Tavern Stands, Blast Furnaces & Telephone Poles
Last month we focused on the farms and
house lots in the 1898 Assessment Roll for the Town of Bethlehem. This month,
as promised, we look at some of the commercial ventures mentioned in the ledger.
Tavern Stands
Ten tavern stands were evaluated in the 1898
Assessment Roll for Bethlehem including those of William Hurst, whose Log
Tavern was the anchor of Hurstville, Henry Parr, proprietor of the Abbey in
Glenmont, and William Schoonmaker, owner of the Cedar Hill House which at the
time was run by William Crum.
These tavern stands were just what you think they are,
a place to eat and drink, not unlike our modern-day restaurants and bars. They
also served many other functions. Most offered lodging to those traveling on
the turnpike road, and they were often stage coach stops. Besides a tap room,
many had a second-floor ballroom for dances and other events. Sometimes the
Post Office was located there.
Taverns and inns served as polling places as well as places
where you could go and pay your taxes. For example, in 1913, James W. Beeten,
Bethlehem’s Collector of Taxes, advertised the schedule for when he would be at
various locations, including the Hurstville Hotel, Cedar Hill Hotel, and the
Abbey Hotel, “for the purpose of receiving taxes.” One wonders when the collector
of taxes became the receiver of taxes.
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Cedar Hill House Hotel (courtesy of Bethlehem Historical Association)
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Sketch from the 1854 Gould Map of Albany County.
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| The Abbey Hotel used to be on River Road near the intersection of Glenmont Road. The Abbey had a long history, going back at least to the American Revolution when it was run by Hugh Jolly. Henry Parr took it over in the early 1880s. |
Blast Furnaces
Bethlehem’s assessment roll only hints at the holdings
of P. J. McArdle whom one newspaper dubbed “the millionaire junk dealer of
Albany.” There are four entries: the Albany Blast Furnace ($,8000), an ice
company ($4,000), an old blast furnace ($5,000) and J. D. Pappalow ice house
($3,000). All of these properties are listed as “isl” or island, referring to
Westerlo Island aka Van Rensselaer Island, modern day Port of Albany, and not
really an island anymore. The island was in the town of Bethlehem until 1926.
Patrick McArdle was born in Ireland in 1848 and
immigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1862. His obituary notes that in May
1863 “the young man engaged in business.” He would have been about 15 years
old. McArdle’s ventures mainly focused on the iron industry, including a
foundry in Peekskill, and later a rolling mill in New York that produced bar
iron and horseshoe iron. He came to Albany in 1885 and became extensively
involved in the waste and metal business. An article in the Albany Argus
newspaper dated November 9, 1887 describes McArdle as “one of the best and most
reliable business men in the State. He buys and sells old iron in vast quantities
– often $50,000 worth a month from the N.Y. C. & H. R. R. and the West
Shore R. R. alone…He is the king in that line of business, and employs a large
number of people.”
Besides the iron business, McArdle was also a dealer
in rags, paper and other recyclables like rubber rope and glass. He had a large,
four-story warehouse complex at the corner of Arch and Church Streets in Albany,
as well as facilities in New York and Buffalo. The Albany warehouse burned down
in September 10, 1889 in a spectacular fire that spread so quickly employees
jumped from the roof. Several were badly injured, and one, Richard Gamble, was
killed.
And the two blast furnaces listed in the assessment
roll? One is likely the Jagger Iron Works which McArdle acquired during a
foreclosure auction in 1889. He was a wily bidder. He signaled a last-minute
bid which the other bidders thought was increasing the price by $100,000. But
no, McArdle’s increase was $100. The auctioneer closed the bidding in his favor
at $30,100. This property, described as 15 acres on Martin Garretse’s island in
the Town of Bethlehem, included a blast furnace, buildings, docks, and
everything else on the property. In 1892, McArdle acquired the Olcott Iron
Works, another blast furnace, that had been idle since 1880. While newspaper
articles from the time indicate he was going to re-furbish the Jagger property
and create a rolling mill to process the scrap iron he acquired, another
resource (an 1894 Directory of Iron and Steel Works) describes the Albany
City Iron Works, owned by Patrick McArdle, as “idle for several years and for
sale.”
In the 1900 U.S. Census, McArdle and his wife Mary,
were living at 226 Elm Street in Albany with their eight children who ranged in
age from 9 to 29. His occupation is listed simply as “iron dealer.” McArdle, king of recycling and reuse, died in
1915, and, unfortunately for his children and grandchildren, his million-dollar
estate was tied up in court for years.
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This crop from an 1876 atlas shows the tip of the island where the
Jagger and Olcott Iron works were located. The red line is the city line with Bethlehem.
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Telephone Poles
In the section of the assessment roll ledger dealing
with incorporated companies, there is this interesting description for the
property of the Hudson River Telephone Company: 18 miles poles, 102 miles wire.
They were assessed $2,250* for the means by which they connected Bethlehem
residents and businesses with the wider community.
The Hudson River Telephone Company began in 1883, and
by 1886 had established communication from Albany to the Abbey Hotel, Cedar,
Hurstville, Slingerlands, Delmar and South Bethlehem. It became part of New
York Telephone in 1910. New York Telephone in turn was a subsidiary of the Bell
Telephone Company system. Bell came to monopolize telephone service the U.S.
and was broken up in the 1980s.
Other local phone systems include the South Bethlehem
Telephone Company (1904-1923) and the Clarksville Telephone Company (1896 –
1914). One newspaper reported in 1909 that enterprising residents of Font Grove
in Slingerlands, eager to receive service to their homes, began erecting poles upon
which Hudson River would then string their wire. The Hudson River Telephone
Company connected with these local companies to provide service, especially long
distance. The May 1908 Hudson River Telephone Directory lists only Dr. Hiram
Becker as a subscriber to the Clarksville Telephone Company. The South
Bethlehem Telephone Company had over 70 subscribers including John Crum and C.
N. Baker in Selkirk and five different lines associated with Callanan Road
Improvement Company in South Bethlehem.
The Albany-Rensselaer Section of the directory, which
covered Hudson River subscribers, nicely ties this article together. P.J.
McArdle, at his iron works on Van Rensselaer Island, could call up Henry Parr
at the Abbey Hotel. Of course, it was not a smooth connection like we have
today. The connection was made manually by switch board operators. Those female
operators were sometimes called “hello girls,” a position Miss Emma J. Bradley
held at the time of her wedding in July 1905. She worked at the Clarksville
central office of the Hudson River Telephone Company.
*You might be curious to know that the top value for
an incorporated company is $48,000 for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company’s
railroad. Next is the Union Ice Company ice house at $45,000.
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| Logo of the Hudson River Telephone Company when it was a subsidiary of the Bell Company. |
Next time you are out for a walk, notice the telephone
poles. See if you can find these little
badges which combine the bell system logo with the initials of the New York
Telephone Company. This one is on
Roweland Avenue in Delmar. They can also
be found on South Bethlehem poles. How about your neighborhood?
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Emma Bradley's wedding announcement from the July 14, 1905 edition of the Altamont Enterprise.
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