From the Thousand Islands Sun, courtesy of Jeanne Snow, editor, transcribed by Holice Young: Mina Herrick King's reminiscences of Alexandria Bay. Remember to click on the underlined words to access the pictures.
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Alexandria Bay in Years Past
The date of the first settlement of Alexandria Bay, I am not aware of, but it must have been in the early 1800s when the great landholder LeRay
arrived in this territory to take over land. It is believed that he named it Alexandria after his son Alexander.
Nevertheless, a better location could not have been selected to start a settlement, as this seemingly is the most beautiful part of the St.
Lawrence River--with its numerous islands and the depth of water sufficient for large ships to dock with the cargo they carried. In those days much was done by boats. The building of a new town at first may have been slow, but in a short time homes and stores of all kinds were constructed in the village.
I believe the well constructed stone building by the Cornwall Brothers,
John Andrew, Harvey and Charles, was one of the oldest of business places to be erected in the waterfront. Their good dock for the boats was very important, and much in use by the public.
In my young days we did enjoy a trip to the Bay as there was much for us to see and this store was a big attraction for us. Our parents would bring in ten or twelve dozen eggs to use as part payment for the needs of the family Although the price of eggs was very little--$.12 or $.15 a dozen, it all helped and the store liked having fresh eggs to sell.
With no cash register on the counter, it was amusing to see the money that had been paid for your bill put into a little basket; and by pulling the cord it was sent to the cashier, who was in a little elevated booth, to take care of and then send back the change and a copy of the bill. At this time I recall Mary McDonald taking care of this. She later became Mrs. Frank Moore. Frank Lyman and George Cornwall were busy as clerks; and in the summer they had many customers, so more help was needed. Charles Cornwall would then help out.
On the riverfront of the store was a nice porch which was an ideal
location to watch the arrival of big passenger boats, and to hear porters from the various hotels calling out the name of their respective hotels, as by now there had been two large hotels built, the Crossmon in 1848 and the Staples in 1873 . My mother was sixteen years old when she attended the opening of the latter with her father. This was
a big event for someone her age.
As years passed, more hotels were erected in the village, The Marsden, St. Lawrence, St. James, and The Bay View House on Walton Street. As the tourists increased each year, these hotels were well filled. This was quite
an accomplishment for the town, as more residents were given work and new homes were built. This in turn caused many kinds of new stores to be placed into operation and thus supplying the needs of the people.
Some of the stores were: Walter Fox, Cornwalls, later Frank Lymans with
Gladys Hunt, Beatrice Ellis and Frank Moore as clerks. Frank Griffins,
Benone Thompson, Tinker Thompson; Lewis Dobbins Groceries, Sam Miller's
Meat Market; Vrooman's Groceries, Nathaniel Leonard's Bakery, and Fred Swan
on Walton Street. Also there was Fred Batcheler's and Nellie Ayoup's.
There was also construction and contractors: Mr. Simmons, J. B. Reid and
son, Ralph, who built the new Catholic church to replace the old one on
Crossmon Street. Mechanical work was done by Mr. Cranker and his son at
Mill Point. I had heard that he even made a gun once. The Kelletts, and
Charles Garlock were in the hardware business which was later taken over by
Sterling and Royal [Garlock].
As time passed, a few restaurants were to be found throughout the village.
We often went to Reuben White's on James Street for ice cream. Mrs.
Sheppard and her daughter, Ethel Pearce, had a small restaurant. We used
to keep them in a good supply of eggs.
Not far from the river was an open air market of fresh fruit and
vegetables. I believe a Mr. Long from Oswego was the owner. It was a
grand place from which to select various fruits as he had a very nice display.
The first bank was located near this fruit stand in the lower part of the
Marsden Hotel. The Cornwall Brothers were connected with this bank and
Charles Putman was a cashier there for a long time. As this bank was not
adequate for long, a new building was constructed not far from the Cornwall
Store and it had office space on the second floor, s soon occupied by
Clinton Wiltse and Bert DeYoung law firm.
The other apartment was taken by Dr. Francis Gillick, a young dentist who
has moved from his Theresa office where he had a good practice. I had some
dental work done before he married Corrine Alton, a nurse.
She was a pupil of mine in the sixth grade at Antwerp School where I had
been assigned to practice teaching in 1909. There were other dentists
eventually--Dr. Bigness and Dr. Lantier.
There were also clothing stores that I remember well: Samuel Guerrieri and
Jacob and Isaac Friedman. They used to travel the country over with a
covered wagon and two horses, supplying folks with all kinds of wearing
apparel.
A Milliner Store was essential for the ladies as we had to have a hat for
each outfit of clothing in order to keep up-to-date. Mrs. Lefever and
Poppy Winslow had a shop on church street opposite the Hartman block.
These ladies could make hats for whatever you wanted. Summer--flowers and
ribbon, and in winter and fall, mostly velvet on felt trimmed with a nice
ostrich plume and feathers. I remember having a small bird attached at the
side of a green felt hat with wings spread as if it were ready to fly.
I do, also remember Calvin Wilson and his small store on Walton street.
He and his family lived upstairs. His wife, Mary, and daughter Allie, were
friends of mine. My mother grew up with Mary Merrill when they were young.
So this was our place to visit whenever we came to the Bay. And they
would come to us since Mr. Wilson had a horse to drive.
There was a blacksmith shop, photography, one barber shop,Haas and
Houghton furniture. A good friend of my grandfather had a shoe cobbler
shop and leather repair. While my grandfather delivered the butter and
eggs and chatted with his friend, I was allowed to go and watch the lights
on nearby Heart Island. The island itself looked like a big heart in the sky. And the lights were so beautiful that my youthful eyes could not watch it long enough.
There are many craftsmen around these days, but I remember Chauncey
Wheeler. He was a riverman who made beautiful duck decoys. His art was
much in demand, especially in the fall of the year.
The spiritual needs of the residents o the Bay were not forgotten, as some
of the earliest buildings were churches: St. Cyril's church, Methodist,St.
Lawrence Episcopal, Reformed church of the Thousand Islands. Only in
recent times was there a Baptist church erected on Bolton Avenue.
Fraternal orders also came into being. A Masonic Temple was built on
James Street. The lower part was used for stores and at one time the only
druggist was Cook and Marshall's. The upper part was used for the lodge
room and the meetings for Masons and Eastern Star. In the early 1900s, the
Odd Fellows were organized and built a hall for their newly organized
lodge. It was given the name of Hopewell. My father was a charter member
as he had already joined an Odd Fellows Lodge in Brier Hill. Their hall was
on the second floor and the lower floors were rented to the town clerk and
The Thousand Islands Sun early in the 1900s.
It was about this same time that the Odd Fellows built their new building.
The upper floor for this hall and the lower and basement was to be rented.
This helped pay some of the large debts they had acquired. The ladies
organized a Rebekah Lodge and they all worked together to get the debt paid
off. Mildred Pickert was Noble Grand when I joined. There were other
members like Lydia Avery, Elsie Brown, Ethel Pearce, Clara Brennan, Mrs.
Charles Spencer, and so many more that I wish I could mention.
In a short time I had two young sons added to our family, and for living
in the country I didn't care to leave them at night. I had no regrets
whatever for getting a demit card, for this time I enjoyed Jay and Vernon
so much that I preferred to be with them in their baby years.
The fraternal order, G. A. R., The Grand Army of the Republic, was made up
of Civil War veterans. It is long gone now, but my grandfather was one of
them, and he faithfully attended all meetings and marched in all of the
parades.
The Redwood American Legion named their post in honor of Ivan Suits and
Richard Hunter, who both lost their lives in battle. Each post constructed
a building to be used for their meetings and rented it out to the public
when they were in need.
My husband was a town assessor for several years and after the field work
of property was completed, each assessor had to have a copier. So I became
my husband's copier. Others copiers were: Ruth Walton, Laura Simpson,
Bertha House, Margaret Spies, Marion Comstock and Frieda Spies. Other
assessors at that time were Lewis Dobbins, Harold Simpson, Claude House,
and John Spies. Our hours were long and arduous from nine until four every
day for one month. We copied the assessment roll for several years in the
Legion Hall in Alexandria Bay.
Education has always been one of the important things in any town. I
think the first school building may have been built on Rock Street. A new
building was later erected on the corner of Rock and Church Street. Later yet,
as the population grew and more space needed, the new school was built on
Bolton Avenue. My father had moved to Alexandria Bay and was much
interested in school affairs. Soon he was elected to the school board.
After the building was completed, a new school principal was found, Del
Lyman, and the only secretary for the school was my sister, Ivah (Bigley).
She has a big job to do, but she managed to do it and well.
We had several good doctors in town: Dr. Campbell, Forsythe, Cole,
Sampson, Gokey, Lukins, Louis Hartman, Robinson, and a doctor with the name
of July,. One of the good surgeons was Dr. Mantle.
I recall when my sister, Edna, and I were about ten or twelve years old.
My father, mother and sister, Arloine, were making a trip to Montreal down
the rapids on an excursion trip, but the two of us had to stay in the Bay.
We stayed with a family who had an apartment on the third floor of the
Henry Hartman block. We had two flights of stairs to run up and down.
With no plumbing in the apartment, we had to go down the stairs to reach
the outside toilets. Depending on how many were in a family determined how
many holes their toilet would have. We made many unnecessary trips to the
backyard just so we could see all that was going on in the St. James
kitchen. And we could almost see Mr. Akerman's livery stable and the
horses there.
Each morning we were at the front windows early to see the donkeys brought from the pasture to the Crossmon for the day for the tourists to use. At
night they were taken back again. Another thing to do early in the morning
was to take a container to the front door for the milk that Charles Cabana
delivered. After a few days of village life we were happy to go back to
Goose Bay.
We traveled many times up and down the river in our motor boat, the Iva B.
I was the pilot of the boat. It easily carried ten people. Several times
I would attempt to get onto the deck to prevent a heavy bang on the dock.
My father warned me that some day I would do that once too often and go
overboard. I disobeyed him and did it my way. We were about to enter the
boathouse after a trip to the Bay when a heavy wind carried the boat past
the door. I slid off and got a quick bath in Goose Bay.
We always visited Seven Isles in late summer or fall. It was owned by
General Bradley Winslow and his wife Poppy who was a cousin of my mother.
We packed a lunch to have them join us in a picnic dinner while we ran from
one island to the other-as they were all reached by a bridge. Since Poppy
took care of the cottages and served meals all season, this was always a
special treat for her.
If you have additional information, comments, or suggestions, please contact: Nan Dixon
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