November - Hoosick Township Historical Society

Hoosick Township Historical Society
November 2013 Newsletter
Louis Miller Museum
www.hoosickhistory.com
518-686-4682
Editor: Phil Leonard
Director: Charles Filkins
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Albany Felt Company (1950 - 1985)
Albany Felt Company was an
important part of the industrial base of
Hoosick Falls for 35 years. The company was
brought to Hoosick Falls by the Committee
for Industry that was established to bring new
manufacturing to the area. In the same year,
the Committee built a factory and brought in
the Nancy Shoe Company.
In September of 1950, the plant began
its operation. It purchased the LaPan
Brothers buildings on Danforth Street and
opened in two of the buildings with
approximately 25 employees. At first people
questioned the eligibility of manufacturing in a zoned residential area. This problem was worked out by
management and the Committee for Industry.
Francis J. McEvoy, a native of Hoosick Falls, was hired to manage the auxiliary plant established because
of the need for additional space for the burling and joint operations in producing papermaking felts. Mr.
McEvoy was employed at the Specialty Insulation Manufacturing Company of Hoosick Falls when hired to
manage the new local company. Manfred Kincaid, formally from here and a graduate of Walter A. Wood High
School and RPI, was manager of the Albany Plant and started to work for the company in 1960. Mr. McEvoy
retired in 1973, and Robert Shiland was appointed manager. “Tink” Shiland was a former village trustee and
was at the time Town of Hoosick Supervisor. Thirty five local people were employed by the company.
Albany Felt Company manufactured papermaking felts for the paper industry. “They were used for
dewartering purpose from wet paper conveyed from the forming section in the paper machine, smoothing the
surface, and transferring the paper without blemishes. Papermaking felts largely influenced the quality of
paper.”
In 1958, the company donated two acres of land next to their facility to the beginning financial drive to
build the new 30 bed Health Center. This was an important step to successfully raise the money needed to
build the center. Just before the opening of the Health Center in the spring of 1960, the company donated 50
virgin wool blankets as an initial gesture to show their support for the needed nursing home.
As paper making decreased in this area, the company merged with two other companies and changed
its name to Albany International Corporation. The new company added engineered composites as a second
core business. In January of 1985, the company announced that in April the firm plans to move its felt finishing
operation and 18 workers from the Hoosick Falls plant and consolidate it into the Menands operation. All
workers were offered the opportunity to transfer to the Menands operation. This was the second company
that announced it was moving out of Hoosick Falls at about the same time. Barclay Home Products, which
operated a sewing center on Hoosick Street, consolidated its Hoosick Falls operation with its Cohoes plant.
Less then half of the 35 workers transferred to Cohoes, leaving 21 unemployed.
In 1986 it was announced that the Albany Felt Company
building would become an adult care facility. Mrs Mary Cook of
North Hoosick and Richard Singerle were partners in the
opening of the Danforth. The plant was renovated to include
two t.v. lounges, a recreation room and 12 semi-private rooms
and 8 private rooms. Mary Cook became the director of the
facility. Starting November 8, 1991 the Adult Home was under
new management. In early 1991 the home was under Chapter 11
Bankruptcy protection. The banks kept the Home operating until
the new management took over. “All this facility needs is an
infusion of capital” said the banks.. Mrs. Mary Cook remained as
the Administrator. A 2.5 million construction was announced and increased the capacity to 80 beds and 1.3
million dollars were applied to refinance an existing loan. The Danforth Adult Care Center is now an integral
part of our area.
Director’s Notes
This is our last newsletter for 2013. Our next newsletter will be the January 2014 issue.
Recently I was asked to present the Battle of Bennington to a group at the NYS Battlefield site.
As I prepared, I thought about some cultural conflicts of the natives vs. the Europeans both those
who had been in America for some time and those who arrived in Burgoyne’s Army.
Native Americans were much more democratic than the Europeans. Among the British and
German soldiers were men who had been pressed into service. The American natives were
volunteer raiders. A leader would announce that he would be leading a war party in a few days.
Every warrior who wanted to come could join on the day the war party left. More unusual,
anyone could leave any time they wanted to drop out. Primary reasons for going home were too
long a raid or a raid where the leader or a group of warriors had been killed. The drop-outs were
not coerced to continue. However they could be ridiculed if they left early and those who stayed
brought back some special trophies with no losses among the raiders.
As raiders the purpose was a mixture of wanting to bring home something special or
sometimes to avenge a relative’s or friend’s death.
Lt. Col. Baum had problems with the Indians who went with him for failing to act like
Europeans. Baum wanted the Indians to bring in horses. The Indians were happy to do this, but
they expected some reward for bringing in a horse. If the European troops didn’t want to reward
them for a horse they brought into camp, then the horse wasn’t really worth anything. Since the
horse wasn’t worth anything, they killed the worthless horse in camp rather than giving it away.
There was a special treat for the Indians in the area: cow bells. When a European settled in the
area the priority was to clear the woods around their cabin making fields for crops. After the
morning milking the cow was turned loose. An older child in the afternoon would follow the
cowbell and drive her back for milking. Baum wanted to have cows brought into his camp for
food. But there was no reward for bringing in a cow. The bell, however, was a worthy trophy.
The Indians followed the bell, killed the cow and took the bell. After all, cow bells were nearly
indestructible noise makers that needed no maintenance. (If this seems foolish to you, have you
ever heard of a hula hoop for which people actually paid money.)
There was another more serious problem. The Indians didn’t know who were the good guys
and bad guys among the European settlers. New York and Vermont established a no Patriot area
in the north where any European who stayed was considered a Loyalist. In New York the town
of Salem was evacuated by Patriots with only some militia remaining. The Indians raided and
killed one Loyalist family in central Washington County, NY. This incident along with Jane
McRae was good propaganda for the Patriots. It also was another plague for the Loyalists.
By the time of the Battle of Bennington, the Indians present had buried a chief and found
themselves outside the hilltop fortifications with Patriots about to attack where they were
camped. They did what was logical, they left.
Another note: When the first English settlers arrived in the future United States, they found the
natives taller and healthier than English and Dutch arrivals. The northeast Indians lived on corn,
pole beans and squash, plus some meat from wild animals and seasonal items such as nuts and
berries. During the Revolutionary War, the European troops encountered European descendants
that were taller and healthier than them. The descendants had been eating Indian foods.
2014
(January - December 2014)
Time to renew or become a member!
Your Society has had another
successful year. Our membership has
stayed high and we have concluded
m any com m unity projects. O ur
Christmas book of 2013 sold over 150
copies making it the highest seller to
date. We have written three more
books for this year. Charles Filkins is
very busy with his genealogy and has
helped many people from all over the
country through E-Mail and museum
visits.
We just finished the first
Historical Tour book for the Village of
Hoosick Falls. With the help of HAYC3
we were able to distribute colored
copies free of charge to the community.
We are working on three more to cover
the whole community.
We appreciate you support of our mission. Become a supporter member.
Use our outstanding Website www.Hoosickhistory.com
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Please make check payable to Hoosick Township Historical Society
Mail to:
P.O. Box 536, Hoosick Falls, NY 12090
With stamps increasing to 49 cents
No increase in membership dues
Nicholas Mahoney “The Gentleman with the Cap and Pipe”
As Superintendent of Schools of the Hoosick
Falls Central School, I spent many interesting
hours with Nicholas Mahoney. He was a
knowledgeable person who would ask tough
questions when trying to get a news story.
He was a true newspaper person.
Mr. Mahoney was born in Troy, New York
on June 9, 1906. He attended Troy High
School, LaSalle Military Institute and St.
Lawrence University. In 1933, he married
the former Laurie McMahon of New York
City, and they moved to New Bedford,
Massachusetts. They had 4 children, two
sons, Michael and Brian and two daughters,
Stephanie and Harrie.
Nick Mahoney
Jan Shields
“He had a long newspaper career. Mr. Mahoney was general manager of the New Bedford
Standard Times, and the Cape Cod Standard Times and started the Sunday Visitor of Cape
Cod. He also started radio stations in New Bedford and Hyannis, Massachusetts. In 1950, he
purchased the Argus Champion, a weekly newspaper in Newport, N.H., and later the Lake
Sunapee (N.H.) Times. After selling this business in 1960, he returned to New Bedford as
assistant publisher of the New Bedford and Cape Cod newspaper.”
He arrived in Hoosick Falls in 1961 when he purchased the Standard Press of Hoosick Falls and
the Washington County Post in Cambridge, New York. The Standard Press was published
every Thursday and was read by most people in the community. It had many pictures and local
news and was important in uniting the community. In 1965, when we started a campaign to
build the community pool, Nick and the standard press had a story every week for one year
about the drive and helped us reach our goal. The next year, he helped get the community
behind the building of the skating rink. When we brought the U.S. Air Force Band and the U.S.
Navy band to the school auditorium, he asked in an editorial, “What about the Marine Band?”
He gave positive coverage to the two schools in the community.
Each week he wrote a column called “Nick’s Knacks” on the editorial page and ended with the
closing “Keep the Faith.” Recently I went to the Louis Miller Museum archives and randomly
took out the Standard Press box of the 1975 papers. I read through the “Nick’s Knacks” from
the first of the year through the middle of the year. Mr. Mahoney was ill and spent some time
in the hospital with a bad case of the flue. He talked about the soap operas his roommate
loved to watch. He wrote about the family in a snow storm, the Irish on St. Patrick’s day and
many other down to earth stories. In March of 1975, due to illness he missed writing two
columns, the first time in twenty years. In April, the newspaper office burned and with the help
of people and other newspapers put out a combined edition of the Standard Press and the
Washington County Post on time.
Nicholas Mahoney died February 8, 1985 at his home in Hoosick Falls following a long illness.
Funeral Services were held at Immaculate Conception Church in Hoosick Falls. Hoosick Falls
lost an outstanding person and community supporter.
Corner of John and Church St.
It’s Coming !