Coming on Friday, March 15, 2024-Episode 513-Actor Kirk Douglas died four years ago at age 103.  Emeritus history professor Bill Simons from SUNY Oneonta has done extensive research on the life of Amsterdam native Kirk Douglas and tells the story of visiting the actor’s childhood home.

Three members of Amsterdam's carpet-making Sanford family served in Congress. Two were named John and one was named Stephen.

Congressmen from Amsterdam
By Bob Cudmore

Paul Tonko is the eighth member of Congress to call the city of Amsterdam home. He is now in his seventh Congressional term.

Amsterdam is being moved out of Tonko's 20th Congressional district and will become part of the 21st district. Tonko is expected to seek reelection in the 20th district, even though that district no longer includes his home town,

Benedict Arnold was the first Amsterdamian elected to Congress in 1828. Arnold was a House member during the administration of President Andrew Jackson, although he opposed Jackson politically.

The Benedict Arnold elected to Congress was not the infamous traitor but a merchant and brewer. Arnold served in the State Assembly and was a general in the War of 1812. Arnold Avenue was named for his family. He died in 1849.

Three members of Amsterdam's carpet-making Sanford family served in Congress. Two were named John and one was named Stephen.

The first John Sanford was born in Roxbury, Connecticut and migrated to Amsterdam. He served in Congress as a Democrat from 1841 to 1843.

That was when President William Henry Harrison caught cold at his inaugural and died shortly thereafter, propelling John Tyler into the Presidency.

After John Sanford came home he went into the carpet manufacturing business, bringing his son Stephen into the firm. John Sanford died in 1857.

Stephen Sanford, born in Amsterdam in 1826, made the family carpet business prosper but did not ignore public service. He attended West Point and was a friend of Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant. A Republican, Stephen Sanford served one term in Congress during Grant's first term.

According to historian Hugh Donlon, Sanford did not enjoy Congress, saying, "It is a thankless job to work for the public and I have had enough of it." Stephen Sanford died in 1913.

Stephen's son John Sanford served two terms in Congress as a Republican from 1889 to 1893 while Benjamin Harrison was President.

After returning from Congress, John Sanford headed the family carpet business and oversaw the Sanford horse racing operation until his death in 1939.

John Knox Stewart was born in Perth in 1853 and moved to Amsterdam in 1860. He was an industrialist, making paper and textiles. He was elected to the State Assembly in 1889.

Stewart served two terms as a Republican in Congress from 1899 through 1903. Republican William McKinley was President when Stewart was elected. McKinley was assassinated in 1901 and Theodore Roosevelt became President. Stewart lost his bid for reelection in 1902 and went back into the textile business. He died in 1919.

While a resident of what was then called the village of Akin outside the city of Amsterdam, Theron Akin was elected a Progressive Republican member of Congress during the Presidency of William Howard Taft from 1911 to 1913. Akin later became the village of Fort Johnson. In the early 1920s Theron Akin lived in Amsterdam and served two controversy-filled terms as mayor. He died in 1933.

Samuel Wallin, a Republican from Amsterdam, served one term in the House during the Presidency of Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Wallin was a native of Pennsylvania, born 1856. He was a principal in the carpet firm of McCleary, Wallin and Crouse which owned the factory complex known as the Upper Mill. Wallin was an Amsterdam mayor. He died in 1917.

Samuel Stratton, a Democrat who served in Congress from 1959 to 1989 lived for a time in Amsterdam. Schenectady"where Stratton had been mayor--was taken from his district in a redistricting in the 1960s, and the Congressman moved to a rented apartment on Amsterdam's Guy Park Avenue.