Fonda Fultonville High School - Caughnawagan Yearbook (Fonda, NY)

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Here was a ready market for the agricultural products and lumber of the region. Large quantities of hides were collected here and carted to the tanneries in Gloversville and the finished product returned to be shipped to all parts of the state. In 1827 Mr. Voorhees erected a brick mansion where he lived until 1856. This building still stands in the rear of the Donaldson Block on Canal Street. It still contains its ornamental marble fireplaces and is in a remarkable state of preservation. Mr. Voorhees was succeeded in business by Mears and Maclntyre who were followed by A.J.Abel and Co., Abel Brothers, and Morrison, and J.H.Morrison and Co. Other members of early Fultonv1lle's business life were Clark k Post, Devoe and Martin, Thomas Robinson, McArthur and McKinley, Plantz k Argersinger, Crumwell and F1nk,'Frisby E McConkey, Scott Campbell, S.F. Underwood, Shuler R Wilcox, Blood k Conyne, D.D.Starin, J.H.Starin, L.V. Peek k Co.. and Chapman 5 Fonday Peter Fonda and Henry Starin also kept canal stores at the old lock 1 the lower part of the village. Freeman k Farmer carried on a business tiers following the removal of the lock. You honored Robert Fulton for the part he played in the development of your livelihood through his great invention by naming yourself Fultonville On August 9, l8u8 you organized as a oorgoration with the following board of trustees: Howland Fish, Presidentg An rew J. Yates, William B. Wemple, Thomas R. Horton, and Delancey D. Starin. At the time it is recorded that your population numbered 630. But by the year 1875. with industries flourishing and the Erie Canal growing in importance every year as a highway of commerce the population doubled and stood at 1220 inhabitants. Many changes have taken place since those early days. The canal was abandoned in favor of the present New York State Barge Canal and its bed filled in for the erection of buildings. The present Mayor, Peter J. Rossi, owns a store resting over the bed of the old canal on the east side of Main Street while the village Honor Roll for World lar II veterans rests over the bed on the west side. Plans are now in progress for the erection of a fine municipal building on this site with a permanent memorial. Many of the buildings of the past remain under different guisee and names as can be seen by the pictures elsewhere in this book. There has been little change in the edifices of the Reformed and Methodist churches. However, the school buildings have come and gone with the passing of time. The old Cobblestone Hall still stands with its stone steps adjoining attesting to the time it served as an Industrial school. This hall was built by Jeptha R. Sims, the historian of the Revolutionary War period, of cobbles he picked up and tried for size through a hole in a board he carried with him in his travels. The roof of the old school house on the corner of Mohawk and Prospect Streets has finally given way and the weather allowed to enter where many of your citizens used to sit and study the three R's. The present school stands where the imposing brick structure erected in 188A once stood and where the high school was established in 1891. You have had your great fires, too, as some of the scars remaining show. The most spectacular to many of the townspeople was the holocaust of I I? 7-Oil-9i'9' when the entire block from to the old canal bank went up in iiamggngegtioging ons of the glues business buildings you everihad, namely, e u ng. ee page ,. ' C2uqAl5JLLdff5Lau,44vbj a 'f31nnJL5J' The changes that have taken place over the years have been progressive ones. Your administrations have shown vision and your business enterprises have shown courage. We, the Clase of 'h8, are proud that we are graduating from FULTONVILLE HIGH SCHOOL in this, the year of your centennial. 3

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eddcczfiaa MAIN STREET - 1895 We, the class of '48, dedicate this, our yearbook, to the village of Fultonville, which this year celebrates its centenary of incorporation. We have walked your tree shaded streets conscious of the fact that we were rubbing elbows with your founders. Such names as John Starin, sons Joseph and Mgndert,Henry Voorhees and Peter Van Antwerp have become very real to us. ere is your story. During Revolutionary times you were known as Van Epp,s Swamp. In 1810 John Starin erected a store just west of the tavern on the river bank where the home of Charles Nietch now stands. Two bridges were built across the river at this point, spring floods destroying both. A ferry was operated then until bridges were constructed at the present location. In 1822 Myndert Starin and his brother-in-law, Thomas Robinson , bought a large tract of land including the site of Fultonville. They built a store, a flour-mill, a distillery, a paper-mill, an ashery, a saw- mill, a blacksmith shop and a nail factory, an establishment for carding, spinning, winning and cloth-dressing. A plaster mill was built and streets laid out. The foundation for the presa t village was thus laid. During the fall of 1825 when the Erie Canal was opened to com erce, Henry P. Vorhees began his mercantile business in a old farm house. The demands were so great that in the next year he erected a store and store- house whlch stood for many years where Fred L. Lowe now has his gas station Soon this little country place became a central point of business aot- ivity, due to the advantage of canal navigation. VOOPDOGS' 5118111088 BNW- V 2

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gmac! af Zdacafim 1 w.A.T. Cassedy, President James Brookman 5r.g Carl Earley, frincipalg Dever Crane, Clerkg George Friers Old School House A