Bob Cudmore

Director George Cukor’s 1938 movie “Holiday,” which starred Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, has three fictional characters based on members of the Sanford family of Amsterdam. The family founded Sanford & Sons, the first of Amsterdam’s two major carpet mills. The company merged with another firm to become Bigelow Sanford in 1929. Bigelow Sanford left Amsterdam in 1955. John Sanford inherited an estate worth $40 million when his father, Stephen Sanford, died in 1913.

Director George Cukor’s 1938 movie "Holiday," which starred Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, has three fictional characters based on members of the Sanford family of Amsterdam. The family founded Sanford & Sons, the first of Amsterdam’s two major carpet mills. The company merged with another firm to become Bigelow Sanford in 1929. Bigelow Sanford left Amsterdam in 1955. John Sanford inherited an estate worth $40 million when his father, Stephen Sanford, died in 1913.

In the 1920s, the Sisters of the Resurrection, a Roman Catholic order whose mission is to help families in need, wanted to create a ministry for the children of working women. At first they looked at New Castle, Pennsylvania. However, Sister Honorata Handzes argued they should work closer to their headquarters in Castleton on Hudson and proposed Amsterdam.