150 Years Ago - 1873

Sheriff Winner was in town the other day armed with papers with which those two worthies, Ludington and Waller, are bound to compel the Board of Supervisors to give Waller a job. Waller, of course, is thoroughly disinterested pecuniarily speaking in the matter of printing the session laws. It costs him from $25 to $30 to have these laws printed in Utica, and he charges the state $750, so, of course, it can’t pay... What that truly good man Waller wants is to secure the publication of these laws for the sole benefit of his readers.

The double track at Callicoon Depot is progressing very slowly on account of low wages and irregular pay. The wages are $1.50 per day with the understanding that they are to be paid on the 15th of each month and they are never received on that date.

Frank McDermott, we believe, is the name of the gentleman who informed us the other day that he had already digested a bushel of Early Rose potatoes.

The Colorado Potato Bug has made its appearance here and farmers should be on the lookout for it.

The chariot containing the Goddess of Liberty in the Grand Procession in the anniversary of our national independence will be handsomely caparisoned and will contain 13 young ladies dressed in spotless white, who represent the original 13 states of the union. The Goddess of Liberty will be very befittingly represented in the person of Miss Ella Calkins of Jeffersonville, who, as a compliment to our worthy German citizens, will hold in her right hand the glorious emblem of many battles — the German flag.

Mr. Allen S. MacDonald has been appointed postmaster of Jeffersonville in lieu of Mr. M.A. Fredenburgh, who resigned.

140 Years Ago - 1883

Bark at the Downsville, Delaware County, tannery sells for five dollars a ton. The above tannery is 12 miles from the railroad. Bark on the cars is worth from $6.00 to $6.50 a ton.

The summer term of the Liberty Normal Institute closes on Friday.

Delaware Lodge No. 650, SDF, will hold their annual picnic on Monday, August 7, 1883.

A farmer saw a dead-sure potato bug remedy advertised for 25¢, sent for it, and got this, which he was kindly advised to “paste in his hat, so that it will always be handy. Select two small flat pieces of wood, catch the bug, lay it carefully on piece number one. Then press on piece number two, and press firmly until the bug is gathered to its ancestors.”

Why not send your butter by market wagon to Newburgh and from there to New York? With the new railroad from there to the city, the charges will be less than the other way. Your butter will reach the city in better shape and sells for a higher price. Try it, and you will be convinced. L.P. Myers runs the market wagon and he will give the matter close attention.

The 73rd annual meeting of the Sullivan County Medical Society was held at the Mansion House in Monticello on June 14. Dr. L.S. Simson presided and those present were Drs. Linson, Kempt, Apply, Quinlan, Murphy, McWilliams, Weber, Gillespie and F.S. Snook. Dr. Gillespie, Bennett and Brand, committee appointed at the semi-annual meeting in Jeffersonville to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of the society at the death of Dr. J.L. LeMoree of Grahamsville, after which they were discharged.

130 Years Ago - 1893

Fred Sherwood is having an artesian well sunk on his farm on East Hill. Philip Elbert is doing the job.

The opening of the new Coventry House at Kenoza Lake on Thursday night of last week was successfully carried out, despite disturbing elements. Entertainment was provided in the way of dancing by the host, W.P. Coventry. A Jeffersonville orchestra provided the music. A splendid supper was served.

W.C. Brand received 7 horses from New York Saturday. He will conduct a livery stable in this place this summer.

Peter Wagner is laying a stone walk along his front street.

120 Years Ago - 1903

A new post office has been established at Buck Brook, a couple of miles up the Alpine Valley from North Branch and Henry J. Knack has been appointed postmaster.

Frederick Warde, the eminent tragedian, has come to his handsome summer home at White Lake. Not only is Warde one of America’s greatest actors but he possesses a charming personality which endears him to all who are so fortunate as to be counted among his friends.

110 Years Ago - 1913

One of the largest crowds ever to gather at the Assembly Hall of the Callicoon Union Free School witnessed the graduation exercises of Elsa Louise Gardner, Elizabeth Margaret Huff, Alfonso Wilbur Feare and J. Allan McGuire.

Edward Bauernfeind of North Branch and Miss Nellie Metzger of the Bronx were married Sunday. They will be in the poultry business in North Branch where Eddie has first class poultry houses, and about 800 feathered beauties.

The village of Livingston Manor will have a general hospital in the near future if a project now being developed is fully realized.

Today will be Suffragist Day at Monticello. There will be a big parade of women. Thousands of people will be present from all over the county to see the women march and admire their superior horsemanship. It promises to be one of the biggest days in the history of Monticello.

Some noise in Fosterdale June 18 when George Reichman Jr. of the Reichman Chair and Table Manufacturers in New York, arrived at the Cabot Villa in his large touring car on his honeymoon with his bride, which he thought would be kept nice and quiet. After supper they took a walk to the Edelman House as usual where the wedding ring was noticed but nothing was said. About 9 o’clock Mr. Reichman thought the American and Japanese war broke out. He did not know there were so many guns in all of Sullivan County. Forty-seven friends wished the couple many years of happy married life.

A petition in bankruptcy has been filed in New York City against Theo. A. Cook, the Hortonville Creameryman, by these local creditors  — Martin Hermann of Callicoon, $192; Fred H. Starck of Callicoon, $352; Fred Hasenpflue of Jeffersonville, $151. It is alleged that Cook is insolvent and on May 20 transferred all of his property to his brother, W.L. Cook of Brooklyn, without consideration. Theodore A. Cook was in bankruptcy once before on a voluntary petition filed May 9, 1909. The bankrupt is a brother of Dr. Frederick A. Cook who found the North Pole and then lost it.

Dr. Addison J. Smith died in Fremont Center last Thursday morning. He was born in Liberty in 1836. His second wife was Miss Marion Steward of North Branch who he married in 1881. Dr. Smith was a competent physician of the old school and did much good in his practice of over 40 years.

At a luncheon given at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Harding, 40 Highland Ave., Middletown, announcement was made of the engagement of their daughter, Florence M. to Edward V. Wilbern of Cincinnati.

On July 1, the Post Office Department put into effect the order for handling COD parcel post packages.

100 Years Ago - 1923

Mrs. Mary O. Potts has sold the balance of her land of DeWitt Flats to Daniel Becker of Youngsville. It is understood that Mrs. Becker’s brother-in-law, Austin Borden, will build a house on the lot.

Mrs. Mary Carr has sold her farm of over 100 acres at Youngsville to Wm. A. Meyer of Liberty.

90 Years Ago - 1933

Mr. and Mrs. Louis Layman announce the engagement of their daughter, Kathryn, to Fred Hausen-pflue, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Hausenpflue.

The fire department came out last night to serenade Eddie Keyser and his bride who returned to town yesterday.

Enforcement of the new state law governing the manufacture and sale of 3.2 percent beer and wine rests definitely on the shoulders of local officials and state police, following an executive order issued  by Governor Lehman.

80 Years Ago - 1943

The president on Saturday nominated for postmaster of Jeffersonville, Williard C. Schadt, who has been acting postmaster since the death of his father, Fred W. Schadt, over a year ago.

The thermometer was down to 38 degrees this morning at 6 o’clock.

Leslie Morrison, who formerly spent some years on the Stratton farm, now in the Merchant Marine, was aboard ship in the Indian Ocean carrying war materials and was torpedoed. The crew was in the water 36 hours before it was rescued. Only two men on the crew were lost.

A son, Warren James, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Hess at the Callicoon Hospital on June 28.

Louis Weyrauch, aged 12, was drowned Sunday afternoon at the old village reservoir in the presence of a hundred persons, none of who saw him go down. His father, a Liberty printer, was the son of the former owner of the Record, Martin J. Weyrauch.

August G. Segar left early Tuesday morning by Erie for Buffalo where he was scheduled to be married on Wednesday to Miss Hildegarde Metz, a teacher in our central school the past year. Augie was accompanied by his cousin and best man, Clinton Segar.

70 Years Ago - 1953

Mrs. Christina Meier, aged 79, for many years a resident of Callicoon Center, died at the home of her son, Arthur, in Bloomfield, N.J., of a heart attack. Mr. and Mrs. Roy Mall of Jeffersonville attended the funeral.

Six students passed a course in Hebrew II last week at Liberty High School. It was the first time such a course had been given.

The season’s first vacationists returning to the Narrowsburg area are having a little trouble recognizing their old friends behind their Centennial whiskers. Several hundred natives have month-long growths. Goatees, moustaches and full beards are the order of the day as the township prepares for its week-long celebration. The week starts the last week in July, Sunday, July 26, and will continue through August 1st.

Jeff Lions won a double header last Sunday against a strong Wall-kill team 16-5 and 7-0.

The Callicoon Center Scheutzen Verein will hold its 85th annual shooting match on July 4th from 11 a.m. Match will be held on the range on the Norman Bury farm. There will be music and refreshments during the afternoon according to secretary Leland C. Henry.

Carl Sonman, who owns the former Harry Williams farm at Hunter Pond where he has installed a machine shop in the dance hall, returned from Rochester yesterday with two contracts for defense work, making parts for one of Uncle Sam’s secret weapons.

The Livingston Manor Chamber of Commerce plans to enlist the proper authorities to eliminate the dumping of refuse and garbage in the streams. The Little Beaverkill and the Willowemoc running through Livingston Manor are both beautiful streams but their beauty is severely marred by the practice of people living along it (and others not living along it) by dumping rubbish and garbage in it and, in many instances, running garbage into the stream.

60 Years Ago - 1963

Miss Barbara E. Pfaff became the bride of Ralph A. Mosher on June 15 at St. Patrick’s R.C. Church in Long Eddy. They will live in Binghamton.

A daughter was born at the Callicoon Hospital to Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Beaulieu of Bethel.

Thirty-seven graduates received their diplomas at the 5th annual commencement exercises at J-YCS. Carolyn Williamson and Francis Egan each received a faculty award of $200 each. . . Fourteen students were graduated from Holy Cross Parochial School, Callicoon, on June 21. . . 17 eager little people will begin kindergarten in the fall, having just completed their graduation from Miss Janet’s Nursery School. . . Twenty-nine seniors received diplomas at commencement exercises held at the Delaware Valley Central School June 22.

50 Years Ago - 1973

Clark Hinkley Sr. and the former Lillian Decker, who were married March 23, 1923, in the Presbyterian Church in Livingston Manor, were honored at a golden wedding anniversary party at the Liberty VFW hall on June 17.

Warren Doetsch was the guest of honor at a gathering of friends who wished him well on the opening of a pharmacy in Jeffersonville.

Miss Cheryl Noetzel of North Branch was a guest of honor at a bridal shower on June 15. She will become the bride of Douglas French of Richfield Springs on August 11.

40 Years Ago - 1983

Longtime Liberty Central High School principal and basketball coach Robert VanSlyke died early Monday morning at his home in Liberty. He began his teaching duties in Liberty in 1950 and had retired as principal on January 2, 1982.

The Monticello Raceway hosted an appearance of four Lipizzan horses over the weekend. From the 16th century up until the fall of the Hapsburg’s Austrian Empire in 1918, the horses were pretty much exclusive property of the nobility. With the breakup of the Hapsburg Empire half of the Lipizzan herd went to Italy and half went to Austria. When Nazi Germany took over control of almost all of Europe, the Lipizzans were taken to Hostau, Czechoslovakia. It was there that General Patton’s 42nd Squadron of the 2nd Calvary rescued them from the advancing Russian Army. Patton, an accomplished equestrian himself, is credited with saving the breed from what many feared would have been annihilation. Inga Smaha, her son Tony and his wife, Susan, now own four descendants of those horses, and travel with them.

The 16th annual canoe regatta is set for July 31, sponsored by the Callicoon Fire Department. A barbecue, food concessions and entertainment will begin at the Delaware Youth Center field following the races.

The 95th Bauernfeind Family Reunion was held on June 5. Plans were made to hold the next reunion at the Delaware Youth Center grounds also.

Harry Wingert of Callicoon took an early lead in the Sullivan County Democrat’s Bass Fishing Contest catching a 20-inch 5 pound largemouth bass while fishing on Lake Huntington.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Kitson of Callicoon became the proud parents of a son, Mathew Martin, born June 20. He weighed 9 lbs. 1 oz. and is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Art Leewe of Hortonville and Mr. and Mrs. John Kitson of North Branch.

Mr. and Mrs. Max Brender of Ferndale celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a number of friends and relatives to celebrate the occasion.

The “Walk for Independence” by Dr. Thomas Goodman has reached its 95th mile with only 55 more miles to go. To date pledges have been received in the amount of $6,500. Dr. Goodman, executive director of the Association for Retarded Children, is making this county-wide trek to raise funds for the ARC’s fourth sheltered workshop to be located in Monticello.

30 years ago - 1993

James Gorman, Sullivan County Board of Supervisors clerk, died in Wyoming while on a trip during which he was to attend the wedding of his son on Saturday. He recently suffered a bout with pneumonia and had respiratory difficulties which led to his hospitalization. He had also served as Town of Neversink Supervisor, retiring in 1992.

Nurses at Community General Hospital of Sullivan County ratified a 3-year contract which freezes their salaries in the first year but raises them 14 percent in the last two years. The action averted a proposed strike.

The Sullivan County Board of Supervisors is being asked again to consider creating a district court to replace 18 individual town and village courts at an estimated saving to the taxpayers that must use and support them of up to $1 million a year.

David Rosa of Monticello was awarded a $1,000 scholarship and will advance to the National Junior Bowling League Championship Tournament to be held in Kansas City, Mo. July 14-18. He took first place in the boys handicap division at the New York State Young American Bowling Alliance National Junior Bowling Tournament last month in Plattsburgh. He led the field after the qualifying round with a pin fall of 2,259 and then beat Tim Padden of Oxford, 290-253, in the final game to gain the state title.

Florence Gordon, Virginia Lindsley and G. Ruth Griffin were honored by the Sullivan County Legal Secretaries Association for logging 50 years of employment each at their respective law firms. Griffin’s daughter, Janet, made a cake for the occasion. Mrs. Gorton works for the Ingber & Lagarenne in Monticello, Lindsley is employed by Levine, Glass & Miller in Jeffersonville, and Griffin has tallied her time with Schadt & Schadt in Jeffersonville.

The Sullivan County Volunteer Firemen’s Association honored guest speaker Assemblyman Jake Gunther III with a cake in honor of his June 11 40th birthday at their 34th annual dinner on Saturday. 

20 years ago - 2003

The Sullivan County Federation for the Homeless was founded in 1987, and after the local Salvation Army gave up running a soup kitchen five years ago, they took over that operation in addition to serving the county’s homeless. For years, the federation called the cramped basement of the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Liberty Street home. They now are ensconced in the former Jewish Community Center/Monticello Arts & Cultural Center on Monticello Street, courtesy of Harry and Jennifer Rhulen, who offered the facility rent-free to the organization. Schmidt’s Wholesale provided three furnaces at cost, and the Sullivan County Legislature gave $10,000 for the installation of the new heating system.

For about 75 local firefighters, Thursday’s near-record temperatures of 90-plus degrees really heated up as they battled a blaze that destroyed a large wood-frame apartment house at 17 Pelton Street in Monticello, displacing eight families. Monticello, Smallwood-Mongaup Valley and Rock Hill fire departments fought the blaze, which at times created flames that shot 75’-100’ above the treeline. The fire was ruled suspicious.

The annual Knack family reunion of the descendents of John and Eva Guildt Knack, met on Sunday, June 1 at the Hortonville Firehouse with 24 people attending. The Knacks were the parents of 10 children, Susan Wehner, Eva Kappes, Fred Knack, Whilhelmina (Wilson, Graham) Fries, Kate (Goldstein) Greenshields, Mary Kraft, Christina Allgeier, Henry Knack, Louisa Hess and Frank E. Knack. Jason R. Dole, great-grandson of the late Raymond and Julia Knack, spoke about going to the archives in Manhattan to search information on the German ancestors who came to America on a ship about 1850.

Alumni were invited to attend the final graduation from the Delaware Valley Central School in Callicoon, which now becomes one campus of the Sullivan West Central School District. The school was centralized in 1939 and students moved into the building on Route 97 in February 1952.

10 Years Ago - 2013

On Sunday, around four inches of rain fell in less than two hours on the Fallsburg area, briefly forcing the closure of Sullivan County Route 53.

Suburban Propane has shuttered the former Burnwell Propane location in Monticello, laying off at least six workers. Burnwell was acquired by Suburban in August of last year, but operations continued until June 10.

The original Route 17 Quickway bridge’s 60 years of faithful service are coming to a close, as this past week the NYS Dept. of Transportation (DOT) shifted westbound traffic to the first of two new spans being built across the Neversink River in Bridgeville. The 1953 bridge  was still handling eastbound traffic over the weekend, but that too will soon be temporarily rerouted across the newer, higher bridge. The old bridge is to be demolished and replaced by a twin to the new bridge, which will likely open next year. A bit of trivia in honor of the old bridge: when it first opened, it actually served Old Route 17, which was temporarily connected to the bridge to bypass the dangerous “S” curves on the old Newburgh-Cochecton Turnpike. Circa 1957/58, the then-new Quickway finally connected to both sides of the bridge, opening up a new way for Catskills visitors and residents to travel across the Neversink gorge.