The following is a random walk, through the pages of the Rye Chronicle, down the passages of time along Purchase Street and other Rye by-ways. Some of the images conjure up current conditions, while others indicate how we got to where we are.

 

By Paul Hicks

 

The following is a random walk, through the pages of the Rye Chronicle, down the passages of time along Purchase Street and other Rye by-ways. Some of the images conjure up current conditions, while others indicate how we got to where we are.

 

January 23, 1926

 

Plans for the erection of another apartment house in Rye on the site of the Riding Academy Building at the corner of Purchase Street and Highland Road are taking shape. The apartment building, which is being financed by the same promoters who built Blind Brook Lodge, will be known as Highland Hall and will be erected for the purpose of serving people of moderate circumstances.

 

August 25, 1933

 

Very encouraging reports were received yesterday from United Hospital regarding the Rye children taken there to be treated there for infantile paralysis. They are all improving, and one was able to go home.

 

October 5, 1934

 

Parking conditions in Rye’s business section promise to be greatly improved by efforts made by village officials and the Board of Trade…In the future, cars will not be allowed to park indefinitely in the business section. The police will notify drivers with printed cards when they have exceeded the time limit of one hour…This is not a crusade against parking, but rather a friendly effort to educate drivers to use the designated parking areas.”

 

December 17, 1937

 

A total of 1,440 cases were disposed of by the Rye Police Court during the past year, according to a report submitted to the Board of Trustees…The Village Ordinance was broken by 932 persons and 359 were brought before Justice William N. Edwards for disregarding the vehicular and traffic laws. Other arrests included: assaults-25; public intoxication-31; disorderly conduct-34; public health law-23; suspicious person-1; vagrancy-5; homicides-2; larceny-2; A.B.C. law-2; robbery-1; rape-1.

 

May 1, 1946

 

The Rye police force, working with machine-like precision Wednesday night, apprehended three Jersey City “bad men” who broke into Whelan’s Drug Store and stole $61.18 in change, three compacts, one wallet, five packages of cosmetics, one flashlight and a radio. The thugs then jimmied open the back door of Best & Company’s store, setting off the alarm, which notified the police…

 

December 19, 1957

 

A startling and revealing statement about prevalent misbehavior among the youth in Rye has been made by civic, educational and religious leaders after a meeting called by Superintendent of Schools Wendell Hoover. In essence, they place the responsibility on the parents and its purpose is to alert the parents to the anti-social conduct of young people under age eighteen…In short, as the headline stated “Survey reveals 44 percent of crime in Rye is by Young People”…

 

January 11, 1968

 

The Rye police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating the disappearance of an estimated $150,000 worth of Avon products and the trailer in which they were brought to the Avon Corp. at Midland and Peck Avenues Friday. Detective Lieut. James Balls said that the FBI were brought into the case because the loss was in excess of $50,000.

 

August 29, 1968

 

Students at Rye High School will be introduced to mathematics akin to wizardry during the fall term, which opens for classes on Wednesday. The school this year is renting a telephone tie-up to the IBM computer in Penn Plaza in New York City, which is programmed for both business and school operations.

 

June 4, 1970

 

Approximately 300 people joined in a three-hour search for a six year-old Rye girl who was eventually found under her bed sound asleep. According to Police Chief Charles McLaughlin, the girl left a birthday party for her father about eight PM after a misunderstanding about strawberries on the cake.

 

Participating in the search were members of the Rye Police and Fire Departments, the State police, with a blood hound as well as the Port Chester, Harrison, Mamaroneck and White Plains police and fire departments.

 

December 21, 1972

 

Duck hunters attending last night’s meeting of the City Council charged they were stalling on the issuance of permits to shoot in the City of Rye until the duck hunting season was over. Mayor Edmund C. Grainger, who said he was in favor of issuing the permits, read a report from the Chief of Police, listing four areas he thought were safe for hunting. However, Councilman Frederick Hunziker told the hunters that the majority of the council would vote against it.