Summer years ago in Amsterdam
By Bob Cudmore
In 1896, there was horse racing in Amsterdam in July with the summer meet of the Amsterdam Fair and Driving Association. According to the web site www.mohawkvalleywev.com, the summer of 1900 did not have an “exceedingly hot day” until July 8.
In 1912, public concerts began in July near Amsterdam’s Market and Main streets. A recreation camp for National Guard soldiers was opened in the summer of 1914 in Tribes Hill; 54 students were attending Amsterdam summer school that year.
The first 1918 pilgrimage to Auriesville Shrine took place August 4 with the faithful coming from Albany and Schenectady.
SUMMER GOLF
The first golf course built in the Amsterdam area was the private Antlers Country Club, opened in 1901 on land in Fort Johnson and Tribes Hill off Route 5. Today, the facility is the Rolling Hills Golf Course.
City residents discussed the idea of an Amsterdam municipal course as early as 1929. By 1934, the choice was made to build on 200 acres of farmland on the border between the city and town of Amsterdam off Van Dyke Avenue.
Construction was made possible through a $100,000 federal appropriation and $23,000 in city funds. The course opened in 1938. Mayor Arthur Carter was instrumental in advocating for the golf course and the facility is named for him.
The designer was Robert Trent Jones, who went on to be a legend in golf course design. A native of England who grew up in Rochester, New York, Jones created his own landscape architecture curriculum while attending Cornell University. He began his career by designing six federally funded golf courses, including Amsterdam’s.
VACANT SUMMER STREETS
On warm summer evenings in the 1940s, the streets of Amsterdam’s West End were sometimes deserted.
To supplement food available under wartime rationing, the Italian-American residents were tending vegetable gardens on the fertile flat land south of their homes between the railroad tracks and Mohawk River.
They built poles for pole beans and lattices to keep tomatoes off the ground. They grew lettuce, zucchini and dandelions, much as their ancestors had done in southern Italian communities such as Pisciotta in the province of Campania.
THE BAND PLAYED
Summertime in the 1940s meant concerts performed by the Mohawk Mills Band, formed from employees of the carpet mill and directed by Frank Musolff until he entered military service in 1942. Then, Musolff’s brother Harry became band director.
Reminiscent of issues faced today by the Schenectady Symphony Orchestra at Riverlink Park, the Mohawk Mills Band was once bested by a freight train in an East End performance at Coessens Park in the late 1940s.
The band played the overture to “Oklahoma” and had the tune down pat, according to Harry Musolff’s son, Harry Irving Musolff.
A long freight train rumbled by making it impossible for the musicians to hear each other. When the train finally passed, the trumpets had finished but the trombones were still playing.
A BIRTHDAY PARADE
In July of 1954, Amsterdam celebrated its 150th birthday with a ten-division parade. The Vail Mills drive-in float featuring young women in bikinis was a crowd pleaser.
Celebrations went on for weeks at local taverns and ethnic social clubs, which had chapters of the Brothers of the Brush (who did not shave) and Sisters of the Swish (who wore long dresses).
The Sesquicentennial, as it was called, was a joyous and raucous event that took place at the beginning of the end of the city’s prominence as a carpet-manufacturing center.
Ironically, one of the floats in the 1954 parade was a flying carpet. Within a year, Bigelow-Sanford, one of the city’s major carpet makers, was moving out of town.
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Tonight at 6:30 Tuesday, June 28, 2022
Puddle Program scheduled at Schoharie Crossing
“There's nothing shallow about a puddle! Puddles are homes, bathtubs, and drinking fountains for wildlife.
https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/schohariecrossing
The Friends of Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site will wrap up Great Outdoors month on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at 6:30pm by hosting environmental educator and author Anita Sanchez for the program, “Hello, Puddles!” This family friendly program will be conducted from the Enders House on Schoharie Street in Fort Hunter, near the Visitor Center.
Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, June 28, 2022
Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. West wind 7 to 9 mph. Tonight Patchy fog after 1am. Otherwise, mostly clear, with a low around 50. West wind 3 to 7 mph. Wednesday Patchy fog before 7am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 81. Light southwest wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Tuesday, June 28, 2022 Daily Gazette Sports Briefs: NYRA to feature ‘Stars at the Spa’ SARATOGA SPRINGS – The New York Racing Association will welcome three sports and television celebrities to Saratoga Race Course to… EDITORIAL: Make an impact by voting in today’s primaries If you’re one of New York’s 6.4 million registered Democrats or 2.8 million Republicans, you’ve got an important election today…. https://dailygazette.com/
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