1
200
6
-
https://nthistory.com/files/original/4067d7156320f7c40935275d2adec3fb.jpg
abe114b63a081bbf463a562a5f6ac834
https://nthistory.com/files/original/f552037bd0d7f5c0bdecb585da5bff4b.jpg
4b2b1f8b7b3fcaae676d930656eb4ebc
https://nthistory.com/files/original/f2fcab5236a975cb23283973fae4ccdc.jpg
8db4333e108e7212e7ce3768a5343dd1
https://nthistory.com/files/original/a6b2651d6238192cd7a40a341fb012c7.jpg
ff90524195d1896dcaa2ec922306495a
https://nthistory.com/files/original/794dbc5a6efdfca8fa68949e75be7f81.jpg
b1d588d9d340c7287220601e00957cc3
Photo
A photographic depiction of a person or place.
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Title
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The Nationals Twin City baseball team, Amateur Niagara County, team photo (1911).jpg
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1911
baseball
person
-
https://nthistory.com/files/original/56cb0442fafb4609b51f22f7927db0c8.jpg
d494f871f9ed03a7563f575489b51195
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Avondale / Oliver Theater (358 Oliver)
Description
An account of the resource
<img class="cover" alt="Avondale Theatre as it appeared in 1924. Sketch by Dennis Reed Jr." src="http://www.nthistory.com/custom/cover/69.jpg" /><span class="cover-caption">Avondale Theatre as it appeared in 1924 (Dennis Reed Jr) </span> <b>The southwest corner of Robinson and Oliver Streets—now an empty lot—was formerly occupied by a silent film theater in 1910, an evangelical center in the 50s, and a concert hall in the 80s before being demolished.</b><br /><br /><strong>Oliver Theater</strong> (1910-1921)<br /><br />The Oliver Theater opens its doors to the silent film-hungry public on November 3rd, 1910. It is operated by one Henry Klinger of Wheatfield Street (formerly of Buffalo). It boasts a capacity of 500 seats, modern electric lighting and ventilation, and is "sanitarily perfect." It exhibits the latest pictures, three each evening, and a Saturday matinee for a 5 cent admission.<br /><br />In those more religious times, "blue laws" forbid certain kinds of work and the sale of alcohol on Sundays. Klinger battles with local authorities to permit the auditorium to be open to the public on Sundays, pointing out that other cities do. "Why, some of the churches in Lockport are showing pictures on Sundays, so I don't see why they should be considered so immoral in North Tonawanda," <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2272">he says</a> in a 1913 interview.<br /><br />But Mayor B. L. Rand will not budge. Klinger takes the fight to the courts. In July of 1915 a Lockport judge <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/2273">rules against</a> the mayor, opening the way to Sunday picture shows.<br /><br />At some point Klinger sells "the house to Snyder and Zimmerman of Buffalo" but buys it back from them around July 1921 with a plan to "remodel the theater and increase its seating capacity" (from <a href="http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/28609">cinematreasures.org</a>).<br /><br />A public contest is held to rename the theater. Grocery store owner George Roggow wins the $10 prize with his romantic entry, "Avondale." He claims he <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/3338">read the name</a> from the tag inside his shirt.<br /><br /><strong>The Avondale Theater</strong> (1921-1955)<br /><br />The newly christened theater re-opens on September 1, 1921. L. E. Bargar is manager. At his request, he is appointed as a "special police officer," serving without pay but with the authority to make arrests. In January, 1922, Wurlitzer installs a cutting-edge Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra with a $2.5K price tag. It debuts in February, the same month early silent film actor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Walker">Lillian Walker</a> (aka "Dimples") visits the theater in person, and speaks from the stage at each performance.<br /><br />Apparently some vaudeville is presented at the Avondale among the films. On June 17, 1922 the NEWS reports the Great Abdiz, the Man with the Iron Jaw, and Bryson appear in an Arabian juggling act.<br /><br />In October 1924, L. E. Barger resigns as manager. He is said to have been in the picture business for 22 years. In 1925, manager James. J. Kelly gets Duo-Art Films of Rochester to produce a "civic review" of the Tonawandas in pictures. Kelly becomes manager of the newly opened Riviera Theatre in 1926.<br /><br />Daniel A. North is a longtime owner and operator, with a two-year absence between 1936 and 1938. The Avondale is still showing pictures as late as 1955, but is put up for sale in 1956.<br /><br /><strong>Evangelistic Center of the Tonawandas</strong> (1956-1979)<br /><br />In 1956, the building is purchased by Italian Pentecostals at the Christian Tabernacle who have outgrown their modest church on 195 Schenck Street, and have been renting the Avondale. After extensive remodeling, the old theater is renamed the Assembly of God Evangelistic Center of the Tonawandas. Pastor Cooper's parsonage was at 11 16th Avenue until 1960.<br /><br />The first services are held on November 4, 1956. It appears to have been a lively era, as scores if not hundreds of touring speakers and religious musical acts appear in ads in the News over the following two decades.<br /><br />In 1979, the Abundant Life Assembly of God <a href="https://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252011%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201979%2520%2520Grayscale%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201979%2520%2520Grayscale%2520-%25201795.pdf%23xml%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3De67711b%26DocId%3D2254257%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520U%26HitCount%3D23%26hits%3D1f%2B71%2B1a6%2B22e%2B2ff%2B335%2B428%2B583%2B58a%2B5cb%2B5d6%2B5dd%2B5e6%2B5e9%2B621%2B62c%2B669%2B715%2B771%2B7e2%2B841%2B846%2B84d%2B%26SearchForm%3D%252fFulton%255fform%252ehtml%26.pdf&uri=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252011%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201979%2520%2520Grayscale%2FNorth%2520Tonawanda%2520NY%2520Evening%2520News%25201979%2520%2520Grayscale%2520-%25201795.pdf&xml=https%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FdtSearch%2Fdtisapi6.dll%3Fcmd%3Dgetpdfhits%26u%3De67711b%26DocId%3D2254257%26Index%3DZ%253a%255cDISK%2520U%26HitCount%3D23%26hits%3D1f%2B71%2B1a6%2B22e%2B2ff%2B335%2B428%2B583%2B58a%2B5cb%2B5d6%2B5dd%2B5e6%2B5e9%2B621%2B62c%2B669%2B715%2B771%2B7e2%2B841%2B846%2B84d%2B%26SearchForm%3D%252fFulton%255fform%252ehtml%26.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false">sell the building and move to new quarters</a> at 1001 East Robinson in North Tonawanda. They owned the land since 1967, and have tent revivals there. In 2009 <span>Abundant Life <a href="https://buffalonews.com/news/congregation-reaps-what-it-sows-with-its-first-public-services/article_53270053-59e1-59d2-a1c3-47121a1b4863.html">is closed</a> "because of a dwindling congregation."</span><br /><br /><strong>Final years<br /></strong><br />By December 1979 the "Oliver Auction House" <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/3346">is doing business</a> at that address.<br /><br />The theater enjoys a final act in the mid 1980s as the "Avondale Ballroom," featuring live musical performances. It opens in April 1985, and is run by Dennis Lasky (who also conducted the auction house operation).<br /><br />The theater is razed in the late 1980s.
Photo
A photographic depiction of a person or place.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Avondale baseball team active 1910-1915, photo (c. 1910).jpg
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1912
baseball
person
sports
-
https://nthistory.com/files/original/3db7c02beb657525fd157ca41693933a.jpeg
1c882f7414c8ca87f086e065d6ae9470
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Rojek's Dairy, Stan Rojek and Park Manor Lanes
Description
An account of the resource
Andrew and Pauline Rojek immigrated to the US in 1905 from present-day Poland. They were were carpenters and dairy farmers, eventually establishing Rojek's Dairy at 125-129 12th Avenue. (Andrew would also continue his contractor career). Son Stan Rojek was born in 1919, and he realized the dream of many a North Tonawanda boy by being signed to play shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1939. His locker, as luck would have it, was right next to color barrier-busting Jackie Robinson's locker, and it is said Stan was one of the first players in the Dodgers' clubhouse to accept the future legend. Shortly after his baseball career ended (around 1952), Stan returned to North Tonawanda to help with the family dairy. But he was not done with sports: In 1961 Stan and his brothers (Ted and Tony) purchased Manor Lanes bowling alley at 895 Payne Avenue (today the Salvation Army). Stan called in some "major league" favors for the alley's grand opening that August, snagging New York Yankee HOF manager Joe McCarthy to roll out the first ball. The brothers ran the bowling alley while continuing to operate the dairy. Today, "Rojek Field" on Walck Road pays honor to the major leaguer, just a few blocks from the 12th Avenue home that started it all.<br /><br />Some more insight into Stan's baseball career from <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/stan-rojek/">an article by Edward Veit</a>:
<blockquote>Late in the afternoon of September 22, 1942, propelled by a Lew Riggs single, pinch-runner Stan Rojek rounded third base and scored a ninth-inning run that sent the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants into extra innings. A five-feet-ten, 170 pound shortstop, appearing in his first major-league game, Rojek found himself in the midst of one of the all-time great pennant races. Three seasons would pass before Rojek got another taste of major-league baseball. <br /><br />Stanley Andrew Rojek was born on April 21, 1919, in North Tonawanda, New York, located on the Niagara River between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. His parents were Andrzej (later anglicized to Andrew) and Apolonia Rojek. Andrew, a house carpenter, a building contractor and lastly a dairy farmer, was born in Wylawa, Galicia (now part of Poland) and had immigrated in 1905. Stan was the second of three boys and had an older sister, Julia. <br /><br />After graduating from North Tonawanda High School—where he also played basketball—Rojek played semipro baseball in Western New York. He attracted the attention of Brooklyn scout Dick Fischer and subsequently signed with the Dodgers in 1939. Stan was assigned to the Class D PONY League in Olean, New York, just eighty-four miles south of his home. Rojek hit .320 in Olean, then worked his way through the Brooklyn farm system. He was with the Class C Dayton (Ohio) Wings in 1940 and the Class B Durham (North Carolina) Bulls in 1941. Promoted to Montreal, the Dodgers top farm team, in 1942, he hit .283 and was named to the International League All-Star team. He was a late September call-up to Brooklyn, but got into just the one contest. <br /><br />The next baseball game Stan Rojek played was a pick-up game in 1943 at the US Army’s Keesler Field in Mississippi. Rojek, like many major and minor leaguers, had been called to serve in World War II. Stan was prime material for the war effort, twenty-four-years-old, single, and in great physical condition. <br /><br />By July 1945 Rojek was in the Pacific, at Isley Field on Saipan, and playing for the 73rd Bomb Wing Bombers, whose roster included major leaguers Sid Hudson, Tex Hughson, and Mike McCormick. Rojek led the players on the 20th Air Force tour of the Pacific Islands with a .363 batting average and had three home runs. <br /><br />“The wars years may have retarded the chances of some young players, but I am one of the fortunate,” he told The Sporting News. “I am leaving the Army a better player because I had the experience of playing with and against seasoned major league stars. I played more than 200 games in the Army, and I didn’t do badly.”1 <br /><br />Discharged in December 1945, Rojek looked forward to returning to Brooklyn and earning the starting assignment at shortstop. Unfortunately for him, he was a member of one of the few teams where he could not compete for that role. The Dodgers had future Hall of Famer Pee Wee Reese firmly entrenched at short. Rojek served as his backup, getting into just 45 games, hitting .277 (13-for-47). <br /><br />The right-handed-hitting Rojek made his first major league hit an important one. On May 8, 1946, pinch hitting for pitcher Les Webber, Rojek singled off Reds southpaw Clyde Shoun to drive in the first run of an eventual ninth inning, four-run rally. He stayed in the game to play second base in the bottom of the ninth and had another single in the tenth. Brooklyn and St. Louis famously posted identical records in the ’46 campaign, and Rojek appeared in the first major league playoff game. Stan pinch hit for Kirby Higbe in the top of the fifth inning and drew a free pass. It was his last contribution of the season. <br /><br />Rojek played in only thirty-two games in 1947, but he started more games than the previous year, filling in for the injured Reese at short and for Eddie Stanky at second. He also played nine games at third. From August 24 through September 1, Rojek was the starting shortstop for all ten games. The Dodgers were 7-3 in that span and Stan batted .314 with six RBIs and made no errors in the field. Overall, he committed only two errors in 116 chances (.983) and hit .263 (21-for-80). He showed very little power, though, managing only one extra base hit. <br /><br />Stan did not appear in the 1947 World Series but did receive a full share, $4,081, of Brooklyn’s allotment. In November, with the winter meetings and the minor league draft looming, Branch Rickey was looking for roster flexibility. One of his first moves was to shed Rojek and first baseman Ed Stevens. The pair were sold to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a reported $50,000. <br /><br />Initially Rojek’s Pirates teammates called him “Reject” because he had been dumped by the Dodgers. He also was called “The Happy Rabbit” because of his projecting front teeth, his attitude, and his quickness in scurrying around shortstop. <br /><br />The way was cleared for Rojek to secure the everyday shortstop role, when three weeks after his transfer to Pittsburgh, the Pirates shortstop Billy Cox was traded to Brooklyn. With regular work, Rojek flourished. He played shortstop in all of the Pirates’ 156 games as Pittsburgh rose from last place in 1947 to fourth place in 1948. He had twenty-nine errors in 766 chances for a .962 fielding average, slightly better than the league average. He led all shortstops with 475 assists and his ninety-one double plays were second only to Reese’s ninety-three. <br /><br />New Pittsburgh manager Billy Meyer called Rojek “a pennant-winning shortstop.”2 The leadoff hitter for 153 games, Rojek, who hit .290 with twenty-seven doubles, five triples, four homers and fifty-one RBIs, led the league in plate appearances (713) and at-bats (641). He finished third in the National League in hits (186) and stolen bases (24). Impressively, he finished tenth in the vote for the National League Most Valuable Player. It was by far his best season as a major leaguer. <br /><br />Rojek probably got much satisfaction in 1948 from the Pirates defeating the Dodgers thirteen times in twenty-two games. On July 25 he had eight hits in nine at-bats as Pittsburgh and Brooklyn split a doubleheader; overall, he hit .323 against his old mates and slugged .444, each well above his season average. Yet in 1949 his offensive statistics declined sharply. On April 27, against the Cardinals, Rojek, who had two hits and scored two runs in the game, was twice hit by a pitch. The second one, in the ninth inning, was a beaning by pitcher Ken Johnson that sent Rojek to the hospital. <br /><br />Rojek said after the beaning he was never the same. He said his teammates “noted that I was just a fraction of a second hesitant in my swing. It wasn’t that I was afraid. It was just my reaction wasn’t there anymore. And you need every fraction of a second you can get in trying to hit a round ball with a round bat, especially if that ball is thrown some ninety-plus miles per hour.”3 His batting average fell to .244 for the year, and in 1950 he batted .257 in seventy-six games while being platooned with twenty-three-year-old Danny O’Connell. <br /><br />Branch Rickey, who had moved from the Dodgers to the Pirates and had cut Rojek’s salary, had promised to give the fun-loving infielder a raise if he married. Stan wed Audrey Moeller, but Rickey failed to pay up, and in May 1951 traded him to the Cardinals for outfielder Erv “Four Sack” Dusak and first baseman Rocky Nelson. <br /><br />Rojek batted .274 in fifty-one games for the Cardinals, backing up Solly Hemus. In January 1952 the Cardinals sent him on waivers to the St. Louis Browns. With the Browns he played in only nine games, the last one on May 13—his last game in the major leagues—before being sent to Toledo of the American Association. After the season, the Browns sent Rojek to the Dodgers in a deal that brought Billy Hunter to St. Louis. It was not quite full circle for Rojek—he never played for the Dodgers, and spent 1953 through 1955 as a part-time infielder for Dodgers farm clubs in Mobile, Montreal, and St. Paul. <br /><br />After the 1955 season, the thirty-six-year-old Rojek retired from baseball and joined his brothers Anthony and Theodore in the family’s dairy business in North Tonawanda. In 1961 the three brothers opened Rojek’s Park Manor Bowling Lanes. Hall of Fame manager Joe McCarthy, a resident of the area, rolled the first ball. Family members said the bowling alley idea more than likely came from Stan Musial, who visited Rojek often. “They were two Polish guys talking and laughing,” commented Rojek’s nephew, Jim Rojek. The brothers operated the bowling alley for twenty-five years. <br /><br />In June 1977 North Tonawanda renamed Payne Field, a city ballpark, Stan Rojek Field. Rojek is also enshrined in the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Fame. Stan and his wife were divorced during the 1980s, according to nephew Jim, and she moved to Florida. <br /><br />Rojek suffered a stroke in 1995. He died on July 9, 1997, in North Tonawanda. He was survived by a son, Bart, a daughter, Betty Valek of Southington, Connecticut, and five grandchildren. Rojek is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Tonawanda.</blockquote>
Object
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Title
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Stan Rojek, pin (1949).jpeg
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1949
baseball
-
https://nthistory.com/files/original/a557c0352d9cff5a62616096caccd32a.jpg
586a449b39a88cf8a1ed9b6155ee2006
Dublin Core
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Title
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Niagara Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company
Description
An account of the resource
<strong><a href="http://nthistory.com/niagara">PHOTO SEARCH: Learn about the search for a photograph of Niagara! </a></strong><br /><br />(1905-1917) The Niagara Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company is formed by former employees of the <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/24">North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory</a>. Signatures on the company's incorporation papers include those of William Herschell, the man who arranged for de Kleist’s coming to America to make organs, as well as machinist William Strassburg and Frank Morganti. There are also:
<ul>
<li>Duncan Sinclair</li>
<li>Frederick Schultz</li>
<li>William H. Griffin</li>
<li>Louis Schultz</li>
<li>William D. Trimble</li>
</ul>
Frank Morganti is named president of the new firm. Given the kind of direct competition it represented, it seems unlikely that the parting was amicable. <br /><br />The local newspapers are silent about Niagara’s March 1905 start (it is only a later piece that gives us this origin date). In 1906 Niagara loses some if its leadership, including president Frank Morganti, to the larger and better funded <a href="http://nthistory.com/collections/show/10">North Tonawanda Musical Instrument Works</a>. Niagara continues on, and completes a second small expansion of it modest plant in August 1910.<br /><br />Niagara produces Niagara Military Band Organs ("The Organ That Is Different," one ad insists) for carousels, dance halls, roller rinks and sideshows; in 1910 the picture house-targeted "En-Symphonie" is being marketed in <em>Billboard</em> and other comtemporary trade publications; the "Midget Orchestra" and similar instruments follow. <br /><br />Business appears to be booming in 1914, as the company pays out a dividend of 10% to its stockholders that January.<br /><br />However, in October 1917, the Foster Specialty Company of Buffalo purchases the "patents, goodwill, stock in trade, and equipment" of Niagara. In spite of reports that Foster intends to "immediately develop the business...on a large scale," the enterprise is never heard from again.<br /><br />Reader Andrew Barrett contributes the names C. E. Phillips and J. F. Preston as probable Niagara sales people in 1909 and probably thru 1910.<br /><br />Some more particulars are on my semi-abandoned website, <a href="http://dennisreedjr.com/organwars/items/show/36">Organ Wars</a>.
Photo
A photographic depiction of a person or place.
Dublin Core
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Title
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Niagara Musical Instrument Mfg Co, photo (Historical Society of the Tonawandas, Hamp Film Collection, 1930).jpg
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1930
baseball
factory
-
https://nthistory.com/files/original/0a2afae0826227c5002ccdef2caf825a.jpg
e19529f253f72bee364630da1ba8b44f
Dublin Core
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Title
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Buffalo & Niagara High Speed Line (1918-1937)
Description
An account of the resource
The electric High Speed Line is an electric streetcar (trolley) passenger train operated by the International Railway Company from June 9, 1918 to August 20, 1937. It carries passengers from Buffalo to Niagara Falls in about an hour. <br /><br />For its NT stretch, <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/636">as shown in this 1935 map</a>, the line follows present-day Twin-City Highway. At Nash, it bends into the field east of the county building (its path is still clearly visible today), continues across Walck Road, and then proceeds northwesterly through 15th Avenue near Payne (before homes or the Mid-City Plaza were built), through Gratwick, across Oliver Street just south of Delmar Terrace and north of Ward Road, continuing west out to River Road and then on to Niagara Falls. <br /><br />For much of its course through NT, it is carried over east-west streets on a high earthen embankment (referred to in a 1948 article as our "Chinese wall"). Fill for the massive embankment was taken from Payne's Hill, near present-day Stanley Street. <br /><br />The High Speed line closes as buses and personal vehicles become more prevalent. The embankment is dismantled sometime later.
Photo
A photographic depiction of a person or place.
Dublin Core
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Rand Company, baseball players, Hi-Speed line in distance (All of Us, 1920).jpg
Description
An account of the resource
This is likely at present-day Wheatfield Street and Erie, with the elevated mound being the Nash Road course of the Buffalo to Niagara Falls Hi-Speed line.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1920
baseball
labor
recreation
sports
trolley
-
https://nthistory.com/files/original/a82e03e5575c3686b0d00f087adac2df.jpg
663859529a83c42062371d62a78a6ce0
People
A painting or photograph of a person and / or a brief biographical description.
Birth Date
1896-08-21
Birthplace
Batavia, NY
Dublin Core
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Title
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Ramsay, William "Pop".jpg
Description
An account of the resource
William "Pop" Ramsay may be familiar to current residents as the gentleman after whom Walck Road's "Ramsay Field" is named. Mr. Ramsay serves in the U. S. Navy during WWI, and by 1919 is the "physical director" of the North Tonawanda YMCA. That same year he establishes the first playground at Felton Field on Tremont Street (<a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/59">Felton High School</a> was just on the other side of Sweeney Cemetery, on Bryant). In 1931 he becomes city Director of Parks & Recreation. In 1947 he advocates for the establishment of the <a href="http://www.nthistory.com/collections/show/104">Memorial Pool</a> in Payne Park. By 1965 he and his group of five assistants are responsible for the care of 18 ballparks, 6 large picnic parks, 17 playgrounds, 7 skating rinks, 1 hockey rink, and 2 swimming pools around the city.
Source
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<a href="http://www.nthistory.com/items/show/609"><em>North Tonawanda Centennial Magazine, 1865-1965</em></a>
baseball
sports