The Vedder Research Library

Greenville Free Academy, pre-1906

William and Pierce Stevens, moving snow as boys did in 1905. This picture was one of several dozen shot by Madison Stevens using the 5 x 7 glass negative format.

A classic winter scene shows South Street, Greenville about 1905 as seen by Madison Stevens. Left is the Randall house; center is the Greenville Arms. Right, telephone pole brings new service to Greenville.

The Garrison house (today owned by John & Laurie Manchisi, one-half mile west on Rt 67, Freehold starts with the building of the laid-stone foundation. Lewis Garrison and unidentified man stand in the cellar. The Goodfellow house (owned by Stanley & Cindy Niekamp) stands in the center. The snow covered hillside is today the site of the Cairo-Durham High School.

When the snowplows didn’t make it, the men of Freehold did. Shoveling through a draft in front of Elmer Story’s house, one quarter mile west on Main St., Rt 67, in the winter of 1917-1918 are, left or right: Oliver Hunt, Alex Garrison, Floyd Palmer, Merv Bennett, Calvin Lacy, ? (the boy peering by the shovel handle), Elmer Story, ?, Harmon Becker.

The Blizzard of 1888 (March 11-13) hit Main St, Greenville with over 40 inches of snow. One of the earliest pictures of Greenville on file, this print shows the community facing a massive clean-up.

Before refrigeration was common, the cutting of ice from local ponds and mill dams allowed for the storage of perishable foods. Here, the Red Mill mill pond just above the present day Red Mill on Red Mill Rd, West Greenville, provides ice for this necessary activity about 1910.

A bird’s-eye view from the Presbyterian Church shows West Street (Rt. 81), Greenville of the early 20th century. Orchards and elms intersperse with structures that today belong (left to right) to: Curt Cunningham, Lee Cunningham, Barbara Maxwell, June Clark and, in the distance, Evans (Crow) Griffin.

Freshly blanketed by a nor’easter squall, this Freehold house, located 100 yards west of the Freehold bridge, was owned by Elmira Becker in the early 1900’s, bequeathed to the Freehold Church as a parsonage, and currently is being renovated. The stone wheel, bottom, was a remnant of the grist mill that stood on Mill Road (Hempstead Lane).

This view of the Basic Creek from the Freehold Bridge shows the clinging snow of a January, 1993 storm. The Basic Creek, along with the Catskill Creek, Jan de Bakker, and Cobb Creek are the “major” waterways in the Town of Greenville.

Sap buckets hang from these sugar maples in front of Panzarino’s Homestead Bed & Breakfast near the corner of Rt. 81 and Red Mill Road. Ingalside Road climbs the hill past the STOP sign.

The Blizzard of 1993 (Mar 13-14) once again produced the look of the legendary winters of our memories. The windswept Carelas’ Hill (Fish Hill, Budd’s Hill), one-half mile south of Greenville on Rt. 32, fosters the growth of this fifteen foot drift.

Store keeper Ezra Winn stands in front of the A&P on Main Street, Greenville, about 1926. He would succeed Everett Palmer in operating the South Westerlo store in 1929, and had earlier in the decade operated a store in Greenville. This row of buildings has been a fixture in Greenville for well over a century. The building to the left serves modern Greenville as At The Crossroads ice cream parlor, and before as Quackenbush’s Pharmacy and Hallenbeck’s Drugstore.

Snow removal was no easier in 1914 than it is today, even if much of the snow then was eventually packed on the roadway. This scene of east Main Street, the south side, starts on the left with Neil W. Avery’s pharmacy and continues to today’s Baumann apartment building, with remarkably little change in architecture.

This February 1940 scene of Greenville’s four corners evokes the reality of an eastern New York winter. This photo was probably taken from the upper floor of the Pioneer building and looks down east Main Street. A road sign on the telephone pole indicates Route 32 is the crossroad while the solidary person seems to have no reason to fear any traffic. The building on the right is the corner restaurant building (see Nov ‘97) that was razed in the early 1960s. On the left is a family residence, surrounded by a picket fence, which was torn down in the mid-1940s to make way for the gas station. Beyond the home is the Baumann building and the Steven store, on which one can make out the figures of two snow shovelers.

One of Greenville’s favorite wintertime activities was skating on the Greenville pond at the northwest corner of the town’s center. Cathedral-like elms ring the pond. The old Academy building (pre-1906) and the Presbyterian Church form a picture still recognizable today.

Main Street, Greenville faces a February 15, 1926 snow storm. The age of automobile meant roads needed to be cleared, and giant snow banks needed to be cleared. This photo shows the range of buildings from the northeast corner, starting with the house on the corner (site of today’s Mobil station), the Baumann site (with the tower), Stevens store (site of 2001 NAPA), and Baker’s (site of 2001 True Value). The person remains unidentified.