Glens Falls Kiwanis Centennial — Collaboration
A century ago, the new Glens Falls Kiwanis Club partnered with the local Rotary and Zonta clubs to develop the Haviland’s Cove beach in the city’s 5th Ward.
“The Rotary, Kiwanis, and Zonta Clubs will unite in a movement to establish better bathing facilities within a short distance of Glens Falls,” The Post-Star reported on May 22, 1925.
The goal was to develop a beach and facilities at Huntington Point, a short distance from the end of the South Street trolley line, the beach that became known as Haviland’s Cove Park.
“The object is to provide bathing facilities near the city, where children and adults may have all the advantages of of a splendid beach with expert swimmers to to safeguard them against danger.”
The Glens Falls Kiwanis Club is celebrating its centennial this year.
Over the past 100 years, the club and other local service clubs have had collegial relations, dating back to the Kiwanis Club organizational banquet at the Rockwell House hotel on March 26, 1925.
“With 58 members the Kiwanis Club was launched last night at a banquet in the Rockwell House. … Greetings were extended by members of the Glens Falls Rotary Club in a letter written by Russell M. L. Carson, which was read by (Kiwanis) President (Fred M.) Beckwith,” The Post-Star reported on March 27.
On April 2, Beckwith, representing the Kiwanis, and J. Thatcher Sears, incoming president of the Rotary Club, were among several community leaders that presented three-minute speeches at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon for players and coaches of teams competing in the sixth annual Eastern States High School Basketball tournament.
The Kiwanis and Rotary clubs would later take over jointly conducting the annual tournament luncheon.
Sears, of the Rotary Club, was among the speakers at the Kiwanis Club “Charter Night” banquet July 15 at the Fort William Henry Hotel in Lake George.
Sears, president of the Rotary Club, and wife Katharine Sears, president of the local Zonta Club, spoke at the Glens Falls Kiwanis Club luncheon meeting at the Y. M. C. A., The Post-Star reported on Oct. 29.
“Their remarks bespoke the friendly feeling which emits among members of the Rotary, Zonta and Kiwanis clubs that with the organizations once carrying out well-defined programs, much benefit to the community may be expedited.”
Collaboration continued throughout the years.
In 1941, the Rotary, Lions and Kiwanis clubs jointly endorsed the Glens Falls Baseball Association’s campaign to raise $3,500 — the equivalent of $25,144 in 2025 dollars — to keep the Glens Falls Wings baseball team of the semi-professional Northern League playing at Glens Falls for a second season, The Post-Star reported on May 14, 1941.
The funding was needed to liquidate debt from the previous season and provide start-up capital for the new season.
“In so doing, the clubs urge all followers of clean sport and healthful recreation to lend material aid to the successful conclusion of this campaign,” stated a joint resolution of the three service clubs.
The campaign succeeded, and the Wings won the 1941 Northern League Championship.
The Adirondack Ensemble, a mixed vocal quartet comprised of Kiwanis Club member William Jones and his wife and Rotary Club member Maurice Simmonds and his wife, demonstrated that Kiwanis and Rotary members can be in harmony — literally and metaphorically.
The quartet had its debut performance at a Glens Falls Kiwanis Club meeting on Oct. 8, 1930 at The Queensbury Hotel, with a reprisal Oct. 29, 1930 at the Glens Falls Rotary Club at The Queensbury Hotel.
The quartet sang at Kiwanis and Rotary meetings, at community settings such as the West Mountain TB sanitarium, and on WBGF, a short-lived local radio station.
There were friendly athletic competitions between the two clubs.
On New Year’s Day 1929, a team of Rotary Club members defeated a team of Kiwanis Club members 18–12 in basketball, as part of the events at a Glens Falls Young Men’s Christian Association open house.
Likewise, in volleyball that day, the Rotary Club defeated the Kiwanis 15–7 and 15–4.
For some years, the two clubs held an annual golf tournament.
Glens Falls Kiwanis Club achieved a ‘moral victory’ in the 1944 tournament, The Post-Star reported on Oct. 13, 1944.
“Sportsmanship of both teams was commended by rival players.”
One would not expect anything otherwise from Kiwanians and Rotarians.
The Glens Falls Kiwanis Club came into the annual fall golf outing as an underdog against the “highly rated Rotarians,” but did better than expected on the links of the Glens Falls Country Club.
“They didn’t defeat the Rotarians, but the tie had the Kiwanians very excited last night,” The Post-Star reported. “And in view of the fact that the older service club was the pre-tourney favorite the deadlock is a moral victory for the younger organization. … Members of both organizations are looking forward to their match next year.”
The Post-Star did not report who got to take home the tournament trophy.
Under tradition, the winning club gained possession of the trophy for the next year, until the same service club won it for three consecutive years. Then the winning club would keep the trophy permanently.
Standout golfers in the 18-all tournament for the Kiwanis Club were James Goodson, Sam Kohn, Al Koch, Ralph Woodbury, Kieran Waters and Johnny Goodrich.
Standout golfers for the Rotary Club were Malcolm Mannix, L.J. Culkins, Al G. Robinson, E. Leo Spain and Dr. E. H. Reese.
“Success of the tournament was due in a great way to the fine turnout of caddies, made possible by the Columbus Day holiday, schools being closed,” The Post-Star reported. “Both Kiwanians and Rotarians wish to thank the many young men who turned out for caddie duties, as their work was an integral part of the affair.”
Glens Falls service clubs often held joint meetings.
On Jan. 16, 1933, the Rotary and Kiwanis clubs were guests at a Zonta Club luncheon at The Queensbury Hotel at which Dr. Katherine Blodgett, of the General Electric Co. research department of Schenectady, spoke on the topic “Important Viewpoints of Science.”
Blodgett was ranked one of the nation’s ten most outstanding women in science.
On June 17, 1934, the Kiwanis and Rotary clubs held a joint luncheon at The Queensbury Hotel to hear banker and former Colorado Gov. William Sweet speak.
On April 16, 1943, lecturer and writer Dr. Harry N. Nichols, secretary of the International Alliance for World Friendship, spoke at a joint lunching of the Kiwanis, Rotary and Lions clubs at The Queensbury Hotel.
The Kiwanis Club Quartet, comprised of Rev. James Lowell Harris, John A. Goodrich, Fred W. Posson, and Ralph Thomas, accompanied on piano by Ray Lafarr, performed several selections.
In 1980, the Glens Falls Kiwanis Club hosted the Glens Falls Rotary Club and South Glens Falls Rotary Club at a luncheon at Chateau de Louis restaurant in South Glens Falls to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Rotary International, The Post-Star reported on March 5.
Kiwanis Club President Paul Spinelli reflected on a recent Life magazine article which suggested the service club movement was “the most distinctive of all North America’s contributions to the achievements of the twentieth century.”
