I can vaguely remember going into the Post Office with my mother when I was little. We lived in S. Glens Falls, but I don't think we had a Post Office there back then. I'm talking late '50s, early '60s. My paternal grandfather was a chauffeur for the Hoopes family in the early 1900's. They lived in the mansion next door to the Hydes. He named my father after Maurice Hoopes when he was born in 1910. I never knew my grandfather, he died before I was born. My mother told me about this little piece of our history. My father died in 1963 when I was 9.
Thanks to you and Ms. Folk for the fine tour. It brought back a lot of long ago memories. For example, I too would tag along with a parent - my dad - when he would go to the Post Office to open his intriguing tiny glass fronted box for his daily mail and papers. (I always associated those boxes with The larger glass front food slots at Horn and Hardart in New York.) Your references to the Armory brought back memories as well: I spent dozens of weekends there over six years in the 60s
With my National Guard. Annual training at Camp Drum was rigorous, but after long weekend hours at the Armory, our officers ran out of exercises and we enlisted Men would make surreptitious bee lines to the darkened Day Room to watch NBA games. The officers would often have to rout us. (Much later, Tom Brokaw included the Armory when he came to town for his NBC special on returning Vietnam veterans.)
I have boxes and boxes of old photographs, some inherited from my parents dating back to the 20’s and 30’s, some of my own. Then, at the point where digital photography took over, but before cloud storage, there is a huge gap. Many family photos and videos were lost that were taken on early digital devices that either stopped working, or are no longer supported by today’s technology. Perhaps there is a way to access them, but inertia and lack of knowledge have so far kept me from doing it. That’s why I can’t throw out those old photos. They persist!
Making the decision of what is important to keep,significant to family history is really, really difficult. I have a couple thousand photos on my phone (backed up by the cloud), but I suspect they would disappear upon my demise as well.
Not leaving behind a record of your life was the norm for most of human existence unless you were a pharaoh or emperor. Generic things, like tools or other artifacts, are what we use to guess at how ordinary folk lived, but as to their personal stories, we have to draw a blank. Taking the long view, then, knowing our family stories will eventually vanish, we can take some comfort in being just like everyone else, I suppose.
If preserving your history is what you want to do, check out the negatives if they’re still in those old envelopes. When you got your prints back, you usually handed the really good shots out to people, so whatever is left in the envelope are usually the ones that didn’t make the cut for sharing. My brother has been scanning the negatives and finding some real gems. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make your task even more fraught!
I’ll just add that Paul McCarty from Fort Edward Historical does some fantastic tours of Fort Edward, Hudson Falls and Saratoga. They’re usually offered through the continuing ed program at ACC.
My great uncle Dave Fitzgerald Jr. was the Postmaster of our Glens Falls Post Office for many years till his death in the 1950's. He often had meetings going on in his grand wood-paneled office with huge desk and fancy leather furniture, as he was also head of the county Democratic party. The smell of cigar and pipe smoke is what I remember most when I popped in to visit him after my St. Mary's classes!
He and my 2 other uncles, my aunt, and my grandmother were the proprieters of Fitzgerald's Hotel and Restaurant on lower Glen St. till it was destroyed by a fire July 4, 1946. It occupied space where the former Civic Center was eventually built. My grandmother, Bea Burns, went on to operate Fitzgerald's Wine and Liquor store on Park St, across from the now restored theater, until she died 20 yrs. later.
Hometown, USA is rich with stories of family-owned businesses which supported our local economy. Thanks, Ken, for shining light on the histories of buildings, and the people whose dreams and hard work created a legacy for those of us who grew up here, as well as a destination for those who now call our area "home."
Lawrence St. alone could be a 2 day walking tour…and a full week of your newsletter entries!
In the 40’s/50’s the street was closed from Ridge St. corner down past the shirt factory/train station on a summer w/e for the annual St. Anne’s festival. Our Italian/Irish neighborhood was filled with family fun and in the evening the sounds of opera music coming from the balcony of the old DeSanctis (?) restaurant on the corner of Cherry and Lawrence echoed throughout the First Ward.
This gets far afield from the topic of Ken’s fine column, but re the discussion of “leaving behind a record of your life”, my wife and I (mostly my wife!) spent quite a bit of time during the real depths of the pandemic answering year-long
weekly emailed questions such as “what do you remember about your grandparents” and “have you ever won anything” from a company called Story Worth. You pay a nominal amount for them to ask the questions and assemble the email responses, then another minor fee to get fairly sturdy bound books with your answers and accompanying photos. The upshot for us was a 425 page book with a staggering total of 320 photos dating back to my Glens Falls grandparents fishing in the Adirondacks 100 years ago. Several in our family, including -surprisingly - a 12/year old grandson, have read the book already. I don’t want to shill for any one company; I am sure there are capable competitors out there as well. But it definitely got the “job” done for us.
History, and memories, are both important. But not all are equally so. Keep pruning!
I can vaguely remember going into the Post Office with my mother when I was little. We lived in S. Glens Falls, but I don't think we had a Post Office there back then. I'm talking late '50s, early '60s. My paternal grandfather was a chauffeur for the Hoopes family in the early 1900's. They lived in the mansion next door to the Hydes. He named my father after Maurice Hoopes when he was born in 1910. I never knew my grandfather, he died before I was born. My mother told me about this little piece of our history. My father died in 1963 when I was 9.
Great updates Ken, thanks for sharing!
Thanks to you and Ms. Folk for the fine tour. It brought back a lot of long ago memories. For example, I too would tag along with a parent - my dad - when he would go to the Post Office to open his intriguing tiny glass fronted box for his daily mail and papers. (I always associated those boxes with The larger glass front food slots at Horn and Hardart in New York.) Your references to the Armory brought back memories as well: I spent dozens of weekends there over six years in the 60s
With my National Guard. Annual training at Camp Drum was rigorous, but after long weekend hours at the Armory, our officers ran out of exercises and we enlisted Men would make surreptitious bee lines to the darkened Day Room to watch NBA games. The officers would often have to rout us. (Much later, Tom Brokaw included the Armory when he came to town for his NBC special on returning Vietnam veterans.)
Thank you for sharing this
I have boxes and boxes of old photographs, some inherited from my parents dating back to the 20’s and 30’s, some of my own. Then, at the point where digital photography took over, but before cloud storage, there is a huge gap. Many family photos and videos were lost that were taken on early digital devices that either stopped working, or are no longer supported by today’s technology. Perhaps there is a way to access them, but inertia and lack of knowledge have so far kept me from doing it. That’s why I can’t throw out those old photos. They persist!
Making the decision of what is important to keep,significant to family history is really, really difficult. I have a couple thousand photos on my phone (backed up by the cloud), but I suspect they would disappear upon my demise as well.
Not leaving behind a record of your life was the norm for most of human existence unless you were a pharaoh or emperor. Generic things, like tools or other artifacts, are what we use to guess at how ordinary folk lived, but as to their personal stories, we have to draw a blank. Taking the long view, then, knowing our family stories will eventually vanish, we can take some comfort in being just like everyone else, I suppose.
If preserving your history is what you want to do, check out the negatives if they’re still in those old envelopes. When you got your prints back, you usually handed the really good shots out to people, so whatever is left in the envelope are usually the ones that didn’t make the cut for sharing. My brother has been scanning the negatives and finding some real gems. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make your task even more fraught!
I’ll just add that Paul McCarty from Fort Edward Historical does some fantastic tours of Fort Edward, Hudson Falls and Saratoga. They’re usually offered through the continuing ed program at ACC.
Good to know.
Very, very interesting info. I must try to take that tour sometime.
👍
Thanks for telling about the tour.
My great uncle Dave Fitzgerald Jr. was the Postmaster of our Glens Falls Post Office for many years till his death in the 1950's. He often had meetings going on in his grand wood-paneled office with huge desk and fancy leather furniture, as he was also head of the county Democratic party. The smell of cigar and pipe smoke is what I remember most when I popped in to visit him after my St. Mary's classes!
He and my 2 other uncles, my aunt, and my grandmother were the proprieters of Fitzgerald's Hotel and Restaurant on lower Glen St. till it was destroyed by a fire July 4, 1946. It occupied space where the former Civic Center was eventually built. My grandmother, Bea Burns, went on to operate Fitzgerald's Wine and Liquor store on Park St, across from the now restored theater, until she died 20 yrs. later.
Hometown, USA is rich with stories of family-owned businesses which supported our local economy. Thanks, Ken, for shining light on the histories of buildings, and the people whose dreams and hard work created a legacy for those of us who grew up here, as well as a destination for those who now call our area "home."
I have only touched the surface and there are so many other neighborhoods in Glens Falls and surrounding communities.
Lawrence St. alone could be a 2 day walking tour…and a full week of your newsletter entries!
In the 40’s/50’s the street was closed from Ridge St. corner down past the shirt factory/train station on a summer w/e for the annual St. Anne’s festival. Our Italian/Irish neighborhood was filled with family fun and in the evening the sounds of opera music coming from the balcony of the old DeSanctis (?) restaurant on the corner of Cherry and Lawrence echoed throughout the First Ward.
Maybe a book too.
This gets far afield from the topic of Ken’s fine column, but re the discussion of “leaving behind a record of your life”, my wife and I (mostly my wife!) spent quite a bit of time during the real depths of the pandemic answering year-long
weekly emailed questions such as “what do you remember about your grandparents” and “have you ever won anything” from a company called Story Worth. You pay a nominal amount for them to ask the questions and assemble the email responses, then another minor fee to get fairly sturdy bound books with your answers and accompanying photos. The upshot for us was a 425 page book with a staggering total of 320 photos dating back to my Glens Falls grandparents fishing in the Adirondacks 100 years ago. Several in our family, including -surprisingly - a 12/year old grandson, have read the book already. I don’t want to shill for any one company; I am sure there are capable competitors out there as well. But it definitely got the “job” done for us.
I had planned to join the tour, but skipped it due to inclement weather.