The next “Hastings Historian” is on its way!

Mrs. Drewes (standing) and a few of our dedicated group of volunteers, clockwise: Vice President Barbara Thompson, Tom Donohoe, Polly Ciborowski, Georgia Honovitch, Jo Downar, and Helen Bernarducci

Keep an eye on your mailboxes, folks. The next “Hastings Historian” goes into the mail today. Four times a year Volunteer Coordinator Evelyn Drewes calls on a dozen loyal volunteers who assemble here at the cottage one morning with no other purpose than to get the “Historian” ready to mail out to you. They sit around the dining room table and put labels and stamps on the newsletters that go out to our members all over the country and around the world, as far as Denmark and Hawaii. Of course, they have a good time and a good gossip while doing it! Thanks to all of our volunteers – we couldn’t manage without you!

Hot off the press: The Winter 2009 “Historian”

This quarter’s “Historian” focuses on the life of one of the wildest celebrities ever to live in Hastings-on-Hudson – the actress May Yohe, whose first husband, Lord Francis Hope, was the owner of the Hope Diamond. Lilian and John Mullane, the authors of the article, refer to May as “a glamour girl of the gay 90s.” May calls herself “…the girl who rose from the little Pennsylvania village to those dazzling heights of fame in which two continents were at her feet in homage to her art and to the still more impregnable circles of the great titles of the British Empire…” And if that doesn’t grab you, I can’t imagine what would!

Postcard with three images of May Yohe, ca. 1910

The issue also contains a brief history of the Hope Diamond itself, as well as a wonderful ode to policemen that we came across recently in our files. If anyone recognizes the piece and can tell us who wrote it and when, we’d love to hear from you! Along with the text, we’ve printed some of the best photographs we have of the Hastings police force through the years. We’ve put another few on Flickr, and you can see them by clicking on the word “Police Department” in the Flickr badge below.

We hope you enjoy this issue! If anything sparks any memories or questions, be sure to let us know.

Hastings Historical Society's Police Department photoset

Hastings-on-Hudson Becomes an Official Village

In our post for March 12th we showed you our incorporation map, but we didn’t tell you the story behind incorporation.

According to the local paper, The Statesman, people in Hastings-on-Hudson had been talking about incorporation since 1875. The place had already been called Hastings-on-Hudson (or a variation on that name) for at least 40 years. But incorporating as an official village would mean that the community could elect its own government instead of relying on Greenburgh for services. The paper was all for it. “Hastings looks for progress and increased prosperity by incorporation,” wrote a reporter, “which means better streets, increased value of real estate, and higher taxes.”

In 1876 the same paper reported that most people would, in fact, rather be annexed to the city of Yonkers.

But by 1879 the tide of opinion had turned. The prominent citizens of Hastings took up a collection to raise money to pay for a survey of the proposed area to be covered by the town, one of the steps necessary to apply for incorporation. In September the surveyor, George Wiley, was working on the map. A village census was also in progress, another crucial part of the application for incorporation. (The total number of inhabitants was 1,226.) In October, everyone was invited to come to Samuel G. Dorland’s general store to see the completed map.

This postcard from about 1915 shows the building on the corner of Spring Street and Warburton Avenue where Samuel G. Dorland had his store. Dorland was postmaster and "dealer in dry goods, groceries, general merchandise, and also hay, straw, and feed."

In the opinion of The Statesman, most citizens favored incorporation. However, there were some who thought the proposed village was too large. It was, after all, two square miles. “It takes in roads which are not needed, which will be expensive to work, and keep in repair,” the paper reported. A public vote on incorporation was held in Protection Hall on November 18th.

Protection Engine Company was the only fire company in the village in 1879, and their firehouse on Warburton Avenue included a big meeting room on the second floor.

There were a lot of votes against incorporation (conflicting reports give the number as 221 to 209, or 104 to 75), but in any case the supporters won the day. And that is how we officially became Hastings-on-Hudson.

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!

The First Official Map of the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson

For our very first post on this blog, we thought we’d take you back 180 years to 1879, the year when Hastings-on-Hudson was officially recognized by New York State as a “village.” The map you see here is one of the treasures of our collection. It is the survey that was drawn up George Wiley of Tarrytown as part of Hastings’ application for incorporation.

Central section of the incorporation map

The map shows far more than just the boundaries of the proposed village. Look closely at the detail below, and you will see a little blue vertical line in the center — the stream running through the Ravine to the river. (Does something seem to be missing? Warburton Avenue bridge was not built until 1898.) To the left of the stream is the railroad “depot”, and next to that is a “Main Street” (now the beginning of Southside Avenue). The street we now call Main Street is on the map, but without any label. Washington Avenue, however, is clearly marked. At the top right of the map is a blue band representing the Croton Aqueduct, and right below that is a building labeled “school” – that is the Fraser Free School, one of the earliest public schools in Hastings and now the Hook & Ladder firehouse at 50 Main Street. The word “Mills” to the left of the school refers not to a mill, but to Edmund S. Mills, the owner of property on both sides of what we now call Main Street. There are more familiar names on the map, too, like Draper, Chrystie, Leffurgy, and Minturn. The tiny print on the left-hand side, about half way down, reads “old Hickory,” which may be one of the trees that the surveyor used as a guide. It is possible that the large red dots in the downtown area served a similar purpose. If you can help us out on this one, let us know!

Detail of the central section, showing the business district

Our map did not always look this good. By 1982 it had started to crack. Pieces had come loose and some were already missing. We sent it to the Northeast Document Conservation Center in Massachusetts, a regional center that specializes in paper conservation, for their opinion. They recommended treatment to remove the dirt and to replace the old cloth backing with a new backing of mulberry paper, to which the loose pieces could be attached with wheat starch.

Before and after conservation

The treatment was expensive, but a long-time friend of the Society, Joel Dean, came to the rescue. Now encased in archival polyester, this piece of Hastings history resides in the map case in our upper archive room, which also houses 400 more maps, plans, and surveys of Hastings.