While doing a bit of unrelated research... look Kim Gannon!

While doing a bit of unrelated research at NYS Historic Newspapers today, I came across this article about Kim Gannon. 

Greenwich Journal and Fort Edward Advertiser, March 12, 1958, Page 1

Kim Gannon to Testify Before Congressional Committee in Washington

                Mr. and Mrs. Kim Gannon left yesterday for Washington, D. C., where Mr. Gannon will appear before the Smathers congressional committee now holding hearings on an anti-trust bill involving the broadcasting companies’ ownership and control of recording and music publishing firms.

                Mr. Gannon, together with Oscar Hammerstein, Arthur Schwartz and Joan Whitney, were asked to appear as representatives of the song-writing business. The Smathers committee is investigating the monopolistic control the broadcasting companies exercise over what music is published and broadcast, and Mr. Gannon and the other songwriters have been asked to testify as to their experiences in having songs withheld from being published or broadcast.

                After testifying Thursday Mr, and Mrs. Gannon will drive to Florida and then fly to Varadero Beach, Cuba, for 10 days vacation. On their return they will attend the masters golf tournament at August, Georgia, the fisrt week in April.

Greenwich Journal, March 12, 1958

As you can see by the little red rectangle in the image above, I was actually searching the Greenwich Journal for references to Cuba & happen to run across this article. I did a brief bit of digging & found nothing on this particular hearing related to anti-trust in broadcasting & music publishing. It must not have come to much, because even George A. Smathers, the head of the committee, doesn't mention it in his interview regarding his career in the Senate, even though he does say "I think the committee is really the most important assignment that a senator has, and it doesn't take a senator long to realize that it's the committee that he serves on that gives him stature and importance."

Lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, who wrote such memorable musicals as Carousel, The King & I, and The Sound of Music with Richard Rodgers, also testified. As did Arthur Schwartz, composer of "That's Entertainment", and "Dancing in the Dark". Schwartz was also a former lawyer, just like Kim Gannon. Finally, the lesser know Joan Whiney Kramer testified as well. She was a former show girl, singer and songwriter, having co-written songs like "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens".

Brief history of Eddy Plow

A few years back I received an email with pictures of an Eddy Plow. The owner felt the need to paint (gasp) the metal & display it on their lawn. (BTW... don't paint antiques/ historical pieces until you talk to an expert.) The second image shows the business stamp. "___ Plow Co Greenwich N.Y."

Plow in question

Plow from Greenwich, NY

Perry Miller was the first to manufacture plows in the Greenwich/ Easton area. According to Mrs. B.F. Sharpe, in History of Greenwich NY, Mr. Miller "made the second cast-iron plow in the country" (p. 12). By 1830 his sons Hill & David were no longer in the plow business.

Enter Corinth (Saratoga County) native Walden Eddy (b. 1807). Mrs. Sharpe writes on pages 12-13

In 1832 Walden Eddy began the manufacture of plows, having a pattern which became justly celebrated afterwards  as the old "Rough and Ready wrought iron beam," and it is believed that from this source have originated all the wrought-iron plow-beams in the country. Mr. Eddy also invented a shovel plow that has large sale.

 The plow works was located in the village of Greenwich (at the time of founding, Union Village), but on the town of Easton side along the Battenkill. The three-story building still stands & has been renovated recently by Patrick Brereton.

In an article from the Greenwich Journal, date January 19, 1983, the population of the town is listed at about 1,000 when Eddy started making plows in 1832. Lack of convenient shipping (no canal on the Battenkill, no railroad until 1870), & lack of the latest technology are lists as reasons for the floundering foundry with Mr. Dyer. Enter Abram Reynolds, & a few years later, Samuel Langdon. Eddy, Reynolds & Langdon did rather well & then Mr. Eddy bought out the other 2 men. I'm assuming this was so he could bring his sons into the fold, because in 1881 Oscar H., Walden G., & Fred W. entered the business, & the name was changed again to W. Eddy & Sons.

Based on this same article, it appears that the present three-story Eddy Plow building was build in 1892 with 60 feet of frontage to Eddy St & incandescent, electric lights powered by their own plant. It even has a full basement "considered one of the finest in Washington county." The building had a showroom, moulding room, plow mounting & grinding room, as well as blacksmith, forge, machine paint & finishing shops. The article says the plow work employed 40 men including William McCall (head of the moulding room) & W.T. Liddell (business manager).

Apparently the "rough & ready" trademark is "NO. 4 s". In 1891 they introduced a steel reversible level land plow, & in 1892 a one horse plow with patent draft rod, perfect for gardening, & orchards. They were also selling an improved marker for corn & potatoes, a hilling plow, also for potatoes, rye thrasher, land roller, & horse hoe & cultivator, among other things. At one point they even made & sold bicycles.

Eddy Plow Works Calendar 1931

In 1908 the business was incorporated . A major fire in 1918 cut production & business fell off. On October 10, 1923, the Greenwich Journal reported that the W. Eddy Plow Company filed for bankruptcy at the federal court in Utica, NY.The fire had hurt business, but the Great Depression mad matters worse. Liabilities were listed at $79,072 (using the Consumer Price Index this is the equivalent of $1,060,000 in 2012). According to the Greenwich Journal, the plow works was sold at auction in December 1923 to Mac Finn of Saratoga Springs, NY for $16,500.

References:
"W. Eddy & Sons: An Enterprise of Greenwich Sixty- Years Old, The largest Implement Manufacturers and Dealers in Eastern New York." Greenwich Journal. January 19, 1893. 
"Plow Company Files Bankrupcy Petition." Greenwich Journal. October 10, 1923.
"Mac Finn Purchaser of Eddy Plow Plant." Greenwich Journal. December 19, 1923.
Gill, I.V.H. The Greenwich Community of 1850. 1953.
Sharpe, B.F. History of Greenwich. Greenwich, NY: Commonweal Press. 1909.
Tefft, Grant. The Story of Union Village, Volume 1. Greenwich, NY: Greenwich Journal. 1942

Calling all Revolutionary War fans...

To commemorate their 75th Anniversary (2013), Saratoga Battlefield (AKA Saratoga National Historical Park) has put out a call for photographs of people working at &/or enjoying a visit to the park. You may have noticed this in the last couple of issues of the Greenwich Journal & Salem Press, but if not I'm here to let you know about it.

If you bring your photographs to the battlefield they will scan them & give you a copy of the CD. It is unclear in the article if the battlefield wants to keep the originals or they are simply keeping the scanned images. I have sent an e-mail to the battlefield about this & hope to hear back soon.



Park Ranger Tisha 1998



Many of you may not know that I worked at the battlefield. It was my 1st history related job right out of college in the summer of 1998. I was a seasonal Interpretive Park Ranger. I had the uniform & everything!

Tisha in colonial garb at the Schuyler House 1998

My mom made both of my colonial outfits. This is the fancy one.



Charles Martin painting the Schuyler House 1978



 After some analysis, it was discovered that the Schuyler House was yellow & green. Philip Schuyler rebuilt on the site of the brick house burnt by Burgoyne's retreating army in 1777. But in 1978 it was being painted white. Here my gramp, local painter & roofer Charles L. "Pepper" Martin, paints the house with some assistance from a four-year-old me & my three-year-old "little sistar" Heather.



Old Saratoga Historical Association 1969



 I love this shot. My grandma, Jacqueline A. Martin (nee Drew), is seated center. My mom, Tamaris A. Dolton (nee Martin), is standing 2nd from the right. My "big sistar", Emily Catherine Dolton, is the little girl on the left.

I highly encourage any of you to share images & stories of your visits to the battlefield. They will accept up to 20 images per family/individual.

Happy 75th Anniversary Saratoga National Historical Park!

Vote! (Please)

You guessed it! It's my annual "Get out the Vote" plead. & I have some rough statistics to share regarding the last presidential election.

First, let me mention the sign incident at the Susan B. Anthony Childhood House in Battenville. As I stated in a previous post on this blog, we should be very careful when trying to put words in the mouths of historical figures. It is one thing to debate about it, but their words and deeds should be viewed in the proper historical context, not superimposed upon today's political climate. I have my own ideas of what "Aunt Susan," her sister Mary, & the other suffragists would say based on my own understanding of history. My views are shared by others, & still more would disagree. Plus government employees and government agencies are not supposed to publicly favor any certain candidate. (The exception being that elected officials can endorse certain candidates as you know.)

BUT... The one thing that Susan B. Anthony would want us to do is VOTE!

In the 2008 Presidential Election between Barack Obama & John McCain 2,447 ballots were cast in the Town of Greenwich. McCain received 1,075 votes to Obama's 1,326 votes. Of the remaining 46 votes 26 were for Ralph Nader.

Using the statistics from the 2000 census, there were 4,896 residents in the Town of Greenwich. 25.9% were under the age of 18 in 2000. That means that 8 years prior there were roughly 3,628 potential voters here. That means about 1,180 people in our town did not vote. That's nearly 1/3 of the population in our town did not vote. (View results for yourself here.)

I would love to see greater voter turnout in this 2012 Presidential Election year. 100% is probably to "pie in the sky," but 75% would be amazing!

Sample Town of Greenwich ballot courtesy of the Washington County Board of Elections.

Other samples of local ballots can be found here.

Polling places can be found here.

If you are unfamiliar with all of the candidates please check out the local races in the Greenwich Journal & Salem Press or the Post-Star.

Writer's Block & the Historian (A Tale of Woe)

Currently, I have writer's block. More specifically, I have no idea what to write about this week. It is more like blogger's block. Is there such a thing? I think the only "cure" for writer's block is writing, so instead of succumbing to it, I have decided to write anyway. Bear with me...

On the way in to work tonight, I was thinking about writing about Cossayuna Lake, but the words weren't flowing. I'll think about that one, do some more research & write about the "Lake of the Three Pines" another time.

When I walked in the door of my office I thought I had another topic. The "above the fold" article in the Greenwich Journal & Salem Press is about why the Chester A. Arthur dollar coin is not circulating. But instead of writing about it I just "shared" the post on the Town of Greenwich Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TownOfGreenwichNy. (Which if you haven't "liked" it yet you should because it is very interesting.)

Signs that welcome people to our town on all major roads

Next, I looked through various files, binders & boxes trying to find something that sparked & crackled with inspiration. Nothing. Here I sit with nothing. I can't even come up with a good picture.

Try me next week. I'll have a good one! (I hope.)

American Tea Tray Company

According to limited sources, (an anonymous, typed page in a file folder & a few second hand accounts in the local paper) the American Tea Tray Company was started in Albany in 1851 by George L. Jones & brought to Union Village by local investors in December 1859.

The American Tea Tray Co. made, yup, you guessed it, tea trays! They actually made two kinds. One was "japanned ware" made of sheet iron, painted black and guilded. The other was "planish ware" which was white & very durable.

The American Tea Tray Co. was pretty successful, being (some say) the only manufacturer of its kind in the US. However, its fate was linked to the fall of the Washington County Bank in 1878 (more about that in the next installment). So, the American Tea Tray Co. only lasted about 20 years on the banks of the Battenkill, but I have a lasting piece of its history in my office.

American Tea Tray Company "japanned ware" tray



detail of the tea tray in the Town Historian's office

 References:
Hearsay and History: A Column Devoted to Present-Day Interest in Days Long Past. The Greenwich Journal. July 13 & 20, Aug 3,10 & 17 1949.

Happy Earth Day STOP!

Did you know that Greenwich High School has a student organization specifically devoted to recycling? I did not. This is their 40th anniversary!

According to an article on the school website Student To Oppose Pollution (STOP) was started in April 1972 by Linda Austin. "The club began as a monthly recycling campaign which collected 11 tons of paper, nine and one-half barrels of flattened cans and 23 barrels of crushed class in its’ first month of operation.  Linda continued as advisor of S.T.O.P. until her retirement in 2001."*

The first Earth Day was celebrated on March 21, 1970 in San Francisco & a few other cities. It wasn't until 1990 when it became a global phenomenon under the direction of Denis Hayes & the Earth Day Network http://www.earthday.org/.

Ron Cobb's 1969 Ecology Symbol^

Happy Earth Day Anniversary to the students and educators who have made S.T.O.P. an important part of the Greenwich CSD & the entire Greenwich community. Celebrate by bringing your recyclables to Greenwich High School on Saturday, April 21, 2012. For more info see the link below... or check out our Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/TownOfGreenwichNy

For information on Roadside Clean-up this weekend in Greenwich, Easton & Argyle, pick up a copy of today's Greenwich Journal and Salem Press.


* http://www.greenwichcsd.org/hswebsite/news.html accessed 4/19/2012
^ This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Attribution: WiscMel at en.wikipedia http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecology_symbol.png accessed 4/19/2012

Play it again, Harry!

While trying to come up with a blog post for today, I thought of a binder I glanced at when I first became Town Historian; a slim, 1 1/2" black thing entitled "Outstanding Women of Greenwich" compiled by longtime Gill Room volunteer, Jane Whitaker. In it are a number of articles from The Greenwich Journal & Salem Press about Grandma Moses.

1969 Grandma Moses stamp*

The one I found most interesting is from May 18, 1948, called "President Plays for Grandma At Her Request." Apparently Grandma Moses, who was receiving an award and having tea with Bess Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt (who was also receiving an award) and a number of other award winning women, asked President Truman to play the piano so she could go home and boast that she had heard him play. The president obliged! I wonder what he played?

Grandma Moses, 88, received an award for outstanding achievement in art for 1948. It was awarded by the Women's National Press Club. Eleanor Roosevelt was named Woman of the Year for her work with the United Nations in regards to human rights.

Other honorees were

• Dorothy McCullough Lee- Mayor of Portland, OR
• Madeline Carroll- actress
• Mary Jane Ward- author of The Snake Pit
• Marjorie Child Husted- home economist & businesswoman

According to Grandma Moses, she began painting in 1940 because "I had neuritis in my hands. I couldn't sew, and I had to do something."

Anna Mary Robertson Moses died in 1961 and is buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in Hoosick Falls, NY.

The largest public collection of her painting is at the Bennington Museum in Bennington VT. http://www.benningtonmuseum.org/


*This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GrandmaMosesStamp1969.jpg

Happy Woodchuck Day!

Thank you Spraguetown Silas, for your clear and concise "prediction" that... What's that? Who is Spraguetown Silas? You've never heard of him?

Oh, you are probably thinking of that one down south in Pennsylvania, Puxsutawney Phil. He didn't see his shadow & predicted that winter is over.

Well, winter in Greenwich this year sans snow, has been pretty mild & Spraguetown Silas is leaving town for colder weather. Don't fret. According to the letter he wrote to the Greenwich Journal- Salem Press he is staying within the county & heading over to Salem, but he rightly says that winter will be around until March (the vernal equinox). Now Spraguetown Silas has been giving Greenwich-ians this sound advice since 2004. His accuracy is 100% because he states the facts & doesn't hold with the media frenzy.

However, according to the Huffington Post, Punxsutawney Phil has been only 39% accurate over 126 years*. Maybe he is just too old? Or, maybe they should analyze the accuracy of each groundhog/ woodchuck that has “played” Punxsutawney Phil over the last quasquicentennial. That would be roughly 20 or so groundhogs. Groundhogs live about 6 years in the wild & up to 14 years in captivity^. (So, would he be considered in the captivity category?)

Here are some newspaper clippings of Spraguetown Silas, just in case you don't believe me...

Spraguetown Silas sees his shadow in 2005

Spraguetown Silas in 2009

Spraguetown Silas in 2011

*http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/groundhog-day-2012-facts_n_1245259.html#s649270&title=Whats_In_A
^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog