With World War II over for only five months, the Mohican Market at 117 East Main Street in Amsterdam proudly advertised in a January 1946 newspaper, “Yes! We have plenty of meat.” Lean tender hamburger cost 28 cents a pound. Bologna was 21 cents a pound. Corned beef went for 32 cents a pound and cabbage, three cents a pound.

There once were Mohican Markets in many of the formerly bustling downtowns of the Northeast. There were Mohican Markets in the cities of Massachusetts, Connecticut and in Troy, Syracuse, Niagara Falls, Binghamton and elsewhere in New York.

Hagaman native Elizabeth Russo remembers going by bus with her mother, Anna Dye, on downtown Amsterdam shopping excursions in the 1950s that ended with food shopping at the Mohican. Anna Dye didn’t drive. The shopping was timed so that her husband Merrill could pick them up with the food order in the parking lot behind the Mohican after Merrill got out of work at 4 p.m.

Emil Suda of Amsterdam recalled that you used to get a whiff of fish walking into the Mohican, “As a young boy, one of the oddities remembered about the market was the placement of wooden barrels of fresh fish out on the sidewalk, near the entrance door at any time of the year.” In particular, Suda remembered the salt smell of baccala or codfish in brine.

If you got past the fish, the fragrance of the bakery was next. Suda said the Mohican had a fine bakery department with store-baked cakes, pies and other pastries displayed in glass cases. The floor was sprinkled with green sawdust.

In January 1946, the Mohican advertised two lobsters for $1.25. A chocolate or coconut layer cake could be yours for 50 cents. Mince pies were 35 cents each.

W. Sweet Ice Company—whose descendants operate a Division Street antiques store where the family ice business used to be—supplied ice to keep the fish fresh and for other purposes at the Mohican. In the summer, Sweet stopped three times a day at the market to keep the homemade ricotta cheese from melting.

BACK TO 1946

Also in 1946, Holzheimer & Shaul at Church and East Main streets was selling nylon sweaters for $3.98, “It’s a sweater sensation, this nylon classic. Just feel its butter-soft, cashmere-like texture! Washes and dries in a jiffy, won’t shrink, won’t shed.”

The Gloversville-based Schine theater chain was advertising movies at its downtown Amsterdam facilities. Lon Chaney starred in “House of Dracula” plus “Shady Lady” with Charles Coburn was on the double bill at the Regent on Market Street. Gene Tierney was in “Leave Her to Heaven” at the Rialto on Market Street and the Strand on East Main featured a double bill—“Hubba! Hubba!” with Eddie Cantor and “Ragged Angels” starring Joel McRea, the story of “dirty-faced kids with music in their souls.”

SCOTCH CHURCH

Out in Scotch Church in the town of Florida in January 1946, Harley Bohlke led devotions at the young people’s group and study of the four Gospels was scheduled for the next week. Reverend John Wright and his wife Bessie served lunch at church that day, according to a newspaper community news report. Reverend Wright was my great uncle and previously was pastor of Scotia Baptist Church.

Carl Hunkle returned home to Scotch Church in early 1946 after an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army. The 27 guests at Harold Beyer’s birthday party took part in square dancing before having dinner.

Ada Kruger had a cataract removed at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, “Her friends rejoice with her that the bandages have been removed and her sight restored.”