Saturday, July 9, 2022

Main Street - October 30, 1947

By Morris Rote-Rosen


The colored Neon lights, lining the buildings on Main Street at night, make it look like a miniature White Way ... The village streets and parking lots were so packed last Saturday night that it seemed that every one came to Granville for the evening ... Even Killroy was here judging by the inscription on the front of the Lasher drug store, "Killroy was here!" ... "Lonnie" Bartholomew, 84-year-old Spanish-American veteran of Whitehall and one of the oldest practicing attorneys in Washington county, visiting with friends on the street.

+++

Our kids, young and old, will be out in force tomorrow night to participate in the Hallowe'en parade ... An opportunity to release pent-up feelings and to chase out the witches, ghosts and hobgoblins with horns, bells, dish pans and musical instruments ... The parade should attract a large crowd to line the street for the passing parade ... And the cash prizes offered for the weird costumes appropriate for the occasion should give the Granville children the time of their lives.

+++

Cliff Hewitt, once manager of the Borden company, recalls when milk brought 60 cents per hundred pounds as compared with [the] present $5 price ... Cheerful and friendly, Mrs. Milo Leach, always has a good word for her friends and they are many ... "Main Street" send greetings to Roy Potter, a shut-in, and a word of encouragement from the many who think of him in his time of illness. He was one of the first mail carriers in the village ... Like old times to see so many slate workers jumping off the slate trucks coming from the quarries in the afternoon.

+++

"Do you think that the Youth Recreation program is worth while for another year?" asks Albert Berkowitz. And no one knows the answer any better than Albert who has given so much of his time and efforts for the realization of a program which has had the unanimous support of the people of Granville. The way the Granville youngsters participated in the summer and winter healthful recreation program is in itself an overwhelming "Yes" to the question. The recreation appropriation is a good investment for the best interests of the youth of our community.

+++

Something new has been added: The night depository in the Washington County National Bank ... One more service by our bank, not only for depositors after bank hours but for the accommodation of the public on Saturdays when the bank is closed ... The dead homing pigeon its body clawed open by a hawk was picked up by Peter Gotta and turned over to Stuart A. Howland, local pigeon fancier and leg tag returned to its owner [in] Gardner, Mass. ... The domestic ducks on the Mettowee river ate attracting many spectators on the bridge, particularly children.

+++

October -- a month of many birthdays ... Among which are those of Fidelia Potter, Josephine Barker, Mrs. S.A. Howland, Lena Lichtig, Dr. Harold Winkler and many, many others .... Stuart Howland was seen buying an ice cream cone for his bride, as he refers to her, of 53 married years ... And let's not forget His Majesty "Sid" Potter who hit the jack-pot of birthdays in October. "Sid" was born when Andrew Johnson was president of the United States and he has observed birthdays under sixteen presidents and is still going strong. He hopes to live long enough to observe a birthday under a Republican president.

+++

The two business signs on Church street, next to each other, reading "Spike's" and "Mike's" ... Visitors to Granville never fail to comment about the neat, attractive and modern Haskins' drug store. A credit to Granville business ... Have you been waited on by that freckled-faced, dimpled, little bakery girl, whose name is Mabel Vachon? ... Jack (Red) Jones demolishing the old "White House" which once stood on the site of the Pember opera house block and was the residence of Joseph and Ernestine Schiff, grandparents of Ernestine [The last name line was omitted, ending the paragraph here]

+++

The Grand Army of the Republic as game in peace as in war to the last man. Regardless of the fact that only about eighty Union veterans of the Civil War are alive, the Grand Army of the Republic will hold its eighty-second national encampment in Grand Rapids, Mic., the week beginning September 26, 1948. If there ever was a real "last man's" club the G.A.R., is it. What an example in Americanism this last disappearing group of men has set for the younger generations to follow.

+++

Shades of bygone days: Gene Farrar visiting Granville. He was one of the printers in the Sentinel for twenty years and left Granville shortly after World War I. When Gene worked on the Sentinel he was associated with a staff that consisted of James L. McArthur, Frank Lortie, Robert Potter, Richard G. Morris, William Maloney and Lucille Weller. Gene Farrar used to run the old fashioned cylindrical hand feed press in those days. There were two printers on this staff who worked side by side for more than twenty years, but refused to speak to each other.

+++

Commenting on the G.H.S. - Fort Edward football game which was won by the Horde 20 to 0, "Abie" Labas described it in a few words: "It was a honey!" ... Main street is greatly improved by the two business places in the former Farmers National bank building: "Bill" Braw's jewelry store and the Army and Navy store ... Now if only the former Rogers and Rigali blocks would have their faces lifted, our main stem would be second to none in the state for its size.

+++

Charles Hicks, happy to have his nearly 6,000 bushels of apples gathered and in cold storage ... But, not any happier than eight-year old Joan Hicks who fondled four dollars of her hard earned cash for picking them ... The courtesy, with which the Granville police handle traffic and pedestrians, particularly of a Saturday night, is worthy of commendation ... While our sidewalks are quite wide, they were not wide enough for a woman who carried a very heavy load of liquor - inside of her ... Every one gave her a wide berth and she needed it.

+++

Who remembers? When Captain John Early of the Salvation Army in Granville was arrested, taken away and confined to a leper colony? ... When the lunch car, "The White House", stood on the corner at the entrance to Burtis avenue ... When Arthur Smith conducted a bakery in the Thorne block ... When Thomas J. Parry, Granville Welsh vocalist, with an opera company, died in Louisville, Kentucky ... When the tracks for a trolley line were laid near Norton's switch ... When the Young Men's Guild presented a local talent play "Diamonds and Hearts."

No comments:

Post a Comment