A monthly paper about the people, places and things that make Chatham and the surrounding towns so special
NOVEMBER 2025
Riders Mills schoolhouse a local icon, important part of our past
One family’s history and the education of 1st through 8th graders revolved around one small schoolhouse in a remote part of town.
Headmaster’s son
Fowler Root
Functional outhouses
Chatham High
This month, we take a look back at members of the Chatham High Class of 1981 and their class advisors.
American Legion Post 42 honors local veterans
The Hometown Heroes banner program was begun in Harrisburg, PA, in 2006, and has since spread far and wide. •
Gorgeous
Shelves
Heart and Soul
The family connection powered Taconic Telephone Corp.
Taconic Telephone was legendary for its ve-cent pay phones that de ed industry-wide pricing trends while underscoring its down-home image.
When New York Telephone raised the price of its pay phones to 25 cents in 1984, Taconic stayed committed to lower rates based on management’s philosophy that everyone should have access to a phone, even those who couldn’t afford one at home.
As of 1990, Taconic had deployed 95 nickel pay phones – and 77 more that charged a dime – in small-town stores, restaurants and gas stations across its 600-square-mile service territory. Only one other company in the U.S. was pricing coin-operated calls below 10 cents.
Back then, tourists stepping up to an enclosed phone booth in Chatham, a phone kiosk in New Lebanon, or a simple wallmounted pay phone in Ghent were astonished to discover they only needed a nickel to place a local call.
The pricing policy also gave Taconic Tel a valuable public relations tool. When a regulator or politician griped that phone rates were too high, the company would point to its bargain-priced pay phones. “It got us the PR that nothing else could,” said Irene Waldorf, then Director of Customer Service.
By the late 1990s, as hand-held cell phone use was quickly spreading, Taconic sold its pay-phone business to a competitor.
A Trail Blazer
Family, Teamwork
The Face of Taconic
1971 - With J. Benedict Ackley as president and CEO, Taconic Telephone Corp. is formed from merger of Columbia & Rensselaer Telephone Co. and Copake Telephone Co.
1973 – Chatham headquarters moves from 19 Railroad Avenue (now Crow Cottage) to 2 Main Street in Chatham (former Columbia County Building)
1974 - Direct-dial system launched, eliminating operator-assisted long distance calls
1978 - Headquarters moves to Streaters building at southern edge of Chatham village; site renamed “Taconic Place”
1983 - Taconic Technology subsidiary created, making cable TV available in Chatham and surrounding communities
1985 - Taconic Long Distance subsidiary established
1985 – Executive vice president Lorinda Ackley becomes president and CEO, succeeding her father J. Benedict Ackley, who becomes chairman
1987 - First installation of ber optic cable
1993 - Service territory becomes “equal access,” enabling private-line customers to choose one of four available long-distance providers
1996 - Congress enacts Telecommunications Act of 1996, deregulating the industry and expanding consumer choice
1998 - Taconic Telephone acquired by holding company MJD Communications Inc. of Charlotte, NC, later renamed FairPoint Communications
Resourcefulness
Washington Irving, Ichabod Crane… and Eleanor Roosevelt?
A building that was more than the stuff of legend, but an everyday destination for many school children for nearly a century.
Building moves
“Itchy-bod”
Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary Margaret McBride make their way down the steps of the Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse, a er the national radio broadcast honoring the people who turned it from abandoned to a community center.
Kinderhook residents who worked on the project were (L-R) Rose Peduzzi Napoli, unknown, Edward and Marion Peduzzi, and Julia Fisher. Rose and Edward Peduzzi had a ended school there.
Guy Madsen
Obituary (edited)
A stalwart of his community, Guy Madsen impacted lives from all walks.
Former Players
Crandell’s The
New Marquee and the Art of Restoration
The revival of a village landmark comes complete with its own story of whodunit and how.
Uncertainty
Marquee challenges
Memories
TidBits
“Chatham Cubs observe founding of Scouting,” noted the Courier in early March, 1981
Stay in bed
Walter Crandell
From Chatham to Dublin
When the writer decided to head overseas for her undergraduate education, we thought we’d like to tag along on her early days in Ireland.
First days
Kate McCormack Callahan:
Fulfilling the American Dream
From a tiny cottage in Ireland to raising a family in Lebanon Springs and Chatham, the writer’s paternal grandma had a rich and fulfilling life.
Home in Chatham
Shamrocks
Irish lilt
SportBits
Burfeindt 4th
Groundbreaking
Goin’ froggin’
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