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As we approach the 250th anniversary of the beginnings of the American Revolution, a ceremony was held at the Courthouse in Malone.
Yesterday, I attended the ceremony held by the Adirondack Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The Chapter dedicated a monument to the known Revolutionary War veterans who are buried in Franklin County.
The granite marker is located at the back entrance of the county Courthouse in Malone.
Each township was listed along with its veterans' names. Chateaugay and Burke have a combined nine veterans noted.
This is a very meaningful and appropriate tribute to those who served during the War for Independence.
Thank you to the Adirondack Chapter, DAR for their efforts to make this monument a reality.
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Did You Know…Earlville almost had its own weekly newspaper?
First, a bit of background—William Farrell had single-handedly operated the weekly Chateaugay Record following the death of his father in 1938. His father, Frank, had owned and run the paper since 1892.
In the early 1940s, two local young men, Russell Tolosky and Richard Peacock had begun working for Bill Farrell at the paper, and both showed a strong interest in the weekly and its various operations.
Their involvement with the Record was interrupted by WWII as both left to serve: Russell in the Army and Dick in the Navy. Upon their return, they formed a three-way business partnership with Bill Farrell and a new era of our local paper began.
Recently, while doing research about the history of Tannery Hollow for an upcoming newsletter issue, I unexpectedly came upon a short news item in a July, 1943 issue of the Record.
I was using the Northern New York Library Network site and its archive of scanned newspaper issues https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/ .
By the way, this is the story of my life as a local history researcher. It seems that every time I set off to research a particular subject, I end up getting distracted by other items I often come across on the pages that have material pertaining to my original topic. That said, many, many of these surprise discoveries prove to be super interesting and become the very beginning of another subject to investigate and research.
Anyway, one corner of that July, 1943 page I was checking for Tannery Hollow material had scanned very poorly, but my eye caught the faint words “William Farrell”. Naturally, I had to figure out what was being reported about Bill Farrell, so I made the image larger and really studied the faint words on the screen. I was able to make out the following:
“William Farrell and Russell Tolosky have purchased property in Earlville and will proceed with the building of a newspaper office. They will then serve the public with the 'Earlville Daily Tribune'”.
Earlville could have had a daily newspaper in 1943. Who knew!
Unfortunately, that plan never came to be, as far as I have been able to determine. It appears that Russell’s initial enthusiasm for the Chateaugay Record operations had led to discussions with Bill about expanding into the Earlville area. However, the War intervened and Russell left for the Army. Upon his return in 1946, evidently plans and priorities had changed. Bill, Russell, and Dick entered into their business partnership, but the delayed plans and discussions Bill and Russ had previously had about a possible Earlville paper back in 1943 never materialized and were never again mentioned in the Chateaugay Record.
In the end, the Record continued until 1995 (enduring Russell leaving the partnership to begin a full-time career in the U.S. Customs Service, Bill’s eventual retirement, Dick’s death, and other personnel changes), but the Earlville Daily Tribune never became a reality.
Now, this recently and accidentally discovered arcane and obscure factoid is just a small bit of trivia from Chateaugay’s past.
But, wouldn’t it have been interesting to see what the Earlville Daily Tribune might have looked like if it had actually come to pass??...
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I have recently been doing some research for a future article on "Tannery Hollow". Anyone who grew up here knows of the hollow down at the Boardman Brook, on the east end of the village. It is referred to daily in uncounted conversations as a present-day location but few of us think about what the "hollow" was in days past. What was once there? Was it a busy section of the village? Why is it called "Tannery Hollow"?
Here is a preview of some of the material that will appear in that eventual article in an upcoming issue of our newsletter...
There were homes built there in the earliest years of Chateaugay's settlement. Industries were established on the banks of the brook starting in 1820. Commercial activity in the hollow ended in 1912.
Among the industries found there during its 92 year-long business history were: a foundry, a grist mill, a saw mill, a cabinet shop, a butter factory, a coffin shop, a slaughterhouse, a carding mill, a cider mill, a shingle mill, and a cabinet shop.
In addition to the industries already mentioned, the largest of the businesses found in Tannery Hollow was the expansive H.A. Douglas tannery. It was a massive building: 225 feet long, 28 feet wide and seven stories high. It was the largest tannery in New York State by the late 1880s.
When it burned to the ground on May 13, 1891, it employed over 100 men and used over 3,000 cords of hemlock bark to tan its constant influx of hides.
Although the tannery was the largest industry in the hollow, the other businesses also employed a significant number of local men. All told, Tannery Hollow had the largest concentration of local industrial activity for almost 100 years.
Today, Tannery Hollow is relatively quiet, with only the heavy traffic of Route 11 disturbing the tranquility of the few homes found there.
The upcoming full-length newsletter article on the hollow will include descriptions of all of the businesses once found there, a series of nine maps tracing the historical development of the area, and many illustrations.
Shown above is a drawing of the Douglas Tannery as it operated and a sketch of the scene following the fire that leveled it.
More to come in an upcoming newsletter issue...
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