Potsdam Public Museum and Archives

Postcard form the museum archives: "Poultry Day, Lisbon, NY, c.1910." From NCPR.org -North Country at Work by Amy Feiereisel " Nov 23, 2017 Heuvelton wasn't the only turkey town in the North Country - it was the largest of a trio of towns that raised tens of thousands of turkeys a year from the late 1800s to the late 1940s. On 'Turkey Day', a designated day when buyers from the cities would travel via railroad to the towns, farmers would bring their turkeys to the railroad... tracks and sell direct to the buyers. Heuvelton, Madrid, and Lisbon farmers would raise, butcher, and dress turkeys for the Thanksgiving and Christmas markets of big Northeastern cities like New York, Boston, and Montreal." See whole post: https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org//north-country-at- Happy Thanksgiving to all and keep it small! MV

Yesterday was the sad anniversary of the assassination of our 35th president John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK). Shown here is a thank you letter on White House stationary from Jacqueline "Jackie' Kennedy, the widow of JFK, to Bailey's Greenhouse in West Potsdam. The thank you letter was recently donated to the museum by Joretta Creighton. She said the Bailey's sent flowers to Mrs. Kennedy. If you are over a certain age, you will remember this moment in your life. The exact place ...and thing you were doing that eventful morning. RIP JFK! From the world wide web: https://www.whitehouse.gov/abo.../presidents/john-f-kennedy/ In 1956 Kennedy almost gained the Democratic nomination for Vice President, and four years later was a first-ballot nominee for President. Millions watched his television debates with the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon. Winning by a narrow margin in the popular vote, Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President. His Inaugural Address offered the memorable injunction: Ask not what your country can do for youask what you can do for your country. As President, he set out to redeem his campaign pledge to get America moving again. His economic programs launched the country on its longest sustained expansion since World War II; before his death, he laid plans for a massive assault on persisting pockets of privation and poverty. See Less

Elderkin Street School,: from the Potsdam archives, dated c. 1893. This school was located on the corner of Elderkin and Market Street where Temple Beth-El is now located.

Pine Street School - Pine Street Potsdam, NY. From the museum's archives, information on the back of the photo reads: Nov 17, 1924. Below is a quote about the Pine street School from a book written in1991 by Susan Jackson's third period American History class at Potsdam High School titled "Pride and Progress: A small History of Potsdam Schools" in the collection at the museum. "Potsdam Museum has handwritten notes from an interesting interview with a Mike Barnett and an unkno...wn interviewer. Mike was born in 1874 and when he was young moved to the Potsdam Madrid Road. He attended # 30 Pine Street School through grade 7 but quit to help on the family farm because his father was ill. When he was twenty he went back to Pine Street School and finished grades 8 and 9 and then went directly to Normal School [ it was a high school and preparatory college for teachers located across from the museum - now Old Snell Hall]. He taught and was principal in district # 17 [ located on the corner of Elderkin and Market Street where the Temple Beth-El is now located] starting in 1901. The interview notes indicate he applied for a job in Oneida for District Superintendent of Schools but was turned down because he was Catholic. He says that Normal School [Potsdam or NYS?] never had a Catholic teacher until 1906." Mimi Van Deusen -Historian

Ives Park, named for it's benefactors , the Ives Brothers of Potsdam. After electricity became a common convenience in the 1920s and 30s the old 'ice box' became obsolete. Ice was once cut along the Raquette River where Ives Park is now located. Great warehouses were once located along the river and filled with ice in January and February when the ice was thick ready to be cut and stored. When the ice business closed down the Ives brothers purchased the property and donated it to the village to be a park. It was once graced with sandstone sidewalks. (Recollections by historian Mimi Van Deusen)