Off Shore Muse: March 2025

Monday, March 31, 2025

Charles Mann Hamilton

(1874-1942)

HAMILTON HOME

BUILT 1925 BY CHARLES & BERTHA HAMILTON.

CHARLES ELECTED TO NYS ASSEMBLY 1906 AND NYS SENATE 1908 & 1910.

SERVED IN US CONGRESS 1913-1919.

WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2021

Charles M. Hamilton and his wife, Bertha lived in this home in Ripley, NY. Charles was born in Ripley on January 23, 1874. He attended the Ripley High School, the Fredonia Normal School and later the Pennsylvania Miltary College at Chester, PA. Established in 1821, Widener University was known as the Pennsylvania Military Colllege until 1972. Charles Hamilton was a prominent Republican politician. After his political service he returned to Ripley to farm and tend to his business interests including the production of oil and natural gas in Kansas. He passed in Miami Beach, Florida on January 3, 1942 and was buried in Quincy Cemetery in Ripley, New York.

Mrs. Bertha Lamberton Hamilton (1875-1944).

Bertha was born in Franklin, PA (Venango County)

Robert and Luella Jane (Chess) Lamberton

Charles and Bertha Hamilton

The Hamilton Mansion

The Hamilton Mansion has 32 rooms designed around the Hamilton's world travels with incredible unique architecture. The mansion was built in 1925 at a cost of $750,000* in a design boasted to satisfy the "whims and fancies of wealthy persons, their architects or both." It was the property of former Representative, Charles M. and Mrs. Bertha Lamberton Hamilton. The Mansion was originally comprised of 16 acres. It has a 1,500 square foot brick and block building originally built for a clinic in 1949.

*$750,000 in 1925 is roughly equivalent to $10,200,000 in 2025.

Alf Landon

(1887-1987)

Charles Mann Hamilton knew Alfred "Alf" Mossman Landon through their mutual interest in oil and natural gas production. Landon was an American oilman and politician who served as the 26th Governor of Kansas from 1933-1937. A member of the Republican Party, he was the party's nominee in the 1936 presidental election and was defeated in a landslide by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Landon passed on October 12, 1987 becoming the only presidential candidate from either of the major parties to live to the age of 100 until President Jimmy Carter in 2024. Landon, to date, is the only Republican candidate to do so.

During WWI Landon served in the U.S. Army chemical warfare service.

Alf Landon came to the Hamilton Mansion when he was running for president of the United States in 1936. Charles and Bertha hosted Alf Landon at their home.

Sunday, March 30, 2025

Benjamin Franklin Goodrich

(1841-1888)

Born in Ripley, New York

B. F. Goodrich was an American industrialist in the tire industry and was founder of the B. F. Goodrich Company. He was buried in the Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown, New York. His parents were Anson Goodrich and Susannah Dinsmoor Goodrich. On November 4, 1869 Goodrich married Mary Elizabeth Marvin. They had 4 children .. Charles, Richard, Isabella and David. Richard died in infancy. Charles became a Goodrich chemist and a member of the Maine Legislature. David became a Goodrich executive and Isabella married John Breckinridge II, grandson of John Breckinridge (former Vice President of the United States under James Buchanan).

Another famous name from Ripley, New York was Charles Mann Hamilton who built the Hamilton Mansion which is now a B&B and event center. Charles and Bertha Lamberton Hamilton will be featured in a follow-up story.

After B. F. Goodrich's death, his wife hired architect Guy Lowell in 1905 to design a 32 room mansion known as River House in York, Maine. His widow died at age 65 in April of 1907 and is buried in Lake View Cemetery along side her husband, B. F. Goodrich.

River House

York, Maine

The River House is a 26 acre estate facing the York River and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. It is one of Maine's most architecturally distinctive and unusual early 20th-century summer estate houses. The River House has a guest cottage, a barn and two "play houses". The original house was destroyed by a fire in 1925, but firefighters were able to save much of the original contents. One wing of the building survived the fire and that wing was incorporated into the rebuilding of the new River house along with some of the surviving brick walls of the original brick structure according to the information provided guests by the local historical society. The property was given to Bowdoin College by granddaughter, Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson in 1974 and the college operated it as a conference center until it was sold into private hands in 2004.

Advertisment for Goodrich Silvertown Tires

Circa 1920

In 1869, Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich purchased the Hudson River Rubber Company, a small business in Hastings-on Hudson, New York. The following year Dr. Goodrich accepted an offer of $13,600 from the citizens of Akron, Ohio to relocate his business there.

The company grew to be one of the largest tire and rubber manufacturers in the world, helped in part by the 1986 merger with Uniroyal. This product line was sold to Frenh company, Michelin in 1988. During the 1970s, Goodrich ran television and print ads to distinguish themselves from the similar-sounding Goodyear tire company. The tag line was "We're the other guys. Remember?" The company was also sometimes confused with Mr. Goodwrench as the two last names were similar especially since B. F. Goodrich tires were featured on many General Motors cars and trucks.

Who Knew?

B. F. Goodrich sold radios from the 1930s to the 1950s under the brand name "Mantola". These radios were actually made by a variety of manufacturers for B. F. Goodrich. Goodrich ranked 67th among United States corporations in the value of WWII military production contracts.

In August 1986, one of the biggest competitors in the tire business, Uniroyal Inc. was taken private when it merged with the tire segment of the B. F. Goodrich Company, in a joint venture private partnership to become the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company. B. F. Goodrich Company held a 50% stake in the new tire company. The new Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company headquarters was established at the former B. F. Goodrich corporate headquarters within its 27 building downtown complex in Akron, Ohio which contained Goodrich's original factory. In the autumn of 1987 B. F. Goodrich Company shut down several manufacturing operationsat the site and most of the complex remained facant until February 1988 when B. F. Goodrich announced plans to sell the vacant par of the complex to the Covington Capital Corporation, a group of New York developers. The complex is now known as Canal Place.

GENERAL OFFICES
THE B. F. GOODRICH COMPANY

In 2021, a group of Akron/Cleveland investors purchased buildings #10 and #17 and converted them into 139 high-end residences known as "The Goodrich" which opened in the summer of 2022. Canal Park, a baseball stadium with 8,500 seats was also built on the site of the former Anthony Wayne Hotel which was razed in 1996.

By the end of WWII the site had grown to become the largest rubber factory in the world emcompassing over 90 buildings and 3 million sq. ft. of space. At its peak, the complex was a self-contained city with its own fire, police and medical services which included the first telephone system in Akron. Goodrich was the first in Akron to own a telephone, which was a gift from Alexander Graham Bell in 1877. The telephone connected Goodrich's home on Quaker Street to his factory on Rubber Street.

The Iconic B. F. Goodrich Smokestacks

Built in 1925, B. F. Goodrich's Building No. 41 at 388 S. Main Street was the northernmost of several that composed the company's Akron complex, where 15,000 employees once made an array of rubber products including billions of rubber bands, as well as

John Glen's spacesuit! They built spacesuits for NASA astronauts in the 1960s!

Glenn's spacesuit and the Friendship 7 capsule are at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

"Although Colonel Glenn traveled alone in his 81,000-mile journey, the thoughts and prayers of millions were with him."

The Beacon Journal

Circa 1962

"It was a day of glory for a brave man and for the nation whose prestige and honor he carried into space."

Thank you to The B. F. Goodrich Company

Colonel John Glenn

Circa 1962

Sidenote: Goodrich let astronauts suggest what they wanted in the way of pockets explained by Wayne Galloway, spacesuit production manager for Goodrich in 1962. "Glenn wanted two zipper pockets below his knees and one on his thigh. In this he carries surgical shears to be used in an emergency to cut himself out of his suit and safety belt. One other pocket is a slit on the right shoulder for his hankey."

The B. F. Goodrich Co. designed and built the silver spacesuit John Glenn wore on Feb. 20, 1962 as the first American to orbit the Earth. He orbited the planet aboard the Mercury space capsule, Friendship 7. He became a national hero when he made three trips around the world, traveling 83,450 miles in four hours and 55 minutes. Goodrich made every spacesuit worn by Project Mercury's seven original astronauts. The other brave astronauts were Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Donald "Deke" Slayton. In 1959, NASA agreed to buy 20 suits from Goodrich for $75,000 or approximately $3,750 each. Today, that would be $583,249 or $29,000 apiece!

Glenn and Schirra were the first to be fitted, arriving in Akron in October 1959. Dressed in civilian clothes, they dined with 40 workers in Goodrich's cafeteria and left that same day. The five other astronauts soon followed.

The B. F.Goodrich Company can actually trace their history of its space garb to 1934 when famed pilot, Wiley Post ordered a high-altitude suit. Goodrich worker, Russell S. Colley designed the pressurized garmet from balloon fabric and is wife, Dorothy stitched it together on her sewing machine! Goodrich named Colley the engineer of the Mercury spacesuit project. The Beacon Journal called him "the first tailor of the Space Age".

Goodrich built a stainlesss-steel chamber at its research center to test spacesuits in a vacuum. The room mixed hydrogen, nitogen, argon and oxygen to simulate high altitudes. The spacesuits weight 20 pounds, not counting the long underwear that astronauts wore. Oxygen was pumped in through a waist connection.

None of the original "Mercury 7" astronauts who were selected by NASA in 1959, are alive today.

Thank you, Gentlemen. Job Well Done

RIP

🛞 🛞 🛞

Akron became known as the "Rubber Capitol of the World".

Lena M. Joseph's employee card

Service Date May 6, 1933

The factories of The B. F. Goodrich Co. in Akron Ohio

Largest rubber plant in the world. Two miles around the grounds, with 15,000 employees. Seventy-Five acres of floor space.

Sidenote: Your blog writer grew up outside of Ripley and graduated from Ripley Central School so it is no wonder I wouldn't include a blog story about Ripley's hometown boy whose name was Benjamin Franklin Goodrich. And yes, there is a street named .. Goodrich. The parades used to form up on Goodrich which included the Ripley Central School marching band led by Lyman Wood. I played clarinet.

Friday, March 28, 2025

333 E. Wonderview Avenue

Estes Park, Colorado

The Stanley Hotel is an iconic landmark famous for its charm and history. The Stanley Hotel offers 60 minute walking tours that will introduce you to Freelan Oscar Stanley and his wife, Flora. The Stanley was built by Oscar, co-founder of the Stanley Motor Carriage Company. Brothers, Freelan and Francis Stanley were well-poised to immerse themselves in the many technological advancements happening around them. In August 1899, Freeland and Fora Stanley became the first motorists to reach the top of Mt. Washington, the highest peak in New England.

The Stanley Brothers in One of their Steam Cars

Circa 1898

History tells us Freeland gave William McKinley a tour of Washington DC in a Stanley automobile which was the first time a sitting U.S. President had ridden in a car.

The hotel opened on July 4, 1909 as a resort for upper-class Easterners and a health retreat for sufferers of pulmonary tuberculosis. On May 26, 1977 the hotel and its surrounding structures were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Stanley Hotel is a 140-room Colonial Revival hotel about five miles from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. The hotel offers panoramic views of Lake Estes and the Rockies. It was built at a cost of $500,000. Some of the hotel guests were Governor Alf Landon while running for president in 1936 against Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez in 1976 and Emperor Akihito of Japan in 1994 during a state visit.

F.O. Stanley

(1849-1940)

"Nature has endowed Estes Park in a wonderful manner. The grandeur of it scenery its deep blue skies, its clear, cool and invigorating air, its mountain streams of sparkling soft water, its sunny days and delightfully cool nights, are things the summer visitor never forgets, and having enjoyed once, desires to enjoy again."

F.O. Stanley, 1928

F.O. Stanley Enjoying the Stanley Hotel Porch

And yes, the Stanley Hotel served as the inspiration for the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King's 1977 novel, The Shining. King stayed in room 217. In 1974, during a brief residency in Boulder Colorado, King and his wife, Tabitha spent one night at the Stanley Hotel. The visit is known entirely through interviews given by King in which he present differing narratives of the experience. At the time of his visit, King was writing a book with the working title Darkshine set in an amusement park. He was not satisfied with the setting so on the advisement of locals who suggest a resort hotel in Estes Park, they drove the hour's drive from Boulder to Estes Park.. The couple found themselves checking into the hotel just as its other guests were leaving because the hotel was shutting down for the winter season. King and his wife were served dinner in an empty dining room accompanied by canned orchestral music. The Shining was published in 1977 and became the third great success of King's career.

Thursday, March 27, 2025

Lake Effect Diner

3165 Main Street

Buffalo, New York

Open Daily 7-3

Closed Tuesdays

All-American comfort food from local farms doled out in a chrome & neon diner car dating to 1952.

Lake Effect Diner hand-dip over 20 flavors of milkshakes made .. the old fashion way!

December Milkshake of the Month

Chocolate Peppermint

Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives

In 2009, Lake Effect Diner was featured on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives! Lake Effect Diner puts an upscale twist on your favorite diner classics by making many of their sauces .. in-house. In addition to making their food with fresh products, they also sell their bagels, bread loaves and rolls, baguettes, granola, fresh-squeezed orange juice and our custom Blizzard Blend coffee beans.

Guy Fieri from The Food Network stopped by the Lake Effect Diner one morning several years ago. The parking lot was packed and roped off. Parked, in front, was a beautiful red Camero. I was surprised to see Fieri's signature spikey blond hair through the door. Fieri entertained kids with magic tricks, joked around with the diners and posed for pictures with fans. First, the late Anthony Bourdain .. now Guy Fieri. Buffalo is finally in the spotlight for something else other than wings!

Buffalo Rising

Guy Fieri with Tucker & Erin Curtin, Owners of Lake Effect Diner.

The crew from Page Productions, who produces "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives", began corresponding with Tucker and Erin in May of 2009. The producers were originally interested in Dug's Dive, a sister restaurant owned by the couple, but decided on the Lake Effect Diner because of the volume and diverity of artisan local foods being processed and served there. The six to eight minute segment featured preparations of House Cured and Smoked Ham with Red Eye Gravy, House Ground Italian Sausage and the Italian Haddock dinner with tomatoes and fresh basil.

It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to hit the national spotlight. The trick here is being as efficient and consistent as ever so that the increase in business won't just be a flash in the pan.

Tucker Curtin

Curtin believes the experience helped define the establishment and build greater camaraderie among his staff members. The stafff prepared for weeks in anticipation of its television debut.

It is not uncommon to see business increase by 300% the day after the show aired.

Jeremy Greene

On-Location Producer

The cover of the menu reads as follows ..

This diner is a circa 1952 Mountain View Diner Vin. #446. It was saved from demolition and moved from Wayne, PA to Buffalo in 2001. Restored and equipped with a modern state of the art kitchen and knowledgeable and passionate staff, the Lake Effect continues to humbly serve wholesome and fresh locally procured ingredients prepared the way they should be .. from scratch! From field to fork, our facility makes artisanal fresh, cured and smoked meats. Eggs are delivered from the Kreher Family right up the road. All bread is baked fresh in house daily.

Enjoy our Little Diner, Tucker and Erin Curtin