Furgary Update

A story by Tom Casey just appeared in the Register-Star online that explains why the HPD saw fit to dispatch a SWAT team in the wee hours of the morning to evict "three grumpy old men" from the Furgary Boat Club: "In the dead of night, Furgary fenced off."

The Wreck of the Swallow

Every time I scroll through the historic photographs in my keeping, looking for a particular image, and come upon this print of the steamboat Swallow, I resolve to do a post about the wreck of the Swallow and the house in Valatie that was built from the steamboat's salvaged ruins.

This morning, while searching through the old issues of Columbia County History & Heritage available online, I rediscovered an article about the Swallow in the Spring 2005 issue, written by Dominic Lizzi, Valatie village historian. It includes a dramatic account of the wreck of the Swallow, which occurred in the west channel of the river, opposite Hudson, on the evening of April 7, 1845. Lizzi's article, entitled "The Swallow House of Valatie," appears on pages 38 and 39 and is recommended reading.        

The Eviction of the Furgary

Word is that at 3 a.m. this morning, a Hudson Police Department SWAT team entered the Furgary Boat Club to carry out the City's promised eviction. The three Furgarians who had decided to spend the last night there left peaceably. By 5 a.m., the Department of Public Works had started installing a plastic fence around the area, and by 7:30 a.m., when Gossips arrived to take these pictures, DPW workers were inside pruning trees and cutting shrubbery to ensure that the police would have an unobstructed view of the site lest people sneak back to the shacks.

The Fate of the Furgary

According to the report in the Columbia Paper, Mayor William Hallenbeck is planning to erect a locked fence around the Furgary Boat Club tomorrow to keep the Furgarians out, but News Channel 10 in Albany is reporting that the City of Hudson intends to demolish the shacks tomorrow.

Monday Morning Update: News Channel 10 removed the online story shortly after 11:30 p.m. on Sunday night. Common Council President Don Moore (in a comment on this blog) staunchly denied that the City intends to demolish the shacks today.

A Photograph Discovered

When Walter Ritchie first published his post about the Augustus McKinstrys of 886 Columbia Street, there were fascinating photographs of the interior spaces of their home but only this detail from a bird's-eye drawing of Hudson to show what the exterior of the house was like. Ritchie was since discovered a photograph of the house, which he has added to the post on his blog, An Intimate Portrait of Home.

Cannons at the Armory: More Is More

Two weeks ago, Gossips mused about wartime scrap drives and wondered if the cannons that once stood on the armory lawn had been given up for the cause in World War I or World War II. That prompted a reader to offer the information that only one of the cannons had been melted down, during World War II. The other(s) had been moved to the armory in Leeds when the Hudson Armory was decommissioned. Gossips' curiosity about the cannons inspired city historian Pat Fenoff to provide copies of newspaper articles from the mid-1920s that provide evidence that, at one time, there were more than two cannons outside the armory--in fact, according to these accounts, in the decade after the Great War, as many as seven cannons may have studded the lawn around the armory. The first article is from the Hudson Daily Star for March 10, 1924.

OLD CANNONS DECORATE LAWN OF 

ARMORY HERE

Received by Co. M From Albany Friday--One English Piece--Both Were Made for Civil War

Residents about the armory were met with an unusual sight on their return from shopping or any business last evening. The sight that met their eyes was that of two brass, muzzle loading cannons mounted on heavy, large carriages. Both came down from Albany yesterday where company M procured them from the capital. Two more are expected shortly and all will be used to decorate the beautiful spacious lawn about the armory building. 

One of them is an elaborately carved three inch piece, much dented and nicked, but a splendid relic of the Civil War. It has a shallow fuse trough and its breach is finely carved. About the muzzle it is also evenly and cleverly worked with raised designs of leaves. Both guns are pegged so that they are useless as weapons of war and only act as reminders of that struggle for the negro's emancipation. The small three inch piece bears the figures 1 and 3 on its middle. It is said to be a captured prize from English [sic], destined to the South for use against the Blue defenders of the Union.

The other cannon is a larger one, an American make, with big brass "handles", a five inch piece, similarly mounted and equally as attractive as its shiny mate.

Two months later, on May 14, 1924, the Hudson Daily Star reports the arrival of more cannons, these relics of the Revolutionary War. (For those who despair about the quality of local journalism today, it is interesting to note that, nearly ninety years ago, the reporter and editor of the Hudson Daily Star did not correctly distinguish between capital and capitol.) 

BRING TWO MORE CANNON TO ARMORY

Local Militia Company Steals March on Others in This State.

Captain Klein and the other commissioned and non-commissioned officers of Co. M. 10th Inf. of Hudson are stealing a decided march on the commanding officers of other state armories. While nearly every armory is clamoring for old cannon from the State for decorative purposes, the local officers have brought four pieces here from the capitol. Last week they brought two brass cannon here which had long graced the staircase of the capital. While these pieces contain no markings, two other identical pieces at the capital show by inscription they were captured at the battle of Yorktown and another place during the Revolutionary war. There is no doubt that the brass cannon given the local armory also were captured in the Revolutionary war.

Yesterday another trip was made to the capital and two iron cannon of Revolutionary war design were brought back. These two cannon for years were outside the capital building, near the entrance to the steps. 

The cannon will be mounted on the lawns of the armory and will add much to the property.

At seems by the summer of 1924, there were six cannons displayed on the lawn of the armory--two from the Civil War and four from the Revolutionary War. Then, in the spring of 1926, yet another cannon was added to the collection--this one captured from the Germans, presumably during the Great War. The cannon was unveiled on Memorial Day, and on June 2, 1926, the Hudson Daily Star had this report.

BIG CAPTURED GUN UNVEILING CEREMONY   

The big field piece--it weighs 12 tons--secured by the Veterans of Foreign Wars for this city, was unveiled Monday morning in front of the armory, where it has been placed on a concrete bed. The captured German field piece has been camouflaged by paints since its arrival and its size and appearance makes [sic] it an interesting object.

The members of Co. M., under command of Captain Carl Klein, were drawn in double file along State street and the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion men also lined up, while about were many people including G. A. R. veterans, Spanish American war veterans, Sons of Veterans and others. Remarks were made by the Rev. J. Harvey Murphy, pastor of the Reformed church, who said that owing to the rain which had begun to fall, he would be brief and he confined himself to reading two bits of verse and making some comments on the sentiments so expressed.

In this picture, taken in 1929, two of the cannons are visible--one at the corner of State and Fifth streets, another at the corner of Fifth Street and Rope Alley. In the picture of the cannon at the beginning of this post, it appears that there is a cannon in the background, along the south side of the building. One wonders where the other four were displayed.

More Galvan Projects Before the HPC

On Friday morning, the Historic Preservation Commission received four applications for certificates of appropriateness--three of them were from the Galvan Foundation. The first, presented by preservation contractor Ward Hamilton, was for 501 Union Street, the former "Apartments of Distinction."

Hamilton began his presentation by displaying a blowup of the 1893 image of the building shown below, explaining that he had been asked by the owner to restore the cornice and the mansard roof of the building to the way they are appear in the historic picture. He indicated that the chimneys of the original building would be re-created. 

Architect member of the HPC, Jack Alvarez raised questions about the plans for the dormers on the top floor of the building, which are set into the mansard roof. Hamilton explained that many of the questions could not be answered before the work actually began, so it was determined that HPC would give conditional approval, and Alvarez would work with the applicant to make a list of the important details that needed to be included as conditions in the certificate of appropriateness.

The next project, also presented by Hamilton, was 356 Union Street. Again, the work for which a certificate of appropriateness was sought involved replacing the mansard roof. Hamilton indicated that the original slate roof, which he described as a "fish gill pattern," would be replaced with charcoal gray slates, similar to those used on the C. H. Evans House on Warren Street. He explained that the original roof was Chapman slate from Pennsylvania, a type of slate no longer available. Hamilton said the slates now on the mansard roof will have to be removed in order to repair nonvisible flashing, and too much of the slate will be lost in the process, since Chapman slate breaks down after about 80 years.

When HPC member Scott Baldinger asked if the original pattern of the slates, which is a significant design element of the house, could be replicated, Hamilton indicated that the red slate which was used for the rosettes in the roof was still available from Granville, New York, in Washington County, which, according to Wikipedia, has been called the "Colored Slate Capital of the World." A comment from Tom Swope, executive director of the Galvan Initiatives Foundation, disclosed that it was personal preference--that of Eric Galloway--not availability that was driving the decision to use all charcoal gray slate.

The HPC voted to grant the project a certificate of appropriateness "conditional on the strong preference that the decorative elements [of the slate pattern] be retained."

The third Galvan project to come before the HPC was 620 State Street, the former Hudson Orphan Asylum which the collaboration of the Galvan Initiatives Foundation (or is it the Lantern Organization?) and the Mental Health Association of Columbia and Greene Counties is proposing to the Columbia County Board of Supervisors as an emergency and transitional housing facility. Swope sought a certificate of appropriateness to restore the brickwork and to infill the southeast corner of the building, where a diagonal entrance had been added decades ago when that part of the building, Rick Scalera reminisced, had been a candy store he frequented in his childhood. Legal counsel Roberts advised the HPC that they could accept the application as complete, but they could not to rule on it, because the project was subject to the SEQRA (State Environmental Quality Review Act)  process and therefore required a coordinated review by the Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals, as well as the HPC. To do otherwise would constitute segmentation. Roberts suggested that Galvan withdraw the application, which they did.

Scalera, presumably in this role as special adviser to the Galvan Initiatives Foundation, outlined the schedule for the project going forward. On Wednesday, July 18, the proposal from CHETH (Civic Hudson Emergency and Transitional Housing) will be presented to the Human Services Committee of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors. If it is accepted by the committee, it will move on to the full Board of Supervisors for consideration. As Scalera summed up the situation, "If it doesn't make the grade on the county level, they're not doing it anyway."

Site and Historic Significance

On June 8, the Historic Preservation Commission denied a certificate of appropriateness to a proposal to move the Robert Taylor House from its site at the head of Tanners Lane to 21 Union Street. The HPC supported its decision by saying the house is integral to the historic district in which it is located and moving it would have a deleterious effect on the existing district.


At the Historic Preservation Commission on Friday, Cheryl Roberts, counsel to the HPC, made it known that the Galvan Foundation had filed an administrative appeal objecting to the decision. The appeal must be heard by the Common Council.  

The Robert Taylor House in its original location 

The Robert Taylor House in the proposed new location

You Ought to Be in Pictures . . .

You have the chance to star in a work of performance art by Italian artist Salvatore Scalora. It happens on Sunday, July 15, at 4:30 p.m. at Omi International Arts Center in Ghent. Forty-nine U.S. citizens over the age of 16 are needed for a half hour performance entitled Regen All. Participants are asked to wear white clothing, stand in a hole three feet deep, shake hands with people standing in similar holes nearby, and sing the national anthem. The artist says this of the event: "The performance seeks to restore the logic and freedom of expression, through an environmental intervention whose aim is the awakening of consciousness in terms of a reflection on the present and a future that is increasingly uncertain."


The performance will be filmed, and participants will receive limited edition signed photos of the event. To be a part of it, send an email to Salvatore Scalora or call (518) 382-7611.

Not to Be Missed

Sam Pratt reports on his blog that the Board of Assessment Review, made up of Phil Forman and Rachel Kappel, reduced Holcim's property tax assessment from $4.5 million to $3 million: "Hudson hands Holcim a sweet tax deal."

Of Interest

There is an article about the Furgary Boat Club by Debora Gilbert in this week's Columbia Paper: "City poised to evict Furgary."

Of Interest

In the letter to the editor in today's Register-Star, Peter Meyer thanks "the citizens, students, parents, and staff of the Hudson City School District" for the experience of serving for five years on the HCSD Board of Education and makes a recommendation about what members of the community can do to improve our schools.

Support for the Hudson Opera House

Last night, the Common Council held a special meeting to consider a resolution in support of the Hudson Opera House's application for a Rural Areas Revitalization Program grant. Betsy Kimball, director of development for HOH, explained that the grant would be used to add an elevator to the Hudson Opera House--the first ever in the building. The elevator, which will go from the basement of the building to the second floor performance space, is part of the final phase of restoration, which Kimball reported is now in the final design stage.


The vote among the aldermen present at the special meeting [Nick Haddad (First Ward), Abdus Miah and Wanda Pertilla (Second Ward), Ohrine Stewart (Fourth Ward), Robert Donahue and Cappy Pierro (Fifth Ward)] and Council President Don Moore was unanimous in support of the resolution.

Local Ocean at Sea

For months there have been rumors that Local Ocean, the company that brought the innovative Israeli aquaculture system for raising saltwater fish to a warehouse in Greenport, was experiencing financial difficulties. Now the rumors have been confirmed. Nathan Mayberg reports in today's Register-Star that Local Ocean, which opened in Greenport in 2009, failed to meet its most recent county and town tax obligations: "Fish farm misses PILOT payment." 

Three-Way Split

Since, as author of Hudson's LWRP and city attorney, Cheryl Roberts has figured large in the planning and decision making in Hudson for the past six years,  some Hudsonians may think that she is now seeking to represent us in the State Assembly. Not so. Redistricting has redivided Columbia County, putting parts of it in three different Assembly Districts. Roberts in running in the 107th Assembly District, which includes Austerlitz, Canaan, Chatham, Hillsdale, Kinderhook, and New Lebanon. The City of Hudson is in the 106th Assembly District, along with the towns of Ancram, Claverack, Clermont, Copake, Gallatin, Germantown, Ghent, Greenport, Livingston, and Taghkanic. Didi Barrett is the Democratic candidate to represent us. Stockport and Stuyvesant are in yet another Assembly District: the 102nd.

On the topic of local politics and the November election, yesterday was the last day for filing petitions to get on the ballot. In the City of Hudson, the Democrats filed petitions for Jack Connor, running for city judge, and Nick Hadded, running for First Ward alderman. [Both are currently serving in those positions, having been appointed after the resignations of Richard Koweek (city judge) and Larissa Thomas Parks (First Ward alderman), but must now be elected to continue.] Gossips has learned that no other parties filed petitions in Hudson, so it looks as if Connor and Haddad will be running unopposed.

Galloway's Other Project

Eric Galloway's Civic Hudson Project, which like the market at Fifth and Warren is a project of the Lantern Organization, came before the Planning Commission last night for a second time, presented this time by attorney Joe Catalano.  

Not much new information about the project was provided. We now know that the architect for the project is Tony Shitemi of Urban Architectural Initiatives, which, judging from Shitemi's comments, has designed several buildings for the Lantern Organization. It's still not clear what will be on the first two floors of the building, but we know the third and fourth floors will have a total of 34 studio apartments, 17 on each floor, and each apartment will be a little more than 350 square feet.


Although this facility has been described as the Tier 3 accommodation in the three-tiered scheme being worked out with the Columbia County Department of Social Services and the entity calling itself Civic Hudson Emergency and Transitional Housing (CHETH being a collaboration of the Galvan Initiatives Foundation and the Mental Health Association of Columbia and Greene Counties), it was described for the Planning Commission as "low- to moderate-income housing . . . subsidized but not transitional," which is a "specific allowed use" in an area zoned R4, which the corner of Columbia and Fourth streets is. The intended tenants of the building were described as "formerly homeless people referred from local agencies" in Hudson and Columbia County. When asked about services, Catalano explained that they would be "available, but not on site"--a distinction apparently that allows this building to be classified simply as "low- to moderate-income housing." Staffing the facility will be a resident superintendent, who will live in a one-bedroom apartment on the second flour, and a "tenant service coordinator," who will be there 35 to 40 hours a week. 


The project requires several variances from the Zoning Board of Appeals: for lot coverage (the building will take up something like 85 percent of the lot), a fourth story (zoning allows a maximum of three stories), setbacks on all sides. Parking is also an issue, since there is no space and there are no plans to provide offstreet parking. Mike Welti from Behan Planning and Design in Saratoga Springs, who did the parking study for the Hudson Arcade Project, also did the parking study for this building. In the case of this building, he analyzed the onstreet parking available within 1,000 feet of the building and determined there were 100 spaces available. Since they are assuming that few of the tenants of the building will own cars, they anticipate that no more than seven spaces will be needed for the tenants, one for the superintendent, and 53 for people employed in the remainder of the building, the use of which has yet to be determined. They concluded, therefore, that there was ample space on the street for parking. 


When Planning Commission member Laura Margolis asked why it was assumed that the people living in the building would not have cars and questioned how they could be expected to find employment and better their lot without a car, Galvan attorney Mark Greenberg explained, "If they get to the point where they have a car, they will want a bigger apartment." 


The Planning Commission determined that this project required a public hearing and tentatively scheduled a joint hearing with the Zoning Board of Appeals for August 15.

Market on Main Street

Last night the Planning Commission waived a public hearing and granted site plan approval to Eric Galloway's Hudson Arcade Project at 449 Warren Street, the proposed location of Filli's Fresh Market.

Offstreet parking had been a big issue when the project was being reviewed by the Historic Preservation Commission. HPC member Tony Thompson maintained that parking lots accessed from the main street were inappropriate for historic districts; Galvan lawyer Mark Greenberg insisted that parking was not within the HPC's purview. Last night, however, the conversation about parking took a different turn.

Although Greenberg was present, the presentation to the Planning Commission was made by another lawyer, introduced as Joe Catalano, an authority in municipal law. He explained that the market would be an "urban model type of grocery store" and hence the plan for offstreet parking had been abandoned. Mike Welti of Behan Planning and Design in Saratoga Springs reported that his analysis of onstreet parking in the vicinity of the market found that at any given time during the day there were at least 12 parking spaces available within 450 feet of the site. Although Planning Commission members Cleveland Samuels and Laura Margolis expressed their personal opinions that they would be unlikely to shop at the new market if there was no parking, Catalano stressed walkability in an urban location and explained that the business owners believed there was no need for offstreet parking.

The plans for Filli's Fresh Market seem to encourage the old world habit of shopping for fresh food daily rather than stocking up at a supermarket for weeks at a time. The market will offer groceries, meat, produce, dairy products, frozen food, baked goods, beverages, and general merchandise. There will also be a deli and a pizzeria, both of which will be take out only. Shopping baskets will be provided but only a few shopping carts, and it will not be possible to take those carts out of the store. The market will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day; the pizzeria, however, will stay open until 11 p.m. on weekends.

Of Interest

There are four letters to the editor in today's Register-Star on the topic of the Furgary Boat Club--from Chip Roberts of Hudson, Joe Gallo of Hudson, Michael Coons of Ghent, and Antonia Weidenbacher of Woodstock. The deadline for eviction has been set for Monday, July 16. 

Courthouse Update

The renovations to the Columbia County courthouse moved closer to being realized last night when the Board of Supervisors awarded the contracts for general construction, mechanical work, and plumbing. Electrical work apparently needs to be rebid. Nathan Mayberg has the story in today's Register-Star: "Courthouse contracts OK'd." 


The alterations to the 1907 Warren and Wetmore building include a new addition at the back of the building and artfully concealed handicapped access ramps on the building's north facade.

Hudson in the International Press

Hudson's furry cemetery vandals made the Daily Mail in the UK. They say all publicity is good.

Historic Preservation According to Galloway

They appear on kids' placemats in family restaurants. The Register-Star has one every day on its comics page. I saw one just this morning in a magazine in a doctor's waiting room. They are those pairs of pictures that challenge the viewer to find all the differences between the two pictures. Here's a version of the game with a historic preservation theme: two pictures of the Cornelius H. Evans House at 414-416 Warren Street--the first taken in May 2010, the second taken yesterday. What differences can you see?

The window hoods and the window frames and sash have been painted. There is cresting along the top of the roof that seems not to have been there before. The most significant difference, however, is the slate on the mansard roof and the roof of the tower. The slates of two shades of gray with the occasional red slate, arranged in decorative patterns, which were originally on the house have been replaced by slates of a different shape that are all very dark gray almost black, raising the question, "Is this historic preservation or historic revisionism?"


The U. S. Department of the Interior Technical Preservation Services has a Preservation Brief about slate roofs. Here's what it has to say about the character and detailing of slate roofs: 

During some periods of architectural history, roof design has gone far beyond the merely functional and contributed much to the character of buildings. Roofs, by their compelling forms, have defined styles and, by their decorative patterns and colors, have imparted both dignity and beauty to buildings. The architectural styles prevalent during the latter half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries placed strong emphasis on prominent roof lines and greatly influenced the demand for slate. Slate, laid in multicolored decorative patterns, was particularly well suited to the Mansard roofs of the Second Empire style, the steeply pitched roofs of Gothic Revival and High Victorian styles, and the many prominent roof planes and turrets associated with the Queen Anne style. . . . The configuration, massing, and style of historic slate roofs are important design elements that should be preserved. In addition, several types of historic detailing were often employed to add visual interest to the roof essentially elevating the roof to the level of an ornamental architectural element.

The Preservation Brief concludes:

Slate roofs are a critical design feature of many historic buildings that cannot be duplicated using substitute materials. Slate roofs can, and should be, maintained and repaired to effectively extend their serviceable lives. When replacement is necessary, details contributing to the appearance of the roof should be retained. [The underscore is a Gossips addition.]

The Cornelius H. Evans House, built in 1861, is one of a very few Hudson houses individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The nomination document, written in 1974, describes the house in this way:

A house of ample dimensions, 414-416 Warren Street with its mansard roof and pyramical-roofed tower typifies a style fully articulated in America by James Renwick in his Corcoran Gallery (Washington, D.C., 1859) and his Main Hall, Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, N.Y., 1860), and expressed on a smaller scale in domestic architecture by affluent enterpreneurs in small 19th century industrial cities such as Poughkeepsie and Hudson. The generous size, the attention to decorative trim, and the pretension in overall design reflect the ambitions and the accomplishments of entrepreneur Cornelius Evans whose brewing and bottling enterprise proved to be one of the city's major industries.

The house has now been deprived of significant decorative details, and even though original slate roofs have been replaced with new slate roofs, the overall appearance of the house has been significantly altered. Amazingly, all this appears to have been done without a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission. 

On Friday morning, July 13, Ward Hamilton of Olde Mohawk Masonry & Historic Preservation, the preservation contractor who did the work on the Cornelius H. Evans House, is scheduled to present to the Historic Preservation Commission, on behalf of Galvan Partners, applications for certificates of appropriateness to repair the mansard roofs on 326 Union Street and 501 Union Street. (The Cornelius H. Evans House is, of course, also owned by Eric Galloway or Galvan Partners.) It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the HPC has to say about the alterations to the roof of 414-416 Warren Street and how and why such alterations were made to a National Register-listed house. The meeting begins at 10 a.m. in City Hall.

356 Union Street

501 Union Street

If You Do the Crime, Don't Brag About It on Facebook

Four kids damaged a Hudson police car on Saturday by jumping and stomping on the hood and trunk of the car while it was parked on Carroll Street. Then one of them posted a picture showing him and his buds in the act on Facebook. He even tagged his accomplices. Billy Shannon has the story in today's Register-Star: "Facebook share leads to charges for 4 teens."  

Conflict of Interest According to Scalera

Rick Scalera, perennial mayor of Hudson turned Fifth Ward supervisor and special adviser to Eric Galloway's Galvan Initiatives Foundation, has explained how he intends to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest in the county's deal with Galloway for providing homeless housing in Hudson. Nathan Mayberg has the story in today's Register-Star: "Scalera intends to vote on shelter."  

Of Interest

There are some articles in today's Register-Star that merit attention.

• Tom Casey reports on the discussion of the Furgary Boat Club that took place at Monday night's informal Common Council meeting--the last meeting of the Council before the July 16 deadline for eviction: "Mayor seeks input on Furgary lease." Mayor William Hallenbeck defended the City's position that the shacks must come down "for liability reasons" but also reportedly "asked the public to offer suggestions of what the city could do legally [to] lease the land to the Furgarians."
• Nathan Mayberg reports on the reaction of Hudson officials to the plans being discussed by the Columbia County Department of Social Services and the Galvan Foundation (or is it the Lantern Organization?) and the Mental Health Association of Columbia and Greene Counties: "City officials: Out of loop on homeless shelter." The article reports that "representatives of Galvan, including Supervisor Rick Scalera, D-Hudson5, met with Hudson officials . . . to provide more information on the project." According to the article, Scalera is planning to "recuse himself as a supervisor from matters involving the homeless shelter," because, as he says, "That would be a clear conflict of interest." Since the perennial mayor of Hudson is obviously using his influence to promote the project with city officials, including his fellow supervisors, one wonders at what point in the process the recusal will begin.
• Tom Casey reports which not-for-profits in Hudson benefited from the Galvan Initiatives Foundation's largesse in its first round of grant awards. The biggest grant--$40,000--went to Paula Forman's after-school program for girls, Perfect Ten.

What Gossips Missed

It's not possible to leave this city even for a few days to attend a niece's wedding in Michigan without missing out on important news—a bank robbery, the discovery of the cemetery vandals, the ongoing struggle to save the Furgary Boat Club. Here's a recap and commentary on what happened in the five days Gossips was on hiatus.  

The target of last Thursday's bank heist—Bank of America—is located in the bank building that was the object of the elaborately planned bank robbery in the 1959 movie Odds Against Tomorrow. That robbery, too, if memory serves, happened on a Thursday. The outcome of both robberies was less than successful. The suspect in last Thursday's bank robbery was apprehended the next day and is now in the county jail—a better fate than that of the conspirators in Odds Against Tomorrow, who were all dead by the end of the movie.

How embarrassing for the Register-Star, after publishing an outraged and self-righteous editorial on Friday about the "lowlifes" who desecrated graves in the Civil War section of the cemetery, to have to report the next day that the Hudson Police Department had concluded that the disrespectful, unpatriotic culprits were woodchucks. 

The effort to save the shacks commonly known as the Furgary Boat Club is stepping up and reaching out as the July 16 deadline for eviction approaches. In addition to an online petition, which currently has more than 300 signatures, a Facebook page has been created, spokespeople for the Furgary have been heard on WAMC and WGXC, and handpainted signs urging the preservation of the decades-old fishing and water recreation "settlement" have started appearing all over town. 

Of Interest

The City of Hudson has appointed a new youth director to replace Trudy Beicht. Tom Casey has the story in today's Register-Star: "Youth director gets ready." Oddly, although city officials had talked about finding a new director who could oversee programs for both youth and seniors, the article seems to make no mention of experience or interest in the latter.

A 100-Year-Old Guidebook

Among the treasures recently entrusted to me is a book called The Picturesque Hudson by Clifton Johnson, published in 1909. It follows the Hudson River from Manhattan to its source, giving "ample attention" to "the more striking features--picturesque, historic, literary, legendary." Here's part of what he has to say about Hudson.


A little to the north of Catskill, across the river, is the city of Hudson. The place was settled in 1784 by thirty New Englanders, mostly Quakers. They were men mighty in the handling of the harpoon who had sailed on many seas, and though Hudson is over a hundred miles inland they proposed to establish here a town devoted to whaling and kindred industries. Strangely enough, they made a success on just these lines, and not only whalers but other vessels brought their spoils to the town from the ends of the earth. The growth of the place was phenomenal and the proprietors waxed wealthy. But when steam navigation became a certainty, Hudson as a seaport was doomed; yet not till 1845 was the last ship sold that had engaged in the whaling business.


The city is built on a bluff which rises abruptly from the river, and the brow of the bluff affords a very attractive view of the river. Clinging to the verge of this height is a weatherworn, big-chimneyed house, evidently one of the oldest in the place. I got acquainted with its occupant--a negro, and ancient like his dwelling. He had always made his home in the vicinity, and so had his father before him. . . .


In early life my informant was for some time a porter on a steamboat, and as a result of his experience had concluded there was "just as much difference between New Englanders and the people of the Middle States as between day and night." "On the boats where I worked," said he, "if a passenger didn't tip you for carrying his bag you'd refuse to give it to him and tell him you'd lock it up. That would fetch money from most of them, but not from a New Englander. He'd get mad and say, 'Where's the cap'n?' No, you couldn't work an Eastern man, but you could git the New York and New Jersey men on skin games every time." . . .


Down at the steamboat landing, while waiting to continue my journey, I had a chat with another local resident. . . . I remarked on the frequency of the big ice-houses we could see across the river. "Yes," he responded, "they stand so thick all the way from Kingston to Albany that you can throw a stone from one to another the whole distance.  Men drive here from nine miles back in the country in the winter to work icing, and they go home every night. They bring dinner pails bigger'n that post in front of us, and they get two dollars a day and freeze to death. They have to be up at three in the morning in order to arrive here ready to begin at seven, and they freeze coming and they freeze again going home. It's no job I'd care for."


Johnson accompanies the account of his visit to Hudson with this photograph of a house he identifies as "The oldest house in Hudson," but he gives no indication of where in Hudson the house was located.

Of Interest

There is a letter to the editor in today's Register-Star from the Hudson City School District Board of Education, reporting on the dismal state of contract talks with the Hudson Teachers' Association.

Flags in Cemetery Vandalized Again

Tom Casey reports in the Register-Star that flags were broken or stolen a second time in the  section of the Hudson City Cemetery where Civil War veterans are buried: "Cemetery flags stolen again." The new incident occurred only hours after the mayor and representatives of the police department and veterans' groups met to discuss ways to prevent such acts of vandalism.

Time Is Running Out

Mayor William Hallenbeck has set the date for evicting the Furgary Boat Club (a.k.a. the North Dock Tin Boat Association): Monday, July 16. Someone who met with the mayor recently to plead for a stay of execution reported that Hallenbeck said the eviction would go forward as scheduled despite petitions and public outcry opposing the action. If Hallenbeck is turning a deaf ear to his constituents, you have to wonder who he is listening to.

The Furgary Boat Club is planning an open house on Saturday, July 7, from 1 to 4 p.m. You can access the online petition by clicking here.

Vandalism in the Cemetery

This section of the Hudson City Cemetery, commemorating the Grand Army of the Republic, was vandalized yesterday. Thirty flags that decorated the graves of the Civil War veterans buried there were ripped from their staffs, their staffs broken, or removed altogether. Tom Casey has the story in today's Register-Star: "At cemetery, flags are stolen, then replaced." 


The article reports that this is the second time this section of the cemetery was been the target of vandals. Last August, the flags on graves in the Civil War section of the cemetery were similarly mutilated or stolen, but then, it is reported, the attack seemed to be focused on the graves of Civil War veterans whose surnames suggested they were Jewish.

Not to Be Missed

Sam Pratt reports on his blog about a new proposal from the power plant across the river: "Proposal quietly floated by Athens Gen."

World War II Scrap Drives in Hudson

Yesterday, Gossips noted that the cannon that once stood in front of the Hudson Armory was donated to a scrap metal drive during World War II. That post prompted a reader to share the information that the iron fences that once surrounded the homes on Willard Place were also sacrificed to the war effort during World War II.

Searching the Internet for information about scrap metal drives uncovered an interesting discussion, on The Straight Dope, about the scrap drives of World War II, the first of which were organized in 1942, and the degree to which they were intended to boost morale on the home front.

Of Interest

Hudson contractor Walter Garcia has volunteered to restore the facade of the Blinn-Pulver House in Chatham pro bono. The house, which is located on Route 66 across from the Chatham Plaza, belongs to the Chatham Village Historical Society. Trevor Alford has the story in today's Register-Star: "Farmhouse facade gets facelift." 

More Brooding About Chickens

A reader brought to my attention this article from the New York Times, published on the very day Gossips published its chicken post, about raising chickens in Westchester County: "Poultry Proximity: Plus or Minus?" This statement from the article may have some relevance for Hudson: "In general, the more densely populated towns and villages in the southern part of the county do not allow [raising poultry on residential property]." Or Hudson could follow the example of New Castle where "homeowners on 10 acres or more may raise hens and roosters, and residents on smaller lots may request a variance." The size of a single lot in Hudson is what--26 by 102 feet?

Getting It Right

Last Sunday, after discovering in a box of treasures the souvenir book from the 1919 Welcome Home Celebration for World War Veterans, I identified this vintage photograph as one taken during that parade.

A reader informed me that I was mistaken. The parade pictured here was not a postwar celebration but a parade that occurred at the beginning of the country's involvement in the Great War to encourage people to buy war bonds. So on Tuesday, I reported this information.

A few days later, my source informed me that he had been wrong. The parade with the giant ball rolling down the street was not to encourage people to buy war bonds but to muster support for "Uncle Sam's Scrap Metal Drive." He provided the link to this website where I discovered a photograph of the same ball, or one very like it, being rolled along by two men dressed as Uncle Sam.

The website dates the picture June 1918 but does not indicate where it was taken. There is probably no connection between the two parades. They clearly happened at different times of year. It was was not June when the ball visited Hudson. There are no leaves on the trees, and the spectators appear dressed for cold weather.

Although there were scrap metal drives during World War I, the big effort in the United States to recycle metal occurred during World War II. Searching the Internet for "World War I scrap metal drive" yields more information about World War II than about World War I, including this picture of Rita Hayworth, then in her 20s, showing how she had sacrificed the bumpers on her car to aid the war effort.

So the question arises: When was the cannon once displayed in front of the Hudson Armory melted down to make new weapons?

This detail from a picture taken of the northwest corner of Fifth and State streets in 1939 offers evidence that the cannon survived World War I, so, since the story is that it was melted down to support the war effort, that must have happened in World War II.

Update: Nearly six years after publishing this post, I stumbled upon a news item in the Columbia Republican for April 23, 1918, that pinpoints exactly when the parade photographed on Union Street happened. It was Friday, April 26, 1918. The occasion was the Third Liberty Loan campaign. See "The Great War: April 23, 1918."
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Galloway Gallery: Exhibit 27

It's been twelve weeks since Gossips reported a new Galloway acquisition, and it was possible to believe that he had slowed down purchasing buildings in order to focus on rehabilitating the ones he already owns, but last night Gossips heard that Galloway was buying another house in the First Ward: 213 Union Street. The house is situated between the General Worth birthplace to the west, which Galloway owns and is offering to rent for $2,500 a month, and three vacant lots to the east, which Galloway also owns and has proposed as the new site for 900 Columbia Street. In the 200 block of Union Street, a quarter of the property on the south side of the street now belongs to Eric Galloway.   

Hudson on TV

Nathan Mayberg reports that a self-produced pilot for a children's TV show was filmed yesterday in front of Club Helsinki: "TV pilot filmed in Hudson."

Drug Raid on State Street

At about 9:30 on Saturday night, the Register-Star published a story by Nathan Mayberg about a drug raid on State Street: "Hudson police initiate drug raid." A statement issued by the Hudson Police Department indicated that "a quantity of crack cocaine, marijuana and more than $4,500 in cash were recovered from the scene at the first floor of 514 State Street"--a building owned by Phil Gellert.