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This Week in Rockland: Newspaper Excerpts: Flashback Friday: Week of May 24

2024-05-24 TWIR Image-Nyack HS

May 23, 1874 – 150 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Journal

SOMETHING NEW
       Ernst & Brother, Main Street, are the agents for a new culinary utensil which cannot fail of becoming a general favorite with every housewife. The article referred to is a porcelain-lined pot, with a tin cover in two sections and a strainer. The largest part of the cover is attached by wires to the strainer, and by raising this, potatoes or other vegetables are admitted to the pot, and when sufficiently boiled, the pot is simply tipped and all the water allowed to escape through the strainer and under the smaller lid. To secure one from being scalded or burned, it is the handiest contrivance we have seen, and should be in every house.

AROUND HOME
   ☞ Nyack never looked more beautiful, and flowers in profusion will be ready for Decoration day.
   ☞ The apple crop in this vicinity promises to be immense if the quantity of blossoms be an indication.
   ☞ The thirst occasioned by the Haverstraw Excise Board is now quenched at the Clarkstown Brewery.
   ☞ A gig crew of the Tappan Zee Boat Club will be present at the Ten Eyck race at Peekskill, next month.
   ☞ Hon. S. B. Cole, of Nyack, is a delegate to the Presbyterian General Assembly, now in session at St. Louis.
   ☞ A farmers’ Grange composed of thirty Charter members was organized in Spring Valley week before last.
   ☞ Doersch will soon remove his boot and shoe store into the place lately kept by Chas. Jones, on Broadway.
   ☞ Our streets would put those of New York to the blush for cleanliness, since Charles Jones’ men have scraped them.

May 23, 1924 – 100 YEARS AGO
Nyack Evening Journal

SENIOR PROMENADE - BIG EVENT TONIGHT
[Image: High School, Nyack, ca. 1920. Color postcard by W. P. Bugbee, Nyack. Image courtesy of the Nyack Library, via NYHeritage.org.]
       The big event for tonight is the Senior Promenade at the Nyack High School. All plans are now completed to make this one of the outstanding social events of the year.
       The music for the occasion is to be furnished by the Black Cat Melody Boys of Englewood, under special direction of Adam Carroll, pianist. Mr. Carroll, who is today being featured by Paul Whiteman, has frequently entertained radio audiences.
       Tickets at $1.00 per couple may be purchased at the door tonight. Refreshments will be served and novelties distributed. Dancing from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m.

ORANGETOWN TESTS 1,000 FEET OF HOSE
       1,000 feet of hose was tested, by Orangetown Engine Co, last night at the foot of Main street, and, under a pressure of 200 pounds, one length 50 feet, broke.
       A new development was tried last night and found successful. This was on the deck pipe, used for flooding burning buildings. Heretofore only two lines of water have been poured into this pipe, giving a steam [sic] of about 560 gallons a minute.
       Last night, three lines were tried and it was found possible to increase the stream to 50 gallons, forming effective agency for combating sweeping fires. The tests were made under the supervision of Chief Smith.

May 23, 1974 – 50 YEARS AGO
The Journal News

BARON TO SLOATSBURG: SECEDE IF YOU WANT — NO PANACEA, SUPERVISOR SAYS
       Ramapo Supervisor Morton Baron said Wednesday he would have “no objection” to the village of Sloatsburg seceding from Ramapo and annexing itself to the town of Tuxedo in Orange County.
       The secession was proposed Tuesday night by Sloatsburg Mayor Thomas B. Smith as a means of combatting what he called the “financial dictatorship” of the town of Ramapo over its incorporated villages.
       Angered by town re-assessment of village property which has hiked property tax assessments as much as 40 per cent Smith proposed “some drastic moves to force the rollback of this latest economic blackmail on the part of the town of Ramapo.”
       Smith accused town Assessor Clara Williams of “destroying the American dream,” adding that “one revolution was fought over taxation, and I propose another.”
       To the applause of 75 village residents, Smith said he was “tired” of seeing village taxes go for recreational facilities and services for residents of unincorporated areas of the town.
       He said the village should consider annexing itself to Tuxedo, its neighbor to the north in Orange County, and a town with which “we have more in common.”
       Smith also asked Ramapo to send a representative to Sloatsburg on tax “Grievance Day” so village residents wouldn’t have to go to Town Hall in Tallman to protest their assessments.
       Baron rejected the request.
       The supervisor said he wasn’t surprised by Smith’s call for secession because he had “discussed the matter with Mr. Smith” at a recent meeting.
       “I have no objection to it,” Baron said, “but I have a sneaking suspicion that they’ll run into the same kind of problems they’ve had here.”
       Sloatsburg’s problems, the supervisor continued, derive from its status as “a village located at the fringe of a suburban area.
       “They’re confronted with a limited economic base to provide services,” he said, adding that Sloatsburg would be in a comparable situation if it joined Tuxedo.
       Baron attributed the increased assessments in Sloatsburg to “errors in last year’s assessment which were corrected” and to increased development in parts of the village.
       Last year, Ramapo reassessed all property at full market value and began a yearly review of assessments described by Baron as “the best in the state.”
       He said that Sloatsburg residents, like residents in the town’s five other incorporated villages, pay a smaller tax than residents of unincorporated areas. The village receives some police protection and a reduced rate for dumping its garbage at the town landfill, he said.
       “Nobody likes to pay taxes,” Baron said. “All our role is is to see that everyone pays a fair and equitable share of the taxes.”
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This Week in Rockland (#FBF Flashback Friday) is prepared by Clare Sheridan on behalf of the Historical Society of Rockland County. © 2024 by The Historical Society of Rockland County. #FBF Flashback Friday may be reprinted only with written permission from the HSRC. To learn about the HSRC’s mission, upcoming events or programs, visit www.RocklandHistory.org or call (845) 634-9629.


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