I live in a strange place, confusing both in name and nature and indicative of many small towns in upstate New York, and completely incomprehensible to me as a newcomer. Ready? I live in the hamlet of Scotch Bush which is in the town of Florida which is in the city of Amsterdam…Got it? Well guess what, neither do I. Here’s something else: Amsterdam is in the county of Montgomery, which as a whole has 49,000 residents at last count and is so small that the municipal offices are actually in the same building as our neighbor, Fulton County. And the city? Well, Amsterdam has roughly 18,000…18,000!?! Does that really make an urban environment? As a student of urban landscapes I’m constantly at a loss- to me, it’s more of a town than a city, my town is more of a village (if that) and my hamlet, well, not even discernable to the naked eye. I wonder if they take the livestock into account when they do the census; now that in a strange way would make more sense.
Amsterdam was once the carpet capital of the world and, up until the 1980s or so; carpet was still being manufactured at industrial buildings right in the heart of the city. I say ‘buildings’, but there are two, maybe three tops, all right next to each other and all pretty derelict looking at the moment. Carpet was so pervasive in the local culture that I’ve honestly walked into homes that are not just wall-to-wall but floor to ceiling. It’s not uncommon for longtime residents to have carpet in their kitchens and bathrooms, without a second thought to the sanitary or aesthetic issues. Carpet in the kitchen! Isn’t that a fire hazard?
Another local oddity is the fact that Amsterdam schools are the only ones in the area that have a half-day on Tuesdays. Why? Well no one really seems to know; some say it’s because long ago people went to church on Tuesday afternoons, others say it has to do with our agricultural heritage and still others have never contemplated the issue whatsoever. The true reason I suppose is now lost to history, but happily tradition lives on along with the post-Halloween tractor ride around town. On the Saturday following Halloween the adults get together on a designated farm, have a bonfire and drink copious amounts of beer. Then, they hop onto a hay wagon loaded with other drunk farmers and ride around town tossing rotten pumpkins onto lawns. Let me remind you that adults do this, seventy-year-old men do this and, in fact, one family had three generations take part this past year.
Admittedly, I’m an urban snob. I grew up outside of what I consider the center of the universe, New York City. I say this confidently with a New Yorker’s undying attitude of superiority: it is THE melting pot of culture, customs, architecture, public opinion and yes, food. My last address was in London, once the center of the Imperialistic world, where my soul purpose was to study ‘the urban’. Both are global cities, financial, cultural, and style hubs, bastions of the very idea of what the urban should be. So, I’ve been doing my own independent research since my return to Amsterdam to reconcile the fact that I am actually living in a city. Of little comfort is a definition I came across on Wickipedia: A city is an urban area, differentiated from a town, village, or hamlet by size, population density, importance, or legal status. In most parts of the world cities are generally substantial and nearly always have an urban core, but in the United States many incorporated areas which have a very modest population, or a suburban or even mostly rural character, are designated as cities.
Some scholars call it micropolitan, not urban nor rural and definitely not suburban. I’ve been looking into the idea of micropolitan areas myself in an attempt to help explain away my confusing pseudo-city surroundings, but so far no luck. According to Brown, et al: ‘Micropolitan areas are built around core settlement clusters of 10,000 – 49,000 persons (check one for Amsterdam), and include both core counties and outlying counties with high commuting to the core (um…not that I’ve seen)’ (p. 404). In addition, they note that micropolitan areas hold the appeal to many current and potential residents of a small-town community, providing a happy compromise for those seeking both an urban and rural setting. Though fascinating from demographic and cultural standpoints, I see more of the potential toward the micropolitan in Amsterdam than its present actualization. All this leads me to admit that my research has been more of a process of rationalization to ease me into a false understanding when really I still don’t know how such ‘small town’ cities can call themselves just that.
So perhaps I’m being a bit harsh on my current non-urban habitat; maybe I’m going through a sort of big city withdrawal, too busy detoxing from midnight kebabs and bus fumes when instead I need to surrender to the fact that here ‘the city’ means Market Street and strip malls, ‘town’ is exactly one diner and one church, and ‘Scotch Bush’…well, that’s still a mystery. Deep down inside, though, I mock this tiny city, wondering what internal delusions of grandeur allow it to be so. Honestly, can it really claim itself as a city when I reside on a dairy farm and am still living within the city limits? Apparently, it can.
References:
Brown, D., J. Cromartie, and L. Kulcsar (2004) Micropolitan areas and the measurement of American urbanization. Population Research and Policy Review, 23 (399 – 418).
Jennifer Jennings one day hopes to unravel the many mysteries of Scotch Bush (including location), but so far she’s been proven unworthy.
I have looked up Amsterdam's history on the Internet, and shame on Whoever, but there is no mention of the HUGE carpet industry, excepting (bravo!) for YOUR site! However, the carpet mills moved out in the 1960's, not 1980's. You may want to make that correction, and/or do more research. I know, because my father worked much of his life in the mill, and when they moved out in the 1960's, he and many, many others of the then 33,000 population, went job-hunting.
Posted by: Carol Jankunas | August 25, 2006 at 05:30 PM
Don't be so dismissive of your roots. There is much beauty in Amsterdam for those who care to look.
Check out http://www.lostlandmarks.org and I guarantee a pang of homesickness.
Peter sefton
Alexandria, Va
Posted by: peter | March 05, 2007 at 12:17 PM