Downtown 1890 — Early potatoes and watermelons

New potatoes on the dinner table of a recent Glens Falls village president should not necessarily be construed as evidence of an early growing season.

“Yesterday M.H. Bradt dined on new potatoes that were grown on his place, Warren Street. Mr. Bradt said they were of quite good size and very palatable,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on May 3, 1890. “It might as well be explained, however, that the young tubers were what is known as sprouts that grew in a barrel of potatoes in Mr. Bradt’s cellar. This explanation is given for the benefit of many gardeners who might turn green with envy.”

Following is more 1890 downtown Glens Falls news collected from historic newspapers of the region.

• It was an honest, in fact, intentional, mistake intended to promote a downtown show.

“The offer to give a free reserved seat ticket for the entertainment tonight to the first person discovering a misspelled word in the Marie Hubert Frohman advertisement brought a large number of claimants to this office yesterday,” The Morning Star reported on May 10.

The early hotel clerk, like the early bird, got the prize.

Winner George Wetmore, clerk at the Rockwell House hotel, claimed the prize at 6 a.m.

• On June 3, Claude Granger opened billiard parlors on the second floor of Framington Building on Glen Street.
• The Morning Star reported on June 5 that Joseph Pratt was constructing a blacksmith shop at 22 First Street.

Sherman & Shipman household store on Glen Street had a new awning and was having the show room windows lettered.

“The front of William H. Arnold’s Exchange Street store has been brightened by a fresh coat of paint of green hue.”

On June 13, The Morning Star reported that Joubert & White Co., the carriage maker on Warren Street, shipped a buckboard wagon to U.S. Sen. Algernon S. Paddock of Nebraska, a Glens Falls native.

• Downtown hotelman John Madden was away for a few days, The Morning Star reported on June 17.

“J.H. Madden is enjoying a few days’ trout fishing in the Adirondacks.”

• “The first watermelons of the season were displayed in the local markets yesterday. Fifty cents each (the equivalent of $16.53 in 2023 dollars) is the price asked,” The Morning Star reported on June 21.

Click here to read my most recent previous downtown Glens Falls history post.