The ‘‘Our town’’ column is compiled each month by Carol Johnson, coordinator of the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection. The entries have been copied from the March issues of the New Paltz Independent. If you would like to get a closer look at these newspapers of the past, visit Carol Johnson and the staff of the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection at the Elting Memorial Library, located at 93 Main Street, or call 255-5030. Meanwhile, enjoy these words from a century ago.
The great depth to which the ground is frozen has caused many springs to give out.
Crossing the ice is still good between Highland and Poughkeepsie. The taxis charge 25 cents to take passengers across.
A track for the ferry boat was cut just about one halfway across the river on Friday, but the storm on Saturday ended that undertaking. Light sleighs, but no autos were crossing the river on Tuesday. Wednesday was a pleasant day and many sleighs were to be seen in our village.
Some of our village people have spent much labor in getting the ice off the sidewalks whenever there came a mild day. Last Friday, much work was done at it. But the storm of Saturday covered them again with ice in places.
The present winter is without exception the longest and hardest in the memory of the present generation. There has been 25 snow storms this winter, big and little.
A quantity of snow from in front of Johnston’s Garage has been carted off by truck and dumped in the Wallkill.
People are slowly recovering from the influenza, but the general health in our community is not yet very good. There are quite a number of cases both of mumps and measles at New Paltz. On account of sickness and other reasons, the dance of the Sullivan-Shafer Post last Friday was not very well attended.
Candidates for the Presidency are being brought forward. Gen. Leonard Wood is far ahead of all competitors on the Republican side. It is claimed he will have 300 votes on the first ballot.
The New Paltz Library Association has purchased the Theora Hasbrouck house.
At the village election on Tuesday, there were 32 ballots cast. For president, Perry Deyo received 28 votes; for trustees, Lewis H. DuBois got 28 votes and C. L. Van Orden 27; for treasurer, Daniel Shaw had 28 votes; for collector, Charles H. Litts 29; for street commissioner, John Lucy 30. The proposition to pay the Library Association $15 a month received 28 votes.
The Tamney House, corner of Main Street and Wurts Avenue, in this village has been sold to Louis Schwartz of New York City by W. C. Tamney. Mr. Schwartz will take possession April 1 next and expects to run it as a summer boarding house.
The hotel Bonney Doon at Rosendale is to be remodeled and converted into a textile factory.
From time to time, the Independent has urged the people of New Paltz to take steps toward securing the establishment of a summer school for teachers at the Normal School. New Paltz is an ideal place for such a school. It now seems probable that a Summer School will be established here. At a recent conference of educators, Mr. Finley, state commissioner of education, said that to relieve the shortage of teachers, intensive training classes of six-weeks duration at five of the ten Normal Schools in the state. He did not state at which of the Normal schools these intensive schools would be located. Probably that is not yet decided. We think a committee of citizens should see Mr. Finley and explain the advantages of New Paltz for the location of such a school.
In a poorly played basketball game Tuesday afternoon, the local Boy Scouts were defeated by the high school boys, by a score of 12 to 11. The poor playing was mostly done by the high school team. The Scouts put up a very good fight considering the fact that some of them had had very little practice. They held the lead for the first and part of the last half.
There was a beautiful display of aurora borealis on Tuesday night, lasting several hours. The many colored beams of light were beautiful to behold. There has been no such display since March 1918. The aurora is an electrical discharge mainly in the upper air and dependent on the magnetic conditions of the earth and sun. The telephone service was affected and the lights went out, so that the old kerosene lamps had to be cleaned up and lighted.
Join the family! 
