1923 arrived in ‘torrents’ of rain
by Erik Pekar
Happy New Year to the Granville area! 2023 has arrived. With 2022 now behind us, let’s briefly look back on the good things that happened during the year: the reopening of the Haynes House of Hope in January … the announcement of the Granville Community Foundation reaching its $1 million fundraising goal for 2021 … the Hartford varsity girls basketball team winning the Section II Class D championship title in March, and making it to the state semi-finals … Granville’s town offices move to their new building … the annual Town Wide Yard Sale … the start of road work and improvements … the Memorial Day parade … the relocation of the Route 22 Farmers Market … the return of the Penrhyn Car Show in Middle Granville … the school year meeting its end at graduation ceremonies, held in the traditional “normal” form … the fireworks show commemorating Independence Day.
Continuing into July: new playground equipment at the Granville Elementary School … new crosswalk curb ramps on Main Street … the completion and opening of Poultney’s Slate Quarry Park … Granville gets mentioned in another regional newspaper … the creation of the Granville Ladybug Garden … the start of the Granville-Whitehall football merger … the Granville Community Days held in early September, with the dinner program on Friday and the carnival type event on Saturday … the Autumn Leaves Car Show … the revelation that an Amazon “last mile package center” is coming to Granville … Granville-Whitehall football wins its first game as a merged team … the Granville Baptist Church’s 140th anniversary of its edifice … the finishing of the final touches on the new Church Street bridge … new concrete sidewalk sections on Quaker Street … a lively, civilized Halloween night in Granville … the Veterans Day parade … the Festival of Trees … the annual tree lighting ceremony … Granville Lighted Tractor Parade … all the nice Christmas holiday decorations around the Granville area.
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Christmas Day in the Granville area was quiet. There were fewer cars on the road than usual, people having already reached their destinations for the day. Families were gathered for the occasion, eating the Christmas meal, and perhaps exchanging presents as well. The sun was shining all day, with the temps reaching the high 20s, and little wind. Businesses honored the day as well; most were closed, with only Chapman’s, Cumberland Farms and Stewart’s remaining open.
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Another historic moment took place in Granville on Dec. 1. This was the night of the first two matches of the first-ever Granville girls’ wrestling team. Several schools have started such a program this year; until now it has never been attempted in the area. Close to a dozen Granville girls expressed interest and are on the team for its inaugural season. Granville won the first match against Watervliet, during which McKenna McKnight won the first victory. The second match was lost to Salem-Cambridge. Best of luck to the new program.
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An advertisement in the Jan. 5, 1923 issue concerned vehicle storage: “We are now prepared to store automobiles by the month or season. it is better to run a car into a warm place while in town than to take chances on a frozen radiator. We have such a warm fireproof garage at a nominal charge. Gasoline and air inside out of the weather. Drive in from the street level, directly onto our main floor. We will take care of your wants. Just leave it with your orders, whatever they may be. We do the rest. – Granville Motor Sales Co., L. A. Rathbun.”
The idea of storing one’s transportation device out of the weather was not a foreign one in the early years of the automobile. A similar concept had been known for years as the livery stable, where one kept their horse and buggy when in town. The livery workers would have fed the horse and fixed up the buggy, just as “Lou” Rathbun and his employees would have serviced the automobile entrusted to be stored by them. Advancements in automobile design, as well the shelter of home car garages, made such a service as provided by Rathbun obsolete.
As for the Granville Motor Sales building, it was on North Street just north of Main Street and was later known as the Mettowee Garage. It was torn down in the early 1970s by the First National Bank of Glens Falls to make way for their new bank building for their Granville branch, which closed several years ago, by then a branch of TD Bank. The building is now set to become the home of Land Craft Wellness.
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Granville entered 1923 with a downpour of rain. The Jan. 5, 1923 issue of the Sentinel noted: “New Year’s day in Granville was a quiet one. The banks were closed and the stores pulled off the same stunt at noon. Jupiter Pluvius furnished amusement for old and young in the way of a regatta which set a premium on rubber boots and umbrellas. The chief of the rainmakers began making preparations late in the afternoon of the last day of 1922.
Rising temperatures and an overcast sky augured rain and it came late Sunday evening in a spring like downpour. Throughout the night the rain came in torrents melting a portion of the foot of snow which fell last week and flooded field and highway. Monday morning residents awoke to gaze upon a mist-enshrouded 1923 upon roofs which Sunday had been hidden beneath white blankets – bare and glistening in the January rain.
“The rain continued throughout the day until streets were almost impassable. The snow, melted and softened by the deluge, became more deeply rutted by every passing vehicle, then dissolved to join the enlarged streams flowing at each roadside. Depressions in the road were quickly filled and assumed the proportions of small lakes. Walking was almost an impossibility.
“The mercury, which had run the whole gamut of thermometrical emotions during the week, from 20 degrees above zero to 20 below, making the round trip several times, wearied of the lower regions Sunday and took a trip up the tube, arriving at a maximum of 44 degrees above zero Monday.
“It was a real but rather premature thaw and just what the county needed for wells and streams were short of water and many farmers were worrying about a supply of aqua pura for their stock. Just to show people that such a thing was possible, the Mettowee river went on a rampage and furnished a “wash-day” for the filthy banks in the village. The (proverbial) ‘oldest inhabitant’ does not recall such a deluge of water as swept down the river Monday afternoon. The ‘thaw’ certainly has relieved the water shortage.
“Other than flooding cellars the thaw caused no damage about town. The railroad near Rupert was submerged and the evening train was delayed an hour.”
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Another deluge of rain came through the area some 75 years later, on the week of Jan. 8, 1998. More than three inches of rain fell in as many days in the Granville area. The Mettowee River and Indian River overflowed their banks in places. The village sewer system was infiltrated by storm water. The parking lot at the Granville McDonald’s turned into a pond, with several inches of standing water. No damage was reported on town roads. In any case, the writer of the 1923 article would have agreed with the idea that “Jupiter Pluvius” returned in January 1998 to furnish Granville with “amusement” once more.
On the other hand, the weather was more of the regular entering 1948, and was particularly chilly entering 1973. Hopefully 2023 is starting off mild, with neither chilly temps nor deluges of rain.
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