Focus on History in the Daily Gazette has the story of Wilson’s, a popular drugstore in downtown Amsterdam.
Saturday, February 22, 2020 Podcast "30 Minutes"
Episode 306-Controversy has developed involving American Revolution writer Thomas Paine and neglect of historic sites dedicated to Paine’s memory in New Rochelle, a city in Westchester County. New Rochelle resident and historian Jim Kaplan explains the issue. Kaplan was author of an essay on the subject that appeared in the New York History Blog
Amsterdam soda fountain had wide appeal
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History
With its marble soda fountain, polished oak booths and tin ceiling, Wilson’s Drug Store at 46 East Main Street in Amsterdam was a local institution.
Herbert Shuttleworth II, the last chief executive of Mohasco Carpet Company, told me he enjoyed the chocolate sauce Wilson’s used when making hot fudge sundaes.
Before Wilson’s closed in the 1960s, Shuttleworth, who died in 2010, procured the recipe, which called for a combination of Belgian and French chocolates. Shuttleworth said he lost the recipe and seemed genuinely sorry about that.
When drug store founder William Wilson, Jr. died at age 76 in December 1949 at his winter home in Florida, he was described in a Recorder story as “one of Amsterdam’s most esteemed citizens.”
A city native he apprenticed at the Bradford and Lindsay drug store, located at 46 East Main in 1890. After getting his pharmacy degree Wilson opened his own drug store in 1898 on the other side of East Main. In 1914 Wilson moved his business to 46 East Main.
Wilson helped train young pharmacists. His present and former employees surprised him with a banquet in 1948 to celebrate his half century in the business.
After his death Wilson’s brothers, his son Floyd and other relatives continued to operate Wilson’s Drug Store for another two decades.
In a 2008 letter, James T. Hammond of Hagaman, who grew up on Glen Avenue and Greene Street in Amsterdam, recalled visiting Wilson’s in the 1940s with his grandmother. It was also a regular stop for a chocolate ice cream soda after grade school trips to the city library on Church Street. Wilson’s was centrally located near the Church Street intersection.
Hammond said that Floyd and Tom Wilson were the pharmacists, “Jimmy Wilson was the chief cook and bottle washer who was responsible for preparing the richest, most mouth-watering homemade ice creams, syrups, and toppings known to mankind.”
In the early 1950s, Hammond worked at Wilson’s after high school, making 65 cents an hour. The drugstore was open until 5 p.m., except on Friday nights when downtown stores were open until 9 p.m.
Hammond said the soda fountain was a magnet for teens, “Wilson’s was the headquarters for weekend planning over hot fudge sundaes and gallons of cherry Coke which might involve a Wilbur H. Lynch Dance, Hi-Y party or even an excursion to Johnstown’s Saint Anthony’s church hall, where Freddy Kluett’s big band held forth with the familiar melodic strains of Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White, Harlem Nocturne or Take the A Train.”
Hammond wrote, “The fifties was a period when hepcats dressed for Friday night’s tour of the local establishments--the Dom, Danny’s, the Muni, and Russo’s--capping off the evening with a visit to Brownies for the best late-night hot dogs and meat sauce.”
The Dom was what the teens called the Polish club at Amsterdam’s Church and Reid Streets. Danny's was run by Danny Fariello on West Main Street. The Muni is the municipal golf course on Van Dyke Avenue. Russo’s tavern is still in operation on West Main. Brownie’s in the early 1950s was on Reid Street.
Hammond recalled, “Joe Kowalski was one of the hippy-dippy, ala mode soda jerks working (at Wilson’s). Joe was always sporting a stylish haircut with just a little dab will do you, combed to a perfect D.A. (Duck’s Behind) in the back. With wing-tipped cordovans and tight pegged pants, he was Amsterdam’s answer to the Fonz.”
Kowalski was wounded in the Korean War and Hammond visited him at a Boston hospital. Later, Kowalski worked for the Veteran’s Administration and lived in Morristown, New Jersey.
Home Again
Tonight and Sunday at 3
Tonight at 7:30 pm and a matinee tomorrow at 3 pm. Tickets are available at the Amsterdam Free Library and also online.
Maria has chosen songs from her four original compositions – including HEARTS OF FIRE and THE AMSTERDAM ORATORIO – and woven them together to form a brand new work, entitles HOME AGAIN. The title comes from the opening of Maria’s “The Amsterdam Oratorio” which is permanently inscribed on the Compass of the Mohawk Valley Gateway Overlook Bridge” “What once was Home is Home Again”… And indeed, the theme of the show is “Home,” but not simply as it refers to your street address. The music and lyrics celebrate and pay homage to the places that hold our most treasured memories, shelter us from the bitterest storms…and create havens of our hearts.
https://www.facebook.com/homeagainmrb/
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Today, Saturday, February 22, 2020 after the Noon news on WCSS, it’s The Historians Podcast with Bob Cudmore. Controversy has developed over the neglect of historic sites in New Rochelle New York that tell the story of American Revolution writer Thomas Paine, author of the famous pamphlets Common Sense and The Crisis. Historian Jim Kaplan explains this historical hot topic. Hear The Historians Podcast Saturdays at 12:05 pm on WCSS, 1490 AM and 106.9 FM.
Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy is Bob Cudmore’s guest tomorrow on Talk of the Town on Magic 590 and 100.5. Hear about proposals to spend a $10 million dollar state grant for downtown Schenectady development including an entertainment center and a water park. Listen Sunday, February 23, 2020 for Talk of the Town with Bob Cudmore on Magic 590 and 100.5
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