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Image provided by: Guilderland Public Library
The Altamont Enterprise Guttderiand, New Scotland, Bemiehem, Number 59 •JL»L- a. ** i»S55 rcTt,i i \ \ ; i * STATE LIBRARY «/«* 7j i?C3 j - and Renssekserville fe and Surrounding Areas 25 Cents vui ••••immaiing Co. By ROGER KEENHOL1S Hfatoriaa, Viuageef AMamnt aaiT—•affiaMtriMi HK picture at right is the only one presently known to record what the fanner Altamont TBumi- nafing Co. gas plant looked like. Before the viiiage was incorpo- rated in l«Si>, the streets were lit by oil lamps owned and maintained by file property owners where the lamps were located. On Prospect Terrace, for in- stance, there were ejght lamps, while Maple Ave. had 13. The care and maintainanee cf these lamps Twss& ijwSSi fee interest of the owners and the regularity of the system was often found wanting. The first petition received by the village board, in 1890 was from 56 citizens requesting mat the village provide for and maintain an adequate street lighting system. Although this was soon accom- plished there were those who felt that farther improvements were sHH necessary. About this same time, other villages began to develop gas lighting systems and various companies began to offer individu- al \home generating plants.\ At least two firms in Altamont sold improvM light from gasbe^m^^ apparent ' \7 , One was Sand Brothers, who were engaged in several business ventures in Altamont: feed and grain, soda manufacturing and aiiUMnobiie sales, aiming others. Hontford A. Sand bad been one of the leaders in the village's incor- poration and a strong supporter of all village improvements, particu- larly the water system ana base company. Through his efforts and interest,' several other village leaders undertook to form a company to manufacture acetylene gas in their own plant. The new company, incorporated in October of 1902, was known as the Altamont niununating Company. The comnany was formed with a capital of $5,000, raised through the sale of 100 shares of stock valued at |50 a share. The board of directors was composed of 13 commuiBty leaders: Dr. Frederic Crounse, president; Edward CranneH, vice president; Edward Sturges, secre- tary; Emmet Mynderse, treasur- er; and Lewis Fowler, Hiram Griggs, James Keenhotts, Frank Lape, Albert Manchester, Eugene Sand, Robert Simmons, Dayton Whipple and JohnD. White. Eight business leaders, three were law- yers, one a doctor, and one the village treasurer (Simmons). At this time Montford Sand was the president (mayor) of the village and thus took no active rate in the company. By early November the village taxpayers had approved a plan to have the streets lit by gas pun^asedtiirou^ the IKW compa- ny. Tnedirectorsinspected several gas systems located throughout New York State to ascertain me best system for'Altamont. It was generally agreed that the Spencerport (Monroe Co.) system sBd operation we^M be the type -rnosTsuiteato ffltaniont's needs. . Accordingly, acontractwas signed by Which the company would supply 30 lamps of 25 eandkpower for 245 nights per year. The lamps were to be lighted at dusk and turned off after four hours, by the lamplighter employed by the company. There were five \boundary'' or \district\ lights: at the curve on Helderberg Ave.: near the hydrant on Maple Ave. by John Severson's farm (opposite William Quay's today); at the village line on lower Main St by Van Heusen's (Grant Shaver); at the creek on Brandte Read and on Lincoln Ave. at the intersection of Western Ave. The AltamMtBlWininat^ tracks, past the Lark St.-Fairview Ave.intersection. remaining light posts were to be placed at the discretion of the advantageous or needed. During December 1902 the first lamp and post were set at the bead • of Maple Ave. at Main St, opposite Emmet Mynderse's store as a demonstration of the proposed system. There were two interesting provisions found in the corporation papers, the franchise agreement, and the lighting contract with the village. First, the ihummating company was erected to provide for either gas or electric systems. Second, the company's franchise was not an exclusive one. The interest the community took in the company's, success and growth is reflected in the \Village Notes\ section . found in. The Altamont Enterprise. Each new subscriber to the company was dub/ noted in that column. By May of 1903 the equipment had been purchased and actual wngfnwHnn began. The generating plant building was located on the southwest side of the intersection of Lark St and Fairview Ave., near the railroad tracks and to the rear of the Hayes (Continued on Page 3) Author Finds A Slice Of Americana At Albany's Bieeeker Stadium ByLlNDSAYCHILDS Minor League Baseball We went for our first visit to see the Albany-Coleme A's play base- ball at Bieeeker Stadium earlier this month. They've been playing weekday games at 5 p.m.,: a good tune for families with younger children. So we piled into the car, all of us, and drove down to Clinton Ave. to see what a game was like. Watching the A's is comparable togoingtoamovie.-pricewise.Our family of four got in for $11. And, just like the movie, you don't get away for just the price of entry, because the concession stand is part of the ritual. When we walked in and found the . stands, we right away discovered that Bieeeker Stadium is like Tawasenths Park. You oan pick • out the first-time visitors fronithe regulars right away. At Tawaseu- tha, the regulars bring lawn chairs, blankets and jackets, because they know there is nothing to sit on except damp grass, and after dark it gets cool and mosquitoey. At Bieeeker, Hie regulars bring Jackets, umbrellas and thick cttbMtt, because they know that sitting on the concrete stands for nine innings is rather hard on the taUbone. And, with the experience of this spring, they know it is going to rain. But while the stands are rather hard, ihfy.are..p|§o very intimate. Bieeeker is a terrific place to watch a baseball game. Everyone is right on top Of the action. At some major league parks, like Three Rivers Stadium in Pitts- burgh, you can sit ha something called a \box seat,\ and still be so far away that the game' seems remote. But at Bieeeker, the stands rise up rather steeply out of the ground and are very close to the actios — the foul areas behind home plate and the firsttand third base lines are very much smaller than standard. And so everyone is much closer to the action than anyone is is most major league -Another amenity of Bieeeker is the refreshments. A couple of. campaign with a jingle which went, \Baseball hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.\ (Guess who paid for the ad?) Of course, the ad was wrong. What go together are baseball, hot dogs and beer. Steamed hoi dogs and draft beer. And Bieeeker has them. We had a round of hot dogs ia me third faring, and another in the fifth. Some of us also bad.a round of draft Jessy. The beer Is useful to help promote relaxation, to get the spectator's metabolism stowed to the point where it meshes with the level of activity of a typical baseball game. ... Oh yes, one other nice thing about Bieeeker,. at least oh a weekday. Tickets' are general admission, and there are enough empty spots in the stands that you can move around and pick differ- ent views of the action as the game progresses. So while we started out sitting so we could look directly down the third base line, later on the kids moved down right next to the fence, next to the field, and I moved directly behind the catcher, so l could see the movement 6a the pitcher's fastball and curve (there wasn't much, as you could tell by the score),'and second-guess the umpire. As for the game itself, baseball must be\ the worst exercise ever .uiveuHKju JUUBI us me uiue, wiiy three of the 18 players involved are ever doing anything: the pitcher, the catcher and the batter. Something happens involving other fielders, oh the average only about once every two minutes. Otherwise the players are standing around, or sitting. But when there is action, what mikes the game interesting to spectators is the suddenness and unpredictability & the movement. Baseball is much better as a live sport than as a TV sport (as opposed to football), because TV cannot capture the speed of the action whin it occurs. In fact, TV often doesn't show a bit at all between the time it leaves the bat and the time it is fielded. Nor does TV give any sense of scale, of the distances between bases, between shortstop and first base, between borne plate and the outfield. In the game we saw, there was more action than usual. The A's were playing Buffalo, and the final score was 12 to 10, with eight home runs. Most of them would have -been deep outs in a major league sized field (Bieeeker is only 305 feet down the right field foul line, 325 down the left, and 375 to dead center). But one of them, off a chest-high fast ball, ended up on Clinton Ave. That was the hit which won the game for Buffalo. The most interesting action, though, was the fielding — the' double plays, the runner thrown out at home, the misplayed bunt, the short-hopped line drive, the bard^wiung outfield catch, the near-pickoft at third base. That, and the reactions of the pitchers, especially Buffalo's first, who, after giving up two runs on singles, .then quickly gave tm two consecu- tive home runs to give Albany a e-c lead. He stuck Ids next pitch in the middle of the next batter's shoulder blade. had stated, \welcome to the game, where you get to see tomorrow's major league stars in action,\ and you knew that that Buffalo pitcher wasn't going to be one of them. Especially after he gave up two more quick home runs to start off. the next inning. (Albany pitchers were no better.) In the middle of the seventh inning, after Buffalo had gone ahead, we noticed many of the fans starting to leave.- Why? Do they play only seven inning games? A half-inning later, we found out that the regular fans at Bieeeker are well trained by this spring. Hardly had the third out been made on the A's when it started raining, and by the time we got back to the car, we were well-soaked. And cheerful. Who wouldn't he cheered by a nice warm rain, fortified by the best ballpark hot dogs m the Capital District, having just enjoyed on intimate view of America's most relaxing spectator sport? We're On Vacation Tins abbreviated edition of The Altamont Enterprise was printed Thursday, June 30 so we eofik! (take our Annual Fourth-of-July-week vacation. It contains mostly fea- tore and ether undated matter. We will be back on the job at • a.sn., Monday, Jftuy 1L —TbsStaff.
