100 YEARS AGO Department store awards bonuses 50 YEARS AGO Catholic schools face fiscal woes

It an annual tradition, the John G. Myers Company in Albany awarded Christmas bonuses to all of its employees, amounting to several thousands of dollars. Each employee who had worked at the department store for a year or more received a bonus equal to five percent of their salary for the first six months of the year. Workers at the store for less than a year also received a “liberal gift.” Nearly 500 people received bonuses in 1920.

The company, a North Pearl Street mainstay for 100 years until it closed in 1970, had bounced back from a horrific tragedy 15 years before. In August 1905, an early morning fire broke out in the original structure, killing 13 people and injuring around 100 more. Undergoing renovations and expansions, the company had created a new sub-cellar that could not adequately support the five-story structure, and during the fire it collapsed in on itself. The department store was rebuilt next to its original location and survived for over 60 more years.

For more photos, see www.timesunion.com.

The financial plight of 116 primary and secondary schools in the 15-county Catholic Diocese of Albany came into sharp focus with the disclosure of a confidential letter from Rev. Edwin B. Broderick, the Bishop of Albany. “Catholic schools are experiencing intolerable financial burdens and their continuance beyond June 1971 is extremely uncertain,” he wrote, adding that unless substantial financial help was forthcoming soon, the diocese would be compelled to close its schools. Any closing down of Catholic schools in Albany would create near-havoc in the public school system, since 50 percent of the city’s school age children attended the 21 Catholic elementary and eight high schools in the city. Total enrollment in Catholic schools in Albany was 10,522, with 6,791 students in grammar and 3,731 in secondary schools.