150 Years Ago (September 1874)
Following a report that a student had swam across the Hudson River near West Point in 40 minutes, a former Cold Spring resident, A. Maxwell, claimed he had done it in 35 minutes. “I feel confident I could have done it in 30 minutes but for a stiff breeze blowing me up the river,” forcing him to sidestroke. He said Mr. Black, who had followed in a boat, could corroborate.
The West Point Foundry organized its second annual excursion for employees and their families aboard the William Cook, which left the dock at 8:25 a.m. on a Thursday with 1,000 passengers. “As early as 7 a.m., the living tide began to flow down the [Main Street] hill” to the dock, reported The Cold Spring Recorder.
While James Ruddiman and his family were on the excursion, thieves broke into their home near Little Stony Point and stole $50 [about $1,400 today].
A gold-leaf sign was applied to the plate-glass door at Pelham & Co. Jewelers.
A carriage driver stopped his team just as a front wheel knocked down Jimmy Murphy, 4, opposite St. Mary’s Church. The boy was not seriously injured.
An eagle sat for a time atop the Reformed Church spire.
The Putnam County Agricultural Society held its 24th annual Cattle Show and Horse Exhibition over four days at the fairgrounds in Carmel.
Clara Louise Kellogg, a diva who had a summer home in Philipstown, gave an impromptu concert in the dining hall at West Point.
To reduce fatalities, the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad said it would more aggressively prosecute people who walked on the tracks.
A baseball game between the hometown Kellogg team and a squad from Newburgh ended prematurely after William Foster began bickering with the umpire, who called the game after he said the pitcher denounced him as a “____ liar!” The editor of The Recorder defended Foster, saying he had been “goaded into unreasonable passion.”
The Recorder noted an unusual sight during the slow shipping season: a “cloud of canvas” as 22 ships passed Constitution Island and the dock at the same time.
At least 1,500 people in the area had malarial fever, although no one was sure how it spread. “A general opinion has prevailed that the upper lower coves and the marsh are fertile sources,” reported The Recorder. It said a man who had recently purchased a home left until “the air became more healthful.” [Mosquitoes would not be identified as transmitters of malaria until the turn of the century.]
The Recorder called out The Newburgh Journal for its accusation that a Cold Spring team canceled a baseball game at the last minute to avoid losing. After the Putnams’ manager said several key players had malarial fever, which can cause shivering, The Journal claimed their “shakes” were probably caused by fear of playing the Magnolias.
Richard Denney lost $9 [$250] in Nelsonville while betting on the position of the “little joker” in a game of thimblerig [aka the shell game].
M. Ladue and H. Mekeel killed an adder that contained 27 baby serpents.
Henry Porter, superintendent of the gasworks, was awakened at 2 a.m. by cries from the street outside his home. He found a man with a badly sprained ankle who said he had fallen from a pile of lumber in the darkness after getting off a boat. Porter and the watchman took the injured man to the depot in a wheelbarrow, set up bedding and at daylight took him to the friend he was coming to meet.
John Chase, while hunting squirrels in DeRham’s woods, shot a crane that measured over 4 feet tall. Chase said he would experiment with cooking it.
An anonymous reader who attended the Democratic caucus at Town Hall noted strife between two factions, with one claiming the other’s delegates had been bribed to make nominations. “In olden times — say 50 years ago — whoever heard of money entering into elections?” he asked.
After rowing across the river, the Kellogg club defeated Cornwall, 67-5. The game was called after the Cold Spring squad scored 25 runs in the sixth inning.
Dr. Lente reported a strange case: Joseph Callendar had come to him with a boil on his upper lip near the nostril that grew so quickly that the patient had to be fed through a tube. Callendar recovered after surgery.
J. Perry’s wagon was damaged when the horse kicked out the dashboard.
After his son said he had been hit by a stone thrown by Irving Jaycox, James Patterson of Mollysville [east Nelsonville] proceeded to the Jaycox home. After some words, he slapped Irving across the face. Unfortunately, there were two boys in town named Irving Jaycox.
John Butler reached water on his B Street lot at only 11 feet.
A mob organized at a local tavern gathered outside the home of William Odell in Mollysville early on a Tuesday morning, demanding that he remove a guest, Charley Annin of Garrison, on threat of lynching. Annin was accused of abandoning his wife and three children, and Odell had given his friend harbor when others would not.
The body of John Van Winkle, a native of Cold Spring, was found nude in the water near West Point. He had been missing for three days after his boat, the Juliette, was found tied offshore. His brother, Frank, surmised that John’s ax — the only thing missing on board — fell into the river and he drowned after removing his clothes to dive for it.
At 10:30 p.m. on a Sunday, someone fired a shot near the foot of Main Street that ricocheted and struck William Thurmbichler’s house. The bullet nearly hit his daughter, Lena, as she came around the corner to fill a pail with water.
125 Years Ago (September 1899)
A farmer in the North Highlands netted 15 cents [$5.68] a barrel for his apples in New York City.
Emily Warren Roebling presented the editor of The Recorder with a bound copy of the annual report for the newly created Women’s National War Relief Association, of which she was treasurer.
A farmer stopped at William Yates’ show window and asked if he could purchase the alarm clock in the window for $3 [$115]. In fact, it was a chronometer worth $250 [$9,500], so there was no sale.
Henyan’s new barn in Depot Square opened with a dance attended by 250 people with music by the West Point Orchestra.
At the annual meeting of the Cold Spring Village Improvement Association, President Henry Metcalfe reported that upkeep of the drinking fountain had cost $16 [$600] to remove pebbles inserted by children, provide cups and chains and clean the “refuse” left by horses. He also recommended that the group purchase a gymnastics apparatus for the schoolyard.
The only vegetables not expected to increase in price over the winter were potatoes and cabbages. The excess was being shipped to Cuba.
The 11-year-old daughter of James Henyan, of Bank Street, while playing in the street, was knocked down by the wood rack on the side of a passing wagon.
The Haldane school board voted to charge tuition for students from Nelsonville.
The Cold Spring Board of Trade, with 43 members dedicated to promoting industry, held its first meeting at the firehouse.
Mrs. Charles Pelham of Cold Spring was injured when she stepped from a streetcar at 23rd Street and 8th Avenue in New York City and was struck in the small of the back by the pole of a coal cart. It knocked her down, and a streetcar wheel passed over her legs.
Mrs. John Iselin and Misses Mary and Katie Philipse donated stained-glass windows to St. Philip’s Church in Garrison in memory of their families.
Sgt. E.H. Timm attended a reunion in Newark, New Jersey, of his Civil War battery, which took part in 26 battles. Of its 256 members, 45 were known to be alive and 36 attended. Timm said he met several former comrades whom he had not seen since 1865.
Dr. J.M. Winslow and his coachman were turning the corner at Secor and Pearl streets when the horse became frightened and took off. It was the fourth or fifth time the horse had done so, so the doctor bought a new horse.
The Recorder reported that W.E. Pajaud had sailed for Cuba and that local Republicans had nominated Seth Secor and Hamilton Fish to attend conventions. The next week, the paper issued a correction, noting that the items should have appeared under the headline, “Twenty-Five Years Ago.”
Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Fish were guests at the West Point Hotel for a week. They made daily visits to the St. Philip’s churchyard to visit the grave of their son, Hamilton, a casualty of the Spanish-American War.
100 Years Ago (September 1924)
After Main Street was closed between Depot Square and Stone Street to install concrete pipe, a Keystone excavator hit a water connection and created a 20-foot geyser.
It was 96 degrees on Labor Day.
The Cold Spring Dramatic Association held its first meeting.
Bill Brown held a party in Garrison for 500 people to open an Olympic-size swimming pool at his physical training farm, Brownsdale.
Four Mormon elders led a service at the corner of Main and Garden streets.
The engineer, assistant superintendent and office manager of the nearly completed Bear Mountain Bridge became the first to cross it in a vehicle.
Our Lady of Loretto held a service on Sept. 12 for Defense Test Day to pray for the safety of the republic. [Created by presidential proclamation, Defense Test Day was held in 1924 and 1925, then replaced in 1928 by Army Day.]
Because of high enrollment, the Garrison school turned a training room into a third-grade classroom and hired a new teacher, Mildred Merritt of Nelsonville.
Three cars collided at Paulding and Chestnut streets. No one was hurt.
The Loretto parish celebrated its 90th anniversary. Before the church [now The Chapel Restoration] was dedicated on Sept. 21, 1834, Mass was held in a building owned by the West Point Foundry at the foot of Turkey Hill. The parish extended from New York City to Albany, which Father O’Reilly traveled by foot and boat.
Six 50-year-old elm trees at Main Street and Kemble Avenue were cut down to accommodate new curbs. The Recorder noted: “The Board of Trustees has been implored to remove more of the trees, and on the other hand has been threatened with dire vengeance if they removed [even] one of the trees.”
75 Years Ago (September 1949)
The Haldane band director asked for donations of secondhand instruments, including an upright piano.
The artist Kenneth Frazier, 82, died at his home in Garrison. Born in Paris, he painted in the Art Nouveau, Impressionist and Realist styles.
Two Garrison mothers organized a weekly preschool group that emphasized music and dancing. The cost was $8 [$105] per month.
Fred Dickenson, the Republican incumbent candidate for county district attorney, won the Democratic nomination after receiving 45 write-in votes in the primary.
50 Years Ago (September 1974)
The Cold Spring Planning Board announced a plan to create an architectural review board after changes were made to Main Street buildings that it felt were inconsistent with the village’s 19th-century character.
Folk singer Pete Seeger performed at St. Mary’s Capuchin Monastery in Philipstown to benefit the Friends of the Butterfield Library.
Mildred Mason retired after 32 years as a clerk at the Cold Spring post office.
Ron’s Exxon, the 1973 and 1974 Philipstown Softball League champs, won an eight-team tournament in Highland Falls.
Kenneth Polito was appointed chief of the Continental Village Volunteer Fire Department. His father, Mike, had been chief from 1959 to 1961.
25 Years Ago (September 1999)
By a 6-1 vote, the Garrison school board reduced the $6 million bond request to fund a new “gymatorium” by $100,000 earmarked for furniture. Superintendent Les Weintraub said he was “comfortable with our children sitting in a Buick, not a Cadillac.” He suggested saving another $100,000 by reducing the size of the 7,000-square-foot space by 762 square feet, but the board rejected that idea, 5-2.
Fifteen residents from Lake Surprise Road attended a Town Board meeting to oppose plans to expand Surprise Lake Camp into a year-round facility by adding a pair of heated, 60-bed cabins.
The Putnam County sheriff reported that deputies had made two arrests in the assault of a 19-year-old woman in Philipstown who said she was awakened by a group of females who hit her over the head with a beer bottle.
Boy Scout Troop 437, sponsored by the Garrison Fish and Game Club, was created by merging Troop 4 from Garrison and Troop 137 from Cold Spring, both of which had been inactive for seven years.
Shelley Boris of Fresh company was named chef at the Garrison Golf Club.
The Garrison school board held a special meeting to approve a state environmental review of its plans to expand the school but had to reschedule after a member who opposed the project, Betsy Calhoun, said she had not received 24 hours’ notice. The meeting was rescheduled but then delayed again by Tropical Storm Floyd.
The executive director of the Garrison Art Center complained that a member had asked for its mailing list to thank fellow volunteers but instead used it to distribute literature for her campaign for town assessor.
The Village Board approved the hiring of a third full-time police officer, which Mayor Anthony Phillips said would eliminate the need for most part-time positions except on Sundays.
For the second year in a row, the Haldane football team defeated Croton-Harmon on a fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Greg Anderson to Gary Watkins.
A Cold Spring resident complained in a letter to the Putnam County News & Recorder that a commuter had parked his gray Oldsmobile on New Street and, apparently thinking no one was home, urinated about 8 feet from his front door.
