The Rip Van Winkle Bridge officially opened on July 2, 1935. Before there was the bridge, a ferry boat shuttled people and goods across the river. In winter, when the river was frozen over, people would walk across the river or take a ferry sleigh drawn by horses.
Today, in the Columbia Republican for March 7, 1922, I discovered this account of a motoring party from Great Barrington, on their way to Windham, who decided to drive across the river. The event took place on March 3, 1922, when the ice on the river had to have been more intact than it is now.
Although there was some controversy in 2013 over whether or not Standard Oil ever had a presence in Hudson, this news item provides another bit of evidence that it did. The Standard Oil dock was located in the southern part of the Hudson waterfront, near the border with Greenport and directly across from the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse. The circle on the historic image below shows its location.
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From driving across the frozen river to not really needing the icebreaker for more than a few days, if any, in 100 years. Hmm, makes you wonder if something might be changing with the climate.
ReplyDeleteThe oil tanks in the closing scene of Odds Against Tomorrow are plain proof that indeed there was oil in Hudson and not that many years ago. Are people trying to revise history again?
ReplyDeleteWhether or not there was oil in Hudson wasn't the issue in 2013. The controversy was about Standard Oil having a transfer facility at a specific location on the Hudson waterfront and the potential of that having created residual contamination on the site. The site was part of the 9 acres that Hudson was trying to get possession of from Holcim, which everyone believed that the time was a condition for the state approving Hudson's LWRP. Part of that site--4.4 acres--is still, or should be, a matter of controversy, since it was discovered that ownership of the parcel had been illegally transferred to St. Lawrence Cement in the 1980s. Colarusso now holds title to it, although the entity from which they bought it acquired it illegally.
DeleteThe Standard Oil Dock was where East Jesus is. The old pilings are there to this day and a old barge slip is on the north side.
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