ROCKLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
January 22, 1876 – 150 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Journal
AROUND HOME
☞ If some of our boys who run around doing nothing would get brushes, boxes and blacking, and stand on the corners, calling out “Shine, sir ?” they would reap quite a profit during the muddy season.
☞ And now some of our Nyack ladies part their hair on one side because, they say, it is the fashion. We suppose the next move for them will be to wear red-topped boots and smoke pipes.
☞ Those who pretend to know, say that the month of January a century ago was just as the present month has been so far—mild. We will have to take their word for it, as we have no very distinct recollection of it.
☞ Owners of fowls should sleep with one eye open. Hen-roost thieves are prowling around in various parts of our county seeking whose chickens they may easily devour. Fetch out your old shot gun and keep it loaded.
☞ A solemn Requiem Mass (Month’s Mind) will be offered at 10 o’clock on next Thursday morning, Jan. 27th, at St. John’s Church, Piermont, for the repose of the soul of its late Pastor, Rev. John Quinn, who died on the 22d of December.
☞ The reason why some of our young men part their hair in the middle, it is said, is because their brain is so finely balanced that one hair too many on one side would be more weight than it would be able to bear, owing to its extreme tenderness.
THE LA BASTIE GLASS
The inventions and discoveries which are the most universally appreciated are those which are brought directly into our households and tested by our families. One of the best discoveries of the age which it has been our good fortune to see and try is the La Bastie glass of which lamp chimnies [sic] are now being made. While in the handsome crockery and glassware establishment of Mesrs. Story & Stephens, in Commercial Building, one day this week, we were shown some of these chimnies by the energetic proprietors and also saw them put to the strongest tests. The glass of which these chimnies are made is thick yet clear, and possesses a degree of elasticity sufficient to prevent its breaking when falling upon the floor. A chimney was dropped in our presence from a good height to the floor, and it rebounded slightly as it struck, but there was not the least sign of a break in it. To test its fireproof qualities, a chimney was heated by turning up the light in it as high as it could get, and then it was instantly thrust into cold water, without the slightest effect upon it. These chimnies are certainly the greatest invention of the age in the glass line, and will save much expense for those who, like ourselves, have been in the habit of breaking a great many of the old kind. We would advise all of our readers, when they buy lamp chimnies, to step into the well-filled establishment of Messrs. Story & Stephens, and we are sure they will be highly satisfied.
January 23, 1926 – 100 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Times
THE WEATHER DECEPTIVE
[Image: Cornell Tug “Osceola” breaks ice on the Hudson River, ca. 1910. Image courtesy of the Hudson River Maritime Museum, via NYHeritage.]
While boys were skating on the flats and about the docks Saturday afternoon, a Cornell tug that was acting as ice breaker for a tow of stone barges on its way down the river, after great effort, succeeded in breaking away into the steamboat dock in order to get a supply of fuel and water. In closer to the shore the ice was fully six inches thick. Few people had any idea John Frost had been so busy.
CONGERS’ SKATERS TO HOLD MEET
A number of young skaters of the “City by the Lakes” are planning to hold a meet in Rockland Lake in the near future. The question of supremacy on the ice has become quite a point of discussion. The Congers’ boys believe that the honors belong there and it is their intentions to determine who should hold these honors. The events will be open to residents of Rockland County and will include the 220 yard, 440, 660, one half mile, one mile and the three mile. There will also be events for the juniors, while efforts are being made to have a hockey game, in addition to the races. The Congers’ boys will hold their tryout this Sunday, the ice permitting.
January 21, 1976 – 50 YEARS AGO
The Journal News
RESIDENT, 91, SEES BRIGHTER WORLD
At a moment that seemed less dramatic to Theodore Von der Fecht than to those around him, a bandage was removed from the 91-year-old man’s right eye Tuesday, returning a keenness of vision he had lacked for five years.
An artificial lens was implanted in Von der Fecht’s eye at Nyack Hospital Monday, a surgical process thought to be the first of its kind in Rockland County
Von der Fecht, who said a man his age must accept the loss of the senses, allowed himself a happy chuckle when he correctly described his doctor’s checkered sportcoat, something he could not have done two days ago because of cataracts.
“Don’t take any pictures of me looking at the young nurse,” said Von der Fecht, a resident of the German-Masonic Home in Tappan. His eye surgeon, Dr. David Langerman of Orangeburg, was pleased with the results of the operation, and said that if all goes well he will repeat the process in four to six months on the left eye, which is also afflicted with a cataract.
“I’m really surprised he can see that well,” Langerman said. “His eye looks marvelous.”
“As long as I can see my way around and move about myself,” he said, “that’s all I need.”
His wife, Augusta, who is 84, said, “We kind of plugged him along to have the operation. He was undecided for a long time.”
Von der Fecht said his reluctance was based on his age. He will feel better about the operation, he said, when he is able to leave the hospital and return home.
Langerman explained that the artificial lens implant is preferred over the simple removal of a cataract in many cases because it gives the recipient better vision
Von der Fecht’s eye ailments left him with practically no vision. His left eye was able to differentiate only shades of light and he had to become well acclimated to a room before moving about by himself.
Color and distinct form might again become a reality for Von der Fecht and reading is a remote possibility, but he has a simpler goal.
Those who have cataracts removed must wear thick eyeglasses which magnify images as much as 30 per cent and hinder peripheral vision.
The surgical procedure for implanting an artificial lens has been developed over the past 25 years but it is only the fairly recent improvement of plastic lenses that has made the process more common, Langerman said.
A hospital spokesman said the county Lions Clubs had donated $1,000 for the purchase of a Zeisse Operating Miscroscope [sic], an instrument vital to the operation.
This Week in Rockland (#FBF Flashback Friday) is prepared by Clare Sheridan for the Historical Society of Rockland County. © 2026 by The Historical Society of Rockland County. #FBF Flashback Friday may be reprinted only with written permission from the HSRC. To learn about the HSRC’s mission, upcoming events or programs, visit www.RocklandHistory.org or call (845) 634-9629.