As far as physically being in New York State, I can only claim that opportunity three times. When I was a wee girl of four years, Mother drove my brother and I to New York City in our brand new '47 Chevy. My only memory is that Mother must have been confused by all the road signs pointing in many directions. She pulled right in front of them and stopped, barely off the road. While she was figuring out which way to go, a car pulled up beside us, with windows down. A man yelled out, "Kentucky Hick!" Oh well, perhaps some of our reputation for being "backwoods" is deserved!
The three of us, mother, my brother and I, were to board a ship to cross the Atlantic, bound for Germany where my Army Dad was stationed after World War II. Two years later, we entered the United States at New York City. I have memories of the big ship, rolling ocean waves with no sunshine, but not going through NYC again.
My last memory happened in 1990. My daughter #5, Mary, needed to go to orientation at the college which she would attend, Boston University. Daughter #2, Carole, and I drove Mary there, up Interstate-95. It was a very pleasant trip, except while going through New York City in the middle of the night.
We were driving straight through, with no overnight stays, from Kentucky. Periodically, of course, we had to stop at the Rest Stops on the Interstate, to use the facilities. All was well until we stopped at one in New York. The building was poorly lit; trash and graffiti was everywhere. Carole and I went in. Mary declared, "I'm not going in that dump. I'll wait till the next one."
Wellllllll, the next rest stop did not exist! There were NO rest stops from New York City onward. We reached the city of Boston around 2 a.m. Everything was shut down tight. We tried at the few gas stations we could find, unsuccessfully. At one, there was an Oriental gentleman in this glass-enclosed space. He didn't speak English and we didn't speak anything else. We tried gesturing to indicate our needs. He gestured back, "No way!" Finally we waited in a parking lot at a fast-food place near Boston University until they opened at 6:30 a.m. Mary was in misery, poor dear! And we won't let her forget it!
Oh, dear, I have digressed a long way from this even longer article in the November, 1933, issue of National Geographic Magazine, New York - An Empire Within a Republic, William Joseph Showalter, Sc.D., LL.D. Judging from the tone of the article, America in general, and New York, in particular, must have been a wonderful place to live in 1933. Mr. Showalter's praise is lavish and endless. "Statistics seldom sparkle, but once in a while some of them tell so eloquent story that they are actually dramatic. Their measure of New York's place in our country's economic situation discloses that the State, with only one-sixtieth of the nation's land and only one-tenth of its population, contributes five-eighths of its bank clearing; earns one-third of its taxable income; possesses one-fourth of its bank deposits, produces one-seventh of its manufactures. In scores of other ways they add to this brilliant record of human achievement," (pp. 513, 515).
Showalter reports on the tremendous impact that the Erie Canal had in pre-railroad days. After that time, most commerce and travel was done by motorcars and trucks, and also airplanes. The Erie Canal served its use and was replaced by the Barge Canal. They both were links between the Hudson River to Lake Erie.
In 1933, New Yorkers were very proud of their extensive park system, in many of their mountain and lake areas. The eight-page color section of photographs show such areas with several beautiful and tall waterfalls. They hosted the 1932 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid. "The arena built for the Olympic Games in 1932 stages beautiful spectacles in ice pageantry. The children take to skiing and figure skating as naturally as ducks take to water, and it is a sight to see a three-year-old acting like a veteran on skis that are as long as he is high," (p. 528).
There was a black-and-white photo of the Manhattan area. It bears no resemblance to the New York City of today with its mountains of skyscrapers reaching 'fingers' into the sky, as seen from airplanes today.
A piece of trivia from 1933: "Girl operators sew glove fingers at Gloversville. The manufacture of leather gloves and mittens in America centers in Fulton County, New York, with Gloversville as the hub of the industry. The county produces approximately three-fifths of the Nation's output," (photo caption, p. 544). This is a good place to end today and save the rest of the article for another day!
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