The groaning board

The groaning board

Dec 2, 2013 | Tin Horn

At this the season of feasting, we offer this 1944 photograph of Max Kass, proprietor of the former Kass Inn in Kelly Corners, which was known for its marvelous buffets. The Inn was started in 1919 when Max Kass and two others (Nachman Groubarth and Harry Taub) bought a six-room farmhouse and 284 acres from Leander McEwan. In 1921, Max married Sadie Ginder and over the years they expanded the inn to accommodate 150 guests in 75 rooms, adding the 300-acre Hess farm across the road. The Catskill Mountain News, announcing Kass’s plans to add a golf course to the property on May 7, 1948, reported that “the Inn . . . enjoys an excellent reputation throughout the mountains and this part of the state. On big days at the Inn, it is not uncommon to serve 500 dinners. The Inn will probably average 1,000 to 1,500 meals weekly.” Kass Inn was sold in the early 1990s to a Japanese firm and renamed Hanah Country Inn. This photograph, taken by Bob Wyer, was the November image of the 2013 calendar produced by the Delaware County Historical Assoc.

The “last word” in campaigning, 1940 style

The “last word” in campaigning, 1940 style

Nov 3, 2013 | Tin Horn

The GOP campaign trailer stopped at the Esso station on Margaretville’s Main St., Oct. 14, 1940

 

He was nowhere near Margaretville but his presence loomed large on October 14, 1940 when the “GOP Motion Picture Caravan” streamed in to town to campaign for Republican Presidential hopeful Wendell Wilkie, who was fighting an uphill battle against Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The sleek trailer, one of several criss-crossing the country stumping for Wilkie and his running mate, Charles McNary, was described as “the last word in the modern technique of political campaigning,” according to the Catskill Mountain News, whose publisher, Roswell Sanford, was Middletown GOP Chairman.

The trailer was equipped with “a projector for showing sound movies on a 5 by 7 screen, an amplifying system, radio and two phonograph tables for reproducing speeches. . . As many as 12,000 have gathered around one of the trailers and have stood for hours listening to the music and watching the movies which show Wendell L. Wilkie. It is a thrilling departure from the traditional cut-and-dried form of street corner meetings. It gives the audience an opportunity to see the candidate on the screen and to hear his voice.”

And boy, could they hear it, whether they wanted to or not: “On the open road when the sound equipment is operated at maximum intensity, the voice can be heard over a distance of four miles,” the paper reported. (Note the giant sperakers on the trailer’s roof in photo, which was posted to the Delaware County History and Genealogy website by Jim Kelly.)

A “union crew of technicians” traveled with the trailer, which was accompanied by local candidates. Hitting as many towns and villages in the state as they could reach, the entourage stopped to provide ‘shows’ at Hancock, Walton and Sidney October 12, and , after passing through Andes, Margaretville, Fleischmanns, and Roxbury, gave an evening presentation at Stamford October 14.

Whether it was the impressive use of media, or Wilkie’s anti-Roosevelt and New Deal platform, Delaware County voted Republican in a big way that November: 15,837 to 5,946. In Middletown, Wilkie won 62% of the votes, 1,223-723.

The Democrats carried the country though, and Roosevelt , with Vice President John Nance Garner, was swept into his third term of office.

Wilkie, born to German immigrants, was a World War I veteran, and Indiana lawyer. After the election, the Democrat-turned Republican joined ranks with the man who defeated him, becoming FDR’s unofficial ambassador advocating internationalism over isolationism as World War II began.

Had he and Senate Minority Leader McNary been elected, the country would have been in the position of replacing both of them during their term of office, as they each died suddenly in 1944.

An interesting sidebar to the local 1940 election: The Roxbury correspondent to the News reported that a Civil War veteran and a Civil War widow — 101-year-old Charles Dugan, and 90-year-old Martha Whitney — voted within moments of each other at the Masonic Hall in Roxbury. Dugan had voted in every presidential election since casting his first ballot, for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. Mrs. Whitney was the widow of Jonathan Whitney, who served with the 80th NYS Regiment from Halcott.

2014 Season Preview!

2014 Season Preview!

Oct 16, 2013 | news archive

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) will hold its Annual Meeting and chicken barbecue lunch Sunday, Oct. 27 at noon at the Society’s Hall, 778 Cemetery Road, Margaretville.

Radio personality and newspaper columnist “Big Chuck” D’Imperio will be the featured speaker, offering some fascinating facts about New York State history.

Admission is $15 and reservations are required. Call 607-326-4734 to secure your seat.

After lunch of Brooks barbecue chicken, home-made salads and pies, a short business meeting will include election of HSM Board members and a recounting of the Society’s programs and activities over the past year.

The meeting will be followed by the presentation by “Big Chuck” D’Imperio, one of Upstate New York’s longest tenured radio broadcasters. He has been helming his #1 rated morning show on Townsquare Media Radio in Oneonta since 1989. In 2000 Chuck was inducted into the NYS Country Music Hall of Fame as “New York’s Broadcaster of the Year,” and in 2012 he was honored by Daughters of the American Revolution for his contributions to an understanding of history.

Chuck is also a prolific author with six “Upstate Books” on the shelves, including “Great Graves of New York, Final Resting Places of 70 True American Legends;” “Monumental New York, 30 Iconic Monuments of Upstate New York,” and his latest, “Unknown Museums of Upstate New York,” published by Syracuse University Press.

“Big Chuck ” D’Imperio

A selection of his books will be available for sale and signing after his presentation.

A longtime newspaper columnist, Chuck and his wife Trish, an English teacher, have four children and live in Oneonta.

For details on programs and activities of the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown, and to contribute toward the preservation of local history, please visit www.mtownhistory.org.

2014 Season Preview!

HSM plans annual meeting and luncheon

Oct 16, 2013 | news archive

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) will hold its Annual Meeting and chicken barbecue lunch Sunday, Oct. 27 at noon at the Society’s Hall, 778 Cemetery Road, Margaretville.

Radio personality and newspaper columnist “Big Chuck” D’Imperio will be the featured speaker, offering some fascinating facts about New York State history.

Admission is $15 and reservations are required. Call 607-326-4734 to secure your seat.

After lunch of Brooks barbecue chicken, home-made salads and pies, a short business meeting will include election of HSM Board members and a recounting of the Society’s programs and activities over the past year.

“Big Chuck ” D’Imperio

The meeting will be followed by the presentation by “Big Chuck” D’Imperio, one of Upstate New York’s longest tenured radio broadcasters. He has been helming his #1 rated morning show on Townsquare Media Radio in Oneonta since 1989. In 2000 Chuck was inducted into the NYS Country Music Hall of Fame as “New York’s Broadcaster of the Year,” and in 2012 he was honored by Daughters of the American Revolution for his contributions to an understanding of history.

Chuck is also a prolific author with six “Upstate Books” on the shelves, including “Great Graves of New York, Final Resting Places of 70 True American Legends;” “Monumental New York, 30 Iconic Monuments of Upstate New York,” and his latest, “Unknown Museums of Upstate New York,” published by Syracuse University Press.

A selection of his books will be available for sale and signing after his presentation.

A longtime newspaper columnist, Chuck and his wife Trish, an English teacher, have four children and live in Oneonta.

For details on programs and activities of the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown, and to contribute toward the preservation of local history, please visit www.mtownhistory.org.

Bob’s gone, but the cider-making continues

Bob’s gone, but the cider-making continues

Sep 27, 2013 | Tin Horn

Burr Hubbell reports that the ancient apple press at Hubbell Homestead farm will be operating Sept. 28 at 1 p.m., Oct. 5 at 1, 1:30 and 2:30, and Oct. 6 at noon, 1 and 2. Anyone interested in seeing history at work is welcome to stop by and watch the process unfold on three levels of the venerable barn.

Burr’s dad Bob Hubbell passed away August 29, but before he did, he made sure the knowledge of how to make a fair batch of cider was shared with his children and grandchildren. He would be very happy to see the old cider mill in operation once again.

Bob Hubbell

For information on the mill, located at the Hubbell Homestead on Route 30 between Margaretville and Halcottsville, or on how to get your apples pressed there: burr.hubbell@hubbells.com
586.2707.