I think it was 1962/63 time...happened when Tornado came thru; same night as Senior Ball at Mohon. Lifted roof off barn at Nursery; rumor was that cow disappeared too. Roof was found like 1/2 mile away...but that was all rumor. Joann might know year becuase I think this was brought up before and she knew date.
JUST BECAUSE SISSY SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO...BUT HE THINKS IT DOES!!!!! JUST BECAUSE MC1 SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO!!!!!
I seem to remember it being a Sunday night, 'cause that's when we go to visit in Waterviliet.................don't remember a tornado that night either
Schenectady NY Gazette 1957 Grayscalef - 5751.pdf ...AUGUST 5, 1957 PAGE 17 Leader In Total Circulation Volunteer Fire Fighters Lauded By LOU TORRBJ and BILL O'BRIEN Of the Gazette Staff Wary Rotterdam home owners drizzling water from garden hoses on their houses ... ...falling sparks away marvelled at a scene marked by efficient fire fighters. - i * * * THKV SAVED the whole town from going up ... ...we were all going to be burned out," she said. Rotterdam district 2, first on the scene of the Palma lumber yard blaze waa soon assisted by more and more fire companies as the ... ...fire grew and billowed out of control. * # *' WHILE IT soon became ap- parent the lumber company was a goner and firemen would have to fight to ...
Document 100% Amsterdam NY Daily Democrat and Recorder 1957 Jul-Aug Grayscale - 0470.pdf ...C R A T - * . * * # Section Two Lightning Sparks $1 Million Rotterdam Lumber Co. Blaze Lightning is believed to be the cause of a SI million blaze at the Palma Lumber Co ... ...Rotterdam, Saturday night. The spectacular fire sent flames 300 feet in the sky and raged out ... ...ht until early this morning, playing hoses on the smoldering lumber. iiisterdaiii. N.Y., Monday, August 5, 1957 One woman reports ... ...in the soutji part of the main building of the lumber com- pany. 1502 Curry Rd.. Rotterdam. One report was that lightning first struck a nearby power ... ...pole and then spread to the lumber yard. The pole was burned and wires carrying 34.000 ...
Wow, I could have sworn it was later than that. It still sits empty ..
You're just a young whippersnapper!!! I know that it was still a functional business in 1959, two years later, 'cause me an my best friend Fred, for a 7th grade shop class project decided we were going to build crossbows.........you read that right, crossbows!!! Mr. Kos our shop teacher thought it was a great idea, so we found plans in the library, and went to Palma where for the stocks, we bought rough-sawn cherry blanks...............the bow was made from 1/4" or maybe 3/8" hardened steel, which Fred's father had fabricated down at GE, he was a master welder.............try doing that today in your local Middle School............. ...............................
PS - Our Rotterdam Historian should be able to answer this with accurate information......
Ahhh........thanks joebxr........................our Rotterdam historian, fat-a** ronnie the pervert, is as we all know is a historian in name only..........he didn't even live, grow up or go to school here..........how the hell would he know anything about the history of this town!!!!!!!
After the Palma lumber company was destroyed the buildings were rebuilt and they sold lumber for a number of years. Sometime later the lumber company became Palma Pools and when they got out of that business the buildings stayed empty just as you see them today. The night in 1960 when the tornado struck was the only time I ever saw black clouds with a tint of green. I was a junior in high school and we were coming back from Altamont that night on Guilderland Ave and had just cleared the Thruway Bridge and we could hear that loud train type sound. When we came back over the bridge 1/2 hr later the debris was all over the road and an old 2 story house near the Thruway Bridge had taken a 90 degree turn on it's foundation.
Mom and Dad and sister and brother had gone grocery shopping at the A&P on Union St. (Dad and uncle Joe) worked there...........I was finally old enough to be left at home alone (13 yrs old a different era folks). I remember how black the sky got and the wind............in our neighborhood I don't remember many trees coming down, but the power lines were laying in the street near Leo Ave. sparkin' n arcin'..............I admit to being a little shook up but once everyone got home I was ready to go out and see what had happened.......'course the folks weren't gonna hear it...........so the next morning me and Fred got on our bikes and began to check things out...............our first stop was Colonial Manor where we had heard things were pretty bad...............it was.........trees, wires, houses wrecked......the real shocker though was at Bigsbee where the relatively new gym was half gone................
this may be the only way the history of our town gets told........................dirty shame that the supposed historian is a lazy fat-a** pervert.......
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