Week of June 5
June 3, 1876 – 150 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Journal
AROUND HOME
THE ACCIDENT AT ORANGEBURGH — Last week we stated in our “Around Home” items that a son of George Quick, at Orangeburgh, had his leg badly broken. We had not at that time learned the full particulars of the accident, but a friend has since sent them, as follows:
Freddy Quick, a little fellow nine years of age, met with a painful accident in front of his home, near the Orangeburgh station, on Tuesday of last week, which, though for a time it threatened to cost him his life, fortunately resulted in the loss of a leg only. Miss Lillie Whittemore was driving past his house, when a party of little ones, Freddy among the number, leaped upon the rear axle. Miss Whittemore drove them off, but childlike they returned to the charge the next moment. Freddy threw his right leg over the axle, and his foot lodged between two of the spokes of the wheel. The revolution of the wheel wrenched it entirely from the socket at the knee. Miss Whittemore leaped from her carriage, and while holding the horse, which the screams of Freddy’s companions frightened, lifted the boy in her arms and held him until assistance arrived.— Taken first to the residence of the young lady’s parents, he afterwards removed to his home, where Dr. Masten stanched the flow of blood until Dr. Mursick, of Nyack, arrived and amputated the leg. The little fellow bore his sufferings like a hero, groaning almost inaudibly but never once shedding a tear. We are happy to say that the injured boy is in a fair way of recovery.
June 5, 1926 – 100 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Times
STONY POINT STATION ROBBED
[Image: Stony Point Railroad Station, undated. Image courtesy of the Tomkins Cove Public Library via NYHeritage.org.]
Sometime Tuesday night, thieves broke into the express room of the Stony Point station and made off with packages of undetermined value. Entrance to the station was made by means of breaking the door. Three men were arrested by Corporal Grimes and Trooper Haviland, of the State Constabulary.
The men who are charged with burglarizing the station are Edward McElroy, Thomas Monhall and William Kelly, all of Stony Point. They were arraigned before Judge Philips who held them for the Grand Jury.
OFFICE BOY ENTERTAINS EMPLOYER
Mr. and Mrs. E. B. Sidell of Poughkeepsie were in town Wednesday supervising the fixing of the family plot in Mt. Repose Cemetery. Mrs. Sidell having been born a Campbell and in Haverstraw.
While in town the former enjoyed an interesting chat with his former office boy Rev. John J. Maher. It was Father Maher’s first job during high school vacation in Poughkeepsie, when Mr. Sidell was the biggest coal dealer in the city.
June 3, 1976 – 50 YEARS AGO
The Journal News
ROCKLAND WINS $631,210 GRANT FOR PARKSITE
The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced a $631,210 grant to Rockland County for the purchase of a 172-acre parksite along South Mountain Road in the towns of Ramapo, Haverstraw and Clarkstown.
The grant, which must be matched by an equal amount in county funds, was made through the department’s Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, according to a spokesman for Congressman Benjamin Gilman (R-Middletown).
Legal papers regarding the grant are now en route to Orin Lehman, commissioner of the state Department of Parks and Recreation, the spokesman said.
“We’ve been negotiating for this for several years and finally approved it about a year ago,” said Bernard Fallon (D-Orangetown), chairman of the County Legislature.
“We were able to realize a saving by buying one part of the total parksite early.”
The total size of the recreational tract, known as South Mountain Park, will be about 306 acres, according to Samuel G. Fisher, chairman of the county Park Commission. That includes the 172 acres which the federal grant will help purchase.
“We’ve divided the project into two phases,” Fisher said. “This is phase one and the rest will fall under phase two, which will begin right away.”
The county will not have to match the entire $631,210 grant on a cash basis because some residents of the area are planning to donate land to the new park.
“The land donations will probably total about 25 to 30 acres,” Fisher continued. “We expect that the donated land’s value will serve as part of the county’s 50 per cent of the park cost.”
The negotiations for the parkland have been lengthy and complicated, but will add considerably to Rockland’s total park acreage. But according to Fisher, the county will still be short of recreational space.
“If we have a current county population of 260,000 people and one considers the national average of 12 acres of parkland for each 1,000 residents, then we are very short of the national average,” he said.
Some people have argued that Rockland’s needs are less because the county borders large tracts of state parkland in the Palisades Interstate Park system, but the Harriman Park section of that system is state land and not for future county development, he said.
Rockland currently has 1,240 acres of parkland.
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.
