Our Towne Bethlehem November 2020: The 1898 Assessment Roll Continued

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.

Cedar Hill House Hotel (courtesy of Bethlehem Historical Association)

Sketch from the 1854 Gould Map of Albany County.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Emma Bradley's wedding announcement from the July 14, 1905 edition of the Altamont Enterprise.