130 Years Ago - 1895

Philip Hembdt of near Kenoza Lake will have another story added to his Halfway House, which has been found insufficient to accommodate the demand for summer boarders. Builder Martin Hermann of Callicoon Depot has the contract.

Personal — Wanted: Eleven big, robust fellows to play football, “just for the fun of it.” Only those who can slug, bite, chew, bunt, gouge, scratch and pull hair need apply.

Three new cases of diphtheria have appeared in the family of W.H. Pfeiffer, below the village. The two cases had recovered and the quarantine was about to be raised, when Mrs. Pfeiffer and two of her other children were taken down with the disease.

I have often known of men going on a drunk and quitting work, but the first instance of a cow doing such a disgraceful thing came to my knowledge this week. A cow belonging to one of our residents got into an orchard the other day and filled herself upon forbidden fruit. She became intoxicated and immediately quit work, wouldn’t produce any more milk. Flossy is now in the state of katzenramma, and doesn’t seem to care a continental whether the family get milk for their coffee or not.

120 Years Ago - 1905

A son was born to Charles Wilfert and wife of Mill Street, Jeff, last week.

Dr. Charles E MacDonald of Liberty left last week to re-enter the United States Army at Manila, P.I., as a surgeon, after an absence of nine months from the service.

George Yager, the mineral water manufacturer, has bought the 63-acre farm of Mrs. Margaret Eggler on Swiss Hill for $1,000. George is getting to be quite a property holder.

William Kohler, the contractor, has bought 69,000 foot of planed pine lumber of Bell & Hill who operate a mill in the town of Bethel.

A.B. Metzger of Bayonne, N.J., who was stopping with his wife at the Eagle Hotel for several days, has bought of Charles W. Wilfert a building lot on the east side of the latter’s house.

There is much talk about appointing ex-President Grover Cleveland as the head of the American Delegation on the new Hague Conference. It is said that he will be appointed. He can be induced to serve, and a great many people who admire his sturdy personality, irrespective of politics, hope that he will consent to act.

110 Years Ago - 1915

Little interest was taken in the primaries Tuesday, except where candidates were located and working. Even election officials are so indifferent over the primary vote that some of them don’t seem to care how soon the results are turned in.

A dispatch from Manila, Philippine Island, says regarding Dr. Frederick A. Cook, the explorer and native of Callicoon who went to India to climb Mt. Everest, the highest peak in the Himalayas: “Dr. F.A. Cook and his party upon their arrival here September 26, attacked the British authorities in the Orient for preventing the expedition from exploring Mount Everest, charging the party with participating in a revolutionary movement in India.”

The old historic bridge at Bridgeville, below Monticello, within another year will be a thing of the past.  For 110 years it has stood the attacks of storm and wind affording a safe passageway over the beautiful Neversink. Tourists through Sullivan County always found an object of wonder and amazement in the covered bridge, the last one of its kind and age in New York state.

A meeting of all women on the community who are interested in equal suffrage is to be held at the Union Chapel in Jeffersonville, for the purpose of organizing a suffrage campaign club here.

Edward Till, bartender at D.J. Stark Globe Hotel in Callicoon, was nearly scalped when his Ford car overturned on the North Branch road near Jeff at about midnight Monday and he was caught under the car.

100 Years Ago - 1925

Mrs. L.E. Gabriel of Fosterdale lost her wedding ring fifty years ago and many searchers failed to find it. She lost it while picking grapes. Last week her granddaughter, Miss Hazel Fischer, was picking grapes there and found the ring.

The Globe Hotel at Long Eddy burned to the ground early Wednesday morning last week, the occupants escaping with their lives only.

Roy Hess and Louis Mall have embarked in the raising of silver foxes on their farms on the North Branch road. The furs are very valuable.

After the wind-up of the ball game here last Sunday the Jeff team was given a chowder party at Dedling’s Delaware Inn by feminine fans, and fifty or more partook of the feast served by the ladies, winding up the affair in social song and reminiscences.

Mrs. Val  Scheidell gave a party Friday night in honor of the sixteenth birthday anniversary of her youngest daughter, Henrietta.

90 Years Ago - 1935

Very little opposition developed at the special village election Monday evening on the proposition to issue bonds not to exceed $10,000 toward the purchase of lands and the building of a new water supply reservoir. The total vote of 87 constituted less than one-half of the listed property owners in the village.

Yesterday, Wilbur Myers of Jeff and Theodore Weiss of Kenoza Lake, graduates of Jeff High School, hopped aboard a Ford coupe and headed for California to see what the prospects are for two young men in the Golden State.

Adolph Frankel, Jeffersonville paint and hardware merchant for the past fifteen years, is opening another store in the Sprague building on North Main Street, Liberty, which will be in the charge of his elder son, Sidney.

Abe Strong, the 27-year-old Cochecton plane builder and pilot, has, through his attorney Ellsworth Baker, brought suit against Dr. Alfred l. Standfast of Cochecton, claiming malpractice in the treatment of two fractured bones in his left hand, when his plane crashed to the ground at Cochecton last December. The hand, he alleges, is permanently deformed.

Manuel A. Alexander, New York actor, playwright and director, who has a bungalow on Lake Jefferson at the eastern end of this village has brought an action to recover $2,000 from the State of New York, claiming damage to his property by reason of the new state road construction which has left his property six feet below the new road.

The first heavy frost came here Monday night when water froze to ice outdoors. The days are warm and pleasant.

All property and equipment of Deerpark Brewery at Port Jervis was sold at foreclosure last week to the Finance Company of America for $15,000. The brewery company has filed a petition in bankruptcy, with liabilities of $60,000 and assets of $7,200, included in the latter being 1,000 barrels of beer.

80 Years Ago - 1945

Frank Graham of Swan Lake has bought the house in Delaware, bought about ten years ago by Frank Hess, and which was one of the several houses built by Edward F. Kohler some years ago, when the building boom was on in that section of Jeffersonville.

A family from Binghamton moved into the Jacob VonBergen home in Delaware, last week. The head of the family, an ex-soldier, is employed in the Davis Woodworking Mill in White Sulphur Springs.

A 7 lb. 6 oz. son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Louis Mall (nee Sue Schwartz) of Jeff on September 26 at the Liberty-Loomis Hospital.

Among the class completing the 36-week Army Air Forces B-29 flight engineer course at Hondo, Texas, on September 17 and awarded the newly adopted AAF flight engineer wings, was Second Lieut. Warren G. Ruppert.

Whether or not the worshippers at the Presbyterian service last Sunday morning thought the day of judgment was at hand, they were considerably shaken up when there was an explosion of the oil burning furnace in the basement. Some declared they were raised off their seats.

Sgt. Paul Freer, eldest son of Dr. and Mrs. Arch Freer of Jeffersonville, and Miss Louise Hahn, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Hahn of Callicoon Center, were married recently at Rapid City, So. Dak., where the former is stationed.

It is being predicted that General MacArthur will be retired because of his age within the coming year. When this takes place he will be given a place on the military staff command which President Truman intends to organize as a government body.

70 Years Ago - 1955

Charles G. Burns, one of Monticello’s most beloved citizens and the first man to serve under the title of mayor in the Village of Monticello, died Thursday morning at the Hamilton Avenue Hospital.

Mr. and Mrs. Sam Luboff of Youngsville announce the engagement of their daughter, Thelma, to Stewart S. Wahl of Middletown.

Cono Manzolillo will be leaving the Liberty Cleaners shortly to start work with the Edson Tegeler Real Estate and Insurance Agency in Jeff.

Shirley Cooper, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Cooper of Youngsville, was surprised on Thursday evening with a miscellaneous bridal shower. She will become the bride of Jerome Bone of  Binghamton November 5.

M. and Mrs. John Taylor of Kenoza Lake are the parents of a son, born September 29th at Maimonides Hospital in Liberty.

After a year of engagement and much publicity, Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds finally took the plunge and were married at Grossinger’s Monday evening at 8 p.m. Judge Lawrence Cooke performed the civil ceremony. About 30 guests were present for the simple ceremony which included their families and close friends.

60 Years Ago - 1965

Mr. and Mrs. Edward Sheppard of North Branch celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary by having an Anniversary Mass said at  St.Mary’s Church in Obernburg.

The condition of Joan E. Barry, North Main St., Liberty, was listed as “critical” yesterday morning by Liberty Maimonides Hospital. She was injured Sunday night when the 1964 Plymouth she was driving easterly on old Route 17 collided head-on with a car driven by Donald A. Goodgion of Liberty on the road between the trooper’s barracks and the Ferndale bridge.

Mr. and Mrs. Paul W. Hermann of Callicoon announce the engagement of their daughter, Sandra Lee, to Arthur Jerome Flynn, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Flynn, also of Callicoon.

50 Years Ago - 1975

Veterans from Castle Point Medical Center were entertained on Sunday at Danny’s Fair  Acres in Smallwood by members of the Sgt. Andrew Brucher Post 5499 and Ladies Auxiliary, VFW. Picnic food and musical entertainment was enjoyed by the disabled veterans.

Miss Billie Ann Stabbert, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred W. Stabbert Jr., Callicoon, became the bride of Peter E. Finch of Peekskill on September 20.

Miss Nancy Engert, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Engert, Callicoon, became the bride of John J. Hughes of Philadelphia, Pa., on September 22, at Holy Cross Church, Callicoon. The couple took a wedding trip around the world.

Jane Ann Coll of Buck Brook Rd., Roscoe, became the bride of Edwin M. Olsen of Callicoon at St. Mary’s Church, Obernburg, on August 16.

Howard and Myrtle Wehner of White Sulphur Springs were guests of honor at a 35th wedding anniversary celebration held Sunday, September 21, at the Liberty Volunteer Ambulance Corps Building.

The new Peck’s Market, located in Livingston Manor, is under construction following groundbreaking ceremonies September 17. The new store will have about 12,000 square feet of space and will cost about $400,000. The Butler steel building is scheduled for completion in February.

40 Years Ago - 1985

The Sullivan County Association for Retarded Citizens has opened a co-op clothing store in the basement of the Brick Building (Plant 1) to be managed by Jean Baird, a Green Thumb volunteer.

Liberty attorney Lazarus Levine was feted recently on his 80th birthday.

Theodore Gordon, the father of American fly-fishing and Arthur Flick, author and fly-fishing expert, were inducted last Saturday in the Fly-fishing Hall of Fame by the Catskill Fly-fishing Center. The two are the first to have this distinction.

Hurricane Gloria was felt in Callicoon Thursday as traffic was backed up on Main Street for nearly three hours. Fifteen feet of the Conrail embankment, near Earl Kinney’s Callicoon Coal Company, collapsed because of heavy rains and slid down on to Main Street. Damage at the Kinney business is estimated at between 18 and 19 hundred dollars. No one was injured. Fire companies from one end of the county to the other were called into service because of flooded cellars, downed wires and trees. Utility crews were shipped to Long Island where the greatest damage of the storm crippled the metropolitan area. During the storm a fire broke out in the Edith Abplanalp home near Briscoe; utility service was knocked out; Callicoon had a flood on upper Main Street with the stream behind the Western Hotel sending water through the property; a tree fell on the kitchen of the William and Peggy Masker home in Livingston Manor, causing severe damage.

Ginger Rasulo of Long Eddy is the first woman ever to receive an honorable membership plaque from the Sullivan County Volunteer Fire Police Association in recognition of the many things she has done for the association.

The Delaware Valley Job Corps Center in Callicoon has received $640 million from the House Appropriations Committee to keep the program alive.

The Liberty Central School District has begun the first phase of a $1.8 million reconstruction project designed to update facilities throughout the district. The two main buildings targeted for updating are the White Sulphur Springs Elementary Building and the Main Street School in Liberty.

Sam Kagan of South Fallsburg blew out the candles on his 90th birthday cake during Saturday’s celebration. A special Village of Woodridge Resolution declared Saturday, September 28, as Samuel Kagan Day in the village. He was joined by his wife of 64 years, Birdie, as he spun tales of how he worked as a panama (straw) hat blocker in a New York City factory before coming to Woodridge 64 years ago.

30 Years Ago - 1995

Jane Eggleton of Roscoe celebrated her 95th birthday with a family gathering at the Hankins Fire Hall recently. More than 100 attended.

Frances and Sam Kurpil of Liberty were honored on the occasion of their 40th wedding anniversary with a gathering at the Fosterdale Heights House. They are the parents of six children – Cindy Geiger, Sam Jr., Jennifer, Michael, Julie Burns and Christina Kurpil.

Robert C. Hill, a senior at Monticello High School, scored 1570 out of a perfect 1600 on his SATs and has been named a semi-finalist in the 1996 National Merit Scholarship Program. He is the son of Barbara and Robert W. Hill.

During a tour of the Sullivan County Soil and Water Conservation at the farm of Willie Hughson in Jeffersonville, Hughson was able to demonstrate his newly installed Omega Milking Parlor System, the first in the northeast, which allows him to milk ten cows at one time, keep track of milking records by computer and permits the farmer to milk approximately 180 cows in about an hour. The system costs approximately $150,000.

Stephanie Frey and Andrew Nolf, both of Shandelee, were married August 5 at the Jeffersonville Presbyterian Church. 

Velvet Stalker, daughter of Nancy and Donald Stalker of Equinunk, Pa., became the bride of Darryl McKinney, son of Susan and Bill Lowe of Roscoe, on September 23. The ceremony took place on the beach of the Delaware River in Long Eddy.

Father Edward Green will go to New York City this week to see Pope John Paul II who is making his first visit there since 1979. Father Green is vicar for 11 Catholic churches in Sullivan County and has been chosen to sit  on the Altar with the pope at Saturday’s Mass which is expected to draw a crowd of more than 100,000. While in New York, the Pope will celebrate  Mass at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers in honor of the 100th anniversary of the seminary.

The Villa Roma Country Club and Resort hosted its fifth annual bridal show. About 100 people attended.

20 Years Ago - 2005

Jack Niflot accepted the prestigious Upper Delaware Heritage Alliance (UDHA) Preservation Award on behalf of Martin Bourne and Scott Pere for their meticulous restoration of the ca. 1842 Doyle House in Long Eddy. Niflot, a local historian who in 1980 spearheaded the founding of the Basket Historical Society of Long Eddy, was honored in 1982 with the UDHA’s first merit award for his work with the Basket Historical Society, which has grown from five members to 250 family memberships.

After approximately 100 years as an artifact of one of the oldest facilities used by the Loomis Memorial Sanitarium for Consumptives – and then as part of the Town of Liberty Highway Barn – the  aging structure along Route 52 in Liberty will be demolished this month to be replaced with a new structure. 

Members of Louis Dirie’s family gathered on July 21 at his home in Jeffersonville on the occasion of his 90th birthday.

William and Rose Wells of DeLeon Springs, Fla., formerly of Monticello, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary recently. They were married September 8, 1945 in Birmingham, Ala.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer recently announced $80,000 for WJFF-FM radio of Jeffersonville as part of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) initiative to assist local public radio stations in making the transition to digital technology. Jeffersonville’s WJFF-FM is one of the six New York public radio stations which are receiving funding in the fourth round of CPB grants.

10 Years Ago - 2015

At 3:40 p.m. on Saturday, October 3, Monticello firefighters were dispatched to a structure fire at Carriage House Apartments in the Village of Monticello, in a storage area on the first floor of the building. Firefighters determined the origin to be in the electrical room in a wall behind the electric meters. Firefighters had to have NYSEG respond to shut off electric to the entire structure. Firefighters then removed all the electric meters to one side of the building to extinguish the fire. One side of the complex remained without electric service, and 22 apartments were left without electric overnight. Approximately 50 residents were assisted by the American Red Cross with temporary housing. 

An eight day jury trial, during which evidence established that a woman visiting Sullivan County between June 15-18, 2014, assaulted a 3-year-old child, who sustained life-threatening injuries, has resulted in a guilty verdict. The child’s condition was noticed by a stranger at the Short-line bus terminal, who called the Village of Monticello Police Department, sparking a criminal investigation by Monticello Police and the Sullivan County Family Violence Response Team, led by New York State Police Senior Investigator Nancy Stack. One of the doctors who testified at trial, a veteran pediatric emergency room physician from Westchester Medical Center, broke down on the witness stand after describing the horrific nature of the child’s injuries.