In May 1973, it was discovered that someone had stolen St. Winifred's sword. (Back then, the Register-Star spelled her name Winifride.) The sword was reported missing on May 2, but, on investigation, the police found that it had been gone for some time--perhaps for almost a year. (Not surprising since at that time the area surrounding Promenade Hill was the site of massive demolition and extensive construction.)
The article about the missing sword that appeared in the Register-Star for May 6, 1973, quotes extensively from a book entitled The Hudson Valley Sketchbook, which the article describes as "a fragmented history of the area by Mrs. Marion C. Smith of Hudson." Further research discovered that the book was self-published in about 1964. Smith provides some interesting information that isn't always part of the accounts of how the statue of St. Winifred found its way to Promenade Hill, and for this reason, Gossips, as the Register-Star did forty years ago, quotes what Mrs. Marion C. Smith had to say on the subject:
In 1795 when the city was young and a source of pride to its citizens, this section, then called the Parade, was granted to the Common Council, forever, as a public walk or mall, and for no other purpose whatever. About 100 years later, still recognizing it as a spectacularly attractive park, Hudsonians decided it should be beautified. By July 1896, eight flower beds had been laid out in the form of stars, crosses, crescents and four leaf clovers. Coleus and bright, blossoming flowers painted the hill with patches of gorgeous color. Still one thing was lacking. Such a charming garden was not complete without a fountain.
Consequently, C. H. Van Deusen was named to take subscriptions to provide something suitable. Although the response was good, those accountable for the welfare of the city's population were uneasy with the idea. The "Register" worried editorially because "engines at the pumping house are working night and day, seven days in the week" trying to supply barely enough of that important commodity, water. Planning to use it in such a frivolous manner was disconcerting. But a solution seemed imminent for "it is proposed," continued this article, "to put meters into public houses and manufactories and to charge for the water allowed to escape needlessly."
So the fountain project progressed unimpeded. A local architect, Michael O'Connor, was a personal friend of General John Watts de Peyster, a renowned philanthropist living in Tivoli. Knowing of his penchant for donating fine sculpture, Mr. O'Connor made known the yearning of the local people for a fountain. By a lucky coincidence, the general just happened to have one on hand. It had been intended for the Watts de Peyster Hospital and Invalid Children's Home, operated by the Women's Board of Domestic Missions of the Methodist Church near Verhank [sic], N.Y. Those good ladies, faced with the same problem that was plaguing the Hudsonians, refused to provide the water supply.
General de Peyster was more than glad to come to Hudson with his friend and inspect the possible site for his fountain. He found it most desirable, but wanted the approval of the sculptor, George E. Bissell of Poughkeepsie, before making his decision. Bissell, who also executed the statue of Abraham de Peyster, first mayor of New York City, which stands in Bowling Green, was "enraptured with the location," declaring that it overlooked some of the finest scenery he had ever witnessed. The general is said to have remarked facetiously that although Hudson had many saints, he thought they would use one more.
The Register-Star article from 1973 provides this additional information: "The St. Winifride statue is cast in bronze and stands 12 feet high. The fountain issued from the pedestal, which was constructed from a mass of natural moss-grown rocks taken from Becraft Mountain. The pedestal and basin were built by John Fitzgerald for the sum of $280."
This coming weekend--September 13 and 14--Basilica Hudson launches Basilica SoundScape 2013. In collaboration with music organizers and connoisseurs Brandon Stosuy, of Pitchfork, and Brian Deran, of Gleam House and Leg Up!, Basilica creative directors Melissa Auf der Maur and Tony Stone have assembled a carefully curated weekend program that features a wide range of music, visual art, and literature. The full lineup of artists and the schedule of performances can be viewed here.
What may distinguish Basilica SoundScape from other such festivals is not only its concern for connections and overlaps in the performances and work presented but also its attention to creature comforts. Overnight guests to the event--those who are not staying at one of Hudson's B&Bs--can pitch a tent at Meadowgreens Campgrounds in Ghent, where there are lots of big trees creating plenty of shade, there are restrooms, showers, and electricity, and there are shuttle buses traveling to and from Basilica Hudson at regularly scheduled intervals.
And at the Basilica, there will be food! Five food trucks will be stationed around the perimeter--two Hudson favorites, Truck Pizza and Hudson Gelato, and three new to Hudson, Pippy's Hot Dog Truck, Arkansas Tom's Razorback BBQ, and Yum Yum on Wheels, serving "all things noodle."
There will also be a pop-up shop called BunnyBrains Fire Sale, a collaboration of John Doe Records and Likeminded Objects, offering such services as hair braiding, toe tattoos, and therapy for "Jimi Hendrix problems in a John Mayer world," as well as making objects to sell on the spot.
Weekend passes are $60; day passes are $35. To learn more about the event and purchase your pass to be part of it all, visit the Basilica Hudson website.
For more about what to expect at Basilica Hudson this weekend, see The New York Times and Rural Intelligence.
Thursday, September 12, is the gala East Coast premiere of Kristanna Loken's latest film, Fighting for Freedom, at Fairview Cinema 3. The event begins at 7 p.m. with a Mexican wine and tequila tasting at neighboring Fairview Wines & Spirits and continues at 8 p.m. with a screening of the film. The event, which costs $30 for individuals and $50 for couples, benefits Fairview Cinema 3, to help our hometown first run movie house go digital instead of going dark.
Gossips has already mentioned that Fighting for Freedom was filmed in familiar places--Love Apple Farm in Ghent and the Columbia County Courthouse here in Hudson--but there's one place that hasn't been mentioned: The Inn at Hudson. In the movie, Bruce Dern is seen in a hotel room, and that room is the Inn's White Room.
The 1970s must have been an interesting time in Hudson. It was the decade that saw the demolition of the General Worth Hotel, the wholesale bulldozing of the historic buildings around Promenade Hill and much of the Second Ward, the construction of an abundance of subsidized housing, the facade easement program intended to preserve all that was then thought worthy of preservation (the first two blocks of Warren Street, but only the north side of the first block), and Rick Scalera's debut in city politics as a Republican candidate for Fourth Ward alderman.
The trove of old newspaper clippings given to Gossips by Susan Lynn Troy yields another glimpse of Hudson in the 1970s: the plan by a market in Hudson's officially recognized one and a half block historic district to recapture the spirit of Hudson's quaint past by making deliveries with a horse-drawn wagon. This article appeared in the Register-Star on December 1, 1977:
Horse for delivery of groceries
HUDSON--The return of a forgotten mode of delivering groceries is connected with the reported siting [sic] Wednesday of a horse behind the city's 32 Warren St. urban renewal offices.
John Moore of "Whale of a Place" grocery store at First and Warren Sts., confirmed today that he hoped to bring back horse-and-carriage delivery to the streets of the nation's first chartered city next spring.
A white Arabian pony is being kept in a barn behind the urban renewal offices, which are across First St. from the store. Care of the horse, which will pull a 100-year-old restored wagon, is a 4-H project for Moore's daughter, Nici Webber.
There is nothing in the city code that prohibits the keeping of horses in the city.
"Whale of a Place" is the former Liepshutz Market.
Three months later, in March 13, 1978, the Register-Star published this picture of the "white Arabian pony" and two other horses, whose names were Shiek, Timmy, and Polly, in the yard behind 102 Warren Street, now Fred E. Trout & Co.
The plan, as explained in the picture's caption, was to use the horses to pull a delivery cart "as soon as the weather permits," but no evidence could be found about how the plan worked out. Interestingly, there is still nothing in the city code that prohibits the keeping of horses in Hudson.
The Register-Star reports this morning that TCI has gotten site plan approval to build a new plant . . . in Coeymans: "TCI project clears first hurdle with site plan approval."
The "disassembling" of 900 Columbia Street continues, and although there is no evidence that the people who are taking it apart are documenting the house so they can put it back together again (which may be difficult since there are regular reports of dumpsters full of historic building materials heading for the transfer station on Newman Road), Gossips feels compelled to document its demise--driven by respect for its antiquity and continuing disbelief that the determination to destroy it could so easily trump any effort to save it.
The picture above was taken on Friday, September 6, in the late afternoon, when most of the workers had left for the day. Behind what remains of the historic house, the new facility is rising. And the flag is back, so we can all feel proud that it is the American way to embrace the new while destroying our architectural heritage.
Sadly, not much has changed in Hudson in the past forty years. The techniques may be different, but the outcomes are the same.
This picture shows the building that once stood at the corner of South Front and West Warren streets, a late 18th-century structure where Proprietor Marshall Jenkins ran a store, being bulldozed in 1974.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK
Here's a little comic relief to counterbalance all the sad and distressing stories about dogs in the news lately.
Last Thursday, William made his first visit to the vet since the alarming visit in June, when I was convinced (mistakenly, thank God) that he had had a stroke. This time, we went for his annual checkup, and before I go any further, let me assure all the readers who are concerned about the health and well being of the aged William that he was pronounced in very good health for a dog his age. We should all be in such good shape at 105!
The trip to the vet was also the first time William rode in the SMART car that is currently the Gossipsmobile. When I acquired the car, I was worried that William might be injured should the little car's nine airbags deploy, but I was assured that the SMART car had a smart passenger seat. It knew when the occupant didn't weigh enough to withstand the force of an airbag. What I didn't consider was William's propensity to lounge in the car instead of sitting up straight or the close proximity of the passenger seat to the driver's seat.
In spite of William's aversion to cars, getting him into the little car turned out not to be a problem. He wasn't going in voluntarily, but, in his old age, he has lost a lot of muscle mass and consequently a lot of weight, so I was able to scoop him up--with some effort--and place him in the car--something I was never able to do in the past.
Things seemed to be going very well as we headed out Route 9, bound for Mountainview Animal Hospital, but just as we reached the "End 45 mph" mark, William released my seat belt. Fortunately, the seat belt did not pop up with a force great enough to strangle me, and I might have ignored it had it not been for the car flashing and beeping at me. Without taking my eyes off the road, I managed to refasten my seat belt, and we made it safely to our destination.
Leaving the vet's office, I was wary of taking any risks with my unpredictable dog beside me, so I turned right onto Route 9, intending to turn around and head back toward Hudson at the snow plow turnout just this side of the traffic light. When I had executed the reversal and was ready to pull back onto the road, the car stopped dead. I was stupefied! Flummoxed! How could this happen? The car was only six months old!
Then I realized what had occurred. The ignition key for a SMART car has a big round end that houses the electronic lock and unlock buttons and the panic button, and the portal for the ignition key is between the seats, just behind the gear shift. William had pushed the key with his paw and turned off the car.
I restarted the car and got back on the road, but I drove home steering with my left hand and shielding the ignition key with my right, lest William turn off the car again when there was another vehicle traveling behind us. I don't think the brake lights go on when the ignition key is suddenly turned off.
At the Common Council Youth & Aging Committee meeting on Wednesday, Youth Department recreation supervisor George Bednar reported that Katchkie Farm would be doing a program this fall at the Youth Center.
Katchkie Farm is the organic farm in Kinderhook that supplies Great Performances, Liz Neumark's empire of catering and cafes in New York City. It conducts farm programs for New York City kids, through the Sylvia Center, a not-for-profit whose mission is to inspire kids to make healthy food choices by exposing them to a wide variety of seasonal produce and teaching them essential cooking skills. Approximately 90 percent of the children the Sylvia Center works with in New York City qualify for free or reduced lunch at school.
That Katchkie Farm will be bringing its program to encourage eating well to the Youth Center is certainly good news, but for some it recalls the bitter days of yesteryear when a similar program that existed briefly at the Hudson Youth Center, Kids in the Kitchen, the brainchild of local restaurateur and farm-to-table pioneer Carole Clark, was cancelled and its raised-bed garden "disassembled" to make room for a senior center which was never built.
There is an article in today's New York Times about the controversy over the communications tower proposed for Blue Hill, which was approved by the Livingston Planning Board but is now being challenged in court by The Olana Partnership and Scenic Hudson: "Fight Over Communications Tower Unsettles the Hudson Valley." The writer, Lisa W. Foderaro, reveals an enviable naiveté about life here in the our rural environs when she reports that "a fight . . . has roiled through the usually serene landscape of Columbia County, where sharp elbows are reserved for vying over the ripest peaches at local farm stands."
Photo credit: Jonathan Simons
Next Thursday night, September 12, is the gala East Coast premiere of Fighting for Freedom to benefit Fairview Cinema 3, which is fighting to stay in business. Tomorrow night, September 7, there is another special benefit screening.
For the past nine years, Hudson filmmaker Isabel Barton has been working with Hortensia Berti, an indigenous woman in the Venezuelan Amazon, to help rescue her tribe's disappearing culture and language. In the film that developed from this collaboration, The Making of a Chief, Berti unravels the history of her tribe by piecing together stories of her great grandfather, a legendary chief whose teachings form the canon by which the Kamarakoto people live. Berti seeks out the elders in their mud huts at the edge of the Amazon forest, and their stories illustrate not only their indigenous traditions but also their serendipitous interaction with the American explorers who discovered and studied Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall on Earth, in the mid-20th century. The film is the first time these histories have been woven together.
The Making of a Chief is now in post-production, and Barton is raising money to complete the editing of the film. At Saturday's special fundraising screening, a finished segment of the film will be shown. Michael Royce, executive director of the New York Foundation for the Arts, will speak about the importance of such events by artists in the present economy, and Barton will answer questions about the film and the project.
The event takes place in Columbiaville, at 105 Footbridge Road Extension, at 6 p.m. on Saturday, September 7. The suggested donation is $50 a person. Email Barton to make a reservation.
Click here to see and hear the sweet story of a tadpole who grew into a frog beneath a cellar in Hudson and was released into the world yesterday to pursue a normal frog's life.
Thanks for Windle Davis and Dini Lamot for sharing the story with Gossips.
Nathan Mayberg reports in today's Register-Star that the Public Works Committee of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors voted recently to have Lothrop Associates, the architects for the courthouse renovation and expansion, design new windows for the building and get cost estimates: "Supervisors approve new windows for courthouse."
Many of the windows on the sides of the building were replaced a couple of decades ago with windows with vinyl panes that altered the intended fenestration. It would be lovely to have these inappropriate windows replaced with something that replicates the windows that were part of the original Warren & Wetmore design, but replacing all the windows in the courthouse seems rash, costly, and unnecessary. Having Lothrop Associates design the new windows is going to cost $36,200; the creation and installation of the new windows is expected to cost between $300,000 and $500,000.
The arguments for replacing windows are the usual ones. The original windows are thought to be not energy efficient, and they're old--more than a hundred years old. Although it has been demonstrated over and over that pre-World War II windows are superior to the replacement windows available today, and, with proper weather stripping, are as energy efficient as replacement windows, the message seems not to have reached the decision makers on the Board of Supervisors. They are convinced that new windows will save money on heating the building, but they have no concrete evidence how much money will be saved if any all. (Advocates for preserving historic windows calculate that, by the time the cost of replacement windows is earned back in energy savings, it's time to replace the windows again.)
Another reason for spending $300,000 to $500,000 on replacement windows is noise. It seems judges have complained about outside sounds while court is in session. The principal source of this disruptive noise is lawn mowers. Hudson supervisor Rick Scalera (Fifth Ward) had a simple, cost effective solution to the noise problem: "Mow the lawn on Saturday."
New windows could push the cost of the courthouse renovation to $9.9 million--an amount that doesn't include the additional rent that would have to be paid to the Hudson City School District if the temporary courthouse must stay in the old Claverack School beyond January 2014. In light of this latest spending decision by the Board of Supervisors, Gossips recommends Sam Pratt's post, "What does Columbia County cost?"
There's a rumor that the tenant now being pursued for the Hudson Arcade, which was originally to be Filli's Fresh Market, may be the Hawthorne Valley Farm Store. Some connection already exists between Hawthorne Valley and Galvan. In Round 3 of their grant program, the Galvan Foundation gave $10,000 to the Hawthorne Valley Association for "General funding for farm and art programs providing food related programs to children from Hudson."
The Register-Star reported late this afternoon that the people believed to have tied the starving dog to a fence beside the entrance to the Holcim dock have been arrested: "Police nab two in city dog abuse case."
Chief Edward Moore was quoted in the original article as saying, "This case was brought to a successful conclusion [due] in part to the overwhelming support provided by the community." According to Moore, "The excuse [the culprits] gave was that they were leaving their residence and they had no place to bring it." They left the dog tied to a fence where it was unlikely to be found, and they did not plan to go back for him.
The story of the arrest can also be found on Channel 6 and Channel 10.
The East Coast premiere of Fighting for Freedom, produced by and starring Kristanna Loken, along with Bruce Dern, will take place next Thursday, September 12, at Fairview Cinema 3. The movie, which was originally called Love Orchard, was filmed at Love Apple Farm in Ghent and at the Columbia County Courthouse in Hudson.
The premiere is a special screening to benefit Fairview Cinema 3 and kick off a campaign to raise money to equip two of the theater's screening rooms with DCI compliant digital projectors and sound systems--necessary if Fairview Cinema 3 is to survive. The benefit event begins at 7 p.m. with a Mexican wine and tequila tasting, accompanied by bocaditas, at neighboring Fairview Wines & Spirits. Following the tasting, the film will be shown at the theater, almost right next door, at 8 p.m. The donation requested--for the tasting and the screening--is $30 for individuals or $50 for couples.
Lance Wheeler has created a video to promote the movie premiere, which can be viewed here.
In the past few days, inspired by a mysterious object visible in the background of a photograph possibly dating from 1878, Gossips has been sharing bits of information, discovered in newspapers and Common Council minutes, from a hundred or more years ago. Today, Gossips offers two more entertaining bits of information about Promenade Hill, found in Council minutes for 1910.
April 28
Alderman Finigan stated that Promenade Hill did not have enough benches, and he moved that the matter be referred to the Commission of Public Works, with the urgent request that the Commission secure about three times as many benches as are now at that place.
Alderman Flanagan observed that if three times as many benches were secured that it would be necessary to tie some of them to the flag staff in order to find room.
[The resolution was adopted, with only Flanagan voting no.]
Gossips Note: Thomas Flanagan and Patrick B. Finigan, often at odds in Council discussions, both represented the First Ward.]
May 26
Alderman Decker stated that last year a special policeman had been appointed for service on Promenade Hill and the Common Council had made appropriation therefor. He offered the following resolution:--
Resolved, that the Police Committee be and they are hereby instructed to consider the advisability of having a special policeman for the summer to maintain order on Promenade Hill, the expense of securing such policeman, if thought advisable by the Committee, not to exceed $75.
[The resolution was adopted unanimously.]
Last Thursday, when this mysterious floating object appeared in riverfront park, Gossips was told by DPW superintendent Rob Perry that it was "taking samples of the river bottom for the 2014 remediation."
It seems that the 2014 remediation--Phase 2 of the coal tar cleanup in riverfront park--may be starting now. (Phase 1, done in 2004, was the upland remediation; Phase 2 is the underwater remediation.) Spotted on the waterfront this afternoon was this vessel, which Gossips takes to be a hydraulic dredge.
You can check the accuracy of my identification of this floating contraption, learn how it works, and maybe get more comfortable about its presence on our waterfront by visiting the Clearwater website, where you will find a webpage devoted to environmental dredging.
Gossips has just learned that Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed the legislation enabling a school to be established at 364 Warren Street. The news is already being reported by News10 in Albany, which had a crew in Hudson earlier today taping an interview at the site with HCSD superintendent Maria Suttmeier.
On May 3, 2012, Galvan Partners applied for a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission to move the two-hundred-year-old house at 900 Columbia Street to 215 Union Street. The application was quite specific that the intention was to move the house. It even named the contractor that would perform the feat: Wolfe House Movers.
This is a house being moved. The picture above shows a house being moved in Butler, Pennsylvania, and is from the Wolfe House Movers website.
This is a house being demolished. The picture above shows the house at 900 Columbia Street being "disassembled" by Mountainview Masonry and Landscape Supply and was taken on September 2.
Steve Walsh informed Gossips early this morning that today, September 3, is the 108th anniversary of the collision of Young America and George H. Power. Learning this inspired Gossips to turn to Fulton History to find out more. Among the discoveries was the following article from the Syracuse Evening Telegram for September 4, 1905, which explains what happened.
COLLISION ON THE HUDSON
Rival Boats, Due in Hudson City Together, Crash While Racing in Channel.
A WILD PANIC ENSUES.
Hudson, N.Y., Sept. 4--Three woman, one a New Yorker, returning from the funeral of her husband, were drowned in the Hudson river last evening when the little propeller Young America, on which they were passengers, was sunk by collision with the ferryboat George H. Power.
Others of the twenty-five passengers on the Young America narrowly escaped, for she sank almost immediately after being struck by the Power's paddlewheel.
The Victims
Mrs. Mary Bedell, 477 West One Hundred and Forty-second street, New York city.
Miss Sarah Brown, 20 years of, 24 Van Buren street, Brooklyn.
Mrs. Margaret McCabe, Coxsackie.
Mrs. Bedell and Mrs. McCabe were still alive when taken from the river, but all attempts to resuscitate them failed. Miss Brown's body has not been recovered.
The boats were racing in a narrow channel, near the Hudson lighthouse, in the middle of the river below the city.
The lighthouse is just below the flats which stretch along the river for a considerable distance at this point, and there is a dugway cut out between the lighthouse and the flats, which is used by vessels, this saving a wide sweep, around the lighthouse.
Tried to Cut Across.
Both boats were due here at the same time, and the Young American [sic] tried to cut across her larger rival's bows, it is reported. A great gash was cut in her and she soon sank.
That more were not drowned is due solely to the fact that the Young America's upper deck and the Power's main deck were practically on a level. More than a dozen escaped from the smaller boat by stepping from one deck to another before the boats drifted apart.
Mrs. Bedell and her son were returning from her husband's funeral at Coxsackie. Young Bedell could not swim, and he stood on the upper deck of the sinking boat, shouting to those on the ferry-boat to save her. Later in the evening he was taken to the Hudson Hospital, were he now is. He was nearly crazed by grief when he learned of his mother's death.
Miss Palmer, a cousin of Bedell, was rescued and taken to the City hospital here. She is suffering from shock. Miss Caldwell of Brooklyn, and Miss May Brown, Miss Sarah's sister, are also at the hospital, but it is expected they can leave today.
Small boats put out from here, as did a launch from the lighthouse, and rescued nine or ten persons, among them William S. Hallenbeck, mayor of Hudson; Carl Rowley of Brookyn and Prof. Henry H. Esselstyn of the Brooklyn Polytechnic institute.
None of the Young America's crew was drowned. Her pilot was Alexander Rainey, who three days ago left the Catskill Hudson steamer Isabella after a service of twenty-four years; Engineer Morris Webber and a deckhand named Leonard Edwards. Ernest McKnight of Athens was the Powers' pilot.
According to accounts of the collision in the New York Press and the New York Sun, there was a fourth victim: Jennie L. Bedell, daughter of Mrs. Mary Bedell and sister of Webster Bedell, the young man who survived.
The report in the New York Press, which identified Mary Bedell and Jennie L. Bedell as sisters rather than mother and daughter, alleged that no effort was made to rescue the drowning women.
. . . from all that has been gathered the crew of the craft did nothing to save them. Investigation is to be made to learn what became of the lifeboats, lifebelts and liferaft on the Young America, and to clear the mystery of why one of the several floating appliances on the vessel was not brought into use to float the young women for a few minutes until a rowboat had put back from the ferry.
200 SEE THEM DROWN.
The accident was witnessed by about 200 passengers on the Power, and there were pathetic scenes when it was seen the four girls were drowning. About half of the passengers were women, and they grew frantic at the tragic sight, some of them in the excitement actually battling with members of the crew to jump into the river in the frenzied hope of effecting a rescue. When at last the water sped smoothly over the heads of the lost girls a score of women fell fainting to the deck of the ferry, and the utmost excitement prevailed until the vessel was in Hudson. Then, when the passengers had left the Power, they gathered in the street and denounced the captain for having raced and thereby invited disaster. It was said by many that they would volunteer as witnesses in any action that might be taken.
Action was taken. Although Alexander Rainey, the pilot of Young America, claimed that the accident was unavoidable because he had been "thrown out of his reckoning by the tide," the Albany Evening Journal reported on September 16, 1905, that his license and that of the pilot of the George H. Power had been revoked.
WILL NOT STEER BOATS ANY MORE
Pilots of Young America and George H. Power Held Responsible.
Andrew Gaul and Robert B. Keller, local inspectors of steam vessels, this morning sent to Captain Ira Harris, at New York, their decision in the matter of the investigation into the collision of the Young America and the George H. Power. They revoked the licence of the pilots of both boats on the grounds that they were guilty of "reckless navigation and the violation of the rules of navigation."
The pilot of the Young America is Alexander Rainy [sic], of Athens, and the pilot of the other boat is Ernest McKnight, also of Athens. Rainy, the inspectors find, did not blow his whistle when approaching the George H. Power and both pilots failed to take the [illegible] precautions to prevent the collision, which resulted in the death of four persons.
As a footnote to this story, Hudson's first Mayor William Hallenbeck was rescued from the collision, but six months later, on March 6, 1906, The New York Times reported that he dropped dead on the way to his office in City Hall.
Photograph of the George H. Power ferry slip courtesy Historic Hudson
The presence of a mysterious object in the background of this stereoscopic image of Parade Hill has inspired investigation into and speculation about what it was.
Michael O'Hara speculated, in a comment on yesterday's post, that the structure may have been a "public weather station," enabling people to see the direction and speed of the wind at the riverfront from almost any point in the city. A report on a Common Council meeting that appeared in the Hudson Evening Register on August 9, 1898, indicates that at that time, there was no flagpole on Promenade Hill, although there was a lot of talk about putting one there. At the time, an ad hoc committee had solicited estimates for a flagpole with and without a weather vane.
Pursuing the possibility of a weather vane, Chad Weckler guided Gossips to the following report on the Common Council meeting that took place in April 1901. The report, which appeared in the Hudson Evening Register for April 26, 1901, tells of a resolution having to do with the flag staff on Promenade Hill, which was vetoed by then mayor Charles S. Harvey.
[Gossips Note: Back when I was reading Common Council minutes from 1909 and 1910, searching for any mention of the Hudson-Fulton fountain, I was struck by how often the mayor at the time, James C. Armstrong, vetoed Common Council actions. This seems to have been common at that time. In April 1901, his predecessor, Charles Harvey, vetoed a total of four Council resolutions. Our interest is with just one of them.]
Hudson, April 15, 1901.
To the Common Council:
Gentleman:--I do hereby disapprove of the resolution offered by Ald. Roach and passed by your honorable body on April 11, 1901, which reads as follows:
Resolved, That the Fire committee be authorized to have the flag staff on Promenade hill cleaned and painted and raised and a larger weather vane placed on the same at an expense not to exceed $60.
My reason for disapproving of this is that I have been informed by different contractors that make a business of this line of work that this work can be done for less than half of the amount appropriated. Two years ago this same work was done for $25 as the proceedings of the Common Council show, and I cannot seen the necessity of appropriating this amount, and do hereby veto the same.
Charles S. Harvey, Mayor
Ald. Roach stated that he was in favor of having the flag-staff repaired and re-gilded twice this summer if necessary, as thousands of people would pass along the river this year on their way to the Pan-American. The weather-vane had been enlarged and the flag-staff instead of receiving a coat of paint, would receive two coats of milk-white paint. Every day during the summer the flag should fly from its high altitude, the same as was done at Washington's headquarters in Newburgh. Travelers seeing Old Glory flying would make inquires as to what city it was and it would certainly help keep Hudson in their minds. The original motion was then passed over the Mayor's veto by the same vote as the first vote--8 to 2.
The "Pan-American" mentioned by Alderman Roach was the Pan-American Exposition that took place in Buffalo from May 1 to November 2, 1901. Buffalo, then the eighth largest city in the country, was selected as the site for the exposition because of its railway connections, and a great feature of the event was the Electric Tower and many other buildings covered with light bulbs and illumined by the hydroelectric power generated at Niagara Falls.
It was at the Pan-American Exposition that President William McKinley was assassinated, shot twice by Leon Czolgosz on September 6 and ultimately dying on September 14 from infection and gangrene.
The University at Buffalo website is a rich source of information about the Pan-American Exposition, and you can make your own virtual visit at a website called Doin' the Pan. If you like to experience history through historical fiction, City of Light, by Lauren Belfer, published in 1999, is set in Buffalo during the Pan-American Exposition and does a good job of creating a sense of time and place.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK
Next Saturday, September 7, BeLo 3rd, the organization founded in 2009 to increase awareness of the shops, art galleries, restaurants, and other businesses below Third Street, is presenting its fifth Taste of Hudson. This eagerly awaited annual gourmet feeding frenzy takes place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., under a tent, in the 200 block of Warren Street. Early arrival is, as always, recommended.
Meanwhile, at the other end of Warren Street, in the neighborhood that calls itself Hudson's East End, much is happening. The new streetlamps are being installed, and DPW superintendent Rob Perry reports that they should be "energized" in October. The Crimson Sparrow recently celebrated its first anniversary, and so has the art supply and stationery shop Sketch. Two other East End businesses will soon pass the one year mark: Stoddard Corner Bookshop, in October, and Bonfiglio & Bread, in November. Valley Variety, the retail shop offering "Tools for everyday tasks"™ coming to the former Sweeps building at 705 Warren, got a certificate of appropriateness for its signage from the Historic Preservation Commission last month and is expected to open soon. There is word of two new art galleries opening in the neighborhood--one at 745 Warren Street and the other next door, in the former Neefus Photography Studio at 743 Warren Street--and we await more news about Hudson Anchor, the food emporium expected to offer fresh local produce, fish, meat, and prepared foods at 752 Warren Street, in the building where years ago Hudson City Crescent Garage sold Packards and other automobiles and more recently Ackerman's sold expensive kitchen appliances.
More news from Hudson's East End--Animalkind, whose facility at 721 Warren Street was severely damaged by a fire in May 2012, is having a grand opening of its "totally renovated, cat-friendly, completely awesome" adoption center on Sunday, September 15, from 2 to 4 p.m. Everyone is invited, but those planning to attend should RSVP online or leave a message at (917) 697-6301.
I just got a call from a neighbor (bless her heart), worried that the Gossipsmobile, parked on the odd side of the street when tomorrow is an even day, might get ticketed. For anyone else with similar concerns, know that the eve of Labor Day is one of the eight holidays on which alternate side of the street parking is suspended. As a reminder for the future, here's the whole list, provided to Gossips last year by Common Council president Don Moore. Note that these are all the eves of the holidays:
- New Year's Day
- Presidents' Day
- Martin Luther King Day
- Memorial Day
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- Christmas Day
Tomorrow is the last day of the Columbia County Fair for 2013--the 173rd annual Columbia County Fair. Fittingly, a reader just sent me the link to an article from The New York Times for September 26, 1863, which provides the information that 150 years ago, the Columbia County Fair took place not in Chatham, as it does today, but in Hudson.
The fairgrounds in Hudson were located just west of Fairview Avenue and north of Oakwood Boulevard, around the site of the Montgomery C. Smith School. In fact, Fairview Avenue got its name not because it afforded a belle vue or a buena vista but because you could see the fairgrounds from there, and Paddock Place was named not for the Paddock family, Stephen Paddock being one of the original Proprietors, but because the paddocks for the horses at the fairgrounds were located there.
A year earlier, in September 1862, the Hudson fairgrounds were the site of Camp Kelly, where the 128th Regiment was organized and mustered into service to fight for the Union in the Civil War.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK
The picture of the fairgrounds, which is probably later than 1863, is from Historic Hudson's Rowles Studio Collection.
Earlier this summer, Peter Pehrson acquired for his Stoddard Corner Bookshop the remaining inventory from New York Bound, the bookshop dedicated to rare, out-of-print, and new books and ephemera related to New York history, located, until 1997, in the lobby of 50 Rockefeller Plaza. Among the treasures in that collection, Pehrson recently discovered this stereoscopic view of Promenade Hill, back in the day when it was called Parade Hill.
Gossips has shared this image before, although not in stereoscopic form, then focusing on the stairs that appear to be going down the face of the bluff. That stair or ladder and the absence of the iron fence led to the conclusion that the men in the picture are masons and laborers working on the retaining wall and this picture was probably taken in 1878, the year the retaining wall was constructed and the iron fence installed.
The stereoscopic image seems to draw more attention to this mysterious object in the background and makes one wonder what it is. Pehrson mused that the picture is too early for this to be a radio tower and the structure seems too small to be a fire tower--even if it's possible to believe that such a thing would ever have been sited on Parade Hill. Gossips' guess is that this structure is some kind of elaborate scaffolding around a flag pole--either one in the process of being erected or one that had been there for a while and required some additional support.
The colorized engraving below, from Wade & Croome's 1846 Panorama of the Hudson River from New York to Albany, discovered and published by The Valley Alliance back in 2011, shows a flag pole on Parade Hill in 1846. A newspaper article discovered by Gossips indicates that in 1898, there was no flag pole on Promenade Hill and the Common Council seemed uncertain about who had the responsibility or authority to put one there. One wonders what the situation of the flag pole was in 1878, if the picture that inspired this rumination was in fact dates from 1878.
Graham Farrell has performed a number of concerts for the benefit of Hudson's very visible, very needy First Presbyterian Church, and his latest will take place on Saturday, September 7, at 6 p.m. Entitled Opera Goes to Church, the concert features "Cherished Chestnuts from the Romantic Repertoire"--familiar arias from the operas of Verdi, Bizet, and Puccini--performed on the church's 1927 Austin organ. The $15 admission charge goes to the restoration of the historic church building.
.jpg)
