1927
In May, Lindbergh in the "Spirit of St. Louis" flew from New York to Paris non-stop and alone.
The first national radio beacon was used for air navigation. Television had its first successful
demonstration. Ford produced his 15 millionth Model T and soon afterward stopped
production to retool for the Model A. Brinker and Shaw at Harvard produced the "iron lung."
Babe Ruth set a record with 60 home runs for the season. Major Seagrave set a land speed
record of 211 mph at Daytona Beach. Mae West, author and leading lady in a Broadway play,
Sex, was arrested, jailed for 10 days and fined $500. The US Treasury Department reduced the
size of paper money by one-third. Sacco and Vanzetti were executed for a murder and robbery
committed in 1921. Published this year were Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey and Cather's
Death Comes for the Archbishop. At year's end, Ziegfield produced Hammerstein and Kern's
Show Boat. Jolson starred in the first talking motion picture, The Jazz Singer.
• Holcroft • Football
• Clarkson Gets Estate • Hockey
• Snell Field • Alumni Association
Holcroft.
A driveway from the Canton road led into Holcroft House, the third residence of the
Clarkson estate. Built in 1821-22 and called first "The Mansion House," this home of John C.
Clarkson was renamed Holcroft after Elizabeth Holcroft, daughter of Sir Henry Holcroft, East
Hampton, England, and wife of the Reverend David Clarkson; she was the great, great, great,
great grandmother of Thomas S. Clarkson. John C. lived there until his departure from Potsdam
in 1835 or 1836, at which time it was occupied by his father's cousin, Levinus (1765-1845)
until his death. His widow lived there until her death in 1856. Both are buried in Trinity
churchyard, New York City.
Levinus' children included Lavinia; Augustus, who had built Woodstock; David L., who
built what is now the Merritt Apartments on Leroy Street; Elizabeth, who married Thomas S.
Clarkson, father of the University's founder; and Levinus, who lived there until he built his
home at Tivoli, modeling it after Holcroft.
After the family of Levinus left Holcroft, Bloomfield Usher of Herkimer, N.Y., moved
in for a short time until he bought his home at 10 Elm Street (Elks Club). He had come to
Potsdam as the president of the Frontier Bank which had been organized in 1851. After he
moved out, Holcroft was occupied successively by W. A. Fonda and a Mr. Cool, about whom
little is known. Then, in the 1880s, T. Streatfeild Clarkson, Thomas' second cousin, moved in
with his wife, Ann Mary, and his two daughters, Annie and Emily. His addition in 1883 of the
mansard roof and third floor were the only major changes ever made to the building.
Thomas S. and his three sisters, Lavinia, Frederica, and Elizabeth lived at The
Homestead during the latter years of the nineteenth century, not in Holcroft. It was T.
Streatfeild's home; he died there in 1902, and his daughter, Miss Annie, lived there all her life.
After her death in 1929, the house remained vacant until World War II, when it was used as a
dormitory, run by the College with Mrs. Ballard as cook to prepare the meals. Mrs. Emily
Moore provided the money for the remodeling. Right after the war, it was run as a student "co-
