A Family Treasure

This blog post is by Schenectady County Historical Society member Phyllis Zych Budka. Phyllis, along with Bernice Izzo, publishes the Project to Discover Schenectady County's Eastern European Roots newsletter which can be found at http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/resources/eer/index.html.

Fig. 1 Honor Roll of St. Adalbert's
from unknown newspaper.

Opening a large plastic box from the attic, I steeled myself for the memories and emotions that would inevitably emerge.  I sat in the January sunshine and went page by page through my husband, Al’s St. Adalbert’s elementary school scrapbook and realized that it was both a family treasure and an historical document.

 As a scrapbook, it is amazingly complete.  Alfred John Budka (1936 – 1992) aka Freddie by family and Al by those who met him “after 7^th grade,” was an only child.  His Mother, Henrietta, kept a record of Al’s kindergarten through 8^th grade years at St. Adalbert’s elementary school in Schenectady, New York.  On Henrietta’s death in 1965, this scrapbook and many other family items, were boxed and stored.

 Al and I grew up in the same Mont Pleasant community, about a mile apart.  Al was more than 5 years older than I and 6 years ahead of me in St. Adalbert’s school.  I was surprised to find myself in his scrapbook in a few places: first, a newspaper article from ~1948 (Fig. 1) “Honor Roll Listed at St. Adalbert’s,” has the name Alfred Budka, grade 7, and me, with my surname misspelled, grade 1.  The picture in Figure 2 was taken about 1949, when Al was in 8^th grade and I was in 2^nd grade.  Also in the picture are my twin cousins, Gerard and Geraldine Zych, who were 2 years behind me in school.  Surrounding the children are the Sisters of the Resurrection, our teachers.  The picture was taken on the 3^rd floor of the school building, the room which served as gym, theater, and the place of our wedding reception in 1964.

Fig 2. All grads of St. Adalbert's School from 1948.

As an historical document, this scrapbook describes the life not only of one person, Alfred John Budka, but also captures the life of the community in which Al and I grew up, a community which no longer exists.

"Mont Pleasant's Main Street": A Look Back at Crane Street

Postcard of Crane Street, ca. 1915. Image from Grems-Doolittle Library Postcard Collection. 

In a long letter of reminiscences about the Mont Pleasant neighborhood in Schenectady to Schenectady Gazette reporter Larry Hart, S.S. Stern wrote that Crane Street "always has been Mont Pleasant's main street." Stern listed a number of businesses that populated Crane Street in the 1920s and 1930s, from Hank Fligel's drugstore at the corner of Crane Street and Main Street, to Harry Checheck's department store at Crane Street and Fifth Street, to the Van Dyke Coffee Shop on Crane Street between Fourth Street and Main Street.

The neighborhood was first populated around the turn of the century. Italian and, especially, Polish immigrants flocked to the neighborhood, which was more spacious than other city wards. By 1910, more foreign-born Polish people resided in Mont Pleasant (the Ninth Ward of the city) than in any of the city's other wards. Hungarian and Czech families also moved to the neighborhood during the early 20th century.

The Mont Pleasant neighborhood lies roughly between the CSX railroad line to the west; to the east by Interstate 890; the Rotterdam town line serves as the neighborhood's southern boundary; Broadway serves as its northern boundary. Crane Street runs through the neighborhood, from Broadway to the Rotterdam town line.

Shared here are a number of historic photographs of Crane Street. Interested in learning more about the history of Schenectady through photographs? Visit our Library or contact our Librarian.

The intersection of Crane Street and Van Velsen Street around the turn of the 20th century. "Stop paying rent," a billboard proclaims. "Own your own home -- Buy a building lot." Home construction in the Mont Pleasant neighborhood accelerated around 1900. An Evening Star article from 1899 noted that "the sound of saw and hammer [could be] heard on all sides of the hill suburb." Image from Larry Hart Collection.    

The intersection of Crane Street and Chrisler Avenue, looking south, ca. 1915. From the neighborhood's earliest days, this has been one of Crane Street's major commercial intersections. Image from Larry Hart Collection. 

Mont Pleasant neighborhood residents crowd outside the Empire Market at 1012 Crane Street for the business' grand opening on April 5, 1950. Image from Larry Hart Collection. 

The Crane Street railroad overpass bridge in 1957. The J.C. Dearstine Lumber Company, on nearby Catalyn Street, is visible in the background. Image from Larry Hart Collection. 

The intersection of Crane Street and Chrisler Avenue, looking north on Crane Street, in 1965. Image from Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection.