Welcome back to One Century Ago, a collaboration between Patch and the Historical Society serving Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown.

Each week we bring you the front page of a local newspaper that covered the news in Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow (North Tarrytown) one hundred years ago. This front page comes from the Tarrytown Press-Record. The Press-Record was published as a weekly from 1893 to 1946 and has been preserved by the Historical Society on microfilm.

Friday, February 9, 1912:

Trotting Races

Once again the frozen Hudson River proved to be the perfect location for some unusual sporting events. This time trotting races drew a large, curious crowd who watched the horses race across the ice between John D. Archbold’s dock and the Tarrytown Boat Club. The mare Patty R., driven by J. F. Brown of Tarrytown, excelled in the races, earning her owner a $25 prize. After the races the horses “posed for the moving picture men” who were there to record the event.

Frank Walton to Leave Ranks of Single Men

The Press-Record reported 100 years ago that there were mutterings and whispering amongst people in all walks of life in the Tarrytowns, betokening some extraordinary event.

The cause of all this anticipation in the villages, the Press-Record was pleased to reveal, was the up-coming nuptials of “a certain individual of some weight and size” - Mr. Frank Walton. Soon, it was claimed, the jovial and corpulent personage would no longer be a feature of the town, as he was preparing to move to Ossining to begin married life. The bride to be, Miss Kitty Rigby was described as “one of the belles of Ossining, a young lady of beauty and talent, who is highly esteemed by a host of friends, and one who will bring joy and comfort to the heart of the man of her choice”. With reference to Walton, the paper merely declared “words are inadequate to express ourselves regarding the bridegroom”.

Young Man Taken to Poughkeepsie Asylum

John Brennan, 19, of North Tarrytown became violently insane on the evening of Monday, February 5^th, 1912. He had appeared to be mentally unbalanced for some time, but on Monday his condition took a serious turn for the worse. The police had to be summoned to subdue him and it took six men to keep him from injuring himself. The following day he was pronounced insane and was taken to Poughkeepsie Asylum.

Thirtieth Anniversary of Tarrytown National Bank

February 8^th, 1912 was the thirtieth anniversary of the Tarrytown National Bank. For the entire thirty years William D. Humphries and Moses W. Taylor had continuously served as Cashier and Director respectively. The Press-Record commended the “faithful and conscientious” service these two men had rendered to the bank throughout that time. The paper also praised the bank for giving the assurance of absolute safety and security to its depositors, and for caring for local demands for loans, meeting every request as long as it was based upon good business principles.