had advanced in business from a humble beginning.

He was born Sept. 4, 1845 in Chestertown.

After finishing school, he moved to Glens Falls and worked as a clerk for Glens Falls National Bank.

Later he took employment as bookkeeper and office manager for W.W. Rockwell General Merchandise Store at the corner of Glen and Exchange Streets.

On April 22, 1869, Fowler and brother Joseph bought the business and renamed it Fowler Brothers.

Joseph left the business 18 months later, and it became B.B. Fowler.

Christmas Display at B.B. Fowler • Photo courtesy of The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library

By the time of the 1886 expansion, the business had become a destination retailer.

Fowler seemed to be a cross between philosopher/poet and all-American pitch man in a Granville Sentinel ad aimed at attracting shoppers from Washington County.

“Oh fortune, thou fickle goddess, how often is misfortune attributed to thy frown, which is but the result of wasted opportunities?” he mused. “Thus, the man who has offered him gold dollars at seventy-five cents and waits for further depreciation to purchase should not blame fortune for his pigheadedness. He has simply wasted his opportunity.”

Don’t think of the upcoming “Great Slaughter Sale,” with quality merchandise discounted 21 percent or more, as shopping, but as an opportunity for investment, Fowler suggested.

“This may be far too important a sale to be casually noticed. This may be your opportunity, my friend, to make a paying investment. It won’t cost you anything to get the details.”

Economic downturns and a great fire could not prevail against the businesses.

The B.B. Fowler store and 15 other buildings on the west side of Glen Street were destroyed in 1902 in what become known as the Third Great Fire of Glens Falls.

Fowler rebuilt.

The building now houses Downtown Social eatery and lounge on the first floor and JMZ Architects and Planners on the second and third floors.

The B.B. Fowler name is still on the building.

The B.B. Fowler store at far left • Photo courtesy of The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library

The B.B., in case you were wondering, stood for Byron Baker.

In 1919, “Mr. Fowler,” as he was better known in his day, celebrated his 50th year in business.

He booked an orchestra to play on the second floor of his department store from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. on three consecutive afternoons from April 22–24.

“A business, like an individual, can have only one fiftieth birthday,” a Post-Star advertisement announced.

Floral bouquets from well-wishers crowded the store.

“Some of the flowers were sent by men who are now highly successful merchants who in earlier years had been assisted and encouraged by Mr. Fowler when they were struggling for a foothold in the business world,” The Post-Star reported. “Others were from merchants who have always been appreciative of the dignified manner in which the Fowler business is conducted and its policy of honest dealings.”

Fowler retired from management of the business in February 1922, but he still went to the store at 10 a.m. every day and stayed till closing.

On April 1, 1936, Fowler sold the business to an investment group, just weeks before he died at 2 a.m. on May 2 at age 90.

“To be sure, he was a builder,” The Post-Star wrote of Fowler, a civic leader who also had interests in banking and transportation. “His community has been enriched, both materially and spiritually, by the things he has built, by the contributions he has made through almost a century to the economic, the social and the religious constitution of the city.”

The B.B. Fowler building, to the right of Davidson Brothers, in 2020 • Photo: Bri Lyons

Sources: The Morning Star Dec. 25, 1885; May 3, 4, 1886;  The Post-Star April 21, 23 and 24, 1919; May 2,4, 1936; The Granville Sentinel, July 2, 1886

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Back in the Day: Birdsall Mansion

I have a running joke whenever my wife points out an unexplained noise around the house.

”It must be the ghost of Dr. Birdsall. He followed us from Glens Falls to Ticonderoga,” I quip.

For more than a decade before moving north in 2018, we rented an apartment in the Victorian structure at the corner of Ridge and William streets in Glens Falls that once was the single-family home of Dr. Stephen Birdsall, who, with his son, also a physician, brought the first X-ray machine to Glens Falls in 1904.

I used to tell people in Glens Falls, “I have one-ninth of a mansion, and if I could afford the property taxes, I would take over the other eight-ninths.”

If Dr. Birdsall’s ghost does inhabit the structure, or any other location, I am certain it is a kind spirit, as Birdsall, a Quaker who played golf, was president of the Glens Falls Y.M.C.A. and a founding trustee of Glens Falls Home for Aged Women.

Early 20th century photo of the Birdsall mansion at corner of Ridge and William streets in Glens Falls. From "Glens Falls: The Empire City," courtesy The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library.

The Queen Anne-style structure, constructed in 1885 and 1886, and the framework of the historic barn behind it, still stands.

Stone mason Maurice Nason and his crew completed the lower portion of the house on July 29, 1885.

Carpenter William Sheehan of Albany, “a young man scarcely twenty-five years of age, who, notwithstanding his youth, is reported to be a thoroughly competent mechanic,” was preparing to begin the next phase of construction.

The test of time verifies the confidence in his skills.

By today’s standards, it has ample lawns surrounding it, but far less than the three acres of lawn and gardens of the late 19th century.

Birdsall paid $5,500 – the equivalent of $148,320 in 2020 dollars -- to buy the plot, that stretched over to Grand Street, from John Herlihy.

The windmill that once supplied water for drinking, bathing, cleaning, fire protection and watering the garden and animals is long gone.

Birdsall, the son-in-law of Daniel S. Haviland, a Queensbury farmer who was influential in politics, moved with his family to Glens Falls from Brooklyn, where the physician had a “large and lucrative” gynecology specialty practice,” in March 1885 because the physician, himself was in poor health.

“The doctor proposes to take a rest for one year, during which time he will erect his residence on Ridge Street,” The Morning Star reported.

Courtesy of The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library

In 1888, Dr. Birdsall built a hotel at Glen Lake, where many of his former Brooklyn patients came to vacation.

Early 20th century Post-Star history writer Howard Mason divided Glens Falls physicians into two categories: those who drove their own horses and those who had a driver.

Birdsall was of the latter category – having a driver who chauffeured him around Glens Falls in a Victorian carriage, with the top down on days the weather was favorable.

Birdsall apparently had farm animals on his property, because in 1886 the doctor won second place at the Warren County Fair for a six-month-old sow.

Birdsall owned a St. Bernard dog, which, in 1894, wandered down Ridge Street and “quickly took possession” of a ham that was part of a merchandise display in front of the I. N. Scott & Sons grocery store.

“Mr. Scott started in pursuit, but was unable to overtake the thief. He followed the dog, however, to Dr. Birdsall’s residence, and there found the animal enjoying a hearty meal, a good portion of the ham having already been devoured,” The Morning Star reported. “A number who witnessed the incident were heartily amused.”

No doubt, Dr. Birdsall paid for the ham.

To get an idea of the expanse of the mansion when it was a single-family home, nearly 200 people attended the wedding of Birdsall’s daughter in the parlor and dining room.

“The stately mansion of Dr. and Mrs. Stephen T. Birdsall was transformed into a bower of floral beauty last evening, when their daughter, Miss Lillian Eloise Birdsall and Charles Blanchard Price, of Newark, N.J., were married amid a proliferation of Easter lilies, azaleas, roses and palms,” The Morning Star reported on April 23, 1908. “It was one of the prettiest weddings seen in Glens Falls in many a day and the most brilliant society event of the season.”

Phil Rose Apartments owned the mansion for many years, dating back to around World War II until a few years ago.

Grand Ridge Apartments owns it now.

The Birdsall Mansion today

Sources: The Morning Star Jan. 20, May 8, July 30, 1885; March 15, 1894; Sept. 4, 1886; April 23, 1908; The Post-Star, April 24, 1939; Glens Falls Times, July 5, 1964; “Hospital by the Falls,” Joseph Cutshall King, 1987, Glens Falls Hospital; “Backward Glances,” Howard Mason, 2014, Warren County Historical Society; Glens Falls City Historian Wayne Wright

Back in the Day: Friends Church

The blaring of horns outside the Society of Friends Church on Ridge Street were not a visitation from angels.

“The revival meetings at the Friends’ church were disturbed Monday evening when a number of young rowdies who gathered in front of the church amused themselves by blaring tin horns, shouting, whistling etc.,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on Feb. 27, 1884. “Had there been officers in the vicinity, the disturbers doubtless would have passed the remainder of the night in the lockup.”

Friends Church on Ridge Street, circa 1878. (Photo: The Arthur Fisher Collection at The Folklife Center of Crandall Public Library)

The distinctive, historic brick structure still stands on Ridge Street.

The former house of worship has been used for offices since the 1970s.

The congregation organized in 1873, and met temporarily at 3 p.m. on Sundays at First Baptist Church of Glens Falls until land could be purchased and a sanctuary built.

The foundation was laid in October 1874, and construction was finished in 1875, at a cost of $1,300 – the equivalent of about $30,000 in 2021 dollars.

Quaker faith had been common locally ever since Abraham Wing, a Quaker, founded Queensbury and Glens Falls in 1762.

The faith was long-noted for its emphasis on pacificism, abolition of slavery and equal rights for women.

Quaker meetings are distinguished by allowing anyone who wishes to speak or pray.

The Rev. John Henry Douglas become the Glens Falls congregation’s first regular pastor in 1879, pastoring locally for about two years.

Hopefully the Glens Falls congregation was more generous than some of his earlier congregations had been.

“My wife and child lived years in poverty. We tasted not of meat or wheat bread,” he said, speaking to a gathering of Quaker pastors in 1884.

Douglas believed sermons should get to the point.

“Don’t try to preach a long sermon. Just deliver the message that burns in the heart,” he advised. “Mind the life, whether the sermon be three minutes or three hours long. Be natural.”

In 1885, the Glens Falls congregation hosted the New York State Friends annual meeting.

“The train which arrived here at four o’clock yesterday afternoon and at 7:30 in the evening brought large delegations of Friends, and the number now in town will approximate 130,” The Morning Star reported on May 28, 1885.

More would arrive in the days to come for pre-conference activities leading up to the May 29 opening of the six-day conference. 

“It has been an accepted maxim that the advent of Friends always brings a rain, but this is certainly a notable exception, as finer weather could not have been granted,” The Morning Star reported, of the opening day.

Evangelist George W. Willis of Ohio, known as ‘the boy preacher,” was among the speakers.

The Rev. William Allen, a former black slave, was another speaker.

Allen was born a slave April 2, 1818 in Greene County.

He was separated from his family at age 11 when his owner sold him.

His mother’s parting words were: “My boy, be good and kind to everybody. Love the Lord and he will take you out of trouble after a while.”

Allen was freed at age 27 and went to Indiana where he learned to read and write, and later became a Quaker pastor.

“His style of address is forcible and clear, illustrative and eminently practical,” The Morning Star reported.

After the closing session, many of the conferees visited Lake George before leaving Glens Falls on the early train June 4.

“The weather has been unusually pleasant, and even Sunday, when it was raining, the meeting house was crowded to its utmost capacity.”

The Glens Falls “Band of Hope,” a temperance organization, met at the brick church in the mid-1880s.

In 1886, the congregation broke from the Quaker tradition of exclusive a cappella singing when it accepted the loan of an organ from Dr. Stephen Birdsall, who lived in the nearby mansion at the corner of Ridge and Williams streets, a historic structure that is now an apartment building.

In 1973, the Glens Falls congregation left the building when the congregation merged with the South Glens Falls congregation.

“Numbering about nine or ten active members, the Society of Friends will leave the brick church on Ridge Street they have occupied for the past 98 years,” The Post-Star reported.

Gary Walrath, director of the Glens Falls Historical Museum, now the Chapman Historical Museum, urged that the building be preserved, a wish that has been fulfilled.

“The new and the old must not be in conflict with each other,” he said.

Sources: The Morning Star, Feb. 27, June 4, 1884; May 28, 29, June 4,5, 1885; The Glen’s Falls Republican, Jan. 26, 1873; Oct. 13, 1874; The Granville Sentinel, March 26, 1886; The Post-Star May 25, 1973; “History of Warren County,” H.P. Smith, 1885

Back in the Day: Braydon and Chapman Music Store

The musical notes at the top of the building at the corner Glen Street and Hudson Avenue, where Domino’s Pizza is now located, give a hint to the structure’s history.

The Braydon and Chapman music store closed 50 years ago in January.

The downtown Glens Falls music store didn’t just sell instruments.

It offered music lessons, hosted free concerts, and was a clearing house for tickets to local concerts and shows, fulfilling the shop’s long-time slogan, “Everything in the Music Line.”

It sold sheet music, shipping piano scores for dance music and blues standards as far as Hungary.

“A postcard, literally covered on the address side with stamps, has been received by the local concern, asking for copies of the latest music, and stating that American music is in great demand in Budapest,” The Post-Star reported on Jan. 26, 1922.

It sold player piano rolls, phonograph records, and had listening booths where patrons could check out the latest recordings.

The Post-Star reported on Feb. 29, 1921 that Braydon and Chapman had 30,000 phonograph records in stock.

At one point, Braydon and Chapman had a radio repair department.

The Braydon and Chapman Accordion Band, which rehearsed at the store, performed music for dancing at many area social gatherings.

The Braydon and Chapman Accordion Band • From the Arthur S. Fisher Collection, The Folkife Center at Crandall Public Library

In 1963 and 1964, the National Federation of Music Clubs presented awards of merit to the store to recognize its show window recitals during National Music Week.

T0 founder Royal J. Braydon, music was an essential element of life.

“Characterizing music as a luxury is not only inaccurate but dangerous,” he said in 1941. “Musical instruments should be considered tools of education and of trade.”

It all started in 1911, when Braydon left the Cluett & Son piano store, where he had worked for five years, to strike out on his own as a representative of Hallet, Davis & Co., the third largest piano manufacturer in the world, at the time.

“Mr. Braydon belongs to a younger set of Glens Falls business men. He is well liked by all who know him and is a hustler,” The Post-Star reported on Oct. 16, 1911. “His rise in the piano world should be rapid.”

Braydon also sold Conway, Lexington and Strauss pianos, working out of his home for a few months until he leased space in the Knickerbocker block on Warren Street, later the site of the Rialto Theatre.

In 1915, Braydon took on Fred B. Chapman, treasurer of Finch, Pruyn & Co., as a partner, and the business was moved to the Glens Falls Y.M.C.A. building on Glen Street, where Spot Coffee Café is now located on the ground floor.

In 1919, the business moved to its long-time location at what is now the intersection of Glen Street and Hudson Avenue.

The building previously was the First National Bank.

Braydon and Chapman gave away plaster of paris souvenir figurines of the RCA “His Master’s Voice” dog at the 1919 grand opening of their new location.

“It is quite evident that Braydon and Chapman have struck a popular chord with the public, because even the most sanguine expectations of an always critical public were surpassed so far as the completeness of the establishment is concerned,” The Post-Star reported on Nov. 13, 1919.

Opening of the new store ushered in “a new epoch in the history of musical instrument and merchandising” in Glens Falls, The Post-Star reported on Nov. 12, 1919.

The business occupied all three floors of the building, accessible using an Otis elevator.

Each room was decorated in a different color scheme.

The building later was renovated and expanded.

Braydon’s wife operated the business after he died.

Ned Spain bought the business in 1965 and closed it in 1971 to focus on another musical store he operated at Colonie Center mall in the Albany area.

MAURY THOMPSON

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary film producer specializing in regional history. Thompson is collaborating with Snarky Aardvark Films to produce a documentary about Charles Evans Hughes and the Adirondacks, which is expected to release in September 2020. See the trailer here. Read his full bio here.

Back in the Day: Roller Skating Craze

The “roller skating craze” wheeled into Glens Falls in early 1884, and, for a time, not even a “Great Fire” could deter the “healthy exercise and innocent amusement” trend.

“Roller Skating is apparently destined to become the most popular sport in Glens Falls,” The Morning Star reported, not to mention the inspiration for poetry.

“Twas Tuesday last, the floor like ice. She started fast, and looked real nice. One foot flew out, with a spiteful spot. She gave a shout, and down she sat,” one local versifier mused.

Glens Falls Opera House, home of one of the city’s first roller skating rinks, circa 1884 • Courtesy of The Chapman Museum

Glens Falls was not an enigma.

Some 30,000 roller skating rinks opened around the world in 1883 and 1884.

But the fad was short lived, at least for that era.

About two years later, The Morning Star would proclaim, “Roller skating has had its day.”

Residents of all ages and occupations became preoccupied with the sport. 

“Merchants, salesmen and others whose employment produces a strain on their nervous system find roller skating conducive of much good in furnishing cheap and healthful physical exercise.”

Yet there were risks.

“The roller skating craze is invading the precincts of our homes; it distracts the businessman, and has completely upset the usually demure housewife and maidens,” The Morning Star reported. “One of the effects of the craze was seen in a Glen Street store yesterday when a heavy-weight clerk, experimenting on a pair of new skates, lost his equilibrium and sat down rather unceremoniously in the presence of some lady customers.”

Nevertheless, “many distinguished” Glens Falls clergy authorized roller skating during Lent, provided skaters did not skip church services, even though clergy in other regions of the country condemned skating as being too much like dancing.

“It’s approval, through the clergy, rebounds to its honor,” The Glens Falls Daily Times reported.

The local fad started when W.D. Maxwell, an out-of-town promoter, arranged to offer roller skating sessions, beginning March 2, at Meredith B. Little Opera House on Warren Street, one of two prominent auditoriums in Glens Falls.

“Good music will be in attendance. A small admission fee will be charged on the opening night – ladies free.”

Shortly after that, The Glen skating rink opened at Glens Falls Opera House on Glen Street, just north of the Glen Street hill.

Glens Falls Opera House • Courtesy of The Chapman Museum

A third roller skating rink, apparently short lived, opened at a vacant storefront at 104 Glen St.

The enthusiasm spread around the area.

“The (Warrensburg) town meeting excitement is lost in the prospects of a roller skating rink in town,” the Warrensburg correspondent reported in The Morning Star.

Bradley Opera House in Fort Edward began offering skating March 13, with about 75 skaters turning out.

Skating rinks opened at the Wilbur building and at Middleworth Hall at Sandy Hill, now Hudson Falls, and elsewhere in Washington County.

“The roller skating fever struck Argyle on Friday the 21st (of March), … since which time people of all ages have been seen approaching the town hall with light, elastic step and smiling, joyous countenance,” the Washington County Advertiser reported. “But, alas, the bandaged head and halting gait on the homeward trail told another tale. The epidemic will doubtless soon be over.” 

Within months roller skating rinks would open in Chestertown, Fort Ann, Saratoga, Schuylerville, Port Henry, Watertown, and Amsterdam, some of which were operated by Glens Falls entrepreneurs. 

The propensity of rinks led to competition.

The manager of the rink at the Wilbur building at Sandy Hill offered free round-trip excursion sleigh transportation from downtown Glens Falls.

Other rinks staged special events such as professional trick skating performances, masquerade parties and potato races – in which a bushel of potatoes was placed on one end of the rink, and an empty basket at the other.

The skater that successfully carried the most potatoes from one basket to the other won.

Roller skating in Glens Falls was temporarily halted when the “Second Great Fire of Glens Falls” swept through downtown on April 28, 1884, destroying Meredith B. Little Opera House and Glens Falls Opera House, among other buildings.

But roller skating would not be stopped for long.

An out-of-town investment group already had plans in the works for construction of a new rink, designed specially for roller skating, at the corner of Wait and Horicon streets.

“The floor will be of yellow birch, which is considered the best and most durable that can be procured,” The Morning Star reported. “The interior will be conveniently arranged, modern style, and lighted with gas throughout.”

Japanese lanterns were hung, bunting put up, and a 13-piece brass band hired for the July 3 grand opening, that featured a trick, fancy and acrobatic skating demonstration by the Nicholas twins of North Adams, Mass.

Between 150 and 200 skaters turned out.

Other nights the rink would draw as many as 250 skaters.

Two other short-lived rinks – The Glen on Warren Street and The Bijou in the Crandall Block, opened in late 1884 or early 1885.

Like Humpty Dumpty in the nursery rhyme, the rink at the corner of Wait and Horicon streets had a great fall.

A year or so after the opening, the owners stopped paying their bills.

“It was run under competent management for some time, but when the roller skating craze commenced to wane, the building was sold at public auction,” The Morning Star reported.

Mrs. M.A. Gould, who owned the land the skating rink was built on, was the buyer.

Gould’s daughter, for a time, attempted to keep the venture operating as a roller skating rink, but the building fell into disrepair.

In early 1887, village officials condemned the building, and on Feb. 27 the roof collapsed around 1 or 2 a.m. due to the weight of heavy snow, and the building had to be demolished.

During its short run, roller skating brought new revenue to area theaters, as roller skating sessions filled nights in between theatrical productions, nights on which the theater otherwise would be dark.

But in the long run, roller skating damaged theater floors and competed with other forms of entertainment.

“The Middleworth Hall floor, which cost between three and four hundred dollars, was of the very best quality of Georgia pine, and which was considered the best floor for dancing purposes in this section of the country, is completely ruined by the roller skating,” the Washington County Advertiser reported.

Whitmore & Clark’s Minstrel Company disbanded in 1884, ending its season $2,000 in the red – the equivalent of about $53,000 in 2020 dollars – the first year the company lost money.

“The company was a strong one, but the skating rinks everywhere took all the change there was laying around loose,” The Morning Star reported.

Skating was blamed for siphoning off revenue from other businesses, such as a barber in Sandy Hill who had to lay off help.

“He alleges as a reason that the young men who heretofore got shaved two or three times a week now only shave once and spend their money at the rink.”

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Sources: The Morning Star Feb. 29, March 5, 8, 14, 15, 20, 22, 24, 29, April 1, 5, 8, 16, 29, June 11, July 3,4, 1884; Jan. 10, 1885; Feb. 25, 1886; Feb. 28, 1857; Glens Falls Daily Times March 11, 1884; Washington County Advertiser, Fort Edward, March 14, 26, 1884

MAURY THOMPSON

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary film producer specializing in regional history. Thompson is collaborating with Snarky Aardvark Films to produce a documentary about Charles Evans Hughes and the Adirondacks, which is expected to release in September 2020. See the trailer here. Read his full bio here.

Back in the Day: Joseph's Diner

In early March 1969, about 300 school lunch workers from Warren, Washington and Saratoga counties attended an in- service training at Queensbury High School.

The session included a lecture about “Nutrition and the Type-A Lunch,” a film strip about “Improving Teen-Age Nutrition,” and a demonstration of the new Hobart food cutter.

Joseph’s Open Air Fruit and Vegetable Market • Photo courtesy of The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library

At the end of the session, Saseen “Doc” Joseph, of Joseph’s Diner on Warren Street in Glens Falls, cooked and served attendees a Lenten fish fry.

Fried breaded haddock, sold by the pound and “cooked while you wait,” was the signature take-out special at Joseph’s Diner from 3 to 6:30 p.m. every Friday, and every afternoon during Lent.

Over the years, a more gourmet style of fish would be added to the menu, served table side in a cast iron skillet instead of to go.

In 1996, chef Jeffrey Joseph, third- generation co-owner, won first place in a national culinary contest for his recipe for Trout Adirondack – trout filets sautéed with peppers and potatoes in a sauce of vermouth and heavy cream, served with corn on the cob.

For nearly 40 years, Joseph’s Diner, later Joseph’s Restaurant, was a popular eatery on the city’s East End, located at the building that now is the Hometown Real Estate office and retail plaza.

“If you’re looking for generous portions of great food at reasonable prices, it’s hard to beat Joseph’s Restaurant in Glens Falls,” Post-Star restaurant reviewer Marcia Corliss Johnson wrote in 1987.

Daily specials in 1970 included ground beef steak, onions, mashed potatoes and gravy for $1 on Nov. 4, hot ham sandwich with mashed potatoes for $1 on Oct. 28, and creamed chip beef with mashed potatoes for $1 on Oct. 6.

$1 dollar then is the equivalent of $6.54 in 2020 dollars.

Joseph’s Diner Ribbon Cutting • Photo courtesy of The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library

Some from Generation X may remember the annual free Christmas dinners Joseph’s served at the Glens Falls Youth Center in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The diner was a hub for social interaction, and a good place to catch the pulse of the community.

In 1975, Doc Joseph “was curious” whether national polls showing support for a federal “bailout” of New York City reflected local opinion. So he put out a ballot box at the diner at and conducted his own weeklong poll. Of 90 customers that participated, 55 were opposed. Another 30 customers supported it and five were undecided.

“According to Joseph, the poll involved a ‘wide cross-section of people’ ranging from gas station attendants to business executives,” Post-Star reporter Ciff Lee reported at the time.

William and Elizabeth Joseph, parents of Doc, opened the diner, with space initially for just a few stools, on Jan. 25, 1960. The Syrian immigrant couple previously had operated Joseph’s Open-Air Fruit and Vegetable Market on Warren Street since the late 1930s.

Joseph’s Open Air Fruit and Vegetable Market • Photo courtesy of The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library

Doc and his wife Jean bought the business in 1966, around the time of Doc’s father’s death, and the next year renovated and expanded the building, quadrupling the size of the kitchen and increasing seating to capacity to 60 people.

The renovation cost $7,000 – the equivalent of about $55,000 in 2020 dollars.

Mayor James Donnelly cut the ribbon for the grand reopening on May 20.

Another expansion was undertaken in 1974 when Doc Joseph bought and demolished a former laundromat next door to the restaurant in order to expand seating from 60 to 140 people with a separate room for overflow seating and banquets.

An on-site and off-site catering business was established.

Mayor Robert Cronin and 1st Ward Councilman Thomas Wade were among the first customers served coffee at yet another grand reopening on Dec. 18, 1974.

In 1996 Doc Joseph sold the restaurant to his sons, Jeffrey and William Joseph, but Doc continued to manage the catering aspect of the business. Jeffrey was executive chef and William handled the financial aspect.

The restaurant closed in 1999.

—————

Sources: The Post-Star Jan. 25, 1960; Nov. 25, 1966; April 14, May 16, 20, 1967; March 14, 1969; Oct. 6, 28, Nov. 4, 1970; Dec. 19, 1974; April 5, 1987; Dec. 31, 1992; Jan. 17, 1996; Jan. 19, 1997; March 2, 1999

MAURY THOMPSON

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary film producer specializing in regional history. Thompson is collaborating with Snarky Aardvark Films to produce a documentary about Charles Evans Hughes and the Adirondacks, which is expected to release in September 2020. See the trailer here. Read his full bio here.

Back in the Day: Adirondack Balloon Festival

Walter Grishkot, co-founder and long-time organizer of The Adirondack Balloon Festival, had a saying: “A smile is worth a million dollars.”

There will be plenty of smiles to be found as we head into another Balloon Festival weekend.

Crowds came to the campus of Adirondack Community College, now SUNY Adirondack, in 1973 for the early morning launch to open the first Adirondack Balloon Festival.

“I just remember going up in the balloon and looking down and there were headlights down that road as far as you could see – people waiting to get in,” pilot John Marsden recalled in an oral history interview in 2010.

The headline in The Post-Star that weekend proclaimed, “Balloon Festival Fantastic.”

The newspaper reported that 19 balloons launched during the 2-day event, and there were no injuries or significant mishaps.

The only “incident,” if you can call it that, was when one balloonist landed in Argyle, a dry town, and presented the property owner with a bottle of champagne, the traditional gift in appreciation for being allowed to land.

Police were called, but as Walt used to like to say, “Kindness prevailed.”

Argyle police allowed the balloonist to dispense the champagne, and even had the balloonist sign the bottle as a souvenir.

By now, I’m sure that you are smiling.

To keep your smile portfolio increasing in value, join me in a look back at Adirondack Balloon Festival happenings from decades past.

Forty years ago – 1980

Adirondack Community College students in Stanley “Doc” Jenkins cooking class prepared the “World’s Largest Ice Cream Soda” to serve at the 4 p.m. launch.

“The concoction consists of 150 gallons of Pepsi-Cola donated by the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co., and 58 gallons of ice cream, donated by Borden Inc., Dobert’s Dairy, and Stewart’s Ice Cream.” The Post-Star reported. “The soda will be mixed in a watering trough donated by Fort Edward Agway, and lined with aluminum foil given by Leland Paper Co.”

Spectators could buy a taste of the soda, with proceeds benefiting Adirondack Balloon Festival, United Way, and the cooking class.

Thirty years ago — 1990 

Was it a bird? Was it a plane? Was it a hot air balloon carrying the actor who portrayed Super Man?

Actor Christopher Reeve was scheduled to visit the closing day of the Adirondack Balloon Festival in 1990 to take a balloon flight with pilot Thomas Ford of Queensbury, The Post-Star reported several times before and during the festival.

It is not clear from news reports if Reeve did, in fact, take the flight.

Twenty years ago — 2000

The Food Channel cable television network filmed an episode of the show “Food 911” at the 2000 Adirondack Balloon Festival.

Host Tyler Florence prepared a picnic dinner of fried chicken, baked beans and potato salad.

Pilot Van Anderson of Morgantown, Va. transported the host on a short balloon ride.

Ten years ago – 2010

The conditions for ballooning looked excellent, both in the air and on the ground, for the opening launch at Crandall Park in 2010.

“OK – I’ll tell the people to come. … There will be thousands of them,” said Walter Grishkot, the festival’s co-founder and long-time organizer. 

One who had already come was a woman wearing a vest covered with ballooning pins, an obvious veteran of festivals past. “That woman with all the pins, if she jumped in the lake, she’d go straight down (to the bottom)!”

Walt made his way around the park, telling stories, selling programs and selling posters, as he had done at 37 previous festivals. He went through the same spiel with everyone he met, laughing at his own jokes as if he was hearing them for the first time.

Poking a little fun at the ballooning team from Saga City, Japan, he asked, “OK – do we have anyone here from Brooklyn?”

The balloonists laughed – once the joke made its way through translation.

It would be the organizer’s last Adirondack Balloon Festival.

Grishkot died on May 11, 2011, at age 85.

Portions of this column are excerpted from Thompson’s 2011 book “The Biggest Kid at the Balloon Festival: The Walter Grishkot Story,” available locally at The Chapman Historical Museum gift shop.

MAURY THOMPSON

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary film producer specializing in regional history. Thompson is collaborating with Snarky Aardvark Films to produce a documentary about Charles Evans Hughes and the Adirondacks, which is expected to release in September 2020. See the trailer here. Read his full bio here.

Back in the Day: Paramount Theatre

It was a block buster event in Glens Falls entertainment history.

A WGLC radio announcer on June 1, 1933 was in front of the Paramount Theatre at Ridge and Maple streets to announce over the air the names of local residents arriving for the special 45-minute musical review prior to the showing of the evening’s feature film “A Lady’s Profession,” starring Alison Skipworth, Roland Young, Sari Maritza, Roscoe Karns and Warren Hymer.

Courtesy of Chapman Museum

The “premier performance as a group” featured more than 25 local entertainers that broadcast regularly over the local airwaves, such as the Welsh Male Quartet, Accordion Twins, Freddie Bazinet, Ruth Bombard and Cy, the rural philosopher.

“In all, four microphones will carry the program over the air and a special public address system has been installed in the theater auditorium so that the artists may be plainly heard by the audience,” The Post-Star reported on June 1, 1933.

For more than 50 years the Paramount Theatre, across Ridge Street from The Queensbury Hotel, was a gathering place in downtown Glens Falls for movies, musical entertainment and social interaction.

Often the theater worked hand-in-hand with local radio.

The theater closed in 1978, and in 1979 the building was demolished to make space for a parking lot, ending a run of countless memorable moments.

On Dec. 28, 1947, Mrs. “Wenceslas” La Fond was crowned “Queen for Christmas,” in a contest broadcast from the theater over WWSC radio from 9:30 to 10 p.m., a holiday version of the weekly “Queen for Friday” contest.

“Mrs. La Fond was chosen by the applause of the audience as registered on the applause meter located in the WWSC studios,” The Post-Star reported.

She received new clothes, jewelry, ice skates, door chimes, candy, dinner at a local restaurant and use of a new car and chauffeur for an evening, contributed by local businesses.

Those from the Baby Boom generation remember attending WWSC radio Battle of the Bands shows at the Paramount.

“The Good Things,” a South Glens Falls rock band, won the contest on March 1, 1970.

Band members were John Thompson, William Gonyea, Mark Robillard and Dan Titterington.

“The Good Things” beat out 1969 champion “The Tyde” and three other local bands: “The Resurrection” from South Glens Falls, “Sunday’s Garden” from Glens Falls, and “The Rainbow’s End” from Fort Ann.

Radio celebrities Pete Cloutier and Dave Covey, known as “The WWSC Hitmakers,” directed the show that included an audience participation dance contest.

The 1,200-seat Paramount had the largest seating capacity of any theater in the Glens Falls area when it opened on Jan. 22, 1932.

“The new theatre building is of such beauty and design as to warrant admiration of thousands who will inspect it,” The Post-Star reported at the time.

The theater had a “modestly Colonial” exterior and a Spanish interior design.

Its 22-to-24-inch wide seats provided comfort, and the theater was wired with the latest in sound technology.

Organist Bob Hamilton performed on a three-manual organ positioned on an elevator-raised platform.

“A very striking effect takes place when music is heard and the organist comes up from seemingly nowhere,” The Post-Star reported.

“Two Kinds of Women,” starring Miriam Hopkins, Phillips Holmes and Irving Pichel was the opening-night feature film.

Admission for all seats was 50 cents – the equivalent of $9.06 in 2020 dollars.

Over the decades, attendance at the theater, as at downtown movie theaters around the nation in general, waned as new multi-screen theaters opened outside downtown.

Around 1976, the owner of The Paramount put it up for sale, asking $85,000.

In June 1978, Kamyr Inc., a company that manufactured machinery for the paper industry, bought the building for $40,000 and closed the theater.

Kamyr owned The Queensbury Hotel, across the street, and had its office building at the corner of Ridge and Lawrence streets.

By that time, The Paramount was showing salacious movies, which Kamyr officials thought detracted from the neighborhood’s quality of life.

In March 1979, Mark Frost, then an announcer at WWSC radio and now editor of The Chronicle weekly newspaper, organized a group that made a last-ditch effort to find an investor that would buy the building and reopen it as a theater showing older and foreign films.

Kamyr demolished the building in August 1979 to develop a parking lot in conjunction with an expansion of its office building.

The Paramount was the last of four historic movie theaters to close downtown.

The Park, on Park Street, closed in 1933. Developer Elizabeth Miller bought the building in 2014, and renovated it for a performing arts center and restaurant that opened in 2018.

Empire Theatre, on South Street, closed in 1949. Developer Mike Kaidas bought the building in 2007 and renovated it for a retail, office and apartment complex.

The Rialto, on Warren Street, was demolished in 1969.

The State Theater, on Warren Street, closed in 1953 and the building was demolished in 1969.

————

Sources: The Post-Star Jan. 22, 1932; June 1, 1933; Dec. 29, 1947; Feb. 27, March 18, 1970; June 13, 24, 1978; March 17, Aug. 22, 1979; July 19, 2014; “Bridging the Years,” The Glens Falls Historical Association, 1978

This story was made possible by The Park Theater.

What a great way to support our local Arts and History community! A Virtual Silent Film Fundraiser! 

The Park Theater, in partnership with The Chapman Museum, presents “The Marriage Circle" featuring a live musical score by Ben Model via YouTube livestream on September 10 at 7pm. 

The live stream will begin with a presentation by The Chapman Museum, featuring images and news articles from Glens Falls during the 1910s and 20s, and will highlight the bustling 20s theater scene in our area following the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918.   

This virtual event will feature live accompaniment to the silent film, "The Marriage Circle” (1924), which centers around the trials and tribulations of marriage and infidelities. "The Marriage Circle” features American-born silent film star, Esther Ralston, who lived in the Glens Falls area during the 1970s.

Click here to purchase tickets!

Thanks for supporting the businesses that support Glens Falls Living!

MAURY THOMPSON

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary film producer specializing in regional history. Thompson is collaborating with Snarky Aardvark Films to produce a documentary about Charles Evans Hughes and the Adirondacks, which is expected to release in September 2020. See the trailer here. Read his full bio here.

Back in the Day: The Warren County Fair

It was the time of year when livery drivers in downtown Glens Falls would shout, “This way to the fairgrounds; going right up!”

It was just a few blocks ride to the entrance of the Warren County Fairgrounds at the intersection of Glen Street and Lincoln Avenue.

Photo courtesy of The Chapman Historical Museum

“The twenty-seventh annual fair of the Warren County Agricultural Society will commence today, apparently under very favorable circumstances,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on Sept. 11, 1883. “The society has spared neither pains nor expense to make this one of the most successful exhibitions ever held here, and have offered extra inducements in the way of premiums and amusements.”

A new 2,000-seat grandstand, overlooking the half-mile harness racing track, had been built earlier in the year.

An August drought had left farmers pessimistic about the harvest.

“The pastures are baked and dried up so that stock can get neither sufficient food nor water,” The Morning Star had reported on Aug. 29. “In some localities water has to be carted to them in barrels and hay from the late harvest fed out to keep the animals from starving.”

Weather suddenly shifted to the opposite extreme a few days later, and an early frost damaged corn and buckwheat crops in some parts of Warren County.

Still, it was time for the annual celebration of agricultural lifestyle, and Glens Falls businesses were ready to host the influx of visitors.

“Glen Street, from Monument Square to the fairgrounds, will be sprinkled daily (to keep dust down), as will the track at the grounds.”

A dozen 10-foot x 6-foot banners, advertising local businesses, had been hung around the outside of the fairgrounds fence.

In Domestic Hall, giant crayon portraits of Russell Mack Little, co-founder and president of Glens Falls Insurance Co., and of Dr. A.W. Holden, a local physician, historian and newspaper writer, were displayed.

Agricultural Hall had 303 entries, and the Home Industry building about 550 entries.

Local wagon and carriage makers, Nelson LaSalle, Griffen & Wood, Miller & Snyder, Joubert & White, and J.P. Bullard exhibited at Manufacturer’s Hall.

At Floral Hall, the W.F. Bissel piano and organ dealership was set up on one side, and the Wilson and Singer sewing machine companies on the other.

“The usual number of refreshment booths, vendors, and catch-penny gamesters are in attendance, all eager to reap a golden harvest during the fair.”

Fair week weather was mixed, and managers wound up extending the fair an extra day to make up some events that were postponed due to rain.

Attendance was generally strong.

On Day #1, the weather “was all that anyone could wish, and the countenances of the managers …, as well as all others interested in the welfare of the exhibits, wore a smile.”

As of 6 p.m., receipts were $497 – the equivalent of $12,685 in 2020 dollars – about $50 more than the 1882 first day receipts.

Receipts the second day were $300, about the same as the previous year.

Moulton & Johnson’s minstrel band and harness racing were the major attractions.

“An exciting race took place in the morning between G.W. Conklin’s Topsy and W.S. Tuttle’s Jerry, which was won by the former. The race was trotted on a wager of a new hat. The horses were well matched and made a close race, which was watched with interest by a number of spectators.”

About 5,000 people, an “unusually large” crowd, attended on Day #3, despite a drizzling rain that began about 1 p.m. and turned into heavy showers, lasting the rest of the day.

Volunteer firefighter hose racing was the featured event, featuring four departments from Glens Falls.

Hose racing was a sport that involved a team of firefighters pulling a hose cart on a track for a measured distance, usually 100 yards but sometimes as much as 400 yards.

At the finish line the team connected a nozzle, and released a spray of water.

A combination of speed and skill, and maybe a bit of luck, was required to win.

“The Cunninghams showed the finest burst of speed of the day,” but finished second to the Littles.

“They (Cunninghams) passed under the wire in quicker time than any of their competitors, and would probably have won first prize had their pipe man been more agile.”

The Colvins and The Cashions also competed.

Tempers flared at the victory celebration, and Roger Sullivan, a member of The Colvins, “assaulted” Daniel O’Leary, foreman of The Littles.

“Officer Reed, who was present, took the assailant before Justice Stearns.”

The judge, at O’Leary’s request, released Sullivan upon payment of court costs.

Day # 4 receipts were $205.50 ahead of the previous year.

A one-hour storm at about 3 p.m. forced the cancellation of harness racing events, because the track was too wet to race safely.

Management extended the fair an extra day, which provided an opportunity for a firefighter hose race rematch, of sorts.

This time there were three teams: The Colvins, The Cashions and The Cunninghams, who had picked up a few ringers.

“A short time previous to the start, the editor of a Morning Star contemporary, who represents the Colvin Hose Company, entered a protest against Cunningham Hose, claiming that the latter team was composed of picked runners, including two members of the Little Hose.”

Presumably the “editor” filing the protest was Addison B. Colvin, publisher of The Glens Falls Daily Times and patron of The Colvin Hose Company, or perhaps one of Colvin’s staff.

“The judges, however, decided not to interfere, as it was previously understood who were to run in each company.”

The victorious Cunninghams set a new Glens Falls record.

The county fair came to Glens Falls after a group of local residents in 1869 bought 28 acres of land off Lincoln Avenue and Kensington Road, to the south of Crandall Park, and constructed the half-mile track and several buildings.

The fairgrounds became outmoded when the one-mile track at Broad Acres was constructed around 1890.

Arthur W. Sherman and R.A. Little bought the old fairgrounds in 1895 for housing development, and opened up Coolidge and Horicon Avenues.

———

Sources: The Morning Star Aug. 29; Sept. 1, 11-17, 1883; “Listening In,” Dennis O’Connell, published 2009 by City of Glens Falls; “Bridging the Years,” published 1978 by Glens Falls Historical Association

MAURY THOMPSON

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary film producer specializing in regional history. Thompson is collaborating with Snarky Aardvark Films to produce a documentary about Charles Evans Hughes and the Adirondacks, which is expected to release in September 2020. See the trailer here. Read his full bio here.

Back in the Day: Crandall Park

It was an ominous sound in late March 1907.

“Residents in the vicinity of Crandall Park were surprised last evening to hear the frogs croaking in the pond,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on March 30, 1907.

Perhaps the frogs were excited, or maybe upset, with a new pond resident.

Over the winter, Henry Crandall, “Grand Old Man” of Glens Falls, had hired George Kenworthy to build a motorboat for Henry to use on Crandall Park pond. The boat was powered by a naphtha external combustion engine used for private pleasure craft as an alternative to a steam engine, which required having a licensed engineer on board.

A postcard depicts boating on Crandall Park Pond, circa 1910

“It is large enough to accommodate about a dozen people,” The Morning Star had reported earlier in March. “Mr. Crandall is quite enthusiastic over the launch.”

It was great addition to the park that Crandall, a Glens Falls lumber baron, real estate investor and philanthropist, started in 1883. He purchased an initial parcel of land, which included the pond, for $30,000 – the equivalent of about $765,000 in 2020 dollars, and gradually added adjoining land.

His life and career embodied the great American rags-to-riches dream.

“No boy in this city was in poorer circumstances than I was when I set out on life’s journey,” Crandall said around the time of his 92nd birthday. “But everyone can reach success if he will refrain from bad habits and cultivate the habit of saving money.”

By 1899 he had increased the park land and surrounding property to 70 acres.

Addison B. Colvin, publisher of the Glens Falls Times, wrote in 1931 about when workmen in 1899 were building the monument in Crandall Park, which the lumber baron – who used a five-point star as his log mark – and his wife, and horse, would later be buried underneath.

As the legend goes, one of the workmen quipped, “Mr. Crandall, when you are buried here, after a time you will be forgotten.” So, Henry took off a shoe and stocking and left his footprint in the cement.

Early amenities of the park such as a rudimentary golf course, elaborate fountain, and a Civil War cannon are long gone, and forgotten by many. The fountain and cannon were melted down in 1942 to make armaments for World War II. The golf course disappeared some time in the early 20 th century.

A cannon on the grounds of Crandall Park, circa 1910. Photo courtesy of Chapman Historical Museum.

But Crandall, who died in 1913, has not been forgotten, and some suggest his child-like spirit still inhabits Henry’s playground, a park open for all to enjoy.

“Each succeeding day develops new beauties at Crandall Park, and the increasing number of visitors shows that they are appreciated,” The Morning Star reported in 1900.

The golf course, a five-hole course set up using tomato cans and crude clubs, was constructed in 1901. Croquet also was a popular sport. “A number of ladies who play croquet at Crandall Park gave a luncheon at the golf house Saturday evening in honor of J.R. Duell, to show their appreciation of the excellent condition in which he has kept the grounds,” The Morning Star reported. “Mr. Duell was very pleasantly surprised and wishes to thank the ladies for their kindness.”

By summer of 1901, use of the park had become so great that Glens Falls village trustees hired a special constable, at an annual salary of $5, to patrol the park.

Crandall generously allowed community groups to use the park, such as the Glens Falls Woman’s Club, which moved its Sept. 22, 1909 clambake to Crandall Park a few days before the event, after selling more tickets at $1.50 each – the equivalent of $42.49 in 2020 dollars – than what Harris’ Grove, the original location, could accommodate. “Crandall Park will be the scene of one of the greatest and most enjoyable gatherings ever held there,” The Post-Star reported. “Fun will run rampant, and there will be an abundance of things eatable, the much-coveted clam being agreed to sacrifice his life in honor of the occasion.” Funds raised benefited the Warren County visiting nurses service.

Crandall set aside one acre of the park in 1910 for the newly organized Boy’s Conservation League of Glens Falls, an organization for boys ten and older, to plant 1,200 white pine saplings that the state Department of Forestry was to deliver in Arbor Day. The club planted 2,000 more saplings in 1913.

A postcard depicts the elaborate fountain in Crandall Park, circa 1915.

In 1911, Crandall allowed a group of local horsemen to construct a half-mile trotting horse track at the park. “Local horsemen are enthusiastic over the project of establishing such a track and work will be commenced immediately,” The Post-Star reported.

Ducks, now a common sight on Crandall Pond, were introduced by John Cunnion, an Upper Glen Street resident, in July 1916, a few years after Henry died. “Mr. Cunnion placed ten ducks, each of which is about three weeks old, in the pond. It was the first time they had ever been in the water and they attracted great attention,” reported The Post-Star, calling it the start of a movement. “A man who saw the ducks in the pond stated that night that he would buy a swan and add it to the collection.”

Around 1917, The Crandall Trust, which owned and managed the park after Crandall’s death, hired architect Percival Gallagher of Brookline, Mass., to redesign landscaping of the park. In 1947, the city began maintaining the park, and the city purchased the park from Crandall Trust in 1966. Land behind and adjacent to the current park, where Kensington Road School and the Glens Falls Family Y.M.C.A. are located, used to be park land.

———

Sources: The Morning Star July 23, 1900; May 3, Aug. 12,1901; June 18, 1901; March 30, 1907; The Post-Star March 8, 1910; April 29, 1913; Sept. 18, 1919; July 18, 1916; 1931 essay by Addison B. Colvin; Historic property survey Richard C. Youngken prepared in 1981 for City of Glens Falls, City Historian Wayne Wright

MAURY THOMPSON

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary film producer specializing in regional history. Thompson is collaborating with Snarky Aardvark Films to produce a documentary about Charles Evans Hughes and the Adirondacks, which is expected to release in September 2020. See the trailer here. Read his full bio here.

Back in the Day: The Park Theatre

‘Twas the afternoon before the night before Christmas 1911, and all through the house, eager Glens Falls theater goers clutched their souvenir sheet music copies of the “Park Theatre March,” newly composed for the grand opening by Albert L. Moquin.

“This march is one of the catchiest pieces of music ever played on a piano, and will surely find a place on the piano of every house,” The Post-Star predicted.

Mayor S.D. Kendrick said a few kind words at 2 p.m. Dec. 23, 1911, and the curtain opened for the debut program of first-run silent films, illustrated sing-along reels, and live entertainment, including Richard Cole and a colleague singing a duet, “Silver Threads Among the Gold,” written by lyricist Eben Eugene Rexford, a Johnsburg native.

Earl Benedict led a four-piece orchestra of violin, piano, saxophone and drums.

Vaudeville acts, booked through the United Family Time Circuit, joined the regular lineup two days later.

Among the acts appearing at the theater in its first few weeks were magician Frederick Hurd, shadowgraph artist Frazee, and comedian Floretta Clark.

Capacity afternoon and evening crowds became the norm at the 800-seat theater.

“The Park Theatre is offering the best ten cents worth of amusement to be found in the city,” The Post-Star reported.

The dime admission – the equivalent of $2.70 in 2020 dollars – would be a bargain today, even when adjusted for inflation.

A six-lane bowling alley opened in the theater’s basement in mid-January, with four lanes for large pins and two lanes for candle and duck pins.

The owners intended to draw spectators, not just bowlers, by organizing three local bowling teams, the “Park Five,” the “Park Candlers,” and the “Champions” to compete with top teams visiting from out of town.

The Post-Star heralded the advent of The Park Theatre as not just an entertainment bonanza, but an economic development catalyst.

“There is no doubt that the new theatre will do much toward putting Park Street on a plane with the leading streets in the city.” 

The original owners, who sold the theater two years later, were all Park Street business men.

James and Fred Bellen owned a bottling works, Isaac Ginsburg a discount department store, and Joe Miller a restaurant.

The Park was the only motion picture theater operating in Glens Falls at the time.

The Empire Theatre on South Street was still booking only live stage shows at the time.

The former Wonderland Theatre had operated at 23 Ridge Street from February 1907 to October 1909, and there had been a couple of early temporary makeshift motion picture theaters in downtown.

New owners that purchased The Park Theatre in 1913 installed a pipe organ, which was improved with added features in 1916.

In 1919 the pipe organ was moved to the newer Rialto Theatre on Warren Street, as The Park switched its focus to just motion pictures.

The Rialto Corp. was operating both theaters at the time.

The Depression era economy and competition from newer motion picture theaters brought an end to the operation, but it would eventually have a second life as a theater more than eight decades later.

The Park Theatre closed temporarily in late 1932.

It re-opened in January 1933, showing second-run features, but closed permanently a few months later.

By that time, four other theaters were showing motion pictures downtown: The Rialto, Paramount, State and Empire.

The Glens Falls Post Co., publisher of The Post-Star and Glens Falls Times, purchased the theater building in 1937, and used it as a printing plant until the 1970s.

The building fell into disrepair over the years, and at one point was slated for demolition, but a community advocacy organization stopped it.

Glens Falls businesswoman Elizabeth Miller purchased the building in 2014, renovated and restored it to its original grandeur, and in 2018 opened The Park Theater, a performing arts center for music, dance, drama and films, with Doc’s Restaurant downstairs.

The grand opening, as in 1911, included a performance of the “Park Theatre March.”

This story was made possible by Doc’s Restaurant and The Park Theater.

Have you been back to Doc's yet to try out their new summer menu? Between the great food, the ambiance of the gorgeous patio (complete with summer blooms, string lights overhead, and the sounds of live music on Friday nights!), it’s the perfect summer night out. Too hot? The classic charm of the main restaurant inside the Park Theater never disappoints. Staying in? Take-out is available too! Book your table for this coming weekend here - Doc’s orders ;) 

Thanks for supporting the businesses that support Glens Falls Living!

MAURY THOMPSON

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary film producer specializing in regional history. Thompson is collaborating with Snarky Aardvark Films to produce a documentary about Charles Evans Hughes and the Adirondacks, which is expected to release in September 2020. See the trailer here. Read his full bio here.

Back in the Day: Gene Kelly and Natalie Wood Film Marjorie Morningstar in Schroon Lake

Glens Falls, and a resort “near there” on Warren County’s northern border, gained national attention when the movie “Marjorie Morningstar,” starring Gene Kelly and Natalie Wood, was filmed at Schroon Lake in 1957.

“Movie folks will always draw larger crowds than Veeps,” Walter Winchell wrote in a September 1957 syndicated column. “When Richard Nixon visited Glens Falls, NY, about 1,500 people turned out. When actress Natalie Wood arrived there to film ‘Marjorie Morningstar,’ near there, over 8,000 greeted her.”

(Nixon flew into Warren County in 1954 to speak at a National Association of Governors conference at The Sagamore in Bolton Landing. But that’s another story for another time.)

Winchell’s math may have been a little bit off.

The Lake George Mirror estimated about 4,000 people, still a big crowd, turned out at Warren County airport the evening of Aug. 19 to watch planes land.

Arthur P. Irving, publisher of The Post-Star and Glens Falls Times, was there to greet the celebrities on behalf of Joseph Freiber, owner of Scaroon Manor, a resort hotel on the border of Warren and Essex counties, where about two-thirds of the movie would be filmed.

The land where the hotel once stood is now a state Department of Environmental Conservation campground.

Most of the cast and crew – about 50 people -- arrived on a chartered United Airlines DC7B flight with space for up to 104 passengers, the largest plane to land at Warren County airport, up to that point.

The plane flew in from Hollywood.

Wood arrived on a separate flight from New York City, for about three weeks of filming.

Cast and crew were transported from the airport, in Queensbury, to the resort via bus.

There also was a large crowd, “almost like a circus day,” at the Glens Falls rail yard for the arrival on Aug. 16 of a freight train loaded with cameras, motion picture equipment, costumes and props.

Entertainment writers frequently interviewed actors and actresses during the three-week filming over dinner at The Queensbury Hotel.

It would be nice to say that the publicity coup for the Adirondacks was the result of some well-thought-out Chamber of Commerce recruitment strategy.

The truth is that a site selection consultant remembered his honeymoon at Scaroon Manor 22 years earlier, and suggested it would be the ideal location for scenes set at “Southwinds Hotel” in the Catskills.

“They went, they saw, and decided this was the place that had the beauty, joyousness and excitement of an eastern mountain playground,” wrote Post-Star reporter Alice C. Armstrong.

Warner Brothers hired many regular resort guests and area residents as extras.

Trumpet player John Marine of Hudson Falls, a member of Glens Falls City Band, performed background music in several outdoor scenes.

Steve Gitto and The Blue Jacks, a Glens Falls area four-piece band, performed in several scenes.

The band would be the first to separately record “A Very Precious Love,” which Kelly sang in the movie.

The movie version of the song was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Song category.

The movie, based on the novel of the same name by Herman Wouk, revolved around Hunter College student Marjorie Morgenstern, who while working at a summer camp, fell in love with a 32-year-old aspiring playwright working at a nearby summer theater.

The movie was noted for including scenes depicting Jewish religious life, including a Passover Seder.

It won a Hollywood Foreign Press award for best film promoting international understanding.

The French Theatre Association selected it as best film of the year.

Carolyn Jones, who portrayed Marsha Zelenko, won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer – Female.

The 19-year-old Wood, who abandoned her previous trademark pixie haircut, viewed the role as her evolution from child star to adult actress.

“It shows the transition of a naïve, wide-eyed girl into a mature woman with a real understanding of life,” Wood told Glens Falls Times reporter Hal Boyle.

There was off-camera intrigue with actor Robert Wagner, Wood’s boyfriend and later husband, on location much of the time.

“Wagner, who isn’t in the film, haunts the set all day and is definitely in the picture as soon as cameras cease grinding,” Boyle wrote. “After work, he and Natalie, who is chaperoned by her mother and young sister, Lana, are as close as two holes in Swiss cheese.”

Lana, 11 years old, had a small part in the movie. 

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Sources: The Post-Star Aug. 15, 19, Sept. 6, 7,251957; April 25, July 18, 1958; Aug. 7, 1965; Glens Falls Times Aug. 14, 29, 30, Sept. 10, 19, 1957; Lake George Mirror, Aug. 23, 1957; imbd.com

MAURY THOMPSON

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary film producer specializing in regional history. Thompson is collaborating with Snarky Aardvark Films to produce a documentary about Charles Evans Hughes and the Adirondacks, which is expected to release in September 2020. See the trailer here. Read his full bio here.

Back in the Day: Artist of the Stars

A biography of artist Bradshaw Crandell, a Glens Falls native, would capture all the elements of a classic novel.

“Crandell’s success story is remarkable even in a city where ‘local boy makes good’ is a familiar phrase,” Frances Whiting, managing editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, wrote in 1939.

In 1918, Crandell, who had dropped out of Wesleyan College in his sophomore year to enlist in the Navy, came home from World War I in ill health.

WAC Recruitment Poster featuring a painting by Bradshaw Crandell, 1943

“He needed to build himself up and no spot on earth offered more, he felt, then the shores of Lake George, known and loved from childhood,” Whiting wrote, in a feature story, published in The Post-Star.

It was there that Crandell met and fell in love with Myra Clark, a new teacher at Lake George school.

The couple, who married May 15, 1919 in New York City, borrowed money to survive while Crandell launched his art career, with the pledge he would pursue a different lot if he was not successful in one year.

Crandell had attended Chicago Art Institute for about six months between high school and college.

The couple never looked back.

Judy Garland by Bradshaw Crandell - Cosmopolitan cover, 1944

The Post-Star on Feb. 26, 1920, reported that a recent issue of The American Painter magazine featured several sketches Crandell drew of a young girl in various moods.

“In the heart of New York, a Glens Falls boy is rapidly rising to lofty heights among the artists of the country. … This young man is John Bradshaw Crandell,” the home-town newspaper boasted.

Crandell stopped using his first name professionally around 1925.

The ideal young woman would become the trademark image of Crandell, famous for his advertising, magazine and movie poster illustrations, including 12 years illustrating the monthly covers of Cosmopolitan in the 1930s and ‘40s.

Carole Lombard, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Veronica Lake, and Lana Turner were among celebrities that posed in his studio.

Veronica Lake by Bradshaw Crandell - Cosmopolitan cover, 1941

His favorite subjects, though, were “not those scrawny sophisticates” associated with stardom, but the typical theater goer or office worker.

“The American girl I draw has character,” Crandell said in 1933. “She is resourceful, yet always feminine. She has plenty of sex appeal, but doesn’t show it.”

In later decades Crandell primarily was a portrait painter of politicians, college presidents and business tycoons.

Crandell, who as a teen won a blue ribbon at the Warren County Fair for his sketches of the Warren County Home, and in 1918 sketched the scroll for the Glens Falls YMCA military honor roll, frequently made his home city proud.

In 1923, father Hubert Crandell, owner of a flower shop at 17 Warren Street, distributed “highly attractive calendars” the son worked on for Palmer Advertising Service of New York.

The calendar had a sketch that the son drew of a young woman in summer attire, wearing a rose color scarf with a blue sky background and white clouds, set in a panel with a blue and white border.

In 1927 Bradshaw Crandell pointed an oil painting for The Queensbury Hotel of a scene of the falls on the Hudson River.

At Christmas 1932, Post-Star carriers distributed to subscribers a 1933 calendar with the Crandell illustration “Sweeter than all roses.”

Glens Falls architect Miles Crandell was the artist’s brother.

Crandell died Jan. 25, 1966 at age 69.

He is buried at Pine View Cemetery in Queensbury.

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Sources: The Post-Star May 27, 1918; Feb. 26, 1920; Jan. 6, 1923; Dec. 24, 1932; Feb. 17, 1933; April 24, 1939; Oct. 5, 1954; Jan. 6, 1966; Aug. 11, 1967; Glens Falls Times Oct. 12, 1963

MAURY THOMPSON

Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary film producer specializing in regional history. Thompson is collaborating with Snarky Aardvark Films to produce a documentary about Charles Evans Hughes and the Adirondacks, which is expected to release in September 2020. See the trailer here. Read his full bio here.