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Flashback Friday Archive 2019-20: Flashback Friday: Week of July 30

July 30, 1870 – 150 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Journal

REDIVIVUS
       And now comes Tappantown, grey-headed and venerable before many of our modern villages had an existence, and is renewing its youth like the eagle in the holy writ, in that it has by the enterprise of one of its citizens, a town clock. Recently, Mr. Abram VanWart, the enterprising jeweler of the village, has had constructed a handsome show-window in which he has placed a clock with a dial twenty-seven inches in diameter and to which is attached a bell sixteen inches in diameter, whose sound can be heard in any part of the village. This clock gives Benedict’s time and one, at a distance of a hundred yards from it, can regulate his watch by it very comfortably. Most of the mechanism of the clock was designed and made by our friend Van, who is a thoroughly ingenious mechanic and understands his business fully. We hope that more of his neighbors in the old village will imitate his example and come out with something that will astonish the Rip Van Winkles who are dreaming their precious time away.

OUR COLORED CITIZENS
       On Tuesday, August 2d, the colored citizens of Nyack, Piermont, and those residing in the villages in the immediate vicinity will indulge in a jollification over the Fifteenth Amendment, which is expected to be somewhat of an imposing affair. At 10 o’clock am of the above day, a procession will be formed at the A.M.E. Zion Church [and] will march though the principal streets of our village (Nyack). Addresses will be delivered in the evening at Christie’s Hall by Rev. Wm. F. Butler of New York, Rev. Jacob Thompson of Newburgh, and Rev. William Sceares of Newark, NJ. Dinner at the church throughout the day. ; Admission to the Hall in the Evening is 25 cents.

PROSTRATED BY HEAT
       On Tuesday, which may be considered on the of the warmest days of this hot season, John Jackson, a colored employee in D.D. & T. Smith’s coal yard, was so affected by the heat, after drinking ice water, that when he reached his home, a short distance south of De Pew’s bridge, it was thought he could not recover. Mrs. Dr. E. Monroe was sent for, and by the application of ice and electricity to the head and spinal cord, he was soon relieved and is now out of danger.
       On the same day, we learn that Dr. Polhemus was called to attend a woman residing in the same neighborhood, who became seriously affected by the heat of the weather. She, too, we believe is doing well, through the remedies employed for her recovery.
       The great wonder is that we have no more cases of the above nature to record; for a more intense, red hot and altogether plutonian atmosphere has not surrounded this orb since the carboniferous period when ferns grew into trees and lizards attained to twenty or thirty feed in length. Another such season like this will make us feel like pre-empting one hundred and sixty acres of land in Alaska and settling down there for the balance of our natural lives.

June 28, 1970 – 50 YEARS AGO
The Journal News

HE PAINTS TOWN HALL ‘CURIOUS YELLOW’—ORANGETOWN’S NOW ON DISPLAY
       The Orangetown town hall should be closed 30 days for violating the recently adopted movie morality law, town Democratic chairman Michael Capazzi says.
       Capazzi cites drawings of four nudes—on exhibit in the lobby of town hall. He wants to know if they were reviewed by the town clerk before being put on display.
       He says he rates them all X by using the code of standards applied to films in the town code that classifies coming-attraction strips in local theaters.
       The new town law prohibits previews of coming attractions more restrictive than the feature being shown at the time. It gives the town clerk power to ban showing the preview and the right to rescind a theater's license 30 days for noncompliance.
       Capazzi says he feels that if the town is to be consistent, it should ban the nude art works of Aurelio Yammerino of Orangeburg. The four nudes, in pastel, are among 20 of his works on display.
       Town officials claimed last night they had not noticed. Councilman Stanley W. Denison, who promoted the town code on coming attractions, said he had not noticed the art until it was pointed out to him. His only comment was that they were pretty high up on the ceiling, adding he had received many favorable comments about the new town law.
       Supervisor John B. Lovett, who broke the tie vote at the June board meeting to pass the code, had no comment.
       Local history and the arts and crafts of its residents are being displayed for public benefit in the lobby of the Orangetown Town Hall in a series of new display cases.
       According to Supervisor John B. Lovett, the idea for the cases came from Ralph C. Braden, town historian, who is in charge of utilizing them and arranging the displays.
       There have already been several, ranging from photographs of the history of Pearl River to an exhibit on the gypsy moth and its dangers.
       Others, dealing with the skills and abilities of Orangetown residents and industries, have been shown, such as a recent showing on the history and products of Lederle Laboratories.
       This week the exhibits were changed again, and the first showing of the work of a local artist is featured.
       The “Star” is Aurielio Yammerino of Orangeburg, who has had his works exhibited at many galleries and museums, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the National Academy of Art in New York City.
       He is currently an instructor in drawing, painting and composition at the Westchester Workshop in White Plains and is listed in “Who's Who in American Art.”
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This Week in Rockland (#FBF Flashback Friday) is prepared by Clare Sheridan on behalf of the Historical Society of Rockland County. To learn about the HSRC's mission, upcoming events or programs, visit www.RocklandHistory.org or call (845) 634-9629.

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