The Hastings Historical Society

09 Apr 2009

Hubert Krack’s Radio Days

April 9, 2009
The Hastings Historical Society
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1930s, Collection

These days, parents worry about their children spending too much time in front of the television and the computer. But did parents have the same concerns in the 1930s about the radio? Going through Scout Leader Dan Rile’s collection of Cub Scout records for the 1930s, we came across a […]

06 Apr 2009

2009: The Hudson-Fulton Celebration’s 100th Anniversary

April 6, 2009
The Hastings Historical Society
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1910s, Collection, Society Events

Souvenir button from the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909 To kick off the 2009 Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial celebration, the Historical Society and the Hastings Public Library recently co-sponsored a concert of 17th century lute music and a slide lecture by Roger Panetta. Roger is a professor of history at Fordham University, as […]

04 Apr 2009

Mystery Photo: A New School Day

April 4, 2009
The Hastings Historical Society
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1950s, Mystery Photos

This is a wonderful photograph of girls waiting in line with their books and their lunchboxes to enter the school building. This building opened in 1904, and in 1939 it was christened the Admiral Farragut Elementary School. We don’t know when this photograph was taken. The reader you can see […]

02 Apr 2009

Mystery Solved: Southside Club’s Service Flag Photo

April 2, 2009
The Hastings Historical Society
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1940s, Collection, Mystery Photos

Here are eight young men holding up the Southside Social and Athletic Club’s World War II service flag. The photograph is dated March 30th, 1945, six months before the end of the war. Service flags were first used by individual families in World War I. During World War II, organizations, […]

30 Mar 2009

Hunting for Easter Eggs

March 30, 2009
The Hastings Historical Society
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1950s, Collection, Reminiscences

Back in the mid-50s, when I was in elementary school, the annual Easter Egg Hunt in town was a very big deal. This was the time when TV shows were in shades of black and white, and the Saturday morning line-up was the Modern Farmer followed by an endless stream […]

28 Mar 2009

Mystery Photo: Rescue Squad of Protection Engine Co.

March 28, 2009
The Hastings Historical Society
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1930s, Collection, Mystery Photos

This photograph is from a set of three taken by the famous documentary photographer and Hastings resident Lewis Hine. The photograph above shows a masked fireman from the rescue squad of Protection Engine Company No. 1 carrying a boy down a staircase. It is a striking photograph and has always […]

26 Mar 2009

First Mass at St. Stanislaus Kostka, 1914

March 26, 2009
The Hastings Historical Society
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1910s, Collection

Back in 1988, Ted Borys gave the historical society a Polish Bible that had belonged to his mother, Caroline. Jan Gustafson was recently making a new box for it, and in the back we discovered a handful of lovely old prayer cards. One in particular caught our attention — a […]

23 Mar 2009

Good-bye “School Days”

March 23, 2009
The Hastings Historical Society
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1900s, Collection, Society Events

Yes, we’ve had to take down our latest exhibition “School Days, School Days: A Historic View.” But now we get to do what all graduates do – reminisce. One of the highlights of this history of the Hastings public school system was Julius R. Chemka’s letter sweater. Julie, class of […]

21 Mar 2009

Mystery Photo: Faculty Shows

March 21, 2009
The Hastings Historical Society
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1950s, 1960s, Collection, Mystery Photos

Four teachers dressed as showgirls; Blanche Mueller may be on the right We’ve never made the best use of our slide collection. It has always been hard to access, and the slides were never completely cross referenced into our subject files. We also worried, from time to time, that we […]

19 Mar 2009

The next “Hastings Historian” is on its way!

March 19, 2009
The Hastings Historical Society
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Collection, Society Events

Mrs. Drewes (standing) and a few of our dedicated group of volunteers, clockwise: Vice President Barbara Thompson, Tom Donohoe, Polly Ciborowski, Georgia Honovitch, Jo Downar, and Helen Bernarducci Keep an eye on your mailboxes, folks. The next “Hastings Historian” goes into the mail today. Four times a year Volunteer Coordinator […]