Author: Kacie Cotter-Harrigan

In 1791, the newly formed Saratoga County Board of Supervisors met for the first time at Mead’s Tavern in Stillwater. It was common for elected officials or committees to meet at a public house before the building of a dedicated government facility. However, within the next few years it was decided that a courthouse building and jail should be erected, and the Town of Ballston was chosen as a central location. Captain Edward A. Watrous donated a site on his farm for the courthouse on Middleline Road and construction began in 1795. Court was first held there in the spring of 1796. A small hamlet grew up around this area which became known as “Courthouse Hill” complete with taverns, hotels and law offices. The county seat seemed to be firmly cemented at that location, but that all changed in 1816.

Fire broke out in the courthouse in the middle of the night on March 23. Two prisoners, Fones Cole of Northampton (held on a forgery charge) and Peter Drapoo (a horse thief) used a candle they purchased from the jailor (reportedly for playing cards) to set fire to their cell and escape. Two other prisoners also escaped during the fire but a fifth prisoner, George Billings, was chained to the floor and perished in the flames.

Before the smoke cleared several towns clamored to gain control of the county seat including Waterford, Malta and Galway but two front runners quickly emerged.  Saratoga Springs and Ballston Spa pitted themselves against each other to win the prize.

Ballston Spa (sometimes called Ballston Springs) was well known because of its mineral springs which were supposed to contain healing qualities. The powerful, land-rich Nicholas Low established the village, which was located on land he was granted through the Kayaderosseras Patent. Noting the influx of health-seeking travelers, Low built a monstrous hotel, the San Souci, carved out lots and laid streets in his flourishing village.

By the early 1800s Saratoga Springs was also an up-and-coming village built around attracting visitors to their mineral springs and was starting to overtake Ballston Spa in popularity. Since both of these villages were vying to attract visitors as well as expand their political influence they were in a desperate fight to convince the New York State Legislature to choose them as the new seat of government for Saratoga County. Each village put together a group of prominent citizens who tried to show the legislature that they were the best location.

When the Ballston Spa committee heard rumors about what the Saratoga Springs committee was proposing, they retaliated. In a letter written by Thomas Palmer to Nicholas Low on October 31 1816 he advised:

“As the time approaches when the Legislature will fix the site of the courthouse and gaol in this county and every exertion made by our opponents to defeat us. We are desirous that nothing should be left undone that can have a bearing in our favor or counteract the efforts of our enemies to defeat us. It is suggested that one argument intended to be urged by our opponents is that a lot will be given the County at Saratoga Springs for the courthouse and gaol. Should that be the case we must be prepared for them. Will you be pleased to write to …our committee assuring them that a lot will be given the county at the village of Ballston Spa for the courthouse and gaol…”

Nicholas Low heeded the advice of Palmer and did just that, using his influence to tip the committee in favor of Ballston Spa as the County seat. On March 14 1817, after a long debate, the New York State Legislature passed a law stating that the seat of Saratoga County would be located in Ballston Spa.

Following through on his promise, on July 5th, 1817 Low filed a deed with the County Clerk giving the Supervisors of Saratoga County a lot on High Street for the purpose of building a courthouse and jail. Construction commenced later that year and was finally ready to hold court by 1819. The style of the building was essentially the same as the original building on Courthouse Hill, though they built this one out of brick. This two-story building served as the county courthouse until a new one was erected on the same spot in 1889. In 1968, the courthouse moved across the street to its present location.

Ballston Spa has proven itself as a well suited, central location for our county seat over the past two centuries. History leads a winding path and who knows, were it not for a fateful candle and two scheming jailbirds, the county seat may still have been at Courthouse Hill today!

Lauren Roberts is the Saratoga County Historian. She is co-host of the WAMC podcast A New York Minute in History, along with NYS Historian Devin Lander. Roberts co-produced the recently released documentary Harnessing Nature: Building the Great Sacandaga, which chronicles the creation of the Sacandaga Reservoir. You can reach Lauren at lroberts@saratogacountyny.gov

Before the 20th century, the upper Hudson River was used commercially as a conduit to ship timber logs downstream to the paper mills along the river.  Logs were stored in pens until the spring melt in the upper Hudson region significantly increased the flow of the river. When the flow rate was right, the pens were opened and the logs were sent careening downstream to the mills.  The Sacandaga River joins the Hudson River at Hadley, with each river providing approximately equal flows.  The watershed of the Sacandaga River alone is approximately 1000 square miles, so the melt of the winter snowfall could provide a large amount of runoff.

Each spring, the flow of the Hudson would increase significantly, but periodically there would be a combination of warm temperatures, high local rainfall, and a large snow cover to produce extraordinary runoff over a short amount of time, called a freshet.   Flooding was also a major concern to the paper mills and other businesses along the river, causing severe economic dislocation 

For almost 300 years floods had devastated the upper Hudson from Luzerne to Albany and points south, as recounted in Munsell’s Annals of Albany, 1850

April 30-May 3, 1639 “Whilst I was at Fort Orange, the 30th of April, there was such a high flood at the island on which Brand-pylen lived, – who was my host at this time – that we were compelled to leave the island, and go with boats into the house, where there were four feet of water. This flood continued three days, before we could use the dwelling again. The water ran into the fort and we were compelled to repair to the woods, where we erected tents and kindled large fires.” – Description of the Hudson flood of 1639 by a visitor to Albany named DeVrie

March, 1646. “The winter which had just terminated, was remarkably long and severe. The North (Hudson) River closed at Rensselaerswyk, on the 24th November, and remained frozen some four months. A very high freshet, unequalled since 1639, followed, which destroyed a number of horses in their stables; nearly carried away the fort, and inflicted considerable other damage in the colonie.

March,1790. Flooding on the Hudson River, as described by the Albany Register for March 29, 1790, was initiated by a week of heavy rains. “The weather for a week past being uncommonly moderate, and attended with considerable falls of rain and some slight snows, raised the river to such a degree on Saturday last, completely to carry off the ice; and as by accounts from Poughkeepsie, &c. the river has been some time since clear.

March,1818. This flood appears to have been quite sizeable according to Munsell. “The water rose to great height in the river the night of the 3d March, so that several families in Church St. would have perished if they had not been rescued. The water was two feet deep in the bar room of the Eagle Tavern, on the southeast corner of South Market and Hamilton streets. Sloops were thrown upon the dock, and the horse ferry boat was driven about half way up to Pearl Street. A family occupied a house on the island opposite the city, who were rescued by the people of Bath. So great a freshet had not been known in forty years.”

Flooding continued on a regular basis, but 1913 was to prove the turning point. At Fort Edward -the highest recorded flood level – 34 feet – was reached on March 14, 1913 causing general devastation in the area . The floods waters were severe enough that year to wash out the bridge connecting Glens Falls and South Glens Falls.  The bridge fell on March 27, 1913 at 9:55 p.m.  This flow rate caused major flooding to the downstream communities of Glens Falls, Waterford, Green Island, Cohoes, Rensselaer and Albany.

There were enough similar events, loss of property, and damage to infrastructure that the communities and businesses along the Hudson River asked the New York State Legislature to take action to control the water flow.  These organizations and municipalities provided the funds to build the reservoir as a water storage facility. 

As a result of the 1913 flood, the Legislature passed the Burd Amendment allowing the use of 3% of the New York State Forest Preserve for the purpose of creating reservoirs to regulate stream flow. In 1922 the Legislature formed the Hudson River Regulating District. The purpose of the Regulating District was  “to regulate the flow of the Hudson and Sacandaga Rivers as required by the public welfare including health and safety.” In 1927 construction began on the  Conklingville Dam. The dam was completed three years later and the flooding of the reservoir began March 27, 1930. After almost 300 years It took the major flooding of March, 1913 to finally get the Legislature to move forward on authorizing the building of the Sacandaga Reservoir.

Fred Wilhelm is a retired General Electric engineer who lives along Great Sacandaga Lake. He has an interest in not only how the Lake was built and controlled, but WHY it was built-in the first place.