-
Wells & Coverly
•
The first time I became aware of Wells & Coverly, a pretty high-end gentlemen’s clothing store, was when I moved to Syracuse in the late ’70s, where I believe they had a store in Shoppingtown Mall and may have still had their South Salina Street location. It was a top name for quality and…
-
The cure may be worse than the disease
•
Or not, because look at that disease. I’ve posted this image from an 1860-something Albany directory before over on My Non-Urban Life, but it deserves a second look. I don’t know what’s wrong withthe eye on the right, but I’ll say this: I don’t want it. Also, whateverthe surgical cure would have been in…
-
Walker’s – for everything
•
In the 19th century, Schenectady’s main business district was all concentrated west of the canal. And it would seem that most things that were for sale were concentrated in James Walker & Co., wholesale and retail dealers in groceries, agricultural implements, house furnishing goods, wood and willow ware, rope, twine and cordage, coal oils…
-
Again with the steam
•
Oh, steam! Is there nothing you don’t make better? I’m not sure exactly what they actually milled – perhaps just coffee and spices – at Eureka Steam Mills, which was at Broadway and Division Streets (possibly where the defunct Adirondack Trailways terminal is), but they were one of a number of dealers in coffee,…
-
They didn’t call it the Collar City for nothing. . .
•
In 1895, you couldn’t swing a cat in Troy without hitting a collar factory.
-
Bears in the news
•
Bears in the news? Nothing new. The Cohoes Cataract, 1849, reported on a resolution of the trustees of the village of Cohoes: “Complaint having been made that Wm. H. Bortell has a bear near his house which is not safely secured, therefore Resolved: That the police constable be, and he is hereby ordered to…
-
Mmmm . . . steam crackers . . .
•
As I’ve said before, if you wanted to show that your product was the height of modernity in the 19th century, it had to be made by steam. Witness Fred Carr & Son’s Greenbush Steam Cracker and Biscuit Manufactory. It had previously been J. Whiting’s cracker factory, at Second Avenue and Washington in what…
Recent Posts
- Glen Sanders Manor (Not Mansion!)
- Polo Player Nabbed As Game Violator
- Amsterdam Heiress: Prisoner of the Nazis
