Downtown 1894 — Cigars and insurance

It seems incongruous to manufacture the cigars that could cause your insurance policy holders to die sooner.

“C.H. Hitchcock & Co., wholesale and retail tobacconists and insurance agents, who have leased and fitted up the store in The Peck Building … opened for business Saturday evening,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on April 2, 1894. “The interior of the store is not yet completed, as some of the fixtures, ordered from a concern in Rochester, have not yet arrived.”

In other 1894 downtown Glens Falls news collected from historic newspapers of the region:

• This must have been an eye-catching window display.

“The skull of an eight-foot alligator, killed near Cleveland, Fla., a few weeks ago, is exhibited among the other curiosities in Charles O. Howe’s furniture, Glen Street,” The Morning Star reported on April 25.

• Grocer J.C. Kelly, at 13 Ridge St., expanded on a Bible quotation in an April 9 advertisement in The Morning Star.

“A soft answer turneth away wrath, and a good broom has about the same effect just now, for the house must be cleaned. And to make a success of the performance, you must have a good broom. J.C. Kelly makes a specialty of good brooms.”

Goodman Brothers dry goods store continued the elaboration in an April 17 advertisement.

“A soft answer turneth away wrath, but a chic little moire silk cape filleth the cup of joy to the brim.”

• One thing seemed to be missing from the baby carriage parade: babies.

“Wilmarth & Le Sath’s baby carriage parade on Saturday afternoon made a big hit. The idea was unique, but it could have been made more interesting by the presence of a handsome baby in all the carriages,” The Morning Star reported on April 16. “There were fifty carriages in line, headed by Bryan Martine’s Drum Corps.”

• “Thomas Trombley and Morton C. Dobindt, wagon makers, have opened a shop on the Starbuck premises, Park Street,” The Morning Star reported on April 18.
• “The train which arrived in Glens Falls at 5:20 last night had one solitary passenger on board,” The Morning Star reported on April 24, 1894. “To receive him and his luggage there were in waiting three stages, five cabs and one express wagon. And notwithstanding all these, the passenger walked to his home.”

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