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Patton & Hall Shoes
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When this ad ran in 1921, Schenectady’s Patton & Hall shoes was a thriving business, with additional stores in Amsterdam and Saratoga. The company occupied a large building on State Street, just a few doors closer to Erie Boulevard than Barney’s, and catered to the same “carriage trade.” I’m not sure just when they…
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Phone on Moving Trolley
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Perhaps the first version of a carphone? In 1921, General Electric successfully used carrier current communication, which transmits a low power AM signal through alternating current lines, to communicate from a moving trolley car “with a point more than three miles distant. Considering radio itself was still in its infancy, that seems a pretty…
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Benjamin Marsh’s Patented Spoon
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Last week we wrote that we didn’t know anything about Benjamin Marsh, whose jewelry store passed into the hands of Henry Rowlands in 1869. But that’s not entirely true: we know that Marsh received this patent for an Albany-centric spoon design. Design patent 20,948 was filed and patented in 1891, and applied for only…
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Helen Keller will not work in Schenectady
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A curious item from almost exactly 101 years ago, in the Detroit Free Press: BLIND GIRL WILL NOT WORK IN SCHENECTADY John Macy, With Whose Family She Lives, Resigns His Position With Mayor. “Schenectady, N.Y., Sept. 21 – John Macy, executive secretary to Mayor George R. Lunn, has tendered his resignation, to take effect…
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Henry Rowlands, Importer of Diamonds
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In 1869, future spoon-patenter Benjamin Marsh sold his store at 34 State Street, at the corner of Broadway, to Henry Rowlands. I don’t know anything about either of them, but I do know a little bit about the “observatory time” that Rowlands’s store received every hour. It was a vestige of an attempt to…
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J.W. Osborn Slate Roofing
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We’ve seen a simpler ad from J.W. Osborn, from 1858, before. When this ran in 1863, he was selling not only slate roofing but also kerosene oil, benzole, etc. He was also dealing in newfangled felt, gravel and cement roofing, not so different from today’s asphalt shingles in concept, and he listed a number…
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W.J. & R.H. Scott’s – for EVERYTHING
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Even in the days of the general store, it’s hard to imagine a store more general than that of W.J. and R.H. Scott, manufacturers and dealers in Military, Fire Department,Base Ball,Theatrical and Society Goods,Door and Pew Plates,Fire Arms, Fishing Tackle,Dog Collars,Silver Letters, Figures and Ornaments,Stencil Plates,Stamps and Ink for Marking Clothing.Also, Agents ForKehoe’s Clubs…
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Cozine’s Paper Boxes
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It used to be that boxes were made locally. Every city of any size had a few box makers. The paper and linerboard and corrugated cardboard that made up boxes were all made at paper mills, either local or distant, but the work that it took to make them into boxes was done right…
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