Week of May 23

May 22, 1875 – 150 YEARS AGO

Rockland County Journal

COMPETITION

    The five excellent livery stables which Nyack boasts of have some of the finest vehicles and animals to draw them, of any village on the Hudson. Among the latest improvements we notice that Andrew A. Demarest has supplied his stables with a handsome Brett, silver plated trimmings, and harness to match. Close carriages are an excellent institution in stormy weather, but an elegant open carriage like the one in question is a luxury that all of us can appreciate.  ☞  Cherry-blossoms began poking their little white noses out the first of the week to ascertain the state of the weather, and not smelling Jack Frost around, they have taken courage and brought their whole families out in the sunshine, and the trees are covered with them.

A GOOD EXAMPLE

        “No Soda Water or Root Beer for sale on Sunday.” Every Sunday this notice can be found posted on the Soda fountain of DeGraff & Blauvelt, our popular druggists. We are glad to see this change, for if it is right to sell soda water and root beer on Sunday, then it is also right for parties to open their candy, ice-cream and other stores and sell whatever is wanted.

No druggist will lose by pursuing this course, but on the contrary will receive the more liberal patronage. We hope that all who are engaged in this business will follow the lead of our friends and rest on the Day of Rest.

May 23, 1925 – 100 YEARS AGO

Nyack Evening Journal

LEXOW WINS $22,500 FOR MRS. DECKER — Largest Verdict Ever Granted in Similar Case Brought in Yesterday in Favor of Widow of Man Killed by Adolph Zukor’s Automobile

    New City, N.Y., May 23—A verdict which aroused the entire courtroom was rendered late yesterday afternoon by the jury, which heard the suit brought against Adolph Zukor, millionaire motion picture producer, and his daughter, Mrs. Mildred Zukor Loew, by Mr. Ada Decker of Haverstraw. Mrs. Decker was awarded $22,500 for the death of her husband, Frank, killed by the Zukor car.

        Mrs. Decker had asked $100,000, but it was generally felt that the jury would bring the verdict about $10,000 and the amount granted being the largest verdict ever rendered in Rockland County Supreme Court in a case of this character.

        District Attorney Morton Lexow, who represented Mrs. Decker, had worked painstakingly on this case, presenting to the court and jury a calm, judicial summation which laid the bare facts before them in a manner leaving little alternative but a verdict for the plaintiff.

        Mr. Decker was the chief engineer on the ferry “Tarrytown” owned by the North River Ferry Company. He was in the custom of walking to his home in Haverstraw occasionally, appreciating the exercise.

        On the day he was killed, he had arrived at the corner of the block on which he lived. The Zukor car, driven by their chauffeur, struck him, killing him almost instantly.

        Neither Mr. Zukor or his daughter now a member of the well-known theatrical family of the same name, were called during the case, which occupied but two days and was heard by Supreme Court Justice Young.

May 23, 1975 – 50 YEARS AGO

The Journal News

TEACHERS TAKE NOTE OF THE PAST

[Image: Sandra Sand, Leo Wagner, and Barbara Weisman inspect a Revolutionary-era tombstone at the Tappan Reformed Church Cemetery. Journal News Staff Photograph by Art Sarno.]

    Some 300 Nyack teachers “turned on” to the bicentennial spirit Thursday as they visited historic Rockland sites from Doodletown to the Stony Point Battlefield during a day-long conference.

        The theme of the trips that split the teachers into 10 groups, each taking four-hour trips to one of the sites, was improving education in the Nyack School District, according to Bradley Bobb, chairman of the teachers’ committee that organized the day.

        Each tour was photographed on slides which will be available to classes next year. In addition, one of the teachers videotaped the entire project from a helicopter.

        The production of these teaching aides was a secondary purpose of the conference, Bobb said.

        “Our theme was ‘turn on 200,’” he said, “… so that they can teach an awareness of the gift of freedom to their students, and this seemed the best way to do it.”

        Barbara Weisman, a second-grade teacher Valley Cottage Elementary School, seemed to agree.

        “They could have done this with lectures, but that gets boring. We could have read about these places and the events that took place here, but it’s just not the same as being here,” she said during the Tappan tour. Although she lives in the hamlet, she had never visited the landmarks before.

        Some teachers became so enthusiastic that they began to look for ways to use the bicentennial in courses they had not considered applying it to before.

        For example, Duncan Lee, a science teacher at Nyack High School, said he started to wonder about Colonial farming methods during his tour of Tappan.

        “I’d like to see if we can set up an organic garden next year, using those methods,” he said. “It could be a perfect combination between the past and present because of the interest in organic gardening now.”

        Leo Wagner, principal of Nyack Junior High School, said that he overheard a group of teachers discussing sources of energy available during the Revolution of using that as a science unit.

        Like many of the teachers, Wagner took some time to get used to the unorthodox approach the conference took.

         “We started the day with a blase feeling,” he said. “We wondered what we were doing here, but as the day continued we got more and more turned on.”

        However, other teachers remained skeptical of the project’s value. “I thought it was a farce when we started and I still think so,” said Nyack High School teacher Richard Bruce. “These days are much better spent discussing education and some of the very real problems facing the district.”

        When the teachers returned to a final critique session, many of them questioned the apparent expense of the project.

        “It seems wrong for us to have spent so much on ourselves when there is so little money available for student fieldtrips,” said one.

        But, according to Bobb, the helicopter, refreshments, and guides were all donated. The only cost was approximately $375 for the air-conditioned buses, he said—about what would have been spent for regular schoolbuses.

This Week in Rockland (#FBF Flashback Friday) is prepared by Clare Sheridan for the Historical Society of Rockland County. © 2025 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.