Looking back at last year’s writings
By Erik Pekar, Town Historian
One day last month, we took a set of copies of last year’s issues of the Sentinel, a folder, and the scissors, as the 2021 articles of “Granville Then and Now” were clipped. Over the year, a copy of each issue was saved and put aside for this purpose. This is a tradition that has been done since we first started writing for the Sentinel.
As the clipping work progressed through the stack of papers, historical topics or then-current items of interest caught our attention. We wrote about Bert Braymer, and the Braymer Monument he had built on the hill facing Granville so that “people would remember [him]”. We saw the photo of the J. J. Hayes building on Main Street at the Mettowee River, which revealed the building’s predating of the old arch bridge’s construction, and if known to NYSDOT, could have saved the building from demolition.
We reprinted the articles from 1900 on the businesses of Middle Granville and West Pawlet. The original writer of those articles, possibly James Lillie McArthur himself, filled the writeups with compliments and praise for each community’s businesses. We also wrote of happenings and events of Granville in the first few months of 1901; a year for which few, if any, Sentinel issues survive.
We revealed the origin and fate of the cannon on the triangle at North and Pine Streets; and told of the time famed female bowler Marion Ladewig came to Granville and spoke and bowled at the Ritz bowling alley. The life of James J. Tierney was recalled, a Granville resident who from 1921 to 1936 was the secretary of the New York Giants baseball team.
As Route 149 was being repaved through the village, we recalled the laying of the brick pavement along Quaker, West Main, Main, East Main, and North Streets, as well as their eventual resurfacing with asphalt. For Memorial Day, we told of the wartime World War II wooden honor roll and its successor permanent honor roll, made of bronze plaques affixed to slate slabs. The businesses of the 34 Church Street building were recalled, as the building was demolished in early June. We recounted the Granville McDonald’s, how it opened, and its ownership and changes to its 30th anniversary last June.
The eventful history of Granville’s Masonic lodge, the Granville Lodge No. 55, was recalled for the lodge’s 225th anniversary over a three-part series in late July and early August, the first multi-part series printed in “Granville Then and Now.” The affiliated chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, the Slate Valley Chapter No. 122, reached their anniversary of 125 years, and their story was also recalled.
We wrote of the Granville Halloween parade, held for most of the years from 1935 to 1970, excepting the World War II years. We retold the story of Robert B. Hicks’ eventful Dec. 7, 1941, the “day of infamy” when Pearl Harbor and Hickam Field were bombed by the Imperial Japanese Navy; Hicks was stationed at Hickam when it happened. The Christmas greetings of Granville area merchants in 1971 were reprinted. To close the year, we recalled the business happenings of the Granville area as they occurred in 2021.
Many current happenings also were covered or noted as they happened. We praised the efforts of the Slate Valley Military and Honor Banner Project and touted the benefits that the Granville Community Foundation Fund will bring to Granville in the future. We followed the plans and developments of the proposed combination of the Granville and Whitehall football teams, with the current approved plan being a true merger. On those surprise snowflakes in April – a dusting earlier, then sleet and a couple inches of sleet and snow later in the month – we remarked our hope that it would be the last till later in the year, and it turned out so.
We noted the passing last April of longtime WRGB news anchor Ernie Tetrault, who was a familiar face to many local TV viewers for many years. Even more reflective of the marching on of time was the passing last year of two former coaches of the Granville Golden Horde football team: John Millett (1957-61 seasons) in April, and Bob Schoonmaker (1994-2002) in September. In the case of Coach Millett, Whitehallers also will remember him, as he coached the Whitehall football team and taught in the Whitehall schools for more than 20 years. Both will be remembered for their involvement in their communities and with athletic activities and will be missed.
In one issue our eyes came upon the proposal by Granville mayor Paul Labas for reverse angle diagonal parking on Main Street. The proposal at the time was very controversial, with just about everyone against the idea. Little benefit and lots of trouble would have stemmed from such a change. But it was found that the state had rejected the parking idea, and it was forgotten as people realized it wouldn’t be happening.
We told of the arrival of the Rev. Father Zach Chichester, the new priest for St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Granville, as well as for St. Ann’s and Our Lady of Hope; he has been received well by the parishioners. On the other hand, the Granville Baptist Church and Rev. Lamphear parted ways last year, and they are now looking for a new pastor.
We congratulated our great Granville athletes – the winter 2020-21 bowling team, with a 40-8 season; the Fall II field hockey team, which played last spring, had a 9-1 season and won a game against Hoosick Falls for the second season in a row. The fall 2021 field hockey team also did well, ending the season 12-5; they ultimately didn’t make the record go three seasons in a row, but they did give a strong fight to Hoosick Falls in all the games they played against them.
We kept up with most, if not all, of the road work going on in and near the Granville area – state, county, town and village. We covered the new business openings and reopenings, many with interviews, and as always, wished the owners the best in their business endeavors in the Granville area. When there were business closures, we expressed the sorrow of the closures and the loss of a business from Granville.
We recalled the flashy new cars introduced for the 1957 model year and sold at Granville dealerships – all new models for Ford, Dodge and Plymouth, and restyled models for Chevrolet and Pontiac. All four of Granville’s car dealerships of that era have long since closed, but the memories of the cars, the dealers, and everyone involved will be cherished by those who frequented them, or drove or rode in the cars purchased at those dealers.
The process of clipping out the columns of “Then and Now” continued until we reached the end of last year’s papers. We sorted out all the clipped papers in order and placed them in the folder. With this work done, we filed the folder in the cabinet and put away the scissors until next year.
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