Week of May 1

April 29, 1876 – 150 YEARS AGO

Rockland County Journal

TAKEN SUDDENLY ILL

     On Thursday morning of this week Mr. Henry A. Blauvelt, Supervisor of Orangetown, while at the Nyack railroad station talking with David Garner, complained suddenly of feeling, as he said, as if he “wanted to die.” Mr. Garner noticed a strange look in the gentleman’s eyes, and as he watched him, he saw he was getting worse.

     In a moment or two he became so bad that Messrs. Garner and Edwin Blauvelt caught hold of him, when he sank down and began groaning as if in extreme agony. He was then placed in a carriage and taken to the residence of Mr. Alexander Blauvelt, where medicinal treatment was administered by Dr. G. A. Mursick, under whose care he improved so much as to be able to be taken to his home at Blauveltville on the 5.10 train. Mr. B.’s sickness was pronounced to be congestion of the brain.

AROUND HOME

  ☞  Another shooting sensation in town last week. Nobody hurt. Those of our people who have homicidal inclinations had better practice shooting at the side of a barn for a month or two.

 ☞  The finest arbor-vita hedge in our county is that on the west and south sides of the handsome place owned by Mr. H. Wilson of New York, on the Greenbush side of the new mountain road.

 ☞  There will be an auction sale of household furniture at the residence of Mr. T. W. Hennion, on Hudson Avenue, about two blocks west of the railroad station, on Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock.

 ☞  Two of the oldest conductors on the Nyack and Northern Railroad, Messrs. Lozier and Doremus, have been removed this week. The cause of their removal is known only to the railroad officials.

May 1, 1926 – 100 YEARS AGO

Rockland County Times

TREASON HOUSE BILL KILLED

[Image: John Knight (1871-1955). Courtesy of the Western District of NY Courts.]

     The effort on the part of Captain D. D. Bonnaud and other patriotically inclined citizens who have been working desperately for many, many weeks to induce the legislature to provide protection for the preservation of the present Treason House structure at West Haverstraw met with complete failure prior to the adjournment of the Legislature Friday when the Senate Rules Committee, probably acting under orders from the majority leader, Senator Knight, refused to report the bill for the preservation of the building which had already passed the Assembly.

     This action on the part of the Senate practically killed the bill and nullified all the industrious effort of the many men at women who had worked so assiduously. The action of the Senate was taken too, despite the fact that Captain Bonnaud, working unselfishly, had abandoned his activities to go to Albany and ‘lobby’ unceasingly, if unsuccessfully, to bring the bill out on the floor of the Senate.

     Both our representatives, Senator Walsh and Assemblyman Gedney used their best efforts, all of which proved unavailing.

     The Captain says something strong about the Senate committee chairman, Bennett, who calmly told him, “I won’t report the Bill.”

April 29, 1976 – 50 YEARS AGO

The Journal News

WATER FLOODS SLOATSBURG

     Sloatsburg’s sporadic water shortage problem was reversed abruptly Wednesday when a water main break deluged the village for more than nine hours.

     A major water main along Route 17 near the municipal building broke at about 10 a.m., flooding the roadway and municipal parking lot.

     One of the two northbound lanes was closed off during repairs, and water was shut down in the southern end of the village, affecting about 1,500 residents, for several hours. Although the flooding subsided by afternoon, water continued to flow through the main because workers could not locate the proper shut-off valve, according to Mayor Carl Wright.

     “The public works department did not want to inconvenience residents by shutting down the whole village so they tried to isolate the leak by closing off only certain valves leading to the break,” Wright said.

      That did not work, however, and water to the southern “flats” area of the village was finally turned off at about 7:15 p.m., he said. By 9:45 p.m. the break was repaired and workers began turning the water back on.

     The broken pipe, about 40 years old, was probably vulnerable to the traffic vibrations on Route 17 and changing weather patterns, the mayor said.

     As a result of the break, the driveway of the municipal parking lot caved in and the cellar of the village fire house was flooded.

     Earlier this year, the village board floated a $25,060 bond to make repairs to its water system, including plugging leaks and making mechanical repairs. That work has begun but not in the area affected Wednesday, the mayor said.

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.