150 Years Ago (October 1873)
Dan Rice’s three-tent Museum, Circus, Coliseum and Menagerie visited Cold Spring, including its educated mules, a 40-horse team, a rhino, “the largest known elephant in the world” and a unicorn.
James Mark, in court before Justice Coe after being accused of selling stolen paving blocks, drew a revolver and said he would shoot anyone who tried to detain him. Several men jumped Mark and, as the group wrestled under a table, his gun went scuttling across the floor. After John Drews took the weapon as payment toward Marks’ unpaid boarding bill, the accused paid a fine and was released.
Hooligans threw stones and dirt against the windows of the old Presbyterian Church while Jewish services were being held inside.
The Kellogg baseball club defeated a team from Garrison, who had arrived on the noon train, 59-11, in six innings.
Bridge Dreams
Next year, the Bear Mountain Bridge will mark 100 years of operation. When it opened in November 1924, the structure was the first crossing over the Hudson River south of Albany and the world’s longest suspension bridge.
There had been discussion of a bridge from Anthony’s Nose to Fort Clinton as early as 1868, when Harper’s Weekly published a rendering of a vision by the Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge Co. (below). In 1890 Harper’s published an updated rendering. But by 1916 only the basic foundation work had been completed.
Theodore Morrison was appointed as an agent for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Four days later, he received a license from the commandant of West Point to operate the Hudson River ferry. Later that day, he was informed he had been hired by the police force in New York City.
Two dormer windows were added to the courthouse in the upper story of the Cold Spring House.
Three school districts held their annual meetings: No. 3 (Rock Street, with an average attendance of 183 students between ages 5 and 21); No. 10 (Nelsonville, with 116); and No. 13 (The Foundry School, with 120).
The new mine opened in the Sunk was idle because of the national financial panic, and creditors were busy making claims to the ore at the dock.
Andrew Ladue’s wagon broke an axle when crossing over the Garden Street gutter.
Residents showed up in a steady stream at The Recorder office to show off their giant vegetables, such as 1-pound tomatoes, 2-pound potatoes and a cauliflower that measured a foot in diameter.
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church raised $100 to send to the residents of Memphis, where there had been an outbreak of yellow fever. The rector was given leave for one month to assist personally.
John Nelson’s store and dwelling, which had been foreclosed, was sold at auction for $4,000 [$100,000 today].
Mrs. Van Blarcom sold 200 acres of woodland near the top of Storm King to a group of New York City investors for $35,000 [$900,000].
The illusionist Signor Bosco performed four shows at Town Hall.
The New York Conference of the Temperance Society held its convention at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Philipstown. The attendees prayed and heard lectures such as “Elements of Strength in the Total Abstinence Cause.”
Henry Swansen was brought before Judge Ferris, who found him guilty of stealing from his landlady and sentenced him to 30 days in the county jail in Carmel.
The Rev. Benjamin Bowen of the Baptist Church delivered a sermon titled “Another Plea for Congregational Singing.”
The Putnam Republican Party nominated Hamilton Fish II to represent the county in the state Assembly. (Fish would win the seat, the first of his 12 terms.) The Republicans also nominated Samuel Owen of Cold Spring for district attorney.
125 Years Ago (October 1898)
The Cold Spring Recorder noted that the new state “tramp law” allowed anyone arraigned as a vagrant who had not resided in the county for at least six months to be sent to the state penitentiary.
About 175 people gathered in the grove of the Charles Warren farm in Continentalville for the inaugural clam bake hosted by the Ladies’ Aid Society of the North Highlands Methodist Episcopal Church. The event grossed $44 [$1,625] and netted $9 [$334].
The Cold Spring Hose Co. No. 1 announced that, as a fundraiser, it would present the drama, The Stars and Stripes; or, A Union Spy, at Town Hall.
After a recruitment drive, 28 residents joined the Cold Spring Village Improvement Association.
Officer McCaffrey went to Newburgh to retrieve a Cold Spring boy who had run away. The boy claimed he had been abused by his father, “which an investigation proved to be correct,” The Recorder reported. “The boy is now at home and it is hoped that he will receive better treatment, otherwise the law will take its course.”
The auction of the contents of the bankrupt Highland House amounted to $3,000 [$110,000].
William Benjamin, after returning home from fighting in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, planned to spend a few weeks in Colorado to recuperate but instead sailed for Europe.
Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn was struck by a bicyclist and seriously injured while walking on the road near Garrison.
John Forson, who for 10 years had been the superintendent at the Yonkers estate of the late Samuel Tilden, a former governor of New York, resigned to partner with his brother, James, at his general store on Garrison’s Landing [now the Garrison Art Center].
Hamilton Fish Jr., 9, left for Massachusetts with his father to enroll at boarding school.
The launch Juliette S. announced it would leave Cold Spring at 2, 2:30 and 3 p.m. on days when the West Point football team had games. In their opener, the cadets defeated Wesleyan, 27-3. The next week, West Point lost to Harvard, 28-0. The Harvard team arrived in a special train car that waited for them at Garrison.
The state truant officer visited Haldane, Garrison and Philipstown to ensure that schools were enforcing the compulsory attendance law.
Several residents complained their windows had been broken by boys with slingshots.
A number of friends of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Hustis gathered at their home on Main Street in Nelsonville to celebrate the couple’s second wedding anniversary.
The southwest winds caused the highest tide in years, flooding lower Main and West streets.
The Webb building on Stone Street, which had been used as a paint shop and a steam laundry, was converted into a dwelling.
The Recorder warned residents they could face arrest if they drove over the Main Street sidewalk as a shortcut to Chestnut after watering their horses at the public trough.
The Haldane Debating Club considered the question: “Resolved, that the U.S. Army should maintain a standing army of 100,000 men.”
Now Showing: John Andre’s Flute
By Marc Ferris
A flute believed to have belonged to Maj. John André, who was caught and executed during the Revolutionary War for assisting Gen. Benedict Arnold in his betrayal, is making a long-term visit to Boscobel.
Jennifer Carlquist, executive director of the cultural site, said the instrument came to Garrison on permanent loan from the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in Manhattan, which was owned by a branch of the family that lived in the Boscobel mansion.
In 1915, when the Dyckman family donated its Manhattan home to the city, Boscobel was a dilapidated house on a foreclosed farm in Montrose. (It was saved from demolition in the 1950s, moved to Garrison, restored and opened to the public in 1961.) Carlquist said Boscobel and Dyckman collaborate in many ways: interns come to Cold Spring, Boscobel sends apples to distribute in the city, they share research, apply for grants and are founding members of the Northern Slavery Collective.
William Ladue, the accomplished bicycle racer from Cold Spring, had won $1,200 [$44,000] in prizes, including diamonds, watches, clothing and a sewing machine.
The barge John L. Sulton, towing a load of bricks, sprang a leak near Constitution Island that brought in water so fast its cargo shifted and slid overboard.
A pickle factory opened in the old Presbyterian Church on Market Street. Owned by Titus Truesdell, it employed a dozen women who packed the pickles into bottles. The supply was kept in barrels of brine in the lower level.
Mr. and Mrs. H. Darwin McIlrath of Chicago, who had bicycled from New York to San Francisco in 52 days before crisscrossing Asia and Europe for three years, returned to the U.S. to ride the 1,000 miles between New York and Chicago, including a stretch through Cold Spring. William Ladue and other bicyclists planned to accompany them to Fishkill Landing [Beacon].
100 Years Ago (October 1923)
Albert Terwilliger of Cold Spring called the Poughkeepsie police after a car with California license plate 40-181 struck his vehicle and fled north toward that city.
Trains on the Hudson line of the New York Central Railway were delayed because a landslide sent 200 feet of track near the Garrison tunnel into the river. The 7:05 p.m. train from Poughkeepsie would have been near the section of track when the slide occurred but had been delayed at Cold Spring.
50 Years Ago (October 1973)
Louise and Orvelo Wood, the authors of Make It With Paper, hosted a demonstration at the Garrison Art Center on how to make sculptures.
Jim Budney rushed for 221 yards in a 36-6 Haldane football victory over visiting Mount Everett High School of Sheffield, Massachusetts.
After playing a gig at the Northwood Lounge in Cold Spring, the Chazy Band left for a three-week tour of the Southeast. The band included Mike Klubnick, Andra Klubnick, Joe Rudzinski and Tom Haley.
John Miles Pearce, 18, formerly of Cold Spring, performed a program of classical music for guitar at the Garrison Art Center.
A 19-year-old Garrison resident was killed when the car in which he was a passenger went off Route 403 near Route 9 and struck a rock wall.
More than 150 people attended a party at Dutchess Manor for Margaret Mihalik, who retired after 20 years as Philipstown town clerk.
The Hand-to-Mouth Players performed The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail at the Garrison Depot Theatre.
25 Years Ago (October 1998)
The Garrison school board shared the results of a study of its special education department. It found that 13.9 percent of the students in the district received special-education services; of those students, the largest group (42 percent) was classified as speech impaired, and the smallest (2 percent) was diagnosed as autistic. The report said the district needed to hire more special-education staff but that there was potentially an “over-classification” of students who needed services.
At a joint meeting, the boards of Cold Spring and Philipstown discussed sharing a building inspector.
Haldane Elementary dedicated its new playground.
Putnam Sheriff Robert Thoubboron reported that, during its first six weeks of operation, the county’s 911 system received 804 calls, but that only 329 involved emergencies. The others were hang-ups or non-emergencies, such as people needing directions; one person asked to be transferred to Macy’s after losing phone service except for dialing 911.
Glen Marullo gave a slide presentation at the Desmond-Fish Library in Garrison about his world travels as a documentary filmmaker. The Cold Spring resident had worked for 20 years as a sound mixer and producer and won three Emmys.
By a 554-479 vote, Garrison residents approved a $6 million bond to fund a major addition to the school.
Haldane football fans were unhappy about a crucial call in a 20-14 loss at home to the Edwin Gould Academy. Late in the game, Brendan Hackett caught a tipped pass and ran it inside the 5-yard line. The ball came loose when he hit the ground, which a referee ruled it a fumble that the Giants recovered, effectively ending the game. The rules stated that the ground could not cause a fumble.
The members of the Putnam County Legislature overrode a veto by County Executive Robert Bondi of a resolution to give themselves a 27 percent raise. The measure, introduced by Vincent Tamagna, who represented Philipstown, set the legislators’ salaries at a percentage of the county executive’s.
Two dozen descendants of Peter Parrott, the brother of Robert Parrott, the director of the West Point Foundry, famous for making cannons during the Civil War, visited the Putnam County Historical Society. Peter Parrott lived in Orange County, where he ran an iron mine.
