The Historians

School Names

School Names in Amsterdam By Bob Cudmore Gazette and Recorder Sunday, September 14, 2025     Reader Sharon Carlisle wrote, “Today I'm an old lady who lives in Pennsylvania, but once upon a time I lived in Amsterdam, where I attended elementary school from approximately 1945 through 1951. “I remember attending Chestnut Street School and Guy Park Avenue School -- and possibly one other. We lived on Lincoln Avenue, Division Street and Henrietta Boulevard before my father took a job elsewhere, causing us to relocate. “Do you by any chance have an inventory of Amsterdam's schools during those years, and/or could you give me any information on what happened to my schools? Guy Park is now a museum?” My reply: “Hi Sharon, I’m pretty old too but I grew up in Amsterdam on Reid Hill where our school was Vrooman Ave now apartments. Guy Park school did become the Elwood museum for awhile and is now converted into apartments. I don’t remember Chestnut School. Sending a copy to Amsterdam native, retired Fulton-Montgomery professor and historian Peter Betz who may know.” Peter wrote. “Hi Bob. There was no "Chestnut Street School” as such, even though the school did occupy a whole block of Chestnut Street just above Arnold Ave. It was always called Arnold Avenue School although I have no idea why. I think it opened circa 1893. It was one of those old 3 floor monsters with a bell and tower and every time the bell was pulled the bats all flew out of it. I went there for kindergarten. It remained open until circa 1954. There's a playground now on part of the space. The 3rd floor had a basketball court and around the upper half was a bicycle track, not surprising since that was the era of bicycle fame. Even when I went there it was deemed unsafe so they didn't use the 3rd floor except to store stuff, but that didn't keep them from using the school part. I saw the third floor once. Several of the 1890's era schools had that recreation area top floor design. “Amsterdam at one point had 10 grade schools. Best way to see photos of them is get one of the old Board of Trade books that show them. Hope this helps.” Sharon replied, “You are absolutely right: It was indeed Arnold Avenue. I can still remember my first grade teacher there. “Just anecdotally, my dad was manager of the Beneficial Finance office in Amsterdam and active in Kiwanis, I believe.” BROADCAST PIONEERS     Edythe Meserand, born in Philadelphia in 1908, began her broadcast career in 1926 in the press office of the National Broadcasting Company in New York City. By 1931 she was in promotions and on the air. She became assistant news director of New York’s WOR in 1937 and during World War II headed the station’s news department. She later produced television programs at WOR. In 1951 she was one of the founders of American Women in Radio and Television. She retired from broadcasting in the 1950s and moved with her companion, Jane Barton, to Windy Hill, a Christmas tree farm on Esperance Road in the town of Charleston, where Meserand started an advertising agency. Barton, born Jane Greenberg in New York City in 1918, was a journalist and public relations professional. She became an officer in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), the women's branch of the U.S. Navy in World War II. After retirement, Barton wrote for area newspapers and was upstate New York correspondent for Variety, the show business newspaper. In the 1970s Meserand was town historian and founding chairman of the Charleston Historical Society. Edythe Meserand died in1997. Jane Barton died in 2005. You may reach Bob Cudmore at 518-346-6657 or bobcudmore@yahoo.com

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Two Amsterdam Cowboys

Dec 1, 2024Tap to summarize

Two Amsterdam cowboys By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History, Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder      Amsterdam country music performer and radio host Dusty Miller, whose real name was Elmer Rossi, Sr, had a band called the Colorado Wranglers. Miller's brother-in-law Barry Frank performed with Miller's band. Frank was a radio engineer well known in the Capital District. Miller had a day job stocking cigarette and other vending machines. In later years he delivered medicines from John Tag’s Guy Park Avenue pharmacy to local customers. The Colorado Wranglers had a long run at Amsterdam's Bob's Tavern.  Miller managed to fit an Amsterdam radio show into his schedule well into his eighties. On his radio shows Dusty sometimes played his own music including his band’s theme song, ‘The happy roving cowboy.” When I started in radio in 1962 I used to run the controls for Dusty’s radio shoed on WCSS.  He was a great collector of radio memorabilia.  When I returned to this area I was glad to get a cassette tape from Dusty that had my introductions to WCSS programs from the 1960s. Miller's last radio program on WCSS featured interviews with Amsterdam's myriad characters, from bartenders to former talk show hosts to country singers. "I like country music because it shows life as it is," Miller said. When he died in 1998 Dusty Miller was buried in his colorful cowboy clothes. JACK PATTON Jack Patton described himself as the Polish cowboy.   . Patton was a musician, songwriter, health food advocate, actor and Amsterdam native. The Web site HillbillyMusic.com reported that Patton's given name was Frank Aloysius Piecuch.       His father worked at Mohawk Carpet Mills and changed the family name to Patton because there were too many other factory employees named Piecuch. Jack Patton played traditional Polish music at local weddings and dance halls on violin and accordion. HillbillyMusic stated Patton was a childhood friend of actor Kirk Douglas, who grew up in Amsterdam as Isadore Demsky. Patton had a cowboy band in the late 1930s which was called Pals of the Saddle. However, the band was referred to as Pals of the Range in newspaper advertisements. He moved to Hollywood in 1939 because Columbia Pictures was going to use one of his songs. Patton was drafted during World War II. He had impaired vision and saw limited duty, repairing damaged planes in Biloxi, Mississippi. Columbia Pictures apparently used Cowboy Polka, one of his songs, in the movie "Swing in the Saddle" which featured music by Nat King Cole's trio. Patton met a songwriter named Eden Ahbez and apparently  helped convince Nat King Cole to record Ahbez's song "Nature Boy" which became a hit. Patton returned to the Capital District, opened a health food store, did radio shows and performed with his band. At one point, Patton had six health food stores. From 1949 to 1965, he operated a dude ranch called Sunset Ranch in Broadalbin.  A 1952 Recorder ad reported Patton was doing a show from Lansing Beach Ranch in Broadalbin over Albany radio station WROW. A 1955 ad from the Schenectady Gazette stated Patton then operated Lansing Beach Ranch, renamed Sunset Ranch, which was having a horse pull and a broadcast by Gloversville station WENT. Roamin' Around, a 1976 column in the Leader Herald, reported Patton was appearing in a movie filmed mainly in Brazil called Inspiration: The Polish Cowboy Rides Again. Patton was living in Nashville when he died in the 1990s or later. He had purchased a recording studio there. OLD CARS Reader William Bechtel of Burnt Hills enjoyed the photos archived online by Library of Congress showing pictures taken in 1941 in Amsterdam: “I actually was driven in cars as seen in the photos and remember them.” Bob Cudmore is a freelance writer. 518 346 6657  bobcudmore@yahoo.com

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Bob Cudmore/The Gazette/Sunday, September 8, 2024

Sep 8, 2024Tap to summarize

"Walking the horses" By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History, Daily Gazette, Amsterdam Recorder   In the early 1900s, thoroughbred horses owned by carpet mill magnate Stephen Sanford walked each summer to Saratoga Springs from Sanford’s Hurricana Farm in Amsterdam. Racing Hall of Fame trainer Hollie Hughes, who served three generations of Sanfords, recalled the annual trek in Alex M. Robb’s book,”The Sanfords of Amsterdam.” The trip began at the Sanford horse farm on what is now Route 30 in the town of Amsterdam. Efforts are underway to preserve remaining buildings at the complex, originally called Hurricana Farm but later known as Sanford Stud Farm. “First, we’d go up to Hagaman, a couple of miles away, and then we’d head for Top Notch, or West Galway, as it’s called,’ Hughes said. ‘That would be about five miles. Then we’d go three miles straight east to Galway village. Then we’d go to West Milton, about seven miles farther east, and there we’d stop at the old Dutch Inn and feed the horses and men. My, those breakfasts tasted good! By that time it would be close to daylight. “On the way over, half the horses would be under saddle with boys up. After breakfast the saddles were put on the others which had been led by the men up to this point, and we’d walk the remaining ten miles to Saratoga, coming in by Geyser Spring.” In 1901, Sanford built his own stable on Nelson Avenue in Saratoga. He had as many as 35 horses at a time. When asked why he kept so many horses, the industrialist replied he was not in the raising business for margin, in other words for profit. Author Robb, an official of the New York State Racing Commission in 1969 when he wrote his book about the Sanfords, said Stephen Sanford started buying the property that would become Hurricana Farm in the 1870s. His doctor recommended he take up farming as a hobby to help with what may have been stomach ulcers. And Robb said that Sanford’s sons, John and William. encouraged their father in this enterprise because of their own interest in fast horses, especially jumpers. William died in 1896. From 1903 through 1907, the Sanfords invited the people of Amsterdam to the Sanford Matinee Races at Hurricana on the Sunday closest to Fourth of July. Trolleys ran up to Market and Meadow Streets. From there, horse drawn wagons took people to the farm. Some automobiles went to the farm as well but were not admitted to the grounds. There was food, drink, music and, of course, horse racing. Some 15,000 attended the event during its last year. New York State outlawed betting in 1907 and racing stopped at Saratoga. Temporarily, the Sanfords sold most of their horses to out-of-staters and Canadians, according to Robb. Stephen Sanford was blind the last five years of his life. Born in 1826, he worked with his father John and then on his own to create the famuly carpet mills. Stephen Sanford went to West Point, served in Congress and was a friend of Ulysses S. Grant. The elder Sanford doted on his grandchildren, in particular his namesake, born in 1899. He gave young Stephen a Shetland pony almost before the youngster could walk. The boy called the pony Laddie. The grandfather bestowed the nickname Laddie on his grandson as well. Stephen Sanford died February 13, 1913. Six months later, racing resumed at Saratoga along with the first running of the Sanford Memorial. Stephen’s elder son John continued to head the carpet mills and racing stables created during his father’s lifetime. According to Robb, John Sanford inherited $40 million at his father’s death. Bob Cudmore is a free lance writer. bobcudmore@yahoo.com 518 346 6657

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Mar 31, 2024Tap to summarize

Bob Cudmore and The Historians 2014-2024 Thank You

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