Our Towne Bethlehem September 2020: Just Some Then and Nows

Keeping it simple for September. 

This month I invite you to enjoy some classic then and now photo sets.  All of the “now” photos were taken in late August 2020.   And one Flash and Dash.  Cemetery walks and a history paddle are on tap this fall.  Visit the Bethlehem Historical Association’s website for details. BethlehemHistorical.org.

 

Students stand in front of the Cedar Hill Schoolhouse in the early 1900s.  The original one room school was built in 1859 and was expanded to the size shown here in 1907.  The building was actively used as a school until 1962.

In this photo taken May 17, 1964, the school is boarded up, in the midst of its transition from the Ravena Coeymans Selkirk Central School District to the Town of Bethlehem and the Bethlehem Historical Association.  The schoolhouse is located at the corner of River Road and Clapper Road in Selkirk.

Organized in 1965, the Bethlehem Historical Association is a vibrant, local history organization whose motto is “Live for Today. Dream for Tomorrow. Learn from Yesterday.” BHA hopes to re-open the museum after the Covid-19 shutdown sometime this fall.  

Organized in 1908, members of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church did not raise their church building at the corner of Elsmere Avenue and Polar Drive until 1926. Before that, they were meeting at a former blacksmith shop Delaware Avenue. This photo is probably from about 1930.

Over the years, St. Stephen’s has made many enlargements to their facility. The light color wing is the original building. The section to the right of the tree in the center of the picture formed the entryway. You can match up the small rectangular vent windows in the peak.  

Lehmann’s Garage has stood on Maple Avenue in Selkirk for over 100 years, one of the oldest continuing family businesses in town.  Jacob Albert Lehmann started out as a blacksmith here in 1913, and his son Albert Jacob transitioned the business to automobile service.  The garage is seen here about 1930 with a truck of the Selkirk Fire Department.  

Lehmann’s Garage today.

The lovely Victorian house at 1511 New Scotland Road has a storied history. It was built in 1876 by Albert I. Slingerland for railroad executive Charles Hammond. The photo here is believed to have been taken in the mid-1930s by photographer Marion Dillenback.  She lived here with her husband Garrett V. Dillenback, Jr, in-laws Adele and Garrett Dillenback and sister-in-law Elizabeth Dillenback.  The house became locally famous as scenes from the 1987 movie Ironweed were filmed here. 

The distinctive round window, decorative brackets and pointed tower of the Ironweed House are visible in this modern photo.