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Pratt Northam Foundation Celebrates 60th Anniversary
Published: August 27, 2022
at 12:30 p.m.
By: Press Release from Pratt Northam Foundation
LOCAL PHILANTROPHIC FOUNDATION CELEBRATES 60th
ANNIVERSARY
The Pratt Northam
Foundation was established in 1962 and is named for the late C. Walter
Pratt of Boonville and his cousin, the late Hazel Northam of Brooklyn, New
York.
C. Walter Pratt
was the ninth and last generation in a line dating back to Lt. William and
Elizabeth Clark Pratt who settled in Cambridge, MA in 1633. He was the son
and only child of Charles Walter Pratt and Julia Northam Pratt. Named after
his father, C. Walter Pratt (known as Walter Pratt), was born March 6, 1888 in Boonville, NY.
Educated in Boonville and Carthage, Walter Pratt defied his father’s
efforts to keep him out of the military ranks and volunteered for duty in
World War I, and served as an ambulance driver in
France. After his discharge from the
military, Walter Pratt returned to the Black River Valley area to join his
father in the management of the Moyer & Pratt mill in Lyonsdale, the Deere River Power Company in Copenhagen,
the Island Mill in Carthage, and the family’s extensive timber tracts in
the Adirondacks.
Tall and ramrod
straight, Walter Pratt gave the impression of severity and had a reputation
for being frugal. In his native Boonville he is remembered as one who
steadfastly refused to contribute to any charity or fund drive. In Carthage
the story is told of his almost daily visit to Ed Fuhrken’s
diner on North Mechanic Street, where he would order a cup of coffee (one
nickel) and two doughnuts (also one nickel), consume the coffee and one of
the doughnuts, saving the other for his next trip to the diner.
Walter’s father,
Charles W. Pratt, acquired large tracts of land in the Adirondacks and
Vermont, from which the Pratt family built their timbering, paper-making
and related business empire. Together with Gordias
HP Gould, of Lyons Falls, and John E. Haberer, of
Lowville, Charles W. Pratt formed the Gould Paper Company in Lyons Falls in
1892. Mr. Pratt served as president of the company for about four years,
until 1896. The Gould Paper Company was later known as Georgia-Pacific
Paper, then Lyons Falls Pulp and Paper, until it ceased operation in 2001.
Mr. Pratt also
owned the Island Paper Company in Carthage, which was incorporated November
16, 1898. The mill was operated until 1932 when, it was closed because of
the owner’s disaffection with the Democratic policies of President Franklin
D. Roosevelt. Walter Pratt resolved to never reopen the mill until a
Republican was once again in the White House. Twenty years would elapse
before that came to pass, with the election of Dwight Eisenhower, but by
then the mill had been shut down for so long that it was impractical to
start it up.
The Island Paper
Company purchased the Deere River Power Company plant, which was built in
about 1909. In about 1911, Mr. Pratt and John Moyer formed a corporation,
Moyer & Pratt, for the manufacture of paper on the Moose River at Lyonsdale, NY in 1923. The Moyer & Pratt mill later
operated for many years as the Burrows Paper Company.
A lifelong
bachelor, Walter Pratt continued to operate the various family businesses
until he passed in his sleep at his home on Schuyler Street in Boonville,
June 13, 1961.
Hazel Northam was
born December 11, 1887, in Watertown, NY, daughter of Wallace and Margaret
Frazier Northam. After attending the
Simmons School of Embalming and Mortuary Science in Syracuse, Miss Northam
became associated with her father and the late Charles Fox in the
undertaking firm of Northam & Fox, Watertown. After moving to Brooklyn,
New York, Miss Northam worked for the late Walter B. Cook Funeral Home,
Inc. where she enjoyed a successful career.
Hazel Northam was
remembered by friends in Brooklyn as having a wonderful sense of humor and
did much good in her community. She contributed funds to local faiths of
all denominations. Hazel was also an avid Brooklyn Dodgers baseball fan.
She always had a season box seat and took time off work to see the Dodgers play, and was devastated when the Dodgers were moved
from Brooklyn.
After the death
of Walter Pratt in 1961, it was determined that Hazel Northam was the sole
heir to the estate of her cousin Walter Pratt. Miss Northam was overwhelmed
with the funds from the Pratt estate, which were in addition to her already
sufficient personal resources.
In consultation
with Lyle Hornbeck and John Beach of the Syracuse Law Firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King, she sought to determine a fitting
means for the expenditure of her inheritance. These deliberations led to
the formation of the Pratt Northam Foundation. Miss Northam hoped that the
money from the Pratt estate could be used for the benefit of the people in
the area where the money was made.
The Pratt Northam
Foundation, created at the direction of and funded from the estate of Hazel
Northam was incorporated August 22, 1962.
While continuing to reside in Brooklyn, Miss Northam occasionally
visited Boonville and attended meetings of the Pratt Northam Board of
Directors. She died on February 29, 1972, at the age of 85.
The first
directors of the foundation were: Miss Northam; Henry Northam Haberer and G. Byron Bowen, Lowville: Leland J. Bayley,
North Syracuse; Lyle W. Hornbeck, Howard H. Cannon (raised in Lyons Falls)
and John A. Beach, Syracuse. Following the death of Mr. Haberer,
James P. Lewis of Beaver Falls was elected a director. Following the deaths
of Miss Northam, Mr. Bowen and Mr. Bayley, Andrew J. Behr and Attorney
Richard Cummings of Lowville were elected in January 1973. Donald Hunt,
Lowville, and Livingston Lansing and Sally Jackson, Boonville were added to
the board in October 1979. Lee T. Hirschey,
Lowville Edward Sieber, Jr., Lyons Falls and Mrs.
Jane T. Rich, Carthage were elected directors between 1980 and 1989.
Numerous
Directors have served the Foundation since 1990. The present board consists
of: Randall Schell, Brittany Davis, James Randall, Joe Getman,
Gerald Haenlin, John McHugh, Randolph Myers,
Jared Thisse, Lydia Young, Sharon Cihocki, and Jessica Jenack.
Donald Exford was
appointed part-time Executive Director in January 1987. Thomas
Yousey III, was appointed Executive
Director in 2005. Karen S. Petersen replaced Mr. Yousey
in 2017 and was the Executive Director until 2021. The current Executive
Director is Sarah Bullock.
The Pratt Northam Foundation seeks to be a
catalyst to projects that improve the quality of life in the communities of
the Black River Valley from Boonville to Carthage. The Foundation provides
financial support to not-for-profit organizations and government agencies
through a grant process. The
Foundation values projects and opportunities for young people and also considers other innovative initiatives. The
Foundation values initiatives that have broad community support and
substantial matching funds.
Over the past 60 years, the Pratt Northam Foundation has distributed
over $8.25 million dollars for community projects, college scholarships,
career internships, summer recreation programs and school-based advocates.
This article contains excepts from the book “The Pratt Northam
Foundation - A History” by Robert C. Rich. Copies of this book can be found
at most local libraries.
For more information about the Pratt Northam Foundation, its programs
and grant process, as well as ability to make bequests or donations to the
Foundation, visit the website prattnortham.org or email the foundation at prattnortham@gmail.com. You can also find the Foundation on Facebook at The Pratt Northam
Foundation.
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