Last week I was at the regular meeting of the Bethlehem
Historical Association and a gentleman walked up and handed me a folder
containing some old documents. This is one of the many reasons I love my job.
People hand me fascinating objects that open a window into local
history.
One was a bill of sale between Norman Crum and William M.
Dunn regarding the Delmar Hotel dated May 31, 1910.
Here’s the list of items sold:
I, Norman Crum,….do grant and convey…all my right, title and
interest of, in and to the business conducted by me at the village of Delmar
aforesaid in the hotel known as the “Delmar Hotel”; and all the stock,
furniture, pool tables, cash registers, chairs, tables, stoves, and all bar
room fixtures, excepting front and back bar; also all furniture in said hotel
and rooms thereof, excepting piano and stove in parlor first floor, and bed and
furnishings in upper front, side board and extension table in dining room, safe
in upper floor; Also conveying to said party of the second part all stored ice,
ice bars, picks, barrows and tools in ice house, two wagons, one cutter, one
set of eight double harnesses, dee
pitted picks, shovels and rakes, all lawn swings, settees as now in use
in and about said Delmar Hotel except as stated.
I imagine pool playing patrons enjoying a game while piano
music plays in the background, perhaps sipping an iced beverage from one of the
two bars. Outdoor space was just as
important back then as it is now with lawn swings and settees for relaxing.
All of this got me thinking –do I have a picture of the
Delmar Hotel? Well, sort of…
This is a picture of the Four Corners about 1909 looking
west along Delaware Avenue. I can crop several local landmarks that are not readily seen at first glance.
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| Delmar Hotel |
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| Paddock Store |
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| Men lounging on the steps of the post office, now I Love Books. |
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| The white, decorative porch in the background belongs to the Blanchard house which was about where the clock is today. |
Lots of shade trees!
ReplyDeleteThough concerning a different municipality (quoting):
There can be no greater luxury than shade trees in front of residences. They afford the finest attraction of our city. Several of our streets are lined with them on either side,—a source of happiness to our citizens, and the objects of admiration by strangers.
Spring is the proper season for transplanting trees, and this is the time to secure good ones.—They can be obtained in abundance in this vicinity, but let those only who understand the nature of our soil select them. A modern writer truthfully says:—
“Were I a law-giver in the land, I would enjoin the cultivation of shade trees wherever there was a cluster of houses—a severe penalty should be inflicted on all who injured or despoiled them, and the destruction of a tree should be a capital crime. I would choose for my trees, those of my own country—the maple, the ash, the hickory, and the elm should hold the first rank. I would plant them by a roadside at convenient distances, so that the traveler might enjoy the shade. I would rear them about every church and school house, that the aged might rest their limbs, and the young indulge their sports beneath them.”
Speaking of shade trees, reminds us, that the old burying ground, adjoining the Third street Baptist Church, would be much improved in appearance, and rendered highly attractive and beautiful, by planting rows of good, healthy trees, in proper order, over the grounds. Isn’t the suggestion worthy the attention of the society and those residing in the vicinity?
We hope for the credit of this generation of Trojans, that it will be as thoughtful as the past one, in beautifying all the vacant places with these ornaments of nature—these objects of good to man. Every where their influence is refining, their possession indicative of pure taste, and their enjoyment grateful to the sense and comforting to the body.
“Shade Trees.” Troy Daily Times. March 25, 1853: 2 col 2.
The anonymous advice quoted dates back at least to:
New England Farmer 11(19). November 21, 1832. 150.
http://books.google.com/books?id=GCdOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA150&lpg=PA150&dq=%22enjoin+the+cultivation+of+shade+trees