National Award-winning,
Family-run Newspaper
Log in Subscribe
History
Sort by: Featured Most recent
188 results total, viewing 126 - 150
The Festival of the Founding Fish 2023 emblem.
Retrospect
As far back as 2012, Debra Conway, at that time beginning her second year as the Director at Fort Delaware Museum of Colonial History in Narrowsburg, was advocating for an annual festival in the … more
|
A Delaware River Scene: Postmarked in Hambletville, New York in 1911, this postcard was published by G.V. Millar of Scranton, Pa. The image for the card was likely made from a glass plate negative recently donated to the Sullivan County Historical Society in Hurleyville. When Charles Bergner’s former Callicoon home was sold, the plates were found by the new owners in an outdoor shed. Bergner, who was married to Jenny Curtis, also worked for G.V. Millar as a sales representative for some time, and he traveled in that role to different hotels and boarding houses to sell restaurant supplies. It’s possible that he is the photographer who captured this image in Deposit over a century ago.
May 16, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago - 1873 The Town of Callicoon may claim with no small degree of pride that it stands alone as the promoter of agricultural interests in our county. We know of no other section in … more
|
A sportsmen’s parade
Long before the O&W Railway touted the healing environment that was Sullivan County beginning in the 1880s, the Erie Railroad had been established along the county’s western edge. By … more
|
‘Halsey Corners’ Home: Many people have passed this dwelling at the corner of 17B and Route 115 in Bethel (Pucky Huddle Road) and wondered how soon it will succumb to gravity. Its legacy as part of the Halsey Corners of West Bethel is nearly forgotten, because it likely had its beginning well over a century ago. In 1984, Bethel Historian Beatrice Schoch wrote: “According to Mr. Ralph MacArthur, who owns this building and in whose family it has been for many years before the little building was built, this was never a toll house. It was a wash house behind the barns that were used as a way station for teamsters hauling a distance too great for one team or without a rest. It was moved where it is now about 1900 and used for some years as a home.” The Halsey Inn, which stood across from this on 17B, was reportedly owned by two of Mr. MacArthur’s aunts at one time; his mother was a Halsey before marriage. In the 1850 U.S. census, David Halsey is listed as an innkeeper in Bethel, and the inn is depicted across the road on the 1856 Gates map and the 1875 Beers Atlas. The late Callicoon historian Charles S. Hick wrote in the Sullivan County Record in 1944 about the Halsey Four Corners (as the intersection had been known), adding that they were also known sometimes as the McArthur Four Corners: “Many of you remember the ruins of the old tavern and the numerous barns that were a part of the es­tablishment... Here the horses on the turnpike stage coach were changed at that time and the passengers were provided with meals [at the hotel]... Every one was served with a meal, fresh horses were hitched to the coach, and every one was on his way with as little loss of time as possible.”
May 9, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago - 1873 The “island” in the Delaware River was completely swept away by the late flood. Mr. Charles Muller of Jeffersonville has recently produced an accurate and … more
|
Arthur C. Butts.
Famous Sullivan County murder trials
Few Sullivan County residents have ever attained the success of Arthur C. Butts of Monticello– lawyer, assemblyman, judge, and published author– and yet there are only a handful of locals … more
|
Time machine: Buildings which survived the fire of 1918 on Main Street in Jeffersonville are few. At least two of these buildings still remain. Lixfield’s offered Ballantine’s Beers & Ales at the left. A notice in the Sullivan County Record in 1911 said, “Wm. H. Lixfield is remodeling the interior of his building, formerly the Baum place, so that the cafe floor will be up with the street level. George C. Lixfield has moved his harness business to the Beck building across the street.” A confectionery and the Knell & Durr Café were also renovated at some point, enclosing the balconies you see here. Another sweets and ice cream shop sign is visible down the street. The Eagle Hotel street banner proclaims “Automobile parties accommodated - oil and gasoline for sale - garage and livery - ice cream.”
May 2, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago - 1873 The new charter of the village of Port Jervis passed both houses of the legislature. Our neighbor, Mr. Scheidell of Jeffersonville, has completed a new fence on the border … more
|
The comedian Jean Carroll
The first Mrs. Maisel
It seems as if a number of those who chose to celebrate April as National Humor Month last week by taking in this columnist’s presentation of “Laughter is the Best Medicine: The Borscht … more
|
A busy corner at Briscoe Road: After we published this photo in Glancing Back (March 7, 2023 issue), we heard from Katherine Calkin who grew up on Briscoe Road. She wrote that Eben Lawrence owned the Hotel Lawrence [far right], the Leona, the feed store and miniature golf across the street where the fire department is today. Said Katherine, “The first kindergarten class in White Sulphur Springs [was] housed upstairs in the firehouse. June Ellmauer started the year with us, but was replaced by Edith Paul when Mrs. Ellmauer became pregnant.” She also recalls Jack Eggler’s garage, Fishbein’s market which was only open in the summer, and the house which Jack Eggler lived in, which is on the pond. Does anyone have photos of the miniature golf or the early fire department that they would be willing to share? If so, call Ruth at (845) 887-5200 or email alookatyesteryear@gmail.com
April 25, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago -  1873 Pigeons are again flocking over the county. Several flocks have been seen at different points. Owing to considerable opposition, it is doubtful if Monticello’s … more
|
Some of the participants at last year’s Delaware Company sponsored Highland History Hike at the Minisink Battleground Park listening to the hike’s narrator, Sullivan County Historian John Conway (forground).
History hikes in Hurleyville and Barryville
Hurleyville’s Milk Train Trail and Barryville’s Minisink Battleground Park are the venues for two more in a long line of popular History Hikes, this time to again commemorate national … more
|
April 18, 2023 Edition
110 Years Ago - 1913 A. Brown and A. Mitchell of the garage firm of Mitchell and Brown have dissolved partnership. Mr. Brown will open and conduct a machine shop and garage on the completion of a … more
|
Like so many trends in the Sullivan County resort industry, the idea of making entertainment a staple of the visitor’s experience began at the Flagler Hotel in Fallsburg.
Laughter is the best medicine
Like so many other Sullivan County hotel trends, from Mission style architecture to telephones in the rooms, it all started with the Flagler.   In 1929, Asias Fleischer and Philip … more
|
Scenes from the commute: More than a century has passed since this postcard was cancelled in Livingston Manor, on its way to Delaware County. The writer was sending word to his sister that all was well and that he would return to Hobart within the month, with his brother. This Artino card is a view of wood chemical industry work, which at one time flourished between Sullivan and Delaware counties. Note the teams pulling the carts were horses and oxen, and their way downhill was unpaved, narrow and likely to be slow going —a lengthy and difficult commute.
April 11, 2023 Edition
110 Years Ago - 1913 Mitchell & Brown, garage and machine shop of Callicoon and agent for Detroiter cars, offer the cars for sale at $850 and $900. Mr. and Mrs. Alec Brown of Callicoon … more
|
Columbia University pitcher W. O’Connell, lower right (#11), played on the Liberty town team during the summer of 1908, when some of the top collegiate players in the country worked at Sullivan County hotels so they could play baseball here.
The reigning fad
For many years prior to 1951, the very best basketball players in the world spent their summers in Sullivan County, honing their skills and showcasing their talents representing one hotel or another … more
|
April 4, 2023 Edition
110 Years Ago - 1913 A fire-charred and completely gutted frame is all that remains of the large garage and machine shop owned by Martin Hermann of South Main St., Callicoon. Five automobiles, … more
|
Dr. Jokichi Takamine.
The chemist and the cherry trees
On March 27, 1912, the first two of thousands of Japanese cherry trees were planted along the banks of the Potomac River in Washington, DC by First Lady Helen Taft, the wife of President William … more
|
March 28, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago -   1873 Sullivan County has one solid Republican on its Board of Supervisors. Think how lonely that poor fellow must be. The Hammonds are about to close their tannery at … more
|
Judge Judith Smith Kaye.
Mother of justice
Judith Smith Kaye was born to immigrant parents in Monticello in 1938, attended a one-room schoolhouse in Maplewood, and graduated early from Monticello High School, where she participated on the … more
|
March 21, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago -  1873 The following is the result of the recent elections which we did not publish last week and are borrowed from the Watchman: Mamakating, Lewis Rhodes, Dem., elected … more
|
Margaret Bross Thomas.
The Barryville family school for young ladies
Chauncey Thomas was one of the most prominent residents of the upper Delaware River valley in the 19th century, a successful entrepreneur who, among other accomplishments, built the first suspension … more
|
March 14, 2023 Edition
110 Years Ago - 1913 A son was born to Mr. and Mrs. George Raum of Kenoza Lake on February 28. John Brustman cut a tree measuring fifty-five feet in length and as straight as a string on the … more
|
Deputy County Clerk J. Maxwell Knapp, who recorded the historic event in the court archive.
Retrospect
Women’s inexorable march toward equality in politics and government in this country has been one of small steps, and there have been many obstacles to overcome. Sometimes in looking back, it is … more
|
March 7, 2023 Edition
110 Years Ago - 1913 In a message delivered by Past District Deputy grand master Charles T. Curtis at the last annual public installation of Delaware Lodge No. 561, Callicoon, he gave evidence … more
|
A Middletown Times Herald photo of Susanna Potsch and her family shortly after her nomination to run for Superintendent of the Poor in 1929. Susanna is bottom right. Her mother, Susanna Schwatz, is next to her and her two daughters are behind them.
Retrospect
There were probably not many Sullivan County women less likely to be the first to win a county wide election than Susanna Potsch.   She was born Susanna Schwatz in Germany in 1887, and came … more
|
Class of 1937 revealed: It may be wintry weather, but readers of the Decades page are certainly not hibernating! A rapid response to last Tuesday’s Glancing Back photo from Bonnie (Poley) Dimler gave us the names of the entire group, thanks to her sharing her mother’s careful identification chart. The following are the names of those pictured, with spouses (not all of whom are known to be 1937 grads). Front row, left to right: Ralph Fisk, William Wagner, Osmer “Ozzie” Long, Earle Poley, Kenneth Werlau. Second row: Robert Ruppert, Clara Knise Ruppert, Edna Long Wagner, Helen Fisher Fisk, Mae Stewart Poley, Marion Maus Emrich, Lillian Weiss Werlau, Albert Emrich. Third row: Ethel Werlau Bennett, Elizabeth Boyd Eschenberg, Katherine Plaskin Bauernfeind, Dorothy Gottschalk Sipple, Rita McCarty Graby, Mildred Korth Whitmore, Madline Plaskin Poley, Anne Steinhauer Pfeifer. Fourth and top row: Jack Bennett, John Eschenberg, Robert Bauernfeind, Ralph Sipple, Ray Graby, Orvis Whitmore, Arnold Poley, Emil Pfeifer.
February 28, 2023 Edition
110 Years Ago - 1913 In this issue of the Democrat we publish an article from the pen of Charles T. Curtis and it is not only interesting but is of great historical value, probably being the best … more
|
James Eldridge Quinlan, writer, editor, publisher, Copperhead.
The copperhead strikes
Regular readers of this Retrospect column over the years should by now be well aware of the fact that one of Sullivan County’s first historians and most noted newspaper publishers, James … more
|
« Prev | 1 … 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 Next »
Currently viewing stories posted within the past 2 years.
For all older stories, please use our advanced search.
© Copyright 2024 Sullivan County Democrat
Powered by Creative Circle Media Solutions