Meetings of Interest in the Week Ahead

City government meetings for 2019 begin this week.

• On Monday, January 7, at 4:00 p.m., at City Hall, the mayor holds a public hearing on Local Law No. 8 of 2018--the legislation that increases the fines for leaving pets confined in cars in extreme temperatures.

At 7:00 p.m. on Monday, January 7, the Common Council holds its organizational meeting for 2019. Since there is no information to the contrary, it is assumed that the meeting will take place in the Council Chamber at City Hall.

• On Tuesday, January 8, the Hudson Industrial Development Agency (IDA) meets at 1:00 p.m. IDA meetings typically take place in the conference room at 1 North Front Street. The proposed Red Barn Hudson project may be on the agenda.

• On Thursday, January 10, the Planning Board meets at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall. On the agenda for the meeting is a proposal from Tin House LLC to construct a building with two commercial units and four residential units at 449-451 Columbia Street.

• On Friday, January 11, at 9:30 a.m., the Historic Preservation Commission will make a site visit to Prison Alley above Park Place to assess the context of what is proposed for the rear of the Park Place firehouses.

At 10:00 a.m. on Friday, January 11, the HPC holds its first meeting for the month of January at City Hall. The HPC is expected to continue its review of the proposed restoration of the Park Place firehouses. At this meeting, they will also hear from representatives of the State Historic Preservation Office about the process and the advantages of becoming a Certified Local Government.

COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

The Death of a President a Hundred Years Ago

One hundred years ago, on January 6, 1919, at 4:15 a.m., Theodore Roosevelt died at his home in Sagamore Hill on Long Island, the victim of a pulmonary embolism. The news of his death was reported the next day in the front page of the Columbia Republican, accompanied by this photograph.

On the editorial page of the paper that day, the following eulogy appeared. Unfortunately, the edge of this page of the newspaper as it appears on FultonHistory.com is torn, so some of the words in the fifth paragraph are missing. 

THE FALL OF THE CEDAR OF LEBANON

The great Cedar of Lebanon has fallen. The aroma of the dead tree is more pungent than that of the living. A giant, when it stood deep rooted among its fellow giants of the forests, as it lies now, helpless, with its growth forever stopped, with its huge roots exposed, it seems in death to outrank its fellows even more than it did in life.

The greatest American of them all has fallen. Theodore Roosevelt lies still among his kindred. On all sides of him stand the mighty cedars but he, fairly pulled up by the roots, seems to have lost nothing. As he outranked them living, he outranks them dead. The dead roots of the fallen tree reach up into the boughs of the living trees.

The death of Theodore Roosevelt is so tremendous that we are all stunned by the shock. No man ever was so loved; no man ever was so hated; no man had so many friends who followed him blindly; no man ever had so many who opposed him without reason. The people cheered him until they were hoarse and now they will weep over him until their eyes are red.

Theodore Roosevelt was not perfect. He blundered fearfully and he fought his friends in the crisis, yet he showed the brains of a genius and died pleading for the right. He was charged again and again with misstatement yet he lived an ideal life, pure, honorable and Christian. He conversed with sinners and was welcomed by saints.

No man ever had such a complex education. He [word missing] for rare scorpions, wild elephants and invaded the [word missing]. He played tennis on the back lawn with his sons, taught history to historians and studied a dozen different languages. He made the White House a menagerie and the lawns around it a feeding ground for odd [word missing]; he fished with the poor whites and consulted the Negro for the best night to go after "chucks," yet with the dignity of royalty he sought and stood superior to the statesmen of all lands.

He wrecked his own political party to gratify his own ends, yet he gave the strength of his warring life to cement the fragments.

American to the core, no man can dispute his being called Our Greatest American. His last efforts were for the flag he so loved. While they deprived him of the right to fight for it they never could stifle his right to talk for it. But for a day we'll recall his little foibles which we called faults when he lived. But the years can not hide his manhood, his love for country and his love for home. The Cedar of Lebanon has failed but the influence of the great tree will long be a stimulus to every American on land or on sea. The name of Theodore Roosevelt is written fast in the history of America.

The sixth paragraph of the eulogy--"He wrecked his own political party to gratify his own ends . . ."--makes reference to the election of 1912, when Roosevelt, who had been president from 1901 to 1909, decided he wanted to run again because he was dissatisfied with the job his successor and former protégé, William Howard Taft, was doing as president. (In November 1991, Roosevelt was reported to have said, "I am really sorry for Taft. . . . I am sure he means well, but he means well feebly, and he does not know how! He is utterly unfit for leadership and this is a time when we need leadership.") When the incumbent Taft was nominated at the Republican Convention of 1912, Roosevelt formed his own party, the Progressive Party, also known as the Bull Moose Party, to run against Taft and Woodrow Wilson, the Democrats' candidate. In that election, Roosevelt took 27 percent of the votes, Taft took 23 percent, and Wilson took 42 percent of the popular vote and a massive landslide in the Electoral College. The cartoon below, found on Wikipedia, appeared in Punch and depicts Roosevelt and Taft and the schism in the Republican party.  

The final paragraph of the eulogy makes reference--"While they deprived him of the right to fight . . . "--to Roosevelt's efforts during World War I. In March 1917, a month before the United States declared it was entering the war, Roosevelt had gotten authority from Congress to raise four divisions, similar to the Rough Riders, to fight the war in Europe, but in May 1917 President Wilson announced he would not send Roosevelt and his volunteers to France. 

Any Gossips post about Theodore Roosevelt must include mention of his visit to Hudson in October 1914--a visit we've mentioned once or twice before. He was here to speak at the Hudson Opera House about this Amazon expedition, which he had undertaken after losing the presidential election in 1912. The event merited mention in the Boston Globe on October 8, 1914, but not for anything that was said. (Gratitude to Gary Schiro, former executive director of the Hudson Opera House, for discovering this and making it part of Gossips' trivia hoard.)

Roosevelt Unwilling to Speak in Hudson Opera House Until Friends Get Food for Him

Hudson, N.Y., Oct. 7--Col. Roosevelt likes the soup they make in Hudson. He proved it yesterday when he called for a second bowl of vegetable soup as he stood in the wings of the Opera House. So the crowd waited 10 minutes while his nephew, Theodore Douglas Robinson and two local Progressives chased to a lunchroom across the street and returned with a big bowl of vegetable soup. One was not enough so the colonel had a second bowl. "Now that'll do til dinner time," he said as he climbed into the motor car to resume his tour. "I have to be fed. I want man-sized victuals from this time on or I'll strike."

The "lunchroom across the street" in 1914 had to have been the Opera Cafe located at 330 Warren Street, whose proprietor was Thomas F. Cody, grandfather of John Cody.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

A Loss for Hudson

Gossips learned today that Earl Swanigan, Hudson's most outrageous, prolific, and celebrated outsider artist, died yesterday in Columbus, Mississippi, the city where he was born. His obituary can be read here.

This picture of Earl was taken in June 2010 at the opening of the exhibition Local Self Portraits at the Hudson Opera House. Earl's was the first self-portrait in the show to be sold--even before the opening reception began.

A regular presence on Warren Street and a unique talent, Earl was a vibrant part of the Hudson scene. His art, on display in so many Hudson businesses, lives on. Rest in peace, Earl Swanigan.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

Columbia County's Sleeping Dragon: Part II

In 1988, The Independent, which was a weekly newspaper, published Margaret Schram's articles about Lake Albany clay over the course of ten weeks as part of a regular feature written by Schram called Historic Columbia County. In 2019, as the rain keeps falling, Gossips is going to accelerate that pace. Here is the next installment of the series, which appeared in The Independent on July 14, 1988.

Prologue--Lake Albany

We are inclined to view our Hudson Valley, with the Catskill Mountains on the west and the Taconics on the east, as a landscape that has remained unchanged since the earth was formed. It is difficult to imagine the extraordinary changes that have occurred in the hundreds of millions of years up to this tiny quarter of a second in geological time. Our region experienced earthquakes and flows of lava. The crust has split, folded, settled and then thrust upward. As the continents moved--continental drift--and the magnetic pole wandered, climate changed from tropical to arctic cold.

Over 450 Million  

During periods over 450 million years ago, the region sank and was covered with oceans, then rose and was again submerged. Seas left their deposits of the remains of small shells of invertebrate animals. Forests of tree-size ferns spread over regions on the edges of quiet seas. 

The continents, once welded together, split and then collided, the Afro-European plates crushing our land plate and forcing the crust upwards and westward into high folds of tilted rock, forming our mountain ranges. The erosion of these mountains deposited the materials in a flow westward, some lifting above sea level to form the Catskill Mountains.

Semi-tropical  

About 200 million years ago, more stresses forced the continents apart and the Atlantic Ocean was formed. The region was semi-tropical, with lush plant life and deep basins containing swamps and lakes. Here the dinosaurs flourished, in a period from 225 to 65 million years ago; 50 million years ago, the dinosaurs were gone and the age of mammals had begun.

About two million years ago, during the Pleistocene Epoch, the climate changed to bone-chilling cold. Several great ice sheets, or glaciers, formed and advanced into New York State, receding during warmer periods. The last glacier, known as the Wisconsin glacier, began expanding about 30,000 years ago and reached its terminus on Long Island approximately 20,000 years ago.

Hudson Valley 

The slow-moving mass of ice overwhelmed the Hudson Valley. Not even the highest peaks of the Catskills rose above the glacier, and the thickness in the center of the valley is estimated to have been from one to two miles thick. The weight of this ice forced the land to lower, or subside, with the greatest subsidence to the north where the ice was thickest. As the glacier flowed slowly southward, it smoothed, ground and gorged the land beneath. It also carried large quantities of material with it. One such substance was made up of clay, silt-clay and boulder clay, called till, deposited under the glacial ice in Columbia County. Like the Lake Albany clay, it is wet, nearly impermeable, and unstable, with slopes prone to slippage.

Geologists are divided in determining exactly when the glacier began to retreat, but it is estimated that it receded from New York State about 11,000 years ago. 

This was not a simple melting of all the glacial ice. The southern area was the first to be free of the heavy mantle of ice. Dams of ice were blocked by rock barriers, backing up the melt waters and remaining ice, forming a series of ice-filled lakes. Lake Hudson formed first in the lower Hudson Valley from Staten Island to the margin of the retreating glacier. Glacial Lake Albany, held by a dam of ice and rock near Kingston, eventually extended a length of 120 miles and a width of 8 to 12 miles.

Too Cold for Life 

The lake was too cold to contain life of any sort. It was filled with ice that gradually broke apart, floated then melted, dumping its cargo of rock and soil onto the lake floor. Deltas of sand and gravel, left by slow moving streams of melt water draining into the lake, are found in several places in Columbia County. An example is on the Kinderhook Creek--on what is known to geologists as the Niverville Plain.

The materials we call Lake Albany clay, consisting of fine silts and clays, were lighter and were carried by streams of melt water into the deep water areas of the lake. This lake of wasted ice and water had an approximate depth of 300 feet near Albany and between 240 and 260 feet along the Columbia County limits of the lake shore.

Geologists believe that Lake Albany existed for about 4,000 to 6,000 years. Near the end of that time, evaporation and drainage had probably reduced it to a collection of lakes and swamps, perhaps with a few blocks of stagnant ice still floating in their centers.

Fossil Remains 

Mastodon roamed the perimeter of the lakes and the fossilized remains of one were found in Claverack in 1705. Whether this mastodon came to its end by being mired in swamp or was part of a Paleo-Indian feast will never be determined, because the authorities, sure that it was the remains of a giant man, sent the bones to England and oblivion.

When the dam holding back the lake finally failed, the water slowly drained away. There remains a controversy as to how quickly the land rebounded after the weight of ice and water gone, possibly less than 2,000 years ago. It is known that there was a gradual elevation from the south to the north. The material deposited in the lake, and left after the lake disappeared, comes under the geological name of lacustrine or glaciolacustrine (lacustrine--pertaining to lakes).

Lacustrine beach and lacustrine delta are deposits, usually of sand and gravel, that were dropped at the shoreline of the lake. Lacustrine sand is generally a quartz sand on a near shore deposit. Lacustrine silt and clay, the material of concern in this series, is made up of layers of different clays and silts, deposited in beds up to and over 300 feet deep. Strata of sand and gravel between the clays are filled with flowing water. 

The colors vary from very dark and mottled gray to a brownish gray and to the very light gray that was called blue clay. A light olive brown clay may have been what was defined as yellow. Variations in color were also caused by the season when it was deposited and by weathering.

Regardless of the color, lacustrine clay and sit deposits can present extreme difficulties.

COPYRIGHT 1988 MARGARET SCHRAM

This Doesn't Bode Well

I, and probably everyone else on the Hudson Business Coalition listserve, just got 370 email messages announcing something I reported on December 11: Mark Vinciguerra is no longer the publisher of Columbia-Greene Media. The messages started arriving in my inbox at 12:10 p.m and continued unabated until 12:22 p.m.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK 

West of Third and South of Allen in 1919

Because of the contemplated redevelopment of the Kaz site, attention to being given to the part of the city west of Third Street and south of Allen Street, an area that once was mostly South Bay.

Recently, while reading Common Council minutes from early 1919, I came upon a passage that provides a virtual inventory of the area a hundred years ago, when it was no longer a bay but was mostly industrial. The following is quoted from the Council minutes for January 30, 1919:

Alderman Finnigan stated that there were several matters which he desired to bring to the attention of the Council, the first one being the location of the police signal box on South Front Street. He stated that this box was located at the N[ew] Y[ork] C[entral] R[ail] R[oad] Station and that as a result police officers never went further than the box. He believed that this box should be placed further south on South Front Street and in neighborhood of its intersection with Power Ave. There were business interests in that section, which received no police protection, such as the Railway Steel Spring Co., the N.Y.C. Freight House, Cement Company Storage House, the C. A. Van Deusen Storage House, Conway Bros. Coal Yard, and the Hudson Iron and Storage Company. He moved that it be the sense of the Common Council that the patrol box located at the N.Y.C.R.R. Station should be moved to a point about 200 yards South of the intersection of Power Avenue and South Front Street, and that a copy of the resolution to forwarded to the Police Commission.

The motion was unanimously adopted.

For those who need it, this passage from the Common Council minutes is evidence the Power Avenue once extended from Third Street to South Front Street.

COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

Columbia County's Sleeping Dragon: Part I

Back in 1988, Margaret Schram, the author of Hudson's Merchants and Whalers: The Rise and Fall of a River Port, 1783-1850, wrote a series of articles, which she titled "Columbia County's Sleeping Dragon," about the Lake Albany clay, a major component in the soil beneath Hudson and much of Columbia County. The articles were published in The Independent during the summer and fall of that year. I have been aware of these articles for quite a few years now, but recent events and circumstances--a landslide that damaged the foundation of a house on Tanners Lane, the proposal to construct new buildings on the north side of State Street, the omission of soil maps and erosion issues in the Open Space and Natural Resources Inventory being developed by the Conservation Advisory Council--have inspired me to want to share Schram's research on Gossips. The following article appeared in The Independent for July 7, 1988.

Landslides a Deadly Threat to a Growing Community

The following is an introduction to a series of articles on landslides of the past, and the potential for future landslides in Columbia County.

During research on the 1915 Knickerbocker Cement Plant landslide that killed five men and injured seven others, it was learned that additional landslides occurred in the Claverack-Greenport area during the following 10 years.

Investigation uncovered more landslides in Stockport, and an ongoing problem in road maintenance due to slippage throughout the western part of the county.

The geological reports on the Knickerbocker and other slides blamed clay, not quicksand or erosion. The clay was described as yellow and blue, and it had reached a semi-fluid point where it squeezed out of the surrounding strata and precipitated the slide.

A trip to the New York State Museum and a conference with Robert Fickies, associate engineering geologist with the New York State Geological Survey, and an expert on geological hazards, revealed a potential for disaster still exists in Columbia County and surrounding areas.

Readers connect the California coast with mud slides, not realizing that the Hudson Valley is also prone to slides, only one of two such areas in the state, and one of the very few in the northeast.

The problem here is not mud, but clay, deposited when the last glacier (Wisconsin) was melting and receding.

A lake, or series of lakes, extended from Rhinebeck to Glens Falls, and on the east from the area near the Columbia County airport westward to the cliffs of the Heldebergs. The lake is called Lake Albany, and the clay, deposited in beds sometimes hundreds of feet deep, is known as Lake Albany clay.

It was this clay, known then as blue clay, that was used for making bricks in the brickyards along the Hudson River. This clay also was utilized in cement production.

 Dangerous Slopes

The danger lies on the slopes of hills composed of Lake Albany clay. Most are "marginally stable" in their natural state, though they are moving imperceptibly.

However, when the clay is infiltrated with water, it becomes slippery. The soil on top is floating on a sea of quivering ooze. At that point, a landslide can occur spontaneously, as happened in the Episcopal Church cemetery in Stockport in 1908.

Thousands of small slides occur each year, usually not noticed because they happen in woods or in uninhabited areas. In many cases, these slopes find their own gravity, and simply change shape.

The focus of the articles to follow is what happens when man changes the natural equilibrium of these slopes. The Albany-Troy area is a perfect example of disaster in the making since houses began sliding down State Street in the city's early history.

 Troy Landslide

Lake Albany was at its widest in this region, and both cities are built on deep deposits of clay--as is the city of Hudson. In 1843, 15 people were killed in a major landslide in Troy, with whole blocks of houses wiped out after a January thaw.

More recently--1973--a Troy Hills apartment project had to be evacuated when the building was found to be slipping sideways after a landslide.

When the Empire State Plaza was built on what was know to be a landslide prone area in Albany, 20,000 steel piles were driven deep into the more stable ground to anchor the complex.

In 1982, a landslide in Elsmere threatened to break a 48-inch pipeline supplying water to Albany--an event that echoed a similar slide that came inches from destroying Hudson's water pipe 64 years ago.

Pressure to Build

There is pressure today to build on hills that offer views of the river or creek valleys. Where lake clay is present, additional weight should not be added to the hill, nor should it be excavated. Drainage should be rerouted to assure the slope does not become waterlogged.

Adding soil to extend a yard or lessen a slope will exacerbate the problem by placing more weight where ideally there should be none.

Mr. Fickies describes water saturated lake clay as resembling toothpaste. If a brick is placed on a tube of Crest, and the cap removed, the paste will flow out rapidly and the brick will sink. This analogy occurs in many lake clay landslides; in others the hillside simply flows to a lower position.

This series will begin . . . with an explanation of Lake Albany and the clays that take its name. Other articles will be about some Columbia County landslides.

The final article cannot rightly be under the heading of "Historic Columbia County." It will deal with today's problems with this clay, and the precautions, if any, that are being taken to assure that there is not a repeat, on any scale, of the 1915 Knickerbocker landslide.

That article will also feature a reproduction of the Columbia County section of a map entitled "Landslide Susceptibility Within the Lake Clays of the Hudson Valley, New York." It will illustrate where the beds are located, and where there is a potential for landslides.

Writing this story required the help and experience of a long list of knowledgeable people who had to deal with someone totally ignorant of every facet of geology, soil science, and engineering. It was a learning experience, and I now view the topography of the county with entirely new eyes.

Public Awareness

The geologists of New York State who were barraged with questions at all hours were kind and patient, not only from a desire to assist, but also because they felt the public should be aware of the problems the lake clay can create.

Finally, I should apologize for the melodramatic title. To label the series "Problems with County Clay" would certainly not have attracted readers. As the series continues, and the properties of this clay are described, I hope the readers will find the sleeping dragon appropriate.

COPYRIGHT 1988 MARGARET SCHRAM 

Time Changes Everything

Last night, an ad for this house on North Second Street popped up in my Facebook feed.

The accompanying text proclaimed (capitalization is as I found it):

Invest, Invest, INVEST in HUDSON!

This little City is Big on Art, Antiques, Boutiques and more! Three-story Brick Townhouse awaits your complete restoration, ready for rediscovery as your gracious home, two-family, or think investment as an Airbnb rental. Even better, it also includes an extra 60' x 108' lot that can be built upon for future development/investment!

The asking price for the house and the vacant lots (there are two tax parcels) next to it: $285,000. Or you can purchase just the house for $139,900 or just the vacant lots for $169,900.

This poor house has been vacant at least since 2010. The picture above was taken in 2010. Back then, there was much talk of replacing Bliss Towers with 132 units of scattered site housing, and this house and the double lot next door were eyed as possible locations for some of those units. Tax records show that the two vacant lots had been owned by Hudson Community Development & Planning Agency (HCDPA), but at the beginning of 2010 they were sold for $2,500 each to an entity called North Second Street LLC. In 2008, the house was purchased for $10,000 from Wells Fargo Bank, which undoubtedly had foreclosed on it, by an entity called Little Molly LLC. In November 2009, ownership of the house was transferred to North Second Street LLC. 

Today, less than ten years later, what was acquired for $15,000 is for sale for nineteen times that amount: $285,000.

COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

A New Year, a New Perspective

After reporting in November about the proposal being entertained by the Common Council in the fall of 1918 to rent the Kennedy dock to a company called the Concrete Ship Corporation, Gossips endeavored to learn the outcome of this proposal. A study of Common Council minutes for the end of 1918 and the beginning of 1919 yielded the following information regarding this proposal.

Recorded in the Common Council minutes for November 18, 1918--the night of the public hearing--was a statement by S. B. Coffin which was not mentioned in the newspaper account of the hearing. According to the minutes, Coffin said the dock "was the only dock which could be used without crossing over a dangerous railroad crossing at grade. . . . He questioned the legallity [sic] of such a lease in as much as the original proprietors of the city had deeded this dock to the city for shipping purposes only." It is commonly known that the Proprietors designated Promenade Hill to be "a public walk or mall" in perpetuity, but who knew they had also designated this stretch of riverfront, which the City illegally handed over to St. Lawrence Cement in 1981, to be a public dock "for shipping purposes only"?

The minutes of the Council meeting for January 30, 1919, reveal that the Council decided to "start off with a clear slate" and rescinded the resolution to lease the dock to the Concrete Ship Corporation. The following is quoted from the Council minutes:

Alderman Finnigan believed that some action should be taken toward securing a barge canal terminal for the City of Hudson. All other cities along the river had taken some action, but no move had been made here. He believed that the water front of the city was a valuable asset, and that it should be preserved by the city, and not leased or rented for any other purpose.

Alderman McLaren was of the same opinion, and stated that he had opposed the various attempts to lease the city docks to a corporation of unknown standing.

Alderman Finnigan stated that he believed this Council should start off with a clear slate, and should rescind the resolution adopted by the previous Council in so far as that same requested the City Treasurer to lease certain docks to the Concrete Ship Corporation. He therefore offered the following resolution which was unanimously adopted:

RESOLVED that the following resolution adopted by the Common Council at a meeting thereof held October 4th, 1918 be and the same hereby is in all respects rescinded; for the reason that the Finance Committee of the previous Council failed to make any report relative to the financial standing or business ability of the Concrete Ship Corporation. . . .

Having rescinded that resolution, the Council then unanimously passed a new resolution pertaining to the waterfront:

RESOLVED that the Hudson Harbor Association, The Civic Improvement Association, and all citizens who have the welfare of the City of Hudson at heart be invited to meet with members of the Common Council at 8:15 P.M. February 6th, 1919 for the purpose of bringing before the proper authorities of the State and Nation the harbor facilities of the City of Hudson, and for the purpose of taking such further action towards the formation of a Chamber of Commerce as may see advisable and timely.

The minutes go on to report:

On motion of Alderman Finnigan the representatives of the Hudson Evening Register and the Hudson Morning Republican were requested to make a vigorous campaign of publicity to the end that the contemplated meeting may be well attended.

Sadly, the Hudson Evening Register for 1919 is not part of the vast database of newspapers at FultonHistory.com, nor is the Hudson Morning Republican, and there is no mention of the meeting in the weekly Columbia Republican either on February 4 or February 11, 1919. Since it wasn't an official meeting of the Common Council, there is no record of it in the Council minutes, but the fact that a special of meeting of the Council, to elect a new alderman, scheduled to take place on February 6 at 8:00 p.m., fifteen minutes before this meeting, did not happen for want of a quorum, doesn't bode well.
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

Women and Politics . . . 330 Years Ago

Next Thursday, January 10, the Hudson Area Library History Room, in collaboration with the Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History and the Gotham Center for New York City History, presents the latest in its Local History Speaker series: "How Their Poor Wives Do": The Role of Women in Late Seventeenth-Century New York Politics. The talk will be presented by David W. Voorhees, director of the Jacob Leisler Institute.

Widespread female violence against men is found in the records of the 1689 New York uprising popularly known as "Leisler's Rebellion." Indeed, women played a prominent role in the uprising. Voorhees' talk will explore this outburst of activism among New York women a generation after the English takeover of New Netherland.

The event takes place from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the Community Room of the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street. A question-and-answer period and refreshments will follow the talk. 
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

The Week Ahead

There is only one meeting of interest in the first week of 2019. It's the monthly meeting of the Conservation Advisory Council, which takes place tomorrow, Thursday, January 3, at 6:00 p.m., at City Hall. The single topic of discussion will be the Open Space and Natural Resources Inventory, which is pretty much the CAC's raison d'être at the moment. In addition to discussing the progress of the project and the timeline going forward, members of the CAC will be formulating a plan for reviewing public comments and talking about how to promote the completed inventory and encourage its use.

The inventory is now available for review online. Click here for the narrative; click here for links to the maps that accompany the narrative. Comments on the inventory will be accepted until Friday, February 1. Written comments should be submitted to CAC@cityofhudson.org.

The CAC currently has two vacancies. The city code specifies that CAC members "shall have expertise in environmental sciences, planning, engineering, arboriculture, Georgraphic Informational Systems, and associated skills by specified professional or education credentials and relevant attainment." Members of the CAC are appointed by the Common Council. Anyone interested in considered for appointment to the CAC should contact Council president Tom DePietro: councilpres@cityofhudson.org.    
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

Of Interest

Photo: Albany Business Review

The Albany Business Review reports this morning about Airbnb: "Where Airbnb has the greatest presence in the Capital Region." According to this report, the Airbnb presence is greatest across the river in Greene County, with 510 hosts, 48,100 guest arrivals, and $7.2 million in revenue in 2018. Columbia County is second, with 390 hosts, 33,200 guest arrivals, and $5.7 million in revenue. 
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK

1918 in Hudson

In its first issue for 1919, the Columbia Republican devoted nearly an entire page to recapping the events of 1918 in Hudson. Today, for its first post of 2019, Gossips shares some highlights from that review.

JANUARY

1--New Year's Day brings no relief from extreme cold. 8 below zero.

2--Ice harvest plentiful. Ice 12 to 13 inches thick.

3--At Board of Health meeting, Health Officer George E. Swift protests against use of river water during shortage.

4--Great scarcity of coal in city. Citizens who are supplied are asked to loan coal to the needy.

5-6--Big convoy of army trucks in Hudson. 46 autos and 101 men. --Rise in temperature great relief to water and coal shortage.

7--Many people in residences at 241 and 243 State street had narrow escapes from asphyxiation when gas pipe broke.

10--Letter received by Malcolm Gifford, Sr., from chaplain of Canadian Regt. telling of Malcolm Jr's., heroic death.

12--Chief Cruise receives word that police must register all German aliens.

18--Hudson observes first of its fuelless days.

26--Mysterious gun found on New York Central track, puzzles local police.

28--Second fuelless Monday observed--John D. Frick, of Hudson, contractor, brought to this city, charged with forgery.

29--John Kassay, of Hudson, arrested in Poughkeepsie, on a charge of carrying concealed weapons.

FEBRUARY

1--Ground hog day.--54 men found physically fit for military service.

4--Third fuelless Monday.--Registration of German aliens begins.--Hudson face to face with water famine.  

11--Water shortage again menaces city.

12--Thieves enter two Hudson business places: the billiard parlor of Leonard Cordato and the dry goods store of M. G. Kosoff.

17--Service flag dedicated at Christ church with 29 stars.

24--S. B. Coffin, county fuel administrator, delivers address on fuel conservation at Baptist church.

26--Sixty army trucks reached here.--Miss Dorothy Treat Arnold tells of war zone in France, at a meeting of the D.A.R.

27--Claverack bridge abutment sinks. Hester auto party has narrow escape.

28--Dollar Day in Hudson.

MARCH

2--Terrific wind storm visits city.

7--Third motor train passes thru city.

10--30 army motor trucks pass thru city. --Blizzard like storm here. --35th anniversary of the blizzard of '88.

11--Spring street home robbed by burglars.

12--Columbia street home entered by burglars.

19--Ice breaking up in the river.--Beginning of drive for sale of War Savings Stamps.

20--General knowledge examination held in public schools.--Trouble with gas main hinders work in many business places of the city.

21--Ferryboat makes first trip.

22--Kennedy cold storage building destroyed by fire.

31--Easter Sunday warm and very pleasant. --Daylight saving plan begins without mishap.

APRIL

1--Easter Monday Ball of C.W.B.L. for K[nights] of C[olumbus] War Fund a great success.

2--Chatham Grain Co. violated food rule compelled to give $1500 to the County Red Cross chapter.

5--Supposed mad dog killed and head sent to Cornell laboratory.--Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Petry celebrate silver wedding.

14--Rousing Liberty Loan meeting at The Playhouse.

17--Lieut. Louis A. Stehling gives excellent address at The Playhouse. He is an aviator known as an "ace."

21--Body of Sylvester Schultz, boat captain, found in river.

23--Horton Blunt, 13 years old, of Greenport, accidentally shot by little girl playmate.

26--Liberty parade greatest ever seen in Hudson.--Fire in Fulton street houses.--Arbor Day observed in schools.

MAY

4--Million dollar mark reached in Liberty Loan.

8--Police kill five supposed mad dogs.

14--John D. Frick acquitted of forgery charge.--Allen C. Sheldon, farm hand, killed while operating tractor.

16--Recorder Moy gives instructive talk to women voters.

25--104 county boys leave for Camp Wadsworth--428 women enrolled with various political parties.

30--Memorial Day. Services in City Hall after parade.--St. Mary's service flag unfurled.--Union service of 8 churches at Baptist church.

JUNE 

1--Very hot. 100 degrees in sun, 94 degrees in shade.

2--Still very warm.--Man drowns in Claverack creek.

11--Genevieve Sheffer died from injuries in motor car accident.

13--Harry C. Holck, of Arlington, N.J., killed when his car turned over at corner of Worth avenue and Warren street. Wife and children injured.

15--Dr. and Mrs. John C. Smock give their beautiful home to the Hudson City Hospital to be used as a convalescent hospital for wounded soldiers and sailors.

18--Convention of Hudson Valley Firemen's Association here.

24--Class Day exercises by class of 1918 held at the High School.

25--Twenty-nine graduate from the High School.

26--John Philip Sousa's band at the Playhouse.

28--Patriotic tableaux and dance at City Hall for C.W.B.L. ambulance fund.

JULY

4--Big day in Hudson and county. Firemen's carnival, parade and fireworks.

8--Chief of Police John Cruise celebrates 29th year on force.

9--Two prisoners made escape from county jail here. One caught shortly after.

14--Bastille Day observed in Hudson churches.

15--Morton T. Powell, 10 years old, drowns in Stottville creek.

17--Charles G. Walters and son, William G., drowned in pond at Philmont.

20--Woman's motor convoy in Hudson.

29--Frank L. Lent, city editor of the Republican, enlists in service. Ralph F. Bame succeeds him at city desk.

30--Tuberculosis clinic held at City Hall.

AUGUST

3--Amos Priest taken with paralytic stroke while trimming tree.

5--News received of death of third Columbia county boy. Sergt. Guy Minkler, of Philmont, killed in action.

10--Lighthousekeeper Frank Best killed by fall from steel tower.

14--Abram Weintraub drowned in Kinderhook creek.

26--Balos' shoe shine parlor burglarized; exciting chase after burglar--who escaped--by police.

31--Mrs. C. W. Bostwick in serious motor accident.

SEPTEMBER 

1--First motorless Sunday.

6--Jewish New Year's Day begins.--Word received that Lewis Stemple was killed in action on July 18th.

8--Second motorless Sunday well observed.

12--Registration day for draft men between 18 and 45 goes off quietly.

15--Beginning of Jewish Yon [sic] Kippur or Day of Atonement.

19--Fund for Hudson's Honor Roll started.

21--Fake sailor collects money and skips town.

23--Frank Innerhofter arrested here, wanted by three governments.

24--Ghent goes dry.--Helen Race drowned in North Bay while at play.

25--Word received of death in camp from influenza of Lee F. Raught of Glenco Mills.

26--Clarence Worth dies suddenly at Syracuse Recruit camp.

30--French band plays here at armory.

OCTOBER

5--Influenza epidemic assumes alarming proportions.

8--Special board of health meeting decides to stop public activities during influenza epidemic. Schools, public meetings of any kind and churches ordered closed. Epidemic does not abate.

11--Word received of death in action in France of Lieut. John W. McConnell, of Valatie, on Aug 23.

17--Proclamation issued for noon prayer.

18--Epidemic still raging. No relief in sight.

19--First day of noon prayer observed.

21--Liberty Loan goes "over the top."

24--Word received here of death of Corp. Ralph Steitz at Camp Hancock, Ga.

26--Fifty cases of influenza reported at hospital. News received of the death in France of Theodore Bullinger of Harlemville.

27--Dr. Collins, Health Officer, reports influenza epidemic decreasing.

31--Supervisors award contract for tuberculosis hospital.--Hallowe'en noisy but uneventful.--Quarantine on school, churches and public meetings lifted. Epidemic practically at an end.

NOVEMBER

1--News received in this city of the death of Private William R. Gohl, of pneumonia in France.

5--Election day. Republican victory in county. Democratic in city.

7--Edward S. Miller, of this city, 3rd Hudson boy to die in France.

11--Armistice signed. Holiday declared thruout country. Big demonstration held here.

13--Patriotic mass meeting at the Playhouse. 

14--News of the death in France of Dennis J. Eliff.

20--News received of death of William P. Crouse of this city. He was killed in action in France on Oct. 16.

25--News received here of the death in France of Howard W. Van Loan, a former Hudsonian.--Word received that Ralph Moore, of Ghent, had died in France of wounds received in action.

27--Word received of the death in action in France of Daniel M. Hack, of this city.

28--Thanksgiving Day. Union service of Protestant churches at Baptist church.

DECEMBER 

2--Airplane goes aground near Athens. Aviators spend night in city.

4--Mrs. Mary Potts dies in hospital here from burns received while at work over the stove.

6--Helen Sagendorph, 5 years old, of Ghent, died of burns received when lamp set fire to her clothing.

11--Word received here of the death in France of Private William Graf from pneumonia.

12--Edwin E. Ensign burned to death in his cottage at Lake Charlotte. Mystery surrounds matter.

18--Miss Laura H. Coutu, of Cohoes, appointed new tuberculosis nurse to take the place of Miss Cornell.

19--Word received of the death in France of Theodore H. Brabender.

20--Schools close for the Christmas recess.

22--John Sarinyock, Polish, killed by 25 foot fall from window.

23--Mrs. James Gaffney and son, Thomas, aged two, have narrow escape when automobile runs upon sidewalk.

24--Community Christmas tree celebrates fourth year with great success.

25--Merry Christmas.--Christmas of 1918 one of the happiest in years.--Victory ball at armory a great success.

27--News received of death of Wells O. Bingham in France.

29--Two girls escape from State Training School but are brought back.

31--New Year welcomed in by Masons, Elks and many societies. Co. F dance at armory.

And so 1919 began.

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