Discover Verdoy - March 13, 2019

DiscoverVerdoy

March 13, 2019 | SPOTLIGHT NEWSPAPERS 9

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Overlooked gem

By SPOTLIGHT STAFF news@spotlightnews.com

T

he Colonie hamlet is often overlooked as traffic drives between Schenectady and Troy. It’s at the foot of Albany International Airport’s runway, but that’s not the only footnote it holds in our community.

Verdoy has a rich history, and we revisit that history in this edition of our Discovery series. Please have a read and learn something you may not have known about this unique hamlet.

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The Verdoy fire house, by size alone, is the envy of area firefighters. It stands with a majestic profile before beautiful, clear skies — something pilots coming to and from Albany International Airport can appreciate, too.

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Looking into Verdoy’s history

By KAITLIN LEMBO lembok@spotlightnews.com

another name? Is it a nod to something?

Where exactly it came VERDOY — The from is unclear, but we evolution of Verdoy is vast know who gave Verdoy its and expansive. name, and the reason is Home to a bustling almost simpler than apple strip mall with wellpie. revered businesses, a few Verdoy started with a restaurants that hold a post office and mercantile, token of class, and of course according to the Pictoral our “international airport” History of the Town of (because international just Colonie. Originally called goes to Canada), it’s an Lisha’s Kill, the sleepy town often-overlooked section of A circa-1900 postcard showcasing the old Verdoy School. was converted to Watervliet Colonie.

Colonie Town Historian Center once the postmaster, What once nestled Lewis Morris, turned the sleepy little homes along starts in the name, one that requires more skill than businesses over to his son. the road is now a bypass was picked because of its patience.

His son chose the name between Latham and first letter.

However, the history of “Morrisville” as a nod to the Schenectady, with empty With a name like Verdoy, the area beginning family name, Colonie Town land becoming more Verdoy, you can’t help but at Mill Road and ending at Historian Kevin Franklin elusive. It’s hard to think said. wonder where it came the Niskayuna town line, of Verdoy as anything is as unique as its name. At from. Was it a last name?

However, the problem but busy, especially when with Morrisville was Was it shortened from the same time, the history getting out of Peter Harris

simple; there was already a town named Morrisville.

The postmaster at the time, Burton Warner, decided to once again rename the town and alas, Verdoy was born.

“Residents were getting mail intended for Colonie and Morrisville residents,” Franklin said, “so the postmaster felt the need to reconcile the confusion.”

Franklin added it seems like Warner picked the name Verdoy because of the lack of “V” names in the post office directory. The name is also vastly different from any other town name in the direct vicinity, further eliminating the confusion.

Old Verdoy, as it’s affectionately called, was dotted with homes along

what is now Route 7, Franklin said. Both large and small homes were a staple of what made Verdoy what it was. However, “Old Verdoy” is now gone, overtaken by booming businesses. Peter Harris is surrounded by household names like Backyard Birds and Mercato’s III. The Tailored Tea, once called the “Hills House,” is just down the road, hiding behind Midas.

Scarborough’s, a hotspot for expensive burgers and meetings, is kitty-cornered.

What once was a field of wildflowers now is airport property.

“I remember being a kid and riding my bike around the block, even on Route 7,”

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former Conservation Officer for Colonie Paul Russell said. “The block was big, but it was small enough.”

Russell continued at one point, he made a turn and saw the police behind him. As Russell’s mother was looking for him, the officer put Russell’s bike in his car to drive him home.

“It was a simpler time back then,” he said. “Much smaller and more quaint.”

A part of Verdoy that no longer exists is the communication that residents would use.

The residents almost established a form of social media for themselves through the local newspapers.

“People would call the paper and give info,” Russell said, “which they would then print. There are notices in here that people went on a vacation to Florida, or a bridge club took place and was entertained by musicians.”

A close one to Russell is the announcement

that his 97-year-old great grandmother had voted.

At the time, Eliza Russell was the oldest resident of Verdoy. She died when she was 107 years old.

“It says here she voted straight Republican,” he said. “She voted as soon as women won the right.”

Russell is now commissioner of the Verdoy Fire Department, which is celebrating its 75th year. Before that, neighboring departments would respond to Verdoy.

“The residents eventually decided they wanted a fire house for their own town,” he said.

Calling Verdoy a tighter neighborhood in those days, Russell said many of Verdoy’s residents are descended from the same families. Like Russell’s, many families came from England between the 1700s and 1800s. As more families came over and settled, he believes they communicated with their friends back home to move over for farming purposes.

“Many people were farmers, and the area from Mill Road to Niskayuna was farm land,” he said.

“The farmers all went to the Dutch Reformed Church, and many married one another.”

As time passed and the area became more populous, the airport bought up more land.

At one point, a field of wildflowers was planted on airport property, but it was removed once birds began to cluster around the flowers, posing a potential hazard to air traffic.

“I remember Mr. and Mrs. Denison, who would drive up and down Route 7 and take pictures of businesses, buildings, homes, anything that people would not normally take photos of,” he continued. “Those photos contain the Verdoy I grew up in.”

Gone is also the one-room schoolhouse, now located at the Pruyn House.

“My father was one of the first classes in the

schoolhouse and I was one of the last,” Russell said.

“When the schoolhouse was opened again, generations went to see it.”

Russell said people immediately asked about the lack of an outhouse out the back window. Russell volunteered to donate one.

The Pruyn House now has an outhouse in the back to make it more authentic.

“We had indoor bathrooms in the basement,” Russell said of his time at the schoolhouse.

Overall, two things changed Verdoy forever, according to Franklin. One, the widening of Route 7, overtook some of the Buhrmaster land and force the Buhrmaster Barn to be demolished. Also in the way was an old farm house built by the Cregier family.

“The Buhrmaster Barn used to be a part of the old Cregier farm that was close to the Mohawk River and purchased by the Buhrmaster family,” Franklin said. “The barn had suffered a fire and had

been rebuilt in about 1895, just a few years prior to when State of New York decided to abandon the old Erie Canal and utilize the channel of the Mohawk River itself.

“Part of that project was the creation of the “Waterford Flight” of canal locks and the large concrete dams at Crescent,” he continued. “The dams caused not only a rise in the river, but increased its original historic width as well and would inundate the old Buhrmaster farm.

There was no way to save the old Dutch Cregier home, but the barn was a very important part of a farm operation and the Buhrmaster family saved their old barn by hauling it up from the river and across the railroad tracks (now bicycle path) and up the steep incline beside Buhrmaster Road to its new location on Route 7.”

Franklin added the move was done in the dead of winter, and the barn was dragged up a hill by one horse and a windlass. The

barn was eventually torn apart and rebuilt at the Pruyn House.

The other major impact was the continued growth of Albany International Airport. “[Federal Aviation Administration] regulations regarding safety zones around the runway approaches also eliminated the few buildings along Route 7 which included the old Lou Simon Liquor Store, a Dairy Queen, another beverage center and even the old Verdoy Fire House itself,” Franklin said.

Verdoy now sees more people through it than ever before. As the town continues to grow and progress, development is continuing. Just recently, Keeler Honda bought out Hewitt’s and work is continuing at the site.

“We used to toy around with the cows on the farm next to the airport; drop apples and then ride the cows around,” Russell said.

“We used to hear reports of the cows being moved across the street. That doesn’t happen anymore.”

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Putting the ‘you’ in youth Colonie Youth Center is for one and all

as well as its sister, the Rudy A. Ciccotti Family Recreation Center, located at 30 Aviation Road, hosts over 1,200 children

By KAITLIN LEMBO in its before and afterlembok@spotlightnews.com school programs. There VERDOY — Engaging is an eight-week summer camp program. Not only children is not a one-sizeare there children, but the fits-all approach. You have to be able to tailor activities center boasts a population of middle-aged and senior to each child’s needs and members. capabilities. Luckily, the “We offer services Capital District has the whenever school is open, key right in its backyard, and if we can get into the literally. building on a day when Located only a couple of miles from the area’s first schools are closed, we will try to have the program,” traffic circle, the Colonie Donna Cramer-Sharer, Youth Center prides the center’s community itself in providing care relations manager, said. for children as young as 6 “We try to provide care months, and recreation for anyone with an urge to have whenever we can — to as many people as possible.” some fun. The stand-alone complex on Avis Drive, Even though the center

getting more children in the 80s,” Caruso said, citing the changing needs of parents.

More women were entering the workforce, creating the need for daytime childcare.

On top of that, divorce was becoming more common, resulting in both parents having to support their own home.

In December, 2018, the ribbon was cut on the Colonit Youth “We were wondering Center’s new home. what we should do about Jim Franco / Spotlight News it because there was clearly a need for it,” Caruso cares for those as young as organizers, calling itself explained. “When we the Student Committee infants, it was originally started really doing after on Recreation. The founded on the need for school care in the early committee opened a teen teenage recreation. In the 1980s, we were doing it drop-in spot; located at 5 1950s, teenagers began completely free of charge.

First Avenue, the Colonie We received a grant that needing a place to go after Youth Recreation Center gave us some funding, school, or a place to just opened in December 1970, but as with all grants, the go in general to hang out.

Nikki Caruso, the center’s money dried out after In the 1960s, a group of executive director, said. awhile. local teenagers teamed up with some community “We really started “As a result, we started

charging for care in 1985,” Caruso continued. “At this point, we started programs like basketball.”

The center was booming in 1995, with several different programs being held at 16 schools in the Colonie region. Still providing care for any child in the North and South Colonie school districts, the population has quadrupled since 1995.

“Recreation then was pretty vibrant,” Caruso said.

“We had so many options — camps, sports, day trips, anything you can think of.” Caruso continued the center has flourished even more since then, due to the increasing development in Colonie town lines.

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www.spotlightnews.com Caruso explained the staff always knew they were providing a needed service. There was never a moment where it clicked into place; it always made sense.

“To be a nonprofit and go into this, you have to have confidence in what you’re doing,” Caruso said.

“We saw a need and we wanted to fill that need.”

The First Avenue location was a shell of a building, Caruso said.

As the center grew, the staff knew they had to find a bigger space to rent out — a space that had the amenities the center wanted to offer.

The Ciccotti Center was in the planning process.

With the completion of Ciccotti, resources were “greatly expanded,” as Caruso explained. There was now sports courts, a pool and plenty of space for activities.

“We now had our own center with everything we were wanting to do for so long,” Caruso said.

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gradual process, Caruso explained.

Now, the 72,000 sq. ft. center is almost too small for the dreams Caruso, Cramer-Sharer and the rest of the staff want to provide.

“You’d think 72,000 sq. ft. would be enough, but we need two pools, two gyms,” Caruso said.

“We could increase our group exercises by 25 to 30 percent.”

The recreation center wasn’t the only one feeling the pinch. After-school (and before-school) care was steadily growing still, the spaces schools would rent out were becoming too small. Not only that, but when staff had meeting days, the schools were occupied but the kids needed somewhere to go.

Caruso and a coworker drove around Latham, looking for an ideal space to open not only a new office building, but a place where the need for care could be met. They

came across an old, vacant building on Avis Drive, across from UPS. Something clicked, and soon the center was moving.

“We did so many renovations to this building,” Cramer-Sharer said. “The lobby used to be really sectioned out. Now, we’ve opened it up.

We were able to put security features in the back, where the kids come in and out. They have two rooms, one for more passive activities like crafts, and another for more active choices. We also have a fenced in yard for when the weather gets nice.”

Completing the move in October 2018, the center is still somewhat in progress. In the back,

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an 8,000 sq. ft. room is sitting under construction.

Cramer-Sharer said the staff has a few ideas about how they want to use the room, noting “the sky is the limit. We have room to grow some more.”

With the variety of programs the youth center is able to offer, only 7 percent of funds come from a grant or money from either the state or town. That leaves 93 percent of the center’s expenses and programs to be funded by the money people pay for care and services.

“We do fundraise, like with our 5K and an upcoming cookout we will do in June,” CramerSharer said. “Much of the money we raise goes into our scholarship fund,

which supports the cost for lower-income families and helps make sure they can utilize the center.”

Luckily enough, everyone wants a membership. A group of seniors have a pickle ball competition each week.

Pickle ball is basically a tag form of tennis.

“The seniors get mad when we have to take their part of the gym for other activities,” Caruso said.

“They take it very seriously.

They come in with their hats and they’re ready to play.”

Seniors and those with disabilities or health concerns are also included.

Colonie Youth Center has the distinction of being a medical fitness center; this means there are staff trained on premises for nine specific health programs, including cardiac fitness and weight management. Transitional care, cancer fitness and becoming fit for surgery are also available, amongst

others.

“We work with doctors to ensure each person is getting exactly what they need,” Caruso said. “It’s very interactive and makes sure each person’s needs are accurately addressed and everything is reviewed by their doctor.”

The center also offers a registered nurse and a behavioral specialist. At the last count, 15 percent of the center’s students had some kind of special needs. Caruso estimates that has grown since that time. While the center can provide the basics, it stopped providing behavioral health care in 2017 due to the increase of school and private practitioners.

“We want to include everyone in our programs, not just the ‘model students,’” Caruso said.

So what’s next? The expansion of the new office building and the continuation of care, Caruso said.

“It’s amazing how we’ve gone from a drop-in center for teens to what we’ve become,” she said. “We will continue to change, grow and meet the needs of those who need us.”

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