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Troy’s Earliest Merchants
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According to Arthur James Weise, in his “The History of the Seventeen Towns of Rensselaer County,” the first merchants of Troy came to the riverside town almost before it was even a town. At that time, Lansingburgh was actually where it was at. In 1786, the present site of Troy was known as Ferry…
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Besieged, I tell you!
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In 1948, the Altamont Enterprise, listed in the New York State Vacation Guide as “a source of information,” was besieged – besieged, I tell you! – with cards and letters from New York, Brooklyn, perhap even as far away as Staten Island, beseeching them to provide information on guest farms, boarding houses and other…
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Schenectady’s Nonagenarian Industry
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You just don’t get to use the term “nonagenarian” often enough. But in 1938, Schenectady’s Chamber of Commerce set aside a special day for celebration of the 90th anniversary of the locomotive industry in “The City That Lights and Hauls the World.” On the afternoon of December 13, 1938, “before a large assemblage gathered…
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Fulton Street, somewhen
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Another great local postcard from the Boston Public Library, from a past date known only to those who are skilled in car-bonnet-dating. This is from Third Street, looking east up Fulton Street. On the left, you can see a cigar store, the Fanny Farmer store, and a store called Weinberg’s. The lovely buildings in…
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The origins of Kolf
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Clyde D. Wagoner, chairman of the Kermis committee that brought an ancient Dutch celebration to Schenectady as part of its charter sesquicentennial celebration in 1948, wasn’t just an organizer of gay events, but also a revisionist historian who was willing to speak truth to the power. Or at least to claim that golf originated…
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The Kermis: think of it as cosplaying the Dutch
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So yesterday we started to describe the excitement around the first Kermis to be held in America, which was put on in Schenectady in 1948 as part of its sesquicentennial anniversary noting its chartering as a city. The rest of the article from the Altamont Enterprise is well worth perusing, especially if you wonder…
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Kermis Week in Schenectady
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This postcard from the great Tichnor Collection posted by the Boston Public Library on Flickr raises the interesting question: What’s a Kermis? Well, the Altamont Enterprise of June 18, 1948 is very glad you asked: Schenectady, founded by Arent Van Curler and a party of 15 Holland Dutchmen in 1662, is going to be…
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Frear’s Bazaar . . . and bizarre
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At least to me, this trade card for Frear’s “Again Enlarged and Improved Troy Cash Bazaar” seems a bit, well, bizarre. The card, printed by T. Newcomb of New York City and perhaps used by other merchants as well, features a dandy (or is he a fop?) contemplating a sunflower, and the odd bit…
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