Carpet mill partner’s son lamented loss
Howgate’s widow sold out to husband’s partners
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History, Daily Gazette, 5-7-05
A reference to the origins of Mohawk Carpet Mills in a recent column prompted Amsterdam native and historian Peter Betz to remember Fred Howgate, a man who felt he had been unfairly removed from the glory of the city’s carpet industry.
Mohawk Carpet Mills was created in 1920 when the Shuttleworth brothers merged their East End factory with a carpet mill in the Rockton section—McCleary, Wallin and Crouse. The Rockton mill, called the upper mill, was destroyed in two devastating fires in the 1990s.
The upper mill originally had a fourth partner named John Howgate. All four partners had worked for pioneer carpet marker Stephen Sanford. According to an 1889 Board of Trade publication, the upper mill was powered by a 50 horsepower waterwheel and could turn out a thousand rugs a week.
“One below zero night the wheel froze up,” Betz said. “Howgate went out with a long metal pole to knock the ice off the wheel and fell in the pond. He was rescued but caught pneumonia and died in a few days. The other partners bought out his widow.”
Howgate’s widow built a big home at the Chestnut Street end of Storrie Street on Market Hill. When Betz was young, the widow’s son Fred and his wife Jesse lived in the house. Jesse was a good friend of Betz’s grandmother.
“I knew them well and often heard Fred grouse about what he would have had if his mother hadn't sold out to his father's partners,” Betz said.
Fred Howgate was an early Adirondacks photographer and operated an auto garage specializing in electrical work, Betz said.
MORE ORPHEUM MEMORIES
Two Amsterdam men have contributed more memories of the Orpheum Theater on Market Street. The movie house was in operation before World War I.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Sunday matinees were double features—a Western and a B-thriller, according to Angelo E. Califano of Amsterdam.
“We (children) plunked down our dime for a ticket at the box office, then lined up at the entrance door,” Califano said. “They collected the tickets (to be re-used) and paraded us to the front of the theater where we were assigned seats, two per seat.” Adults could choose their own seats.
Califano said, “The blue tickets were re-used so much they were as pliable as a cooked noodle.”
“There were no restrooms in the Orpheum,” Califano said. “We had to go out, advise the box office of our mission, go around to the back of the building to relieve ourselves, then inform the box office of our return.”
Mary Reilly, whose father was Orpheum operator Tom Shelly, said the Regent Theater across the street made its bathrooms available to Orpheum patrons.
James Bergen of Amsterdam was a frequent Orpheum patron and enjoyed cowboy movies starring Tom Mix and Ken Maynard. Bergen’s mother, Janette Blood Bergen, sometimes played piano for the silent films across the street at the Regent.
Bergen’s father, also named James Bergen, was the first military officer from Amsterdam killed in World War I and American Legion Post 39 is named in his honor. Lieutenant James Bergen had been in the insurance business in Amsterdam and was part of the local National Guard company. He died on October 17, 1918 at Suplix, Belgium, as orders were being sent promoting him to captain.
Young Bergen was an infant when his father died and became mascot of the Bergen post in the days when it was on Market Street and in its later home at East Main at Washington.
There was a Bergen Park for many years on West Main Street but the park was taken for highway construction in the 1970s. A small Bergen Park was then created on East Main Street near the Market Street intersection.
###
Hear this story discussed and more information on Mohawk Valley history on The Bob Cudmore Show, Tuesday, May 9, between 7:40 .a.m. and 8 a.m. and 9:35 a.m. and 10 a,m, on AM 1570 WVTL radio in Amsterdam, listen online at www.1570wvtl.com
|
