Glens Falls in 1918: Rockwell House defies influenza closure order
The Rockwell House Hotel in Glens Falls, N.Y. defied a Board of Health order that saloons and hotel bars in the city close temporarily to curtail the spread of Spanish influenza.
“Patrolman Cunningham served notices on all bar tenders during the afternoon (of Oct. 8) that their places of businesses must be closed immediately,” The Post-Star reported Oct. 9, 1918.
The order was among steps taken to reduce public gatherings in order to stop the spread of disease.
The Rockwell House was the only bar that disobeyed the order.
Owner George M. Taylor alleged the Board of Health did not have the authority to order businesses to close.
“When it was evident that the bar was not going to close during the evening, Chief of Police Jenkins sent patrolmen to list the names of all customers at the bar who were present, and notified City Attorney Lyman Jenkins.,” The Post-Star reported.
Taylor complied two days later with a second order that City Marshall William Wood issued to the Rockwell House on Oct. 10.
“At a meeting of the Board of Health … steps were taken which resulted in the legalizing of the order, making it compulsory,” The Post-Star reported.
Soda fountains and ice cream parlors were added to the list of businesses required to close.
Crandall Free Library had already closed, and churches and organizations had canceled public activities for the week.
The Board of Health banned public funerals, until further notice, as the Spanish flu epidemic continued to wreak havoc for a second week.
“Reports from various physicians yesterday indicate there is yet no evidence of abatement in the influenza epidemic throughout the city,” The Post-Star reported Oct. 7, 1918. “New cases of the disease, and of the grip and bronchial colds, were received in numbers Saturday and yesterday, and the task of treating these cases is taxing the powers of the city physicians to the utmost.”
The Red Cross made and distributed gauze masks for those caring for sick family members and for employees of area factories.
McMullen-Leavens Co. reported 25 percent of its employees out sick on Oct. 10.
International Paper Co. in South Glens Falls reported 86 employees absent on Oct. 5 and 139 employees absent on Oct. 9.
The following were among those who died Oct. 6–11 from Spanish influenza:
Oct. 6 — Newland Leo Hathaway of Glens Falls, a newlywed who was married Aug. 17
Oct. 8 — Thirty-six-year-old Edward Donovan of Lower Main Street in Hudson Falls, a long-time mechanic at Sandy Hill Iron and Brass Works. He left behind a wife and two daughters, one of which was sick with influenza.
Oct. 8 — Fourteen-year-old Lawrence N. LaCrosse of Hudson Falls, “a particularly bright youngster and a general favorite among children of the neighborhood.”
Oct. 8 — Mrs. Clara Kay Jennings, wife of the supervisor of art for Glens Falls Public School District.
Oct. 9 — Twenty-year-old Constance O. Hara, a nurse at Glens Falls Hospital.
“It was stated at the hospital this morning, that 27 nurses out of 34 are ill of influenza or pneumonia,” The Post-Star reported.
New York Telephone Co. asked customers to only make calls that were absolutely necessary because so many of their operators were out sick.
The Red Cross opened a 100-bed emergency hospital Oct. 9 at the National Guard armory on Warren Street.
Mrs. Dandino Johanne Doudre, age 23, was the first patient to die at the emergency hospital. Her husband was away from Glens Falls, serving in the military at Camp Devens.
A Post-Star editorial on Oct. 10 praised local physicians who had been working almost around the clock.
“Great is the debt we owe to our physicians. … They have performed their duty well. They have fought a good fight and Glens Falls and other nearby communities may well be proud of their medical men.”
Click here to read a previous post about the 1918 Spanish influenza epidemic in Glens Falls.
Post-Star reports referenced in this post can be found at the New York State Historic Newspapers website, a project of public libraries.
Maury Thompson is a freelance historian of politics, labor organizing and media in New York’s North Country. He lives in Glens Falls, N.Y.
The Post-Star reported cautious optimism on Oct. 10.
“Survey of the conditions at the end of another day’s run of the grip epidemic elicits the apparent fact that the peak of its spread has passed and that, with continued clear weather, a definite check may be looked for by the end of the next week.”
