The Schenectady Massacre (of the facts)

The Schenectady Massacre (of the facts)

If you have been following the controversy in Schenectady’s Stockade lately you have to admit it has been a blast.  To catch up, the city wants to build a dock at Riverside Park for boaters to stop by and enjoy the Stockade area of the city. There are those that oppose it and those that favor it.  The Onrust, the 17^th century Dutch Yacht that was built not far from there, has been thrown in the mix because it would like to dock there during times when it is not educating young people.

Now mind you a dock was already proposed and accepted a while back in the northern park of the Stockade but that project fell through.  When The Onrust Project talked to the city officials about having a berth in the Stockade, they were quite agreeable. Since the ability to use the Onrust as an in kind match was allowed by State officials the city and its taxpayers would be saved $150,000 in cost of construction, not to mention a great spot for the Dutch ship.  Who would have guessed that people would be against saving $150,000 and a dock that might allow a few people with money to stop by and spend some of that money in the city.

The arguments against the dock have been all over the place.  One person said that the park is a tranquil place – you know a great place to relax – and in the same breath said it was a haven for prostitutes and druggies.  Another argument is that it will bring drunks, water jets, and other bad elements to the park?  Not sure the logic is with that one since those same people (boaters, ski jets, etc.) don’t seem to perform nefarious things just a few yards north of there at the public boat launch or dock at the Lighthouse in Scotia/Glenville, or even the County dock on the other side of the Stockade.  Not sure why Riverside would attract them but I guess the Stockaders know better than I.  I would like to see the statistics on this though?

The other argument is that it will cause a traffic mess.  I think that refers to the Onrust. They don’t mention the fact that the yearly Art show, running marathon, and Walkabout that bring in thousands each year seems to work just fine.  The Onrust might bring in a handful of people in a day. With the mast down you can’t put more than a hand full of people on the boat.  One Stockade event takes in thousands of people  in one day. The other argument is since the original Onrust was not built on the Mohawk, the replica shouldn’t be.  Of course that is just the ignorance of the person stating it since (s)he obviously has no idea what the Onrust is about, nor knowledge of Dutch history.

The opposition also argue that the Stockade should stay the way it is. Geez, I hope not. Naturally that argument is ridiculous since I’m not sure what “stay the way it is” even means. The Stockade has evolved over the last 382 years and will continue to do so.  There isn’t one building that is standing that  hasn’t been modified one way or the other over the last three centuries.  There is no consistency anywhere in the Stockade.  Walk down Front Street. One sidewalk is cement, a few feet down is asphalt, another few feet is slate.  And if you don’t trip over most of them from the roots of the trees that are protruding – forcing parts of the walk into the air – you have to side step the dog poop – at least I think it is dog poop.  Most of the single family homes have been broken into several apartments. There is your parking problem –  5 or 6 cars per house. That’s not what I call caring for your historic neighborhood.

I would bet if you gave a “History of the Stockade” test to most of these people living there they would flunk badly.  But hey, that is not to say that they don’t have the right to oppose the dock.  There is nothing wrong with not wanting it, but just say you don’t want it.  Making up ridiculous reasons just makes them look silly.  One real estate person tried to state that if I was still living in Albany I wouldn’t even be talking about berthing the boat in Schenectady.  Of course this kind of stupidty, well actually ignorance, seriously damages the person’s argument.  He proves he knows nothing about the mission of the ship, knows nothing about me, and by making such statements looses any credibility he might have had. By the way, we were going to build the ship in Albany – didn’t work out.

Here are the facts!

The Stockade waterfront has been an active waterfront with docks, wharves, warehouses, boat builders, boat houses, and even an ice house for the last three centuries. The Park was officially created on December 28, 1914. The Park only ceased to be an active boat site during the 1950s.   The Park has never been “tranquil” and has been an active park with boaters and docks only until relatively recent times.

The earliest known structure in the “park” was John Glen’s brewery – that’s right a beer joint – in 1698, eight years after the massacre.  It was located north of Washington Ave and south of Church Street.

The Glen Brewery in 1698 in what is now Riverside Park. Portion of the Wolfgang Romer map.

When Schenectady became an important boat building center in the 18th century, a florishing boat building industry grew up along the waterfront from an area near the community college along the Binnekill all the way up to North Ferry and later beyond that. In fact, they built a special version of the “Durham Boat” (the ones Washington used crossing the Delaware) called “The Schenectady Boat.”  It was used to carry cargo and this part of the riverfront was the beginning of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, a precursor of the Erie Canal created by Philip Schuyler. It was also used when the original Erie Canal was built but due to floods was moved up to the Erie Blvd section of today. There are remnants of the original canal off Cucumber Alley according to the late historian Bill Massoth.  If that had stayed canal, there would be no Stockade as we know it today.

Prepared from eyewitness observations in 1807, this engraving shows a river freighter passing through one of Schuyler's wing dams in the Mohawk while a large batteau waits its turn. Source: NYS Museum.

For 80 years (1740-1820) Schenectadians built many river batteaux that lined the Mohawk, ferrying goods, troops, supplies and settlers. The larger Schenectady Boat gave Schenectady an economic advantage over other areas as these boats could carry more cargo that normal sized batteaux.

Warehouses lined the Binnekill in this 1897 painting by Rufus Grider. Source: NYS Museum.

Same view as above but the Binnekill has been filled in making Van Slyke Island now part of the mainland. SCCC is now in this location. Photo by Don Rittner.

This part of “downtown” Schenectady burned in 1819 and forever changed the course of the Stockade.  The fire burned up to Union and wiped out 169 buildings and displaced over 200 people.  Both sides of Front Street from Washington to Governors’ Lane, on the north side, and to the storehouse of Jeremiah Fuller on the south side were laid to ashes. The heroic efforts of many Union College students forming water lines helped quell the fire and saved several homes.

Fletcher Joyner built ice racers at the bottom of Governor's Lane in 1898. Source: Don Rittner

Another view of Fletcher Joyner's boat maker's buildings in the park on Jan. 1, 1892. Source: Don Rittner.

Businesses along the riverfront, now park, had to deal with the annual problem of ice flow during the winter. These buildings were located near Governor's Lane. Source: Don Rittner.

For many years you could take a ferry across the river from the foot of Governor's Lane. Source: Don Rittner.

The intent of the city was to rebuild in the same location but at the same time of the fire the new Erie Canal was being built just a few hundred yards east of the area and so the business community decided to rebuild along this new economic corridor.  It is for this reason that the Stockade remains the residential neighborhood it is today.

Newspaper article on November 27, 1819 from eyewitness of Schenectady's fire.

Riverside Park was approved on December 11, 1913 and was purchased in piecemeal fashion until December 28, 1914 when the city officially accepted the name Riverside Park by resolution.  There may have been some land additions or subtractions during the 1920s. The park originally extended up to the railroad bridge. A narrow strip of land of about 1/3 mile long, the park is accessible from five narrow residential streets. Currently there are tennis courts, basketball court, volleyball and a small, children’s playground.

1928 Randall Map showing the original limits of Riverside Park north to the RR Bridge.

1892 map showing Proper's Ice Houses at the end of North Street.

1905 map showing extensive ice houses and buildings between the RR bridge and North Street.

The creation of the park was a huge hit with Stockade residents and city residents in general.  Several of the boat houses lining the park provided boat rentals and events in the park for years.  Perhaps one of the most famous was the Yates Boathouse that was located just south of the pump station near North Ferry Street, the site of the proposed new dock.

Some Stockade residents don't want to see this ever happening again - people using boats on the river in the park! The Yates Boat House near N. Ferry. Source: Don Rittner.

The Yates Boat House rented “scows” (heavy boats) for 10 cents an hour.  They had a fleet of canoes too.  You could rent a “skiff” for 25 cents an hour. The boathouse also had a dance floor above. This boathouse was popular up to the 1920s.

Over the years, most of the buildings in the park burned, were torn down, or destroyed by passing ice in the winters until we ended up with the park as we know it today.

The bottom line though is the park has never been a stagnant tree lined solitude for just Stockade residents as they believe.  As you can see in just a few photographs here, Riverside was always a vibrant, ever changing, connection to the river for all Schenectadians and this included boating and docks.  Some Stockade residents can object to building a new dock but they better come up with different arguments than it has always been a quiet tranquil setting for Stockade residents.  Historically, dear readers, that has been only a temporary condition.

Another view of the Yates Boat House near N. Ferry. Source: Don Rittner.

Yes one more image of the Yates Boat House in case you didn't get the point. Source: Don Rittner.

Oh no!! All these boaters must be making way too much noise for Stockaders during the early 20th century! Source: Don Rittner.

"Littering" the park with all those canoes. Surely that would not be allowed today. Source: Don Rittner

Oh No, docks in the park?? How can that be! Oh, that's right there have always been docks in the area for centuries. Source: Don Rittner

Good thing Charles Steinmetz is not alive today. As shown here he would not be able to park his canoe in the park today. That's where he was headed. Source: Don Rittner.

Another view of those pesty docks at the foot of North Ferry Street. Source: Don Rittner

Lots of boats and a floating dock in the park on June 19 1897.

Here you can many homes and businesses along the area that is now park in this photo taken around the turn of the 20th century. The smoke stack is at the end of N. Ferry Street, site of the proposed new dock. Source: Don Rittner

A close up of the previous image showing several boats at the end of N. Ferry. Source: Don Rittner.

Read Full Post »

The Susan Watkins Mystery? Solved?

Clyde Fitch. Source: Wilkipedia.

The Susan Watkins Mystery?

Clyde Fitch is known to drama circles as the first American to have his plays published. While he was born in Elmira, NY in 1865 he grew up in Schenectady’s Stockade district and attended a private school taught by Anne Wood at 145 Front Street.

He went to Amherst College at 18 and received a BA degree in literary arts, not science, which he did not like. He and another student Barry Bulkley were editors of the school’s weekly college paper. Fitch concentrated on the poetical work for the paper. His work was in demand by Life and other weeklies and his money made from that writing helped defray the cost of school.  His friend also said that Fitch “As a female impersonator in amateur theatricals was unsurpassed.  In college he was very popular, despite a certain efficiency of manner and speech which were marked, but were unnoticed when one knew the man. No one was more keen in his interest in manly sports than Fitch and he enjoyed the affection of the entire college.”

Clyde Fitch (standing between two female classmates) in last row posing around 1878-80 in Ms. Alice Wood’s private school at 145 Front Street. Source: Don Rittner

Here lies the mystery. Fitch went on to become the first American playwright to have his his plays published and became one of the most successful and famous playwrights in two decades in the early 20^th century. He had five plays running on Broadway at the same time.  He wrote over 60 plays, including 36 originals ones. Most writers have assumed he was gay and there is some evidence from letters between him and Oscar Wilde that he may have had a fling.  One article in the paper describes his flamboyant nature.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram September 16, 1909.

Meanwhile, back in 1834 Governor Joseph Yates commissioned  a local cabinet maker to create a dollhouse for his granddaughter Susan Watkins of Schenectady who had come to live with them at 17 Front Street after their mother (his daughter) Anna Alida Yates had died.  Susan was five when the doll house was made. The doll house still exists and you can see it in the Schenectady County historical society. Susan died at the age of 17 in 1846 according to their records.

Governor Yates House, 17 Front Street. Source Don Rittner, City Historian.

The Yates Dollhouse. Source: http://schenectadyhist.wordpress.com/

Fitch died of Appendicitis in 1909 in France and brought back to America in 1910.  He did not have a will so his estate went to his father William G. Fitch who was in Hartford, Connecticut.

An article in the Wilkes Barre Times dated September 6, 1909 adds to the mystery.  In it a childhood friend of Fitch, unidentified in the story, relates that the reason why Fitch never married was the fact that he was in love with his childhood sweetheart Susan Watkins who died in in 1884. Fitch had visited her grave whenever he was visiting Schenectady.  According to the paper, “A mound in Vale Cemetery in “Old Dorp”  known on the map as Schenectady, is the reason for Fitch dying a bachelor, and under that mound was put, twenty five years ago the body of Susan Watkins, the boyhood love of Fitch.” The story ends that only a “intimate few knew of his buried hopes.”

Here lies the problem.  According to the Historical Society, Susan died at 17 in 1846. There is no burial record of Susan Watkins at Vale.  The head of Vale found that there is a Charles Watkins (died in 1865), Emma (1886), James (1864) and a John (1876), but no Susan.  According to the newspaper article Fitch’s childehood Susan died in 1885 and if it is the same Susan it would have made her 56 when she died.  Fitch was 44 when he died.  The numbers don’t seem to add up.

Wilkes Barre Times 9-6-1909, describing Susan Watkins.

So the question comes back to this. Where is Susan?  If she is not at Vale, where is she? Is this the same Susan Watkins of Fitch’s heart who according to some think he was gay but to others lifelong in love with his childhood sweetheart?

The mystery continues.

Addendum

Chris Hunter, archivist for the Schenectady Museum found a Susan Watkins buried in St. George’s Church burial ground.  She may have been interred in the old Green Street cemetery at first and then transferred to St. George’s and the unidentified friend in the newspaper article may have simply remembered the wrong cemetery.  The listing at St. George’s lists

St George's Burial notation of Susan Watkins. Source: Burial Book.

Susan Teresa Watkins death record as June 12, 1885.  Next to her death is noted “In te domine speravi” which is Latin for “In thee, O Lord, I have hoped, let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in thy justice.” Since this appears to be the only Susan Watkins buried in Schenectady and the death date matches up pretty well with the unidentified newspaper account, we can assume this is our Susan.  The question still remains if Fitch was homosexual then why was his carrying this torch for Susan all these years?

Case Solved?

My friend and colleague Chris Hunter, archivist for the Schenectady Museum found the following information. I will add what he wrote:

“Susan is interred in a vault in the Bronx with her grandfather Governor Yates. They were moved there from the Green Street Cemetery in 1889.

Answering one question often leads to a journey of new questions. After Susan D. Watkins died in 1846, she was interred in the Yates family vault adjoining the old Green Street Cemetery, joining her grandfather, New York Governor Joseph C. Yates, who had died in 1837. Eventually 13 members of the Yates family were placed in the vault.

Governor Joseph C. Yates was Schenectady’s first mayor in 1798, a New York State Senator, a judge for the State Supreme Court, and governor from 1823-1824.

As the Stockade neighborhood continued to grow, pressure grew to move the old cemetery.  In 1879 the Green Street Cemetery was closed and the bodies and gravestones were moved to Vale Cemetery near the State Street entrance, where the stones are still preserved today. The Yates vault remained only two blocks from Yates’ former home on Front Street for another 10 years. In 1889, Joseph Yates’ daughter Josepha Jane Neill, at the age of 77, decided to erect a new family vault closer to her home in New York City. She settled on St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, located in the Bronx. On December 3 and 4 1889, family members Edward Watkins and Charles Yates oversaw the removal of 13 caskets from the vault. The remains included Joseph Yates, his three wives (he was twice a widower), two of his three daughters, one son-in-law, and six grandchildren. Ten of the caskets had nameplates; the other three had lost the nameplates over the years.

After 60 years, the event had been largely forgotten. City Historian William Efner and Yates descendant William C. Yates located Joseph Yates’ grave at St. Peters. Being a re-internment into a private vault, the official burial register contained no record of the internment, and church officials sifting through paper records eventually found an unofficial transcription of the nameplates.  A casual visitor to St. Peter’s would notice a large vault with the name Neill etched above the entrance, they would see no mention of the name Yates or that there is a New York governor buried there.  Josepha Jane Neill died in February 1890, just over two months after the move, and just two days after a relative, Anna Neill. Probably because of those events, proper recognition was never given to the Yates presence in the cemetery.

Those that were moved included:

Governor Joseph C. Yates, died March 19, 1837, age 64 years, 4 months, and 8 days.

His wives:

Ann Ellice Yates, daughter of Dr. Adams of Schenectady; wife of Joseph C. Yates, February 7, 1754 to November 15, 1793 age 39 years

Maria Kane Yates, second wife of Joseph C. Yates (no nameplate)

Ann Elizabeth DeLancey Yates, January 31, 1771 to January 4, 1864

His daughters:

Helen Maria Paige, died January 5, 1829, age 31 years and 4 months

Anna Alida Watkins, no dates

Son-in-law

Samuel M.  Neill, September 25, 1807 to April 12, 1865

Grandchildren:

Susan D. Watkins, September 6, 1828 to March 4, 1845

Joseph C.Y. Watkins, September 1831 to June 6, 1870

Ann Elizabeth Neill, August 18, 1833 to June 15, 1841

Mary M. Neill, March 14, 1835 to January 30, 1836

Anna E Yates, (no nameplate, just a note she had died young)

John Daniel Watkins, son of Daniel Watkins and A.A. Watkins (no nameplate)

Interred directly into the Neill vault:

Josepha Jane Yates Neill, daughter of Joseph C. Yates, died February 13, 1890, age 78 years

Anna Josepha Yates Neill,, died February 11, 1890

Joseph C.Y. Neill, died in London, England, May 30, 1839 to February 17, 1893

John DeLancey Neill, Died August 1891, age 49”

Great job Chris.  This of course solves two mysteries.  Now we know where Governor Yates is buried.

Read Full Post »

Don’t Complain About The Weather!

Lots of earthquakes and volcanoes popping their lids lately. However, weird weather is nothing new and it has affected us here in the Capital District during the past too!

The volcano erupting from beneath Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull glacier and causing havoc at airports across northern Europe is nothing considering some events during the 19^th century. In 1816, most of the Northeast didn’t have a summer. In May, there was half an inch of ice that killed much of the vegetation. On June 8th, there was ice and snow falling in Troy reaching 3 inches. On July 5th, there was ice the thickness of windowpane glass. It was known as the “Year Without A Summer,” “Poverty Year,” and “Eighteen Hundred Froze To Death.”

This is what Harper’s Bazaar reported:

“Both January and February of 1816 were warm and springlike, so much so that settlers let their fireplaces die. The cold started in March, with each day windy and blustery. Despite the weather, spring crops were planted, with vegetation well under way by April when unusual cold moved in. Snow or sleet fell for 17 different days in May, killing the fruit trees. June saw frost and snow for all but 3 days, it lasted through July. August was worse, with ice coating the fields, vegetation was gone, wildlife had moved to distant lands and panic felled upon the people.”

The cause? Three major volcanic eruptions took place between 1812 and 1817. Volcano Soufriere on St. Vincent Island erupted in 1812, followed by Mayon in the Philippines in 1814 and Tarnbora on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia in 1815.

Tambora had the most dramatic effect. This 13,000-foot volcano blew flame and ash from April 7 to 12, 1815, and blew 37 to 100 cubic miles of dust, ashes, and cinders into the atmosphere, generating a globe-girdling veil of volcanic dust.

Two years later on March 2, 1818, one fourth of Troy was covered by water 18 inches above the norm. Topping that was the flood on March 12, 1832 that was 18 inches higher than the previous one and made its way up to Fifth Avenue as far north as Congress.

On January 4, 1835, Troy experienced one of its coldest days ever. It was 32 degree below zero at sunrise. A month later, eruption of Nicaragua’s Mt. Coseguina in February 1835 cooled the world from the effects of its dustveil. Historical climatologists regard 1835 and 1836 as particularly cool years.

A flood in 1857 ripped off a railroad bridge above the State dam and tossed it against the north side of the covered bridge of the Rensselaer & Saratoga Railroad (present day Green Island bridge location) in Troy.

On September 6, 1881, the Northeast experienced a day that appeared to have no daytime. The sky was dark all day and yellow with a brassy appearance, with virtually no daylight. This may have been the result of a major set of fires in Michigan in an area called the Thumb. Twenty villages burned as forest fires raged on that whole day. The smoke filtered out most of the light and left a brassy tinge on everything downwind for hundreds of miles. Some 282 people were killed, a million acres burned, and $250,000 worth of damages.

In February, 1886, the section of Troy from River, First, Second, Third, north to Liberty and Fourth, Fifth Avenue, and beyond Ferry Street was inundated by a flood.

On March 13, 1888, more than 4 feet of snow fell on the area creating the infamous blizzard of 88 and bringing the Capital District to a standstill! Albany had over 40 inches of snow.  Troy had the most at 55 inches!!  Saratoga had 50 inches. The Albany Express became snowbound at Hastings-on-Hudson for 48 hours. Many of the passengers were so affected by the experience that they formed The Snow Birds promising to meet annually on 12 March to remember the event.

North Pearl Street during the Blizzard of 1888.

On February 14, 1900, three men lost their lives in Albany and half a million dollars’ worth of damage has been done to property along the Hudson River by the worst freshet which the city had seen since 1857.

On March 28, 1913, no one could brace for the flood that rose two and half feet above the flood of 1886 – totalling 28 feet above sea level. This flood covered everything in Troy from Washington Park, Ferry Street, Fifth Avenue, First Street, Liberty Street and Square, Second, third, fourth and Congress Street, Van Buren Street, and for the first time ever Franklin Square. This was repeated in 1936.  In Albany, lower State Street and Broadway were inundated and needed canoes to travel.

1913 flood in Albany on Lower State and Broadway. Source: Don Rittner

There was that little incident when Troy was hit with radioactive rain on April 26, 1953 (see my story about it here on Aug 24, 09). Then there was that little hurricane in 57 or 58, I believe, in which I heroically saved 8 year old Charlotte’s (my first girlfriend) baby carriage and her pre-Barbie from becoming astronauts in front of the Taylor Apartments.

Feeling wet about now? Just remember what humorist Kin Hubbard said: “Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while. “

Read Full Post »