Week of January 10, 1969
50th Anniversary News | Saratoga Springs, NY
series by Mary Flanagan, Associate Real Estate Broker & lifelong Saratogian
2019 marks Roohan Realty’s 50th year in business! We would like to take you back to 1969 and share what was happening in the news – locally and nationally. We’ve been having a great time reading old newspapers and hope you enjoy seeing the historic Roohan Realty connections as much as we do. Community involvement and public service have been ingrained in our business from the very beginning – a commitment that continues today. Check back every Thursday for a fresh flashback to 1969!
Week of January 10, 1969
The Triangle Diner is gutted by a “freakish” fire overnight, causing $50,000 in damage. The fire is first noticed and reported by Dorothy Woodcock and her daughter Cathy, who saw smoke billowing out of the restaurant’s roof and reported it to a local detective:
Interestingly, the Woodcocks (Dorthy/”Dot” and husband, Thurlow) were the new owners of the Alpine Sport Shop, which they’d purchased from Jo & Ed Taylor three years earlier. At this time in 1969, the Woodcocks had just completed the construction of the store’s new location on North Broadway – a 5,000 sqft structure designed and built by Thurlow himself. The store would go on to thrive there – Alpine celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2016 . The Woodcock’s daughter, Cathy (who helped report the fire that night), would end up working at the shop with her future husband, Jack, in high school. Jack and Cathy (Woodcock) Hay own and operate the store to this day. Read the 75th anniversary article | Alpine Sport Shop’s website
Edward Levine is elected President of the Saratoga Springs YMCA. It is reported that “the number of members using the Y facilities reached an all time high in 1968.”
The Chamber of Commerce adopts a budget of $43,500 for 1969:
$31,768 for operating expenses
$11,532 for committee projects
Richard Lumsden is Chamber President.
Apollo 11’s mission crew is announced in The Saratogian: “Civilian Heads Crew for Lunar Landing”
Civilian astronaut, Neil A. Armstrong, will command the spacecraft, joined by Col. Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. It will be piloted by Lt. Col. Michael Collins. The launch is set for July.
A story about the Eastern States Speedskating Meet (published in the January 10, 1969 issue of The Saratogian) lists Pat Maxwell of Rochester a “rated threat:”
He finishes second in the Senior Men’s Division behind Johnny Wurster, and ahead of Richie Wurster (who finished third). Twelve years later, Maxwell would marry Mary Ellen (Ravena) Maxwell, who joined Roohan Realty in 1998 and has been a fixture at the firm ever since.
The Community Theater is playing Barbarella starring Jane Fonda.
The House of the Week is this “not too far out,” Bavarian-style, four bedroom, 1,757 sqft home:
Fifty years later, buyers are still loving open, flexible floor plans, outdoor living space, first floor bedrooms and laundry rooms and lots of natural light.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR, MARY FLANAGAN
Mary Flanagan is an Associate Real Estate Broker at Roohan Realty with over 30 years of experience as a licensed REALTOR® specializing in residential real estate. A lifelong resident of Saratoga Springs, NY, Mary is extremely knowledgeable about not only Saratoga’s real estate market, but also its history and the community as a whole. She is an active board member for Racing City Rotary Club and U.S. Grant Cottage State Historic Site, and served on the Saratoga Springs Board of Appeals from 1994 to 2004. In her free time, Mary enjoys researching and writing about Saratoga’s history; she authored Roohan Realty’s Saratoga Centennial blog series in 2015 and is currently working on an Anniversary News series to commemorate our company’s 50th year in business this year (2019). View Mary’s bio & current listings
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