by Bea Peterson
Traffic was diverted from Classic Street in Hoosick Falls most of Friday, February 18, as the building at Number 48 was torn down. Tractor trailer trucks were allowed through in one lane. All other traffic, from John, Main and lower High Streets had to use upper Classic Street and Wilder Avenue .
According to the old Hoosick Falls directories at the Louis Miller Museum, in 1940 the lower floor contained the law offices of Harder, Marshall and Pitt. Museum Curator Charles Filkins noted that later Forrest C. Pitt became a Superior Court Judge. In 1952 Anna Wermeski rented rooms in the building while Dwyer and Skorupski maintained law offices. In 1954 Styles Smith was the lawyer in residence. From 1960 to 1965 Otto W. Leibiger operated O.W. Leibiger Research Laboratories, Inc. from the building.
Jack Cataneo purchased the property many years later with the intention of putting a restaurant in it. Cataneo spoke at the August 2010 Village Board meeting in response to a Village citation requesting information on what he intended to do with the long vacant building. Cataneo explained the various problems he had in the past trying to meet the requirements to open Natty Bumppo’s Restaurant. He said he wanted to name it after Cooper’s character from The Leatherstocking Tales. He had heard the man the character was based on was supposedly a Hoosick Falls resident. There is no documentation to bear this out. He said he had envisioned a restaurant with a porch that overlooked the River. Needless to say, the restaurant never materialized. In August he told the Board he was going to have the now badly deteriorated building torn down.
Through the fall there was activity at the building and then, by Friday evening, it was gone. All that remains is three empty lots with a lovely view of the Hoosic River between Farrara’s Restaurant and Baker’s Insurance.
