Week of June 12

June 10, 1876 – 150 YEARS AGO

Rockland County Journal

THE FIRST STEAMBOAT ON THE HUDSON

        The steamboat itself is a romance on the Hudson. Its birth was on its waters, where the rude conceptions of Evans and Fitch on the Schuylkill and Delaware were perfected by Fulton and his successors. How strange is the story of its advent, growth, and achievements! Living men remember when the idea of steam navigation was ridiculed. They remember, too, that when the Clermont went from New York to Albany without the use of sails, against wind and tide, in thirty-two hours, ridicule was changed into amazement. That voyage did more. It spread terror over the surface of the river and created wild alarm along its borders. The steamboat was an awful revelation to the fishermen, the farmers, and the villagers. It came upon them unheralded. It seemed like a weird craft from Pinto’s realm—a transfiguration of Charon’s boat into a living fiend from the infernal regions. Its huge black pipe vomiting fire and smoke, the hoarse breathing of its engine, and the great splash of its uncovered paddle-wheels filled the imagination with all the dark pictures of goblins that romancers have invented since the foundation of the world. Some thought it was an unheard-of monster of the sea ravaging the fresh waters; others regarded it as a herald of the final conflagration at the day of doom. Managers of river-craft who saw it at night believed that the great red dragon of the Apocalypse was loose upon the waters. Some prayed for deliverance; some fled in terror to the shore, and hid in the recesses of the rocks, and some crouched in mortal dread beneath their decks, and abandoned their vessels and themselves to the mercy of the winds and waves, or the jaws of the demon. The Clermont was the author of some of the most wonderful romances of the Hudson, and for years she was the victim of the enmity of the fishermen, who believed that her noise and agitation of the waters would drive the shad and sturgeon from the river. —Harper’s Magazine

OUR FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION

        Whatever action other portions of our county may take in regard to celebrating the Fourth, we, the citizens of Nyack intend having a celebration that will long be remembered, and such as has never taken place in this locality before. We are going to have every cannon in the neighborhood brought out and fired off; every bell in the village rung; and every heart to respond to the sentiment of the day—“Hurrah for the Fourth of July!” We are going to have a patriotic and stirring oration from one of our most respected citizens, and a large throng of people to listen to it. We are going to have a fine procession, headed by a first-class brass band, in which it is expected that all of our citizens who have horses and carriages and wagons will join. In this procession also we wish to see our worthy farmers from every part of the county, with their faithful horses and large farm wagons. At night we expect to light up our green hillsides with handsome fire works, and—in fact, we mean to have a celebration worthy of our place and people, and everyone should go in for it with their whole hearts.

June 11, 1926 – 100 YEARS AGO

Pearl River News

WHERE SHALL THE NEW COURT HOUSE BE BUILT?

        Now that a movement is on foot to build a new Court House, it has been suggested that the building be erected somewhere else in the county instead of New City, which place, it is claimed, is out of the way, and very unhandy to get to.

        The Board of Supervisors, we understand, cannot come to any conclusion as to a new site, as each supervisor wants the county seat to be in his township. Well, there is one way out. Ask the County Bar Association and the Justices from the Supreme Court of this district to appoint a committee to meet and select a site. The Court House is now located in Clarkstown and if any land was purchased near Nanuet on the State road, and the building erected thereon, the public would be great benefitted.

        Editor’s Note—Since writing the above, Editor Brown, of this paper, had an interview with Mr. A. E. Berry, who owns one of the most valuable strips of land at Nanuet, located along the State Road. Mr. Berry is willing to help the project along by donating to the county all the land that is necessary for the erection of the County Court and jail.

        It would appear to us that it is also up to someone else to help the matter along. Just stop and think what this means to Pearl River, Nanuet and Spring Valley. A village with hotels and stores of every description will grow up like mushrooms over night.

June 9, 1976 – 50 YEARS AGO

Our Town

STICK TO STICKBALL, BOYS BREAK WORLD’S RECORD

[Image: Jim Maughan bats. Boys went 76 innings. Our Town, 1976.]

        Jim Maughan pushed his baseball cap up on his head, and squinted into the afternoon sun at the outfielders. His fingers gripped the bat—a championship model carefully adapted from the old broom stick, expertly wound with friction tape.

        Down the hill at Standish Road, Pearl River, the linesmen waited expectantly for a smashing drive. It was the 76th inning, and Maughan’s stickball team was leading by a comfortable margin—113-65.

        Maughan, along with Tom Buckenberg and Ken O’Halloran, defeated Tom Gallagher, Robert Leonard and Eugene Carle in the marathon stickball game that started at 5:12 a.m. and ran 76 consecutive innings before the final batter struck out at 2:35 p.m.

        “We did it to beat the world’s stickball record,” Maughan told Our Town. “That stood at 51 innings. We chose 76 innings in honor of the bicentennial, and to make sure we’d run up a record that wouldn’t be beaten for awhile.”

        Following the tradition of stickball, the youngsters chose their street, Standish Road, as the site of their Marathon game. The street, 30 feet wide, conforms to international stickball rules. Lines were drawn every 50 feet to denote hit zones—single, double triple, and homerun.

        All or the stickball marathon participants attend St. Anthony’s school in Nanuet.

This Week in Rockland (#FBF Flashback Friday) is prepared by Clare Sheridan for the Historical Society of Rockland County. © 2026 by The Historical Society of Rockland County. #FBF Flashback Friday may be reprinted only with written permission from the HSRC. To learn about the HSRC’s mission, upcoming events or programs, visit www.RocklandHistory.org or call (845) 634-9629.