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Flashback Friday Archive 2021-22: Flashback Friday: Week of July 30

July 29, 1871 – 150 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Journal

NEW SCHOOL LAW
[Image: The Blauvelt Public School, built in 1850 on the site of the Greenbush Academy (1809). The school was remodeled about 1909. Image appeared in SOTM 1968-10, Vol. 12, No. 4.]
     The new law enacted by the last Legislature providing for the establishment of free schools throughout the State, alters the mode hitherto in existence of raising money for their support. The law of 1867, authorizing each township to raise the money for schools, has been repealed, and the new law provides that there shall be assessed, levied and collected annually from the inhabitants of the State and upon the taxable real and personal property thereof, a State school tax of two mills on each dollar, which shall be in lieu of all township school taxes. The law further provides that if the money raised in this manner shall not be sufficient in any township to sustain the schools for at least nine months in each year, then the inhabitants of such township are to raise the required sum in the former way.

THE MINNISCEONGO BRIDGE
     The West Point Foundry has just completed an elegant iron draw bridge to span Minnisceongo creek, Haverstraw, which is a credit to our county. The draw is a continuous structure of iron frame work ninety-four feet long and nearly eighteen feet wide. The approach to it on one side being forty-six feet long and on the other nineteen feet, making when in place, a bridge one hundred and fifty-nine feet in length. It is to be transported on two sloops, and when the tide is full, the vessels will sail up the creek, and the bridge or draw will be lowered on to the abutments. This bridge cost the snug little sum of $7,050.

July 29, 1921 – 100 YEARS AGO
Rockland News

LOST PIN PUNCTURES BOY BYCYCLIST’S TIRE
     Some folk are born lucky while others have an occasional lucky streak, like Miss Bessie Kelley, for instance.
     Miss Kelley lost a gold pin set with a stone and valued at $40. She advertised her loss but was disappointed with the results. And she was heartbroken.
     To make a long story short, a boy neighbor was riding a bicycle in the roadway not more than 50 yards from the Kelley home. Suddenly there was a shish-h-h and a tire was punctured.
     Dismounting his wheel the young bike rider examined his tire, and there was Miss Kelley’s pin, which was returned to her.

CAN’T SPOON AND DRIVE
     Secretary of State [John] Lyons has received a letter from an official of Sparrowbush, Orange County, asking if there is any law for “spooning and one-hand driving.” It is learned that the secretary of state has no objection to young folks spooning but he does not think they ought to do it while the young man is attempting to drive a car.

July 28, 1971 – 50 YEARS AGO
Rockland Independent/Leader

HOUSEWIFE WOULD LIKE TO BE COUNTY’S FIRST COUNCILWOMAN
     Mrs. Linda Winikow is a happily married lady with two sons and a mortgage—certainly not the type to be expected at a women’s liberation rally.
     But she has one thing in common with today’s feminists: she thinks it’s about time Rockland County had a female town board member.
     And as the recently nominated Democratic candidate for Ramapo town council, Mrs. Winikow is perhaps closer to that goal than any other woman has ever been before. She knows that to achieve her ultimate aim she must attract both the male and female vote.
     “I want the men as well as the women,” she explains. “I think the men will vote for me because I’m competent.”

Same Issues
     Although she is concerned with most of the same issues male candidates in the town will have to tackle—public housing, zoning and town growth—Mrs. Winikow has other pet concerns that she feels many other women in Ramapo share.
     Among these are the relationship between town government and schools, traffic safety, consumer protection, day care centers, and regulation of shopping centers.
     And as a member of the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) she brings the campaign four years of experience with Ramapo’s controlled growth programs.
     “I really have a very deep and genuine concern about the growth and development of the town,” she commented, “and I think I will bring the town board a different point of view representing the women of Ramapo.”
     But she makes clear her campaign will not be based on the fact she is a woman. “I don’t see myself in making decisions so radically different from men,” she asserted.
     One of the former history teacher’s prime objectives if she is elected will be to propose formation of a Ramapo landmarks commission.
     Mrs. Winikow hopes such a commission will work toward preserving historical sites in the town, like the Old Red Schoolhouse in South Spring Valley and the Monsey Glen.
     This year a series of consumer protection proposals were turned down or lost in committee by county legislators. Mrs. Winikow hopes these, including a bill to mandate for unit pricing of goods sold in supermarkets, may become the subject of Ramapo local ordinances.

The New Vote
     She has taken a special interest also in getting newly enfranchised 18- to 21-year-olds registered to vote. “When I first moved here, I was very young,” Mrs. Winikow recalls, “and the doors were wide open for me.”
     She lost little time walking through them. On the political scene the Hofstra University graduate has been a Democratic committeeman for seven years, president of the Ramapo Democratic Women’s Club from 1968 to 1970, and participated in a host of other clubs and committees.
     Mrs. Winikow hopes to attract the young voters. One thing she feels the town could do for them is provide more recreational facilities, including [a] recreational center like Spring Valley’s Tiger’s Den.
     “I think they’re a very important segment,” Mrs. Winikow said of the new voters. “You can’t just go to them and say hey, vote for me.”
     To all segments of the population Mrs. Winikow says she is prepared to do a lot of listening. As a member of zoning board she says she has received all kinds of suggestions and complaints from “soup to nuts.”
     “As a councilman,” she adds, “you lead and show your initiative, but you also respond to the people.”
     But it is on questions of zoning and town growth that Mrs. Winikow seems particularly concerned. She calls supervisor John F. McAlevey’s controversial 15-point zoning plan “one of the wisest, most brilliant pieces of legislation,” and adds, “I think people will not realize the full ramifications of it for many years.”

Proud to Run
     Mrs. Winikow is firm in saying there are no major issues on which she has any disagreement with McAlevey’s policy. “I’m proud to run with him,” she said.
     Nor is she daunted by the crowds of angry residents who have opposed MacAlevey’s twin public housing projects. “You get a battering away of the same people,” Mrs. Winikow remarked.
     “I’m campaigning from the minute I go out of the house until the minute I come home,” Mrs. Winikow explained. “I’m very excited about the race. I find it one of the most thrilling things I’ve ever undertaken.”
     And she feels strongly that she is not a common sort of candidate. “I’m not the hard nosed politician nor will I ever be.”
     On at least one other score, Mrs. Winikow will also be different from candidates for town council and Rockland in the past. Although she wants to be judged on her experience and background and public life, nobody will miss the fact that she is a woman.

_____

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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