HISTORY & MYSTERIES
In 1913 the Overman Tire Company in New York City ran a test to demonstrate “the ability of Overman cushion tires to withstand the abuse to which tires ordinarily are subjected by the average driver.” A National touring car was outfitted with a set of Overman cushion tires and driven over different routes and road … Continue reading Drive to the New Croton Dam, 1913
Thanks to our friend Carl Oechsner we were able to get our hands on a copy of the 1938 Croton-on-Hudson phone directory.1 The plan was to scan some of the ads like the ones for the Mikado Inn, Konco’s Garage, and Robbins Pharmacy shown below. But when we looked closer and saw listings for well-known … Continue reading Croton-on-Hudson Phone Directory, 1938
In January, 1890, Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly published an article by C. Hills Warren that looked back nostalgically at the history of the Albany Post Road.1 By that time the importance of the road—once the only major route for stage coaches running from New York City to Albany—had long since been eclipsed by steam boats … Continue reading Croton’s Old Post Road Inn, 1890
This is the second in a series of rare 19th century images of Croton, selected from a collection that Croton filmmaker, journalist and history-buff Ken Sargeant photographed many years ago at the Ossining Historical Society. To see the first installment click here. Bethel Cemetery Gateway, circa 1860-1870 Although you’d never guess it from looking at … Continue reading Bethel Cemetery Gateway
Croton filmmaker, journalist and history-buff Ken Sargeant has shared with us a disk of images he acquired many years ago when he was doing some work with the late Roberta Arminio at the the Ossining Historical Society. Ms. Arminio was a long-time director of the OHS, as well as the Ossining town and village historian. … Continue reading Croton’s First Train Station
Here is a detailed map of what Croton looked like in 1872. Known then as Croton Landing, the village consisted mainly of houses and businesses along what we know today as Grand Street, Brook Street, and Riverside Avenue. If you look at the top left side you can see that Riverside Avenue got its name … Continue reading Croton Landing, 1872
Below is issue 2 of Theodore J. Cornu's extraordinary hand-drawn, hand-lettered, self-published journal, Hudson Valley Echoes. To see issue 1 click here. Issues 3 to 4 are coming soon . . . When the publication opens you can click on the pages and enlarge them. The embedded viewer uses Flash, so if you don't see … Continue reading Hudson Valley Echoes, Issue #2
Where are the Devil’s Footprints? This simple question was recently posed to a group of Crotonites—experts in local history, in Hudson Valley geology, and some people who grew up here and explored all of Croton’s old ruins and haunted places in their youth. They all had the same reply: “What footprints?” The answer takes us … Continue reading The Mystery of the Devil’s Footprints
At first glance you might think this beautiful print is an etching made by a Hudson River painter—looking north from Scarborough, showing a sweeping, placid panorama of the widest section of the river, stretching from Rockland Lake to the mouth of the Croton. The artist has depicted a sailboat in the foreground—representing the romantic, natural … Continue reading View of Haverstraw Bay, circa 1868
Pasted among the photographs of Mabel Dodge Luhan’s home in Taos, New Mexico, is this one of the barn at Finney Farm in Croton. The album page is part of the Mabel Dodge Luhan papers at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. See this previous post for a beautiful depiction of Finney Farm on … Continue reading Finney Farm, circa 1916-19
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