Hoosick Township Historical Society

Backyard History 

By Project Discover 3rd and 4th Graders At Hoosick Falls Elementary School. The information was gathered during our Architecture and Backyard History Units.

 
Local History 2000 – Part 1

 

Wood Memorial Park, Hoosick Falls, NY

 


We live in Hoosick Falls, NY USA.  It is a small village of 63 square miles located 33 miles northeast of Albany, NY and 12 miles west of Bennington, VT. Our town is in the northeastern part of the United States. The total population is about 6,696 people. Many famous people have lived in Hoosick Falls in the past.  Joseph Dorr was one of the founding fathers.  He built many of the first buildings here.  Walter A. Wood owned a factory, which made farm machinery that was sold around the world during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Harriet Hoctor was a famous dancer. She danced in movies and on Broadway in New York City. Bob and Ray Eberle were famous singers during the Big Band Era.  Grandma Moses was a famous painter. She painted local scenes in a primitive style and only started painting when she was old. Her paintings were discovered in Hoosick Falls.

 

 


The Stone Schoolhouse

by Sarah Gleason


Hello, I am the Stone Schoolhouse. I was built in 1842 and I am 158 years old.  I am a one-room schoolhouse, with a slanted roof that curves at the bottom. A stonemason named John Grant built me. He came from Ireland in 1840, at the beginning of the potato famine.  During the potato famine, in Ireland, many people died because the potato crop didn’t grow well, and the people did not have enough food.  Some people moved away: John Grant was one of them.I was built because the children on Mrs. George Tibbits’ land needed schooling.  She and her husband owned a big farm in Hoosick. They had ten families living on their land.  These families helped them in their farm work. I started as a private school, paid for by the Tibbits family.  In 1879 I became a public school called District 16.  The last class to be held in me was in 1917.In the 1920’s, gypsies came and stayed in me during the summers.  One of them told fortunes for money.  They left in the 1940’s. Nobody used me after that until 1977 when I became an information booth. The USA was celebrating its 200th birthday, and I was full of historical information.  After that, nobody used me again for a long time.  I had two different owners: first, the Hoosac School and then Land Quest.  Land Quest fixed me up, because my southwest side was starting to fall down.I now belong to Stewarts.  Stewarts bought me 8 years ago.  I am a mini-museum.  I have old-fashioned desks, a big teacher’s desk, old schoolbooks, a writing slate, a three county map, a lunch basket, a ladle for getting drinks, a drying rack for wet clothes, a wood stove, and a buck saw for cutting the wood for the stove. There are very few schoolhouses like me, so please come and visit me sometime. I am located at the corner of Route 22 and 7 in the Town of Hoosick.

 

 


Immaculate Conception Church

 by Meagan McEachron


I am the Immaculate Conception Church. I am on Main Street in Hoosick Falls, NY.  I am a Catholic Church that was built between 1870-1871.  The John Percy Construction Firm built me so I could replace a smaller Catholic Church. I am a big church and they built me from stone and brick covered with slate. I have three doors on the front and a very tall steeple. When they built me, I didn’t have a bell.  In 1872 a bell was put in my steeple.  The bell they put in my steeple cost $1,500.  My bell is very heavy.  It weighs 2,960 pounds.  People used to ring the bell by hand, but in 1953 they installed an electric button to ring the bell.   Another addition to me was an organ.  It was put in in 1881. The congregation got so big they had to add on to me in 1884. I am still used for a Catholic Church today.

 


               

Harrison Vending

by Patrick Mulvihill

 


I am a building. My name is Harrison Vending. I was built in 1947.  I am 53 years old.  I once was the Snow White Laundry.  I now am Harrison Vending.  I sell food for vending machines.

 

 


The Cheney Library

by Leah Smith

 


I am the Cheney Library. I was built in 1923.  The Stevens Brothers built me.  Leo Surdam was the person who mixed the mortar that went in between my bricks. I was a gift to the people of Hoosick Falls from Charles Cheney who in 1912 put $50,000 in his estate for the construction and support of me.