1973 was a year of inflation — even before President Ford’s famous “Whip Inflation Now” pins (they didn’t work), the prices of meat, gasoline and other staples of life were growing at an incredible pace. Schenectady Savings Bank, where passbook savings accounts ran at about 5% in the previous years, was here advertising savings…

Actually, Hoxsie never does politics. There’s enough of that in this town. But if we’re celebrating 1973 week and we run across a “before he was a star” article, we’re going to print it. And so here from March 1973 is an article announcing Hugh Farley’s intention to run for a second term on…

I’ll admit this one confused me at first — I had no recollection that W.T. Grant’s, the old department store chain, had expanded its lunch counters (and every department store had a lunch counter back then) into full-fledged restaurants. But apparently they did. In 1973, Grant’s was running two Bradford House restaurants in its…

In 1973, H.S. Barney’s venerable establishment was also lurching to its death. The last of the great Schenectady department stores still west of the canal (Erie Boulevard), it still retained an air of down-at-the-heels class from its days serving the carriage trade, but single-store department stores were on their way out, and downtown department…

As mentioned before, downtown Schenectady’s landmark Wallace’s Department Store, closed at the end of 1973. The store  was significant in my personal history, as well, and I spent endless hours there in my youth, seemingly an eternity, while my mother fussed over fabrics. This is one of the final Wallace’s ads. I’m sure a…

Just because, it’s 1973 week. What was happening in the Electric City a mere 39 years ago? Well, Wallace’s was holding its 99th anniversary sale. It would be its last; the store closed in the final days of 1973. As venerated Schenectady historian Larry Hart wrote back in 1996, the store was in a…

For no reason whatsoever, it’s going to be 1973 week here on Hoxsie! What was going on at this time of year a mere 39 years ago? We’ll have plenty of local history to cover, but first, let’s take a moment to remember where we were when we first heard that there would be…