Week of September 5
September 4, 1875 – 150 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Journal
FERDON AVENUE
The extensive improvements made by Mr. John W. Ferdon during the past two years along the line of this favored avenue in Piermont are being endorsed by all the residents. During the present season Mr. Ferdon at his own expense has regraded the road-bed from the new stone bridge to near the Reformed Church, throwing all the lots over two feet above its level, making it comparatively easy for the owners to put in an improved appearance. The advantage so generously tendered has not been offered in vain. Road fences and stone-walls are rapidly getting “down and out” and the front of each lot terraced to the road, presenting a very handsome appearance. The road is already becoming very popular as a short drive, and promises to be the promenade of the place as soon as the contemplated blue-stone sidewalk assumes position along its line.
A GOLDEN RELIC
On Wednesday last our old friend, Robert D. Gedney, showed us a U.S. ten dollar gold piece of the coinage of 1799. The gold in the piece seemed to be almost pure, the alloy, if any, being silver, and the characters on each side were as prominent and clearly cut as the day the coin came from the mint. Its restriction is curious: A few days ago an old lady traded for some dry goods at the store of Merritt & Ross, and to pay for them she drew out the above gold coin which, she assured Mr. Merritt, had been in her possession for sixty years. Mr. Merritt knowing Mr. G. to be an enthusiastic collector of singular coins, and the owner of the finest cabinet of curiosities in the county, disposed of the gold piece to him for fourteen dollars, and the curious can gratify their curiosity by looking at it among his other treasures.
September 3, 1925 – 100 YEARS AGO
Pearl River News
CERTIFICATES OF BIRTH TO BE REQUIRED — Applicants for Drivers’ Licenses Between Ages of 18 and 25 Must Prove Age — New Order to Be Effective September 1n
Commissioner Charles. A. Harnett, head of the State Motor Vehicle Bureau, issued an order yesterday requiring all applicants for drivers’ licenses, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, to file birth certificates with their applications. The order is effective on September 1, and will be statewide in its scope. At present, birth certificates are demanded only in cases where the applicant states that he is between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one.
William H. Arnstein, executive assistant to Commissioner Harnett, in explaining the new order said:
“This order is intended to put a check on the so-called automobile schools, which purport to teach persons to drive cars and which will not stop at criminal means to obtain drivers’ license for their pupils. In a recent case it was shown that a mere boy, not yet seventeen, who had attended one of these schools, had obtained a driver’s license.”
Mr. Arnstein added that it is an easy matter for a husky youth of sixteen or seventeen to pose as more than twenty-one and thus avoid having to produce a birth certificate.
“But I’ll wager,” said Mr. Arnstein, “that there isn’t a boy less than eighteen who can pass as more than twenty-five. This order of Commissioner Harnett, which applies to the entire state, will put an effective stop to this form of fraud.”
September 5, 1975 – 50 YEARS AGO
The Journal News
FOR ROBYN, SCHOOL’S A BREEZE
[Image: Robyn Kolinsky is just one of the kids in first day at abc Nursery Group Inc., Monsey. Photograph by Mark Abusamra, Journal-News.]
Five months after her arrival, Robyn Kolinsky appears transformed, almost magically, from a homeless Vietnamese waif to a happy child of American suburbia.
The four-year-old who was adopted by Ben and Adele Kolinsky of Spring Valley attended her first day of nursery school Thursday. Like every other new experience that has come her way, according to her mother, Robyn took school in stride. Those experiences have been countless for the girl who arrived here as an orphan in April after traveling half-way around the world from Saigon.
When she left her homeland with 54 other orphans aboard an emergency “baby lift” flight, the Vietnamese Communists were nearing the peak of their drive to take over control of South Vietnam.
Robyn is now one of the thousands of Vietnamese refugees who have settled throughout the United States and begun trying to build new lives.
To aid her transition, Robyn has had the help of her parents and three brothers and a neighborhood full of curious, excited children who keep the Kolinsky doorbell chiming all day long.
Robyn’s first day at the abc Nursery Group, Inc. in Monsey left her parents more nervous than she was. “I had the same feeling as when each of the boys went to school the first time,” Mrs. Kolinsky said.
Her father also admitted being more nervous than his daughter. “She just very nonchalantly said good-bye, walked onto the bus, waved to us and said, ‘Let’s go,’ said Kolinsky, the owner of a Bronx pharmacy.
Though she does not speak much English yet, she understands a great deal. She settled into a variety of activities upon her arrival at school without the slightest hesitation.
Her celebrity status did not seem foreign to her. She mugged repeatedly for the camera and proudly displayed a shiny pair of brown shoes. Robyn was barefoot when she was carried off a plane for her first view of New York.
Robyn attracted little more attention than any other of the 18 children in her class Thursday. For many of them, also, this was the first day in school.
“In so short a time she will be just one of the others,” said Jane Stirling, the director of the school. “Kids are so unaffected, but she does seem to have the kind of personality that would attract attention anyway.”
“Children are just children no matter where they’re from,” Mrs. Stirling said. “We almost owe more to Robyn to leave her alone because of all the attention she has been getting.”
Mrs. Kolinsky attributes Robyn’s smooth adjustment to the upbringing she had in a Catholic orphanage in South Vietnam
“Robyn has known love,” she said. “She does not act like someone who has been institutionalized.”
Mrs. Kolinsky currently is on leave from her position as supervisor of pediatrics at Letchworth Developmental Center in Thiells, a facility for the mentally retarded [sic].
The most immediate fixation at school for Robyn was a little black cat named Lucky, which indifferently allowed Robyn to carry it from room to room exploring the school.
Later, the class sat together singing a song designed to teach parts of the body. Robyn caught on the second time the class came to the nose.
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.
