HISTORY & MYSTERIES
One hundred and nine years ago this month lots in Harmon were “selling . . . like hot cakes,” according to an article in the May 24, 1907 issue of the Katonah Times.1 “One mile north of Ossining on the Hudson River there has sprung up a new town. Its name is Harmon. It was … Continue reading Selling Today Like Hot Cakes!
In the June 18, 1931 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, arts and entertainment writer Rian James1 used his column to promote the 8th edition of his vest-pocket Gadabout Guide to New York’s most unusual Restaurants, Night Clubs, Roadhouses. The “Wide-Open Spaces Department” of his column gives us a flavor of life on the roads … Continue reading The Hoity-Toitiest Spot Extant
Here’s a real treat—a double-fold promotional postcard for the Nikko Tea House, probably printed circa 1907 to 1910.1 An artist with the initials “W.K.” created the beautiful images and hand-lettered the map and poem on the centerfold. The map has a wonderful depiction of the Nikko and helpfully provides the location of “police traps” on … Continue reading If You Follow the Road to Harmon, You Surely Can’t go Wrong
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
Here’s a wonderful photograph of the famous Twentieth Century Limited engine at the Harmon yards on May 12, 1938. The image is part of a group of photographs of the engine taken by Robert Yarnall Richie, who worked as a free-lance commercial and industrial photographer for many large corporations. Richie’s work is significant for its … Continue reading The Twentieth Century Limited at Harmon
In a previous post we displayed two ads from 1917 for Goodyear Cord Tires, featuring detailed pen-and-ink drawings of Nikko Inn. These clever bits of Jazz Age cross-promotion appeared in magazines ranging from the Atlantic Monthly and The New Country Life to Travel and Forest & Stream. Now we’ve discovered a much more elegant ad … Continue reading A Sharp and Palpable Difference
It’s a beautiful day and you’ve decided to take a jaunt in your newfangled automobile, going north along the scenic Hudson River. You can’t count on good, well-marked roads, so you’ve brought along the GPS system of the day—a copy of Photo-auto maps . . . New York to Albany which features “photographs of every … Continue reading Motoring Across the Croton, 1912
CROTON 