McKownville
Improvement Association
- McKown Grove and Witbeck Park - outdoor
recreation in McKownville 1896-1973
McKown Grove
William McKown established McKown Grove in 1896, using part of his
land along the Krumkill west branch beside McKown Road. He provided
in this place facilities for picnics, baseball, and swimming using
the pond behind the dam already existing here on the Krumkill. There
were picnic shelters, and an open building with a dance floor was
built and in use by the year after the opening of the Grove.
A
clipping from the Altamont Enterprise 13 August 1897
The baseball club was organized and sponsored by William H
Witbeck.
His obituary in the Altamont Enterprise of 8 March 1935 includes
this:
The Grove continued under William McKown's ownership until his death
in 1924, and provided a valued place of recreation and entertainment
to residents of McKownville, as well as many others who came from
more distant parts of the Town, and the City of Albany. A clipping
from the Altamont Enterprise of 10 August 1921:
McKown Grove and the McKown
farmhouse nearby were sold by William McKown's heirs in 1926
to McKownville residents William J Knowles and his wife Margaret,
who moved from their house at Knowles
Terrace to the McKown farmhouse, and ran the Grove until 1950.
In the 1930's advertisements for the Grove can be found in the local
newspaper the Altamont Enterprise, including in 1934 (following the
repeal of Prohibition) a license to sell beer and liquor:
The dance pavilion and associated restaurant was called "The
Goblet" in the 1930's [see additional
clippings].
In 1938, a roller skating area was added, and things got louder,
when the Knowles' introduced weekend jalopy (or "midget") auto
racing on a ΒΌ mile track.
Altamont Enterprise 15 July 1938; but ( 22 July 1938) the
weather gods immediately intervened!
This spectator sport was not universally welcomed in
McKownville, because the noise was appalling - the vehicles had no
mufflers. And with events on Sundays, in a largely Methodist
community! The minutes of the McKownville Improvement Association
for 15 November 1938 contain a unanimous resolution passed
"To communicate with the Town Board and ask
for action or advice towards elimination of the public nuisance of
McKownville Speedway". The Town replied in January 1939 that "...the
Town have no ordinances applying to the complaints mentioned...."
So the racing continued through the summer of 1940 but, despite the
larger advertisements that year (7 July 1940 below), seems not to
have been resumed in 1941 or after. [additional clippings
relating to the auto track]
At one of these events, probably in 1938 or 1939, a writer for the
WPA Writers project passed by and his report appeared in an
itinerary included in the WPA New York Travel Guide published in
1940; it makes very clear how much noise was made. But it also
provides detail on the clambakes at McKown Grove, perhaps more
enjoyable to most McKownville residents of the time.
William Knowles was struck
by a car and killed on Western Avenue in November 1947. His
widow Margaret sold McKown Grove in 1950 to an Albany resident,
Alphons P Fischer, who continued to operate it in much the same way
as the Knowles' had done, while renovating and improving the
facilities [additional
clips from this time]. In 1958, the new swimming pool was
opened, now with concrete sides and floor, and filtration, and no
longer just a dammed-up pond along the Krum Kill west branch stream.
Fred Abele described this in an Altamont
Enterprise article 30 June 1983. Mr Fischer died in 1966; Fred
Abele indicated [Altamont
Enterprise article 28 July 1983] that Fischer's
daughter-in-law Linda had been running the place for some time, and
may have continued to do so for a few years more; he also reported
that the mud flowing into the pool filters from disturbance by
construction upstream forced closure of the pool in 1971. A local resident
later said that insurance became unobtainable (or
unaffordable) and was the main reason for closure of the Grove in
1973. The developer who obtained the property in the late 1970's
claimed he had settled unpaid property taxes.
McKown Grove new swimming pool on its opening in
June 1958
(picture from the Guilderland Historical Society files)
McKown Grove pool 1960's
(www.flickr.com/photos/albanygroup/)
McKGrove-agroup1
Map of the area of McKown Grove and Witbeck Park in 1950
Fred Abele recounted the history of McKown
Grove in an article published in the Altamont Enterprise in
1982, which is based on his personal experiences of the Grove from
his childhood in the 1920's, and later, including the annual picnics
of the McKownville Fire Department. He summarizes the end of the
Grove as a place of recreation in the early 1970's, when repeated
fire damage and subsequent vandalism of the buildings ended in their
demolition.
McKownville
Fire Dept. picnic at McKown Grove, 18 Sept 1955
Fire at McKown Grove dance hall, April 1973
McKown Grove might have become a town park, if in the later 1970's
the Town Board (and the funding source in the NY State government)
had acted swiftly, and with more vision. Instead, the property was
allowed to be directed to the largely commercial interests of a
non-resident developer. First a racquetball club was built, but
after some years it was converted to an office building.
Fred Abele expressed quite well the fact that McKown Grove for nearly eighty
years provided much enjoyment and outdoor recreation for
McKownville residents, and others. The park not far away that bears
his name, later established in McKownville by the Town, is welcome
recreational space but, by comparison, is a rather thin substitute
for what used to be provided at McKown's Grove. And that is before
the continuous noise of the nearby Thruway traffic is considered, it
being not at all like the sylvan place that the Grove used to be,
during most of its history.
Witbeck Park
At some point around 1930 baseball games moved from McKown Grove to
a sandlot field nearby, located on the north side of the Krumkill
between McKown Grove and Western Avenue. This ground was owned by
the Witbecks from 1907, and became known as Witbeck Park in the
1930's, and was used for baseball until 1949. The local team, the
McKownville Arcadians, took their name from Arcadia Avenue, where a
number of them lived.
A clipping from the Altamont Enterprise of 14 September 1934:
picture of unknown date of McKownville Arcadians baseball
team
(from the Guilderland Historical Society files)
The Witbeck Park field was sold and built over in 1950 by the
motel known as the "Tom Sawyer Motor Inn"; the McKownville Arcadians
baseball team then disbanded.
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