Saving the Community Gardens

by Mary Wallis Gutmann (was Whiting in 1968)

 I’m not very Web-savvy, but every now and then someone who is calls to say, “Mary, listen to what I read on Facebook. . ."  This time it was my son, Paul, reporting that Wendy Waczek was writing about the [Zinsser] gardens.  So thank you, Wendy – your post made me remember with pleasure all your 4-H kids and working to save the Zinsser Gardens. -Mary Wallis Gutmann

Arthur Langmuir's 1933 photo showing  the site of 

World War I and II Victory Gardens.

Owned by Colonel Frederick Zinsser.

We [The Whiting Family] moved to an apartment in Hastings in 1968 and got to know the village. Paul and I were walking on the Old Croton Aqueduct and paused to look down into a low-gardened area. We were puzzled. Who owns this space? I thought. Along came another walker, who introduced himself as Charlie Callison. He was, I learned later, Vice President of the Audubon Society and an expert at saving land. “Are those community gardens?” I asked him. 

“Sort of,” Charlie said. “That garden belonged to the Zinsser family. The village bought it and the land next to it,” pointing above at a larger area along the Aqueduct. “The gardens have been here since the Zinsser Chemical Company decided to give their workers garden plots years ago. During the war they were Victory Gardens. Hastings had many Russian escapees [refugees]. They mostly grew cabbages, onions and tomatoes. Some still do,” he said, pointing out rows of neatly lined up plantings with onion tops tramped over in classic fashion.

 “What about the gardens now?” I asked. They seemed only partly used.

“The gardens now may be lost, ploughed under a grassy lawn,” Charlie answered. I winced.

“You’d better join our group. We call ourselves, the Nature Program Committee."

“What programs do you do?” I asked.

Charlie said, “Come to the next meeting and see.” A neighbor, Carol Ettlinger, was also a member of the group. The members were all concerned about the possible loss of the gardens. 

Charlie announced: “Here’s what we need to do. We’ll keep this low-key. First, we need a name. 'Zinsser Gardens' is one the Historical Society likes and it has been used for a long time. Next, we have to get more gardeners. Unfortunately it’s barely used: I’d say 20% tilled is a generous number; the rest is left to weeds and marsh. Mr. Ruggero has had a garden down there for years and we could get Pat Dugan, Director of Parks and Recreation, to assign him more space – Mrs. Ravinsky and other gardeners, too. We need a 4-H Club. Carol and Mary, you’ve got young kids, how about it?”

We had no choice but to nod.

“Now we need more activities there. Mary, how about if you do a watercolor rendering of the area?” Charlie spread his arms wide to indicate the size. His ideas were beginning to sound like work. “Pretend you’re in a helicopter. Your drawing should show the Aqueduct and all the way out to Broadway, including the parking lot. Now, sketch in garden spots. You’ll have to make them up, of course. Pretend there are about 20. Include the grassy area between the gardens and the parking lot, the space with the two magnificent oaks. Sketch in a bocce court and a climbing play place made of logs for the kids.”

“But who will play bocce?” someone said. I had never heard of bocce.

“We’re not making either of those, it just shows that we could. No promises – we’re creating interest and possible uses, and a story in the local newspaper,” Charlie smiled broadly at everyone.

We went to the next Village Board meeting armed with the sketch. I discovered that Mayor Sheldon Wagner [Mayor of Hastings-on-Hudson from 1961–75] had long ago dubbed us ‘the Nature Nuts.’ We could tell the Board was counting heads. We were more than 15 voters, joined by others who had come with different petitions or just because Sheldon’s meetings were often entertaining. Everyone sided with us. Since the board remembered an election where the Mayor had won by 29 votes, they took our numbers seriously. So did Sheldon.

Charlie made a little speech in which he called the gardens “a long tradition in Hastings” and said how the children would benefit from the educational aspects of the 4-H program (he didn’t mention that it did not yet exist). He went on to talk about the expert, long-term gardeners who worked there – Mr. Ruggero and Mrs. Ravinsky, for example – and the benefit gardening was to families and all ages learning together. By the time he finished, he had Board members calling the garden a tradition and we could see we’d won.

4-H Club:

Dawn Taylor tending her garden c.1974

We never put in the bocce court, but somebody assembled logs for a sort-of playground that is probably now humus. Carol and I liked the idea of a 4-H Club. Both our daughters were more or less enthusiastic and both sons not wild about it, but they all did some work every now and then. At the end of the first summer, we piled the kids in Carol’s big station wagon to take part in the Yorktown Heights Grange Fair. Our kids won prizes; Wendy Waczek remembers hers with delight and Paul won for the biggest tomato. 

Another of Charlie’s promotional ideas for the garden was to have our own 'Country Fair.' Pat Dugan liked the idea. He and I worked with different groups to set up a day at Zinsser Park with a pony ride in the upper field, a baby pig from the Andrus Children’s Home on display, and produce from the gardens. There was a cake, pie, bread baking, and corn-husking contest, and tables of fund-raising items for the local non-profits. The piglet got away, creating some delighted excitement.

Six women examining the preserve table a the Country Fair on September 15,1979. The fair was part of Hastings Centennial, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the village. From the Left: 2nd is Mary Callas, the former Village Clerk, Polly Carpenter, Carolyn Armour, Emmy Crosby, flatly on the right, Blanche Marchetti, the original owner  of Food for Thought.

After it was over, I said to Pat, “I am exhausted. How can we manage that again next year?” 

He said, “We won’t. We’ll hold it every other year.”

“Every other year? But they’ll be hounding us, some told me they’re already planning their part in next year’s.” 

Pat grinned, “We’ll tell them, when they ask what happened to the fair, that they missed it. They won’t know the difference.” 

No one caught on. We had six or seven fairs over 12 or 14 years. (to read more on the fairs hastingshistoricalsociety.blogspot.com) Pat really understood people; that’s how he survived in a demanding little village. He used to say under his breath, no matter how mad they were at him for something he would or wouldn’t do, “Keep those cards and letters coming. . .” And they did.

Three girls, one in a Girl Scout uniform, 
standing in front of the sheep pen at the Country Fair. 

One of the events of fair was a sheep shearing exhibition. 

Do you recognize any of the girls? Let us know!

We all played a part in saving the gardens: Charlie Callison, Carol Ettlinger, Pat Dugan, Betty Waczek, other committee members, and me. One of the things I loved was the slightly ragged look of the area. This remained as more gardeners moved in. Some fenced their garden with chicken wire that sagged in places; others with cast-off pickets found at the dump. Mrs. Ravinsky had wooden boxes to hold her tillers and her planted rows were perfectly straight, while other gardeners gave up after spring harvest, and let their spot go to weeds and wildflowers.  It was a good place to hang out when the kids were playing ball in the upper field and to talk with other gardeners. 

Mrs. Ravinsky showing her garden to her great grandson Patrick. c.1975

Everyone loved to pass on seeds and advice, and whatever kind of garden keeper you were didn’t matter – a bit seedy or pristine, all were okay. I hear all the garden plots are fully tilled now and that’s great.

________

Other write-ups on the Zinsser Gardens: 

County's Landless Farmers Cultivate Community Gardens

By ELSA BRENNER

Published: July 22, 1990

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/22/nyregion/county-s-landless-farmers-cultivate-community-gardens.html

A New Garden Pest: Pilferers in the Produce

By DONNA CORNACHIO

July 26, 1992

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/26/nyregion/a-new-garden-pest-pilferers-in-the-produce.html

In Community Plots, the Gardening Is Organic

By ELSA BRENNER

August 16, 1992

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/16/nyregion/in-community-plots-the-gardening-is-organic.html

Thanksgiving – Hastings Style

Cover of Hastings House Restaurant's Thanksgiving menu, ca. 1974

With money as tight as it is these days, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to step into a time machine that would take you back to an era when you could have a full Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant for $6.25? Well, that’s what you would have gotten at the Hastings House Restaurant in the mid 1970s. Not so long ago, was it?

Hastings House, a true Hastings institution, spent many prosperous years patronized by employees of the waterfront industries who would come in for a quick drink after work. When Anaconda Wire & Cable Company was still in operation, the bar opened at 8AM to accommodate the workers coming off the third shift. Anaconda left in the mid 1970s, but though at least one Hastings resident likened the patrons at the bar to waxworks, Hastings House remained a local favorite until it closed in September of 2006.

The building on the corner of Spring Street and Warburton Avenue has a long and interesting history. It was commissioned in 1915 by two brothers, Samuel and Morris Kaufman. Thanks to Morris’s son, we know something of their early history. As young men, Samuel and Morris had travelled up from Yonkers to work at their uncle’s saloon on Spring Street. (This building became Dunn’s Bar in the 1920s.) The boys’ parents spoke Hungarian, Yiddish, and Polish, and they got along well with the Eastern European workers at Zinsser Chemical and the National Wire & Cable Company. The brothers eventually bought out their uncle, and then decided to build themselves a larger building, which they referred to as a hotel.

Postcard printed ca. 1920, showing the Farragut Inn on the left

The building was designed by Hastings architect Foster L. Hastings (who also designed the Hastings movie theater building that now houses the Moviehouse Mews), and the construction was supervised by William Schmidt, a builder who lived on Farragut Avenue. The “Kaufman Bros. Farragut Inn,” named after Admiral Farragut, one of the most famous of Hastings’ residents, opened for business in 1916 or 1917.

As with many local “hotels,” the Farragut Inn also served food and drink. One source in our files includes it in a list of the most popular speakeasys in Westchester during prohibition, and Morris Kaufman himself was jailed after a raid where a large amount of liquor was discovered on his premises. Morris’ son remembers meeting many famous actors and politicians at the Farragut Inn, as well as Babe Ruth, who was a regular customer. When the Babe visited, the news passed quickly around the neighborhood. By the time he had finished his steak, young fans would be lined up around the block, waiting to get a glimpse and an autograph of the famous man. The Farragut Inn's banquet room on the second floor was a popular place for all sorts of celebrations – testimonial dinners for local VIPs, like Fire Chief Melville Haines and Col. Frederick G. Zinsser, and banquets for the fire department and the Southside Social & Athletic Club.

The banquet room, from a photocopy in our files of a ca. 1920 postcard. Does anyone have one of these postcards that we could borrow to make a better copy?

Fashionable as the “speaks” may have been, prohibition was hard on places like the Farragut Inn and, to make matters worse, Sam Kaufman died in 1932. Around 1935, the business passed into the hands of Joe Falcaro, who changed the name to Falcaro’s Restaurant. Joe described himself in a 1937 advertisement as an “undefeated match game bowler,” and it may have been Joe who installed the “new up-to-date bowling alleys” in the basement.

Farragut Inn returned under new management in the early 1940s and did not close until 1960. (Can anyone help us fill in the ownership during this period? Historical Society Sleuth Bob Russell thinks it might have belonged to the Leith family for a time in the late 1950s.) Bernie Hoffman reopened the business two years later as the Hastings House Restaurant. Hastings House continued the tradition of hosting large groups, including class reunions and wedding receptions, and also served special Easter and Thanksgiving dinners, like this one. If you aren’t hungry yet, just read through the menu.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Hastings Historical Society!

Mystery Photo: Hastings Class of 1963

Editor’s Note: We’ve been having a great time writing about some of the odd corners of Hastings history and the interesting things we have in our collection. We can’t quite manage three posts a week right now, so we’re going to be reducing the number to two and moving the mystery post to Thursday. But we’ve got many more fascinating tidbits to share with you, so stay tuned!

OK, Class of ’63. Now that we know you are out there, we’ve got more work for you. Here is a picture that Martin Merchant took at one of your reunions. Click on the image to see an enlargement in Flickr. The back of the photograph says 1979. But no one is identified! Who are all these smiling faces? And you’ve got some teachers in there, too. Is that Mildred Davey?

Mystery Photo: Judging Preserves at the Country Fair

For the citizens of Hastings-on-Hudson, the highlight of the year 1979 was the festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the village. (For more on the 1879 incorporation of the village, see posts from March 12th and March 16th.) Hastings Centennial events ran all year long, but this photograph was taken on September 15th, during the Country Fair at Zinsser Park, sponsored by the Parks & Recreation Department and the Hastings Nature Council. The entire day was full of activities, from a sheep shearing demonstration and a corn husking contest to a cake auction. (The Historical Society was there, of course, with its own display.)

The “Judging of Cakes, Pies, Cookies, Preserves, Senior Crafts, Flowers, Plants & Vegetables” was the first event of this busy day. The photograph of the judges examining the preserves was taken by Martin Merchant, who also ran the photography booth at the fair. It might have been intended for the Enterprise, but it was never used. Do you recognize anyone?

And how about these three girls standing near the sheep pen? Do you know their names? Let us know!

Mystery Photo: Girl Scouts in a parade

Here is our first mystery photograph! What we know is that it shows a Memorial Day parade, and that the girls and their scout leader are standing on Warburton Avenue near the corner of Spring Street. The photograph was taken looking east across Warburton Avenue. In the background you can see Memorial Park (the park in front of the V.F.W. building) on the left and the side wall of Hastings Hardware on right.

The photograph originally came from a Bicentennial scrapbook, so we are guessing that this parade took place in 1976.

To get a good look at all the faces (you can even see the faces of people in the background!), click on the photograph and look at it in Flickr. To get an even bigger version, once you are in Flickr, click on the words “All Sizes” right above the image.

Do you recognize anyone? Anyone at all? Leave us comments on this post, or on the photograph, or e-mail us here at the cottage at hhscottage[at]hastingshistorical[dot]org.

Thanks in advance for your help, and please share this photograph with anyone you think might know more!