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Henry Knox’s Holiday Stay in Saratoga

Written by Lauren Roberts | Sponsored by Saratoga County History Center on . Posted in Featured, History.

Knox recreated artillery sled. 
Photo provided by Saratoga County History Center

Two hundred and fifty years ago, a 25-year-old bookseller from Boston was a guest in Stillwater on Christmas Eve. His name was Henry Knox, and he was on an important expedition. Sent by General George Washington, Knox was to retrieve artillery that had been taken from several forts captured by the fledgling American Army and bring them 300 miles to relieve the Siege of Boston in the winter of 1775. Knox, well-read and possessing incredible confidence for someone with his level of experience, left Boston in November and headed to Fort Ticonderoga where 59 pieces of artillery were selected to be part of his “Noble Train of Artillery,” a phrase penned by Knox himself in a letter to George Washington. 

Knox arrived at Fort Ticonderoga on December 5th, 1775, and after overseeing the preparations for the first leg of the journey, which meant moving the cannon out of the fort and up to the landing at the northern end of Lake George, he proceeded ahead of the gun-laden boats and made his way to Fort George. His younger brother William stayed behind with the bateau, “pettiauger” and scow as they made their way up a cold, though not frozen, Lake George. 

After Henry arrived at Fort George, he was delayed while waiting for sleds, draft animals and snow. While there, he had time to write in his diary and catch up on correspondence with Gen. Philip Schuyler, Gen. George Washington and his wife Lucy. In these letters he described weather conditions, anticipated timelines and logistics for the upcoming overland journey. Washington had ordered Schuyler to assist Knox on this mission, and, since Schuyler was familiar with both the local landscape and many of the contractors in the area, he was not shy about informing Knox who he should, and should not, be working with. Knox had contracted with George Palmer of Stillwater to “purchase or get made 40 good strong sleds… and likewise that you would procure oxen or horses as you shall judge most proper to drag them.” In the same letter, Knox goes on to promise Palmer that, “whatever expense you are at I shall pay you immediately.” 

Palmer was a well-known Patriot, serving as a member of the Albany Committee of Correspondence. Though he clearly believed in the cause of independence, he may not have been above profiting handsomely from Knox’s naiveté. When Schuyler became aware of this agreement he pumped the brakes, telling Knox that paying Palmer to build new sleds for this journey was an unnecessary expense since these sleds already existed in the region and presumably could be hired at a much lower cost than what Palmer was about to charge. 

Knox followed Schuyler’s sound advice, though it was clear that Palmer was not happy about this reversal. A letter from Palmer to Knox written on Christmas Day 1775 expresses his disappointment in the cancelation of the contract and even warns Knox that there may be dangerous consequences in letting down all the people who stood ready to assist the artillery train. If Knox responded to this thinly vailed threat, it has been lost to history. 

Knox left Fort George ahead of the artillery to go to Schuyler in Albany and work out the new plan for obtaining sleds. Though pages of his diary are missing during this time, it seems that he left on December 24th in the middle of a heavy snowstorm. After noting that Judge “Dewer” helped him obtain a sleigh to get to Stillwater, he explains how difficult it was to make forward progress in the snow. Stopping at Arch McNeals in Saratoga (now Schuylerville) to take in a meal, they left there at 3pm, “it still snowing exceeding fast” and only made it to Stillwater before having to stop for the night. He spent the night at Ensign’s Tavern and woke up on Christmas morning to over two feet of snow on the ground. While he had worried just a few days earlier that there would not be enough snow for the sleds, now there was too much snow for him to even make it to Schuyler’s house. He notes, “we got a sleigh to go to Albany but the roads not being broken prevented our getting farther than New City (now Lansingburgh) about 9 miles above Albany – where we lodg’d.” 

Knox eventually made it to Schuyler’s house in Albany on December 26th though the travel continued to be very difficult and Knox “almost perish’d with the cold.” The first order of business was to send for George Palmer and see if an agreement could be reached regarding the much-needed sleds. A lengthy conversation took place between Palmer and Schuyler, but they remained at an impasse over the price Palmer demanded and he was eventually dismissed. Schuyler then took matters into his own hands to obtain the sleds and draft animals, sending out his wagon master to make connections with local teamsters. By New Year’s Eve, the wagon master had returned to Schuyler’s, with the names of the teamsters who were on their way to Fort George with sleds to begin loading the cannon. Knox estimated that approximately 124 pairs of horses were employed to move the 60 tons of artillery. While it is often thought that oxen were used exclusively to pull the artillery train, from Fort George to Springfield, Massachusetts, it was primarily horses that were given this task. 

With the matter of the sleds and draft animals settled, and the desired snow blanketing the ground, Knox and his noble train were finally on their way towards Boston. Though difficulties still lay ahead for this expedition, they wouldn’t experience any more significant delays and by the end of January, they had arrived in Cambridge. In the coming weeks Washington’s army would successfully mount several cannons atop Dorchester Heights in a move that convinced the British Army it was time to leave the city of Boston, which they did on March 17, a date still known as “Evacuation Day”.

Knox’s successful mission was a key victory in the American War for Independence. It showed the British that the American Army was capable of completing complicated expeditions, it showed Washington that Knox was someone he could rely on and it boosted the morale of the Patriots, who knew they were up against an army that bested them in numbers, experience, material and money. It was a feat worth celebrating. 

And even now, 250 years later, we are continuing that celebration. This December, a bi-state commemoration is taking place in honor of Knox. Programs and processions are taking place all the way from Crown Point to Dorchester Heights. In Saratoga County, several events are scheduled on December 13th and 14th, with Knox Fest at Fort Hardy Park, an 18th Century Candlelight Concert at the Arts Center on the Hudson in Mechanicville, and a ceremony at the Knox Trail Marker in Soldiers and Sailors Park in Waterford. These events are all free and open to the public and we encourage you to come experience this history in your backyard. For more information on these events, and others across the region, visit knox250.com

Ballston’s Colonial Inn

Written by Reynolds November | Sponsored by Saratoga County History Center on . Posted in History.

There it is, sitting atop a hill, a hill known 200 years ago as Courthouse Hill, on present-day Middleline Road.  It is north of the Middleline Road/Charlton Road intersection where Eliphalet Ball established his church, the center of the community.  That community was to become the town of Ballston.  And, yes, there it is, still standing to this day, a building then known as the Colonial Inn.

Yes, an inn and a place to relax, eat, drink, sit with friends.  Right across from the Saratoga County Courthouse (and the county jail) where barristers argued their cases. A place where the likes of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr came as lawyers.  Ballston Spa’s John Taylor, who went on to become the only New Yorker to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives, argued cases there.  And then visitors to the court probably spent the night or a few nights at the Colonial Inn, right across the road from the Courthouse.

But the history of the inn’s property goes back to the Watrous family.  Edward Watrous came to Ballston in 1775 and, two years later, he married the “girl next door,” actually from across the road, Susannah Pierson. But their world was turned upside down in 1780 when the British raided Ballston in search of Patriots.  Much of the Watrous family had been sent away to Richmond, Virginia; an earthern breastwork had even been constructed to protect the property but Edward and probably a son remained in Ballston.  The British plundered the entire Middleline Road area and burned many of the structures there.  Watrous’ house was ransacked but not burned.  Watrous was taken prisoner and was taken to Montreal where he was held as a prisoner for over two years.  He was released in November, 1782. 

Several years after the raid, in 1796, the Courthouse was built for $6750 as Ballston was, at the time, the seat of Saratoga County. It was Edward Watrous who gave the land on which the courthouse was built.  The building burned down in 1816 and the seat of the county was moved to Ballston Spa. 

On Watrous property, across from the Courthouse, the Inn was built a year after the courthouse.  Another year later, the “Saratoga Register,” the first newspaper in Saratoga County, was published right at the Inn.  That newspaper became the Ballston Journal and is still being published today (online only). The Inn was surrounded by upwards of 25 other buildings, most of them homes for the people who had come to this area with Eliphalet Ball or who had migrated to this area after the initial settlement.

There was also a store on the property.  Whether it was in the Inn or as a separate building is yet to be determined but, according to an 1804 ad in a local newspaper, “The Saratoga Advertiser,” Watrous had taken over the store from a John Marvin (who moved his business to a different location) and was selling groceries, crockery, glass and hollowware (ie., vessels that can contain something as opposed to flatware) as well as cloth (broad cloths, flannels, and “cassimeres”).  Brandies, wines, tea, and sugars were also available at the store.  In a Saratoga County business ledger, Edward Watrous is listed as buying “sundries” and tobacco for the store during the years 1804-1805.  But those are the only citations attributed to Watrous and listed in this ledger that encompasses much of southern and central Saratoga County.

It seems that Watrous was more than willing to go after debtors who owed the store money.  There are legal notices in newspapers in both 1815 and 1819 about he and others trying to procure the money owed to them. In one of the cases, a man’s house and property in Greenfield were at stake!

The original building that housed the inn had low doorways and stairs in the center of the building.  That was, at the time, the main hallway. There were no fireplaces but wood stoves provided heat.  There was a birthing room near the kitchen; that room later became part of the kitchen. One of the rooms upstairs was extremely small and used for guests, sometimes more than two people at a time in the same room, people who did not even know each other. 

The building itself has been much changed from the original.  Frederick Telford, one of the owners of the property (he purchased it in 1931), bought the property from David, Loretta, and Leland Miller, all minors, who had inherited the property from Robie Miller, presumably their mother, and Dwight Harlow, Robie’s brother.  Telford removed the ballroom and the barroom which sat on the south side of the inn. Telford’s daughter, Doris Collins, writes in a 2002 letter that she well remembered the privy, a wooden building bathroom, that was a three holer: one large hole for men, a smaller one for women, and a small one (with steps!) for the children. 

In the 1950’s, when Winslow and Mae Lillie owned the property, they built an apartment on the back of the building.  

In the 20th century, after the creation of the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake School District, this property was the northern boundary of the school district. As property north of the house was sold off, those new independent properties also became part of the school district, thus expanding its area northward.  

In 1974, a tornado destroyed the very tall barn on the property.  A new barn was constructed using the wood from the old barn but making it far shorter in height.  All that remains of the original old barn is an old stable post.  

As late as the 1920’s, long after the demise of the courthouse, the Schenectady Gazette was still mentioning the location “Courthouse Hill” as an identifier in some of its news articles and want ads.  

Today, the past is remembered through the presence of a historical marker at the top of Courthouse Hill on Middleline Road, Ballston, New York. A building that ties the past to the present and all of our futures. 

 Sources:

Ye Olde Days, Katherine Q. Briaddy

Saratoga County Heritage, Violet B. Dunn, Editor

Deeds, Saratoga County Clerks Office, Boyd to Lillie, 1955 and Miller and Harlow to Telford, 1931

Schenectady Gazette, June 18, 1925 and December 1, 1926

Personal Recollections from owners Jane and Parker Baum; Doris Collins, Frederick Telford’s daughter; and an unnamed descendant of Dwight Harlow

The Saratoga Advertiser, December 31, 1804

Ballston Spa Journal, April, 1975

Albany Argus, 1815 and 1819

Saratoga Ledger of local stores, stored as “Milton Ledger” at Brookside Museum, from first quarter of 19th century

Delving into the American Revolution with WMHT

Written by Caleb Taran | Sponsored by Saratoga County History Center on . Posted in History.

When I decided to attend Skidmore College in April 2021, I had no idea that I was about to step into one of the deepest historical ravines in the country. Saratoga County and its surrounding areas witnessed history from the birth of the Iroquois Confederacy – which some scholars argue laid the foundations for the representative democracy we enjoy today – to the tumultuous Battles of Saratoga, which secured American Independence by convincing France that they ought to aid this small, fledgling country. In some ways, the Capital Region of New York State is the Cradle of the Nation. Throughout my time majoring in history at Skidmore and interning with the Saratoga County Historian’s Office, I visited many local historical sites and museums and became accustomed to the community of history aficionados who live here, and the very important public history educational network in this region. So even upon my graduation from Skidmore, it was not yet time to leave.

For the summer following the end of my college career, I was lucky enough to land an internship with WMHT. My duties went far beyond that of a typical intern—I gained valuable control room experience, helped to edit videos, and participated in both studio and field shoots (including one at the New York State Capitol). The historical focus of the internship, however, was working on local programming related to Ken Burns’ project The American Revolution. The opportunity to work in such a historically important region was an exciting experience.

My specific assignment was Production Assistant and Grip on the WMHT series Field Trip, which showcases interesting locations and tourist hotspots across the Capital Region. A special Revolutionary War themed episode will air on November 16, as a prequel  to Part 1 of Ken Burns’ The American Revolution. I was present for production at two locations in that film: General Phillip Schuyler’s house in Albany, and the vast fields which hosted the Battle of Saratoga.

On June 24, we headed to the first of these shoots. The Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site in Albany is about as jarring an anachronism as one could possibly find. On a hill overlooking the heavily developed city of Albany, with its concrete, metal, and asphalt, is an old, stately mansion from a time long gone. The mansion, which once belonged to Phillip Schuyler, is now a museum dedicated to his life and legacy, the good and the bad. Schuyler and his wife, Catherine Van Rennsselear, were part of an almost-feudal landed elite with Dutch roots (going back to the original colonial overlords of this area) which used to dominate the politics of New York State. It is certainly not how we think of Albany now, but there it is: a tiny island of the past situated in the middle of an ever-changing landscape.

 The anachronism carries over into the inside of the building. The Schuyler Mansion was built in the 1760s, with much of it dating back to when Phillip himself was still alive. As such, the confluence of modern filmmaking technology with delicate wooden floors, lightly traversable stairs, and closed-off bedrooms must be very precisely managed. 

I quickly realized that filmmaking is not always glorious. The day before the shoot, my fellow intern and I spent  time drilling holes into the bottom of tennis balls. In order to prevent scuffing up the centuries-old floors, these tennis balls had to be inserted onto the bottom of the tripods’ legs. There, they act as a cushion on the floor. This was one of several precautions we took to preserve the historical authenticity of the places we shot at.

Phillip Schuyler himself was a fascinating figure from the region. Although no expert, I learned a great deal about him during my internships.  A wealthy member of Albany County’s landed gentry, he was appointed a Major General in the Continental Army in 1775 and is more recognized for his logistical skills than his military strategy.  He was the commander of the failed 1775 invasion of Canada although illness prevented him from leading the army in the field. In 1777 he led forces defending the region from Burgoyne’s invasion until replaced by Horatio Gates leading up to the Battles of Saratoga.  

The second major shoot I was involved in for Field Trip’s American Revolution-themed episode, at the Saratoga National Historical Park, took place a few weeks later on July 8. In the almost 80 degree heat, this was quite a day. After setting up some equipment to record a few brief interviews with park staff at the Visitor Center, we loaded it all up again to drive down to the actual battlefield itself. What followed were more interviews with staff, a shoot of a Fife and Drum band, and then the capturing of some B-roll footage at the end of the day. The park is absolutely beautiful, and it is difficult to think that such a serene landscape was once the site of such suffering, killing, and death. But then again, the sacrifices made at Saratoga are what led to the creation of this very country we live in today.

The Battles at Saratoga took place at a critical time in our revolutionary struggle. With the defeat of General John Burgoyne and first ever surrender of a British army, Saratoga certainly deserves the title of Turning Point of the Revolution. But it was the resulting alliance with France that eventually sealed our independence with the defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown four years later.

As excitement for Ken Burns’ film on the American Revolution continues to mount, local historical education and public programming efforts are also foundational to our understanding of the story of our nation. In an era when funding for many of these institutions are at risk it is crucial that we continue to support them. Please consider donating to WMHT and the Saratoga Battlefield so they can continue their valuable work and more people like me can fall in love with this region and its history in the future.

Sources-Life of General Philip Schuyler, 1733–1804 by Bayard Tuckerman, 1903

1777 Campaign-Saratoga National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) nps.gov 

The Ballston Brief: The Law School That Time Misplaced

Written by Amy Shannon on . Posted in History.

Long before Ballston Spa was incorporated in 1807, a grand vision rose from its mineral-rich soil: the Sans Souci Hotel. Built in 1803 by Nicholas Low—one of the village’s earliest developers and most influential landowners—the hotel was a marvel of its time. Towering three stories high and capable of hosting 250 guests, it briefly held the title of the largest resort in the United States. With its elegant proximity to the famed mineral springs and a nightly rate of $8 (a luxury in its day), Sans Souci attracted a glittering clientele of politicians, economists, and literary figures. 

However, in 1849 as Saratoga Springs superseded Ballston Spa as the more prominent resort, the property underwent a change of ownership.  The Hotel was sold to John W. Fowler, a Connecticut lawyer with a bold idea: to transform this opulent retreat into a place of legal instruction. Fowler, who had previously founded a law school in Cherry Valley, believed law was not just a profession; it was a discipline of both art and science. And so began the curious chapter of Ballston Spa’s forgotten law school, tucked inside the walls of a resort that once defined American leisure. 

The law school was known by at least four different names: “State and National Law School,” “New York State and National Law School,” “Ballston Law College,” and “Fowler’s State and National Law School.” Fowler wanted to bring practical training for students and not just teach legal theories. One of the main innovations of the curriculum was that law students get practical training in the art of courtroom etiquette and learned how to prosecute or defend a client in a court of law. The school even had a chapter of Theta Delta Chi (ΘΔΧ), a fraternity founded in 1847 at Union College, in Schenectady, New York. 

Fowler inaugurated the Ballston Spa School of Law with a distinguished faculty and quickly garnered substantial support. His vision for legal education emphasized both theoretical and practical dimensions of discipline, incorporating mock trials as a central pedagogical tool. These simulations required students to assume various courtroom roles—judges, attorneys, jurors, and defendants—fostering a dynamic and immersive learning environment. 

Admission to the school was highly selective, with criteria extending beyond academic aptitude to include race and gender; only white males were considered eligible. In 1850, the school denied admission to John Mercer Langston, a Black man who had recently become only the second African American to pass the bar exam. Encouraged by a friend, Langston wrote directly to Fowler and requested a personal meeting. Although he was ultimately offered a place at the school, Langston declined the opportunity, unwilling to compromise his identity or misrepresent his heritage. Instead, he pursued legal studies at Oberlin College in Ohio, where a practicing attorney mentored him. Langston’s career would prove remarkable: he served as Inspector General of the Freedmen’s Bureau following the Civil War, became Dean of the Howard University School of Law, and was elected to Congress in 1888.

Among the distinguished graduates were Colonel John Slocum, who served in the second Rhode Island Infantry, and fell leading his regiment at the Battle of Bull Run; future Governor of Virginia Gilbert C. Walker; Abraham R. Lawrence, New York Supreme court judge; and Roger A. Pryor, from Virginia who served in Congress before the Civil War, became a Confederate General, and after the war moved to New York City and resumed his law career. These alumni would reflect honor on any institution. A New York State board monitored the school, which was authorized to confer upon each graduate the degree of LL.B. (Bachelor of Laws). 

The final graduation commencement occurred in 1852. Unfortunately, the former hotel was not the best environment, and that led to the decision to relocate the school to Poughkeepsie. According to the trustees of the school, “The building in Ballston is old and the rooms are cold, while in Poughkeepsie our accommodations are comfortable and pleasant. The village to which we have removed is much larger and more pleasant than Ballston, containing six or eight flourishing literary institutions, of which four are female seminaries. The people of Poughkeepsie furnish, besides these libraries, adequate funds to place the institution on a high and permanent basis.” 

Though Fowler’s law school remained in Ballston Spa for only a brief period, its impact under the leadership of Fowler was far-reaching. After relocating to Poughkeepsie as the State and National Law School, it continued to produce distinguished alumni, including future-President Chester A. Arthur, Union Army soldier Sullivan Ballou, three senators, and at least nine US Congressman – legal minds who got their initial training at a small short-lived law school in two New York communities.

Future President of the United States, Chester A Arthur studied at the law school in 1853, and then graduated from Union College. He served as quartermaster general of the New York Militia during the Civil War. After the war, he entered politics and went on to be elected Vice President in 1880. When President James A. Garfield was assassinated, he became the 21st President of the United States.

Sullivan Ballou eventually married Fowler’s niece, Sara Shumway. Ballou’s fame during the war, came after his death, when a letter he wrote to his wife Sara a week before he was killed in action in the Battle of Bull Run, was published, and influenced Ken Burn’s 1990 award-winning documentary The Civil War.

For a time, the school did well in Poughkeepsie, but enrollment declined as men joined the military to fight in the Civil War and the law school closed for good in 1865. Fowler went on to teach at the American Business College in Springfield, Massachusetts and passed away in Poughkeepsie in 1873.

When the law school in Ballston Spa moved on, the Sans Souci Hotel found new purpose. In 1863, Reverend D. W. Smith transformed the grand structure into a Ladies’ Seminary, offering boarding and education to young women until 1886. From luxury resort to legal academy to women’s school, the Sans Souci stood as a testament to Ballston Spa’s evolving commitment to education. Though demolished in 1887, its legacy endures—proof that even in a time when academic opportunities were uneven, Ballston Spa nurtured learning for both men and women. 

The Hop City Road Curtiss Farm 

Written by William C. Curtiss on . Posted in History.

Bill Curtiss was born in 1952 at the Benedict Memorial Hospital, the second child of Wm S. Curtiss Jr and Beverly Lane.  Bill married his high school sweetheart, Carol Wilson in 1973. Together they raised their daughter Christel and now have three grandchildren. Bill is the President of the Ballston Spa Village Cemetery and continues to research his family history. 

On Hop City Road in the Town of Ballston sits the Willow Marsh Farm, the farm on which my dad, William Schuyler Curtiss Jr. was born and raised.  For five generations, the farm has been owned by successive Curtiss families, currently by my cousin Chuck Curtiss. 

The Curtiss family in America goes back almost 400 years. In 1637 my ninth great-grandparents John (1577-1639) and Elizabeth Hutchins, migrated from England to Roxbury MA. By 1639, they and their three sons had moved on to Stratford, Connecticut, becoming some of the founding settlers of that village. 

The line continues with William, followed by three Jonathans, then on to my fourth great-grandfather, Andrew.  Andrew Curtiss, and his wife Patience Nichols and family moved from Huntington, Connecticut to the Town of Charlton, NY around 1796.  The family quickly became members of the Ballston Center Presbyterian Church, founded by the Reverand Eliphalet Ball.  Andrew’s brother, Jonathan is the ancestral line of the Curtis Lumber family.  Andrew was a farmer who earlier had taken up arms in the Revolutionary War. 

Andrew and Patience’s son, Abijah, my third great-grandfather, was born in 1791 in Huntington, Connecticut.  He married Naomi Smith, originally from Bridgeport, Connecticut.  Abijah was instrumental in securing the purchase of the current Hop City farm for his son, my second great-grandfather, William Smith Curtiss.  Abijah’s home was located on Middleline Road, where he also operated a gristmill and farm. 

William Smith Curtiss, was born December 29, 1814 in the Town of Ballston.  He married Martha VanOstrand in 1840, and they were parents to five children.  In 1846, William purchased the subject 140-acre farm from the estate of William DeForest who had died two years earlier.  The sale of the farm was for the benefit of the orphaned young DeForest children.  

From what I remember listening to family stories, William S. Curtiss was not a hands-on farmer. He fell into the category of ‘Gentleman Farmer’, more of a supervisor.  He and his successors are credited with continuing improvements to the farm’s facilities and its dairy herd.  William served as town Justice and assessor.  In his later years, William spent his winters in the village.  Newspaper articles show various addresses, including West High Street and Ballston Avenue.  The New York census of 1892 lists William and daughter Anna as living near Becky Jones, the infamous ‘Obstinate Becky’.  Becky’s house still stands on West High Street adjacent to where the Gordon Creek tributary flows under the road.  Incidentally, on the 1880 US census, my wife Carol’s second great-grandparents are listed on the same West High Street page, so they were apparently neighbors, small world!

William’s son Anson (my great-grandfather), was born in 1849 and inherited the farm in 1892. Unlike his father, Anson was a very hands-on farmer until his retirement.  Following in his father’s footsteps, he was very involved in town affairs, also serving as Justice of the Peace and town assessor.  Anson’s wife Esther and her sisters are credited with establishing a Sunday School called the Hop City Sabath School in the mid 1880’s.  In the early 1900’s, Anson and wife Esther spent the winter months in the Village.  Many society columns indicate they resided on Church Avenue, Ballston Avenue, renting the furnished summer home of prominent New York City attorney John P Brown on McMaster Street.  Eventually the couple purchased a very small house on Ballston Avenue. 

Upon Anson’s retirement, my grandfather, William Schuyler Curtiss Sr. continued to operate the farm. Grandpa was always referred to as ‘Schuyler’, so as not to be confused with his grandfather and later my dad.  Schuyler was born on the farm in 1885. He married Winnie Boyd from West Oneonta in 1922. Schuyler and Winnie raised nine children; my dad was the oldest son. Schuyler utilized all available resources for improvements in breeding, sanitation, and feeding for the dependable quality of the generated milk. Many prize-winning cows were among the farm’s herd over the years. Grandma operated a convalescent nursing home that was attached to the farmhouse for several years. 

I remember staying at the farm for a couple of weeks a few summers, riding on the tractor and hay wagon with Grandpa. A few mornings, Grandma would hand me a glass of water and send me upstairs to throw it on one of my younger uncles. I would hand him the glass and tell him to drink up.  

Schuyler remained active, working a couple hours a day throughout his eighties.  He was sixty-seven years old when I was born, so I always remember him as a gray-haired older man. He passed away in 1986, just two months short of his 101st birthday.  

Schuyler’s second oldest son, my uncle, Chuck Curtiss took over farming operations in the late 1950’s or early 60’s and continued the best practices for milk production.  At some point, during his ownership, the farm was named Willow Marsh.  

In 1983, an article written by Schuyler’s sister, Marjorie for “The Gristmill”, Saratoga County History Museum’s quarterly newsletter, tells of a ‘Pack Peddler’ who visited the farm in the 1880’s. One cold winter the peddler came to the farmhouse door trying to sell his wares. When Esther noticed that he was without a winter coat and that he was sick, she had him come in and sit by the stove and gave him supper and a cot to sleep on that night. In the morning, he was given breakfast and a warm coat and gloves. He tried to give the family the contents of his pack, but Anson would have none of that. He did leave some pencils for the children and a pillow cover for Esther, before heading down the road. 

An article in the September 24, 1929, edition of the Ballston Daily Journal celebrating the fiftieth wedding anniversary of Esther and Anson, reveals how Hop City received its moniker. Anson recalls that at some point in the 1800’s, there were five farms engaged in the growing of hops along the road.  A little research shows that by the 1830’s, Albany had a handful of breweries and was the largest hub for beer distribution in the U.S.  This can probably be attributed to Albany’s proximity to the recently completed Erie Canal.  Brewers from the mid-west could now extend their sales further east. 

Putnam Place Goat Dairy

Written by Dave Waite on . Posted in Featured, History.


Photo provided by Saratoga County History Center. Putman Goat Dairy Cart on Broadway

In July of 1940, Harry & Eunice VanAlst Brower & Eunice’s twelve-year-old son Carleton Chadbourne, left their home in Mount Kisco, Westchester County, New York, to reside for the summer season in Saratoga Springs. The family would be staying at Putnam Place, the ancestral home of Mrs. Brower, a three-story, 25-room mansion that sat on a parcel of land that is now Saratoga Hospital’s Myrtle Street Park complex. The former Miss Putnam, Eunice, was heir to the Putnam line that can be traced back to the earliest days of Saratoga Springs. 

Eunice moved to New York City with her mother after her father had died in World War I. She later reminisced about her return to Putnam Place in an interview with Saratoga Historian Jean McGregor published in the September 20, 1946, Saratogian: “I had never forgotten the beauty and peace of Putnam Place, and I had cherished the many memories that on my return became reality again.” Putnam Place must have had a strong pull on the Brower family as by the end of the year they had left Westchester County, taking up residence at Putnam Place where they soon started a family business raising goats and selling their milk. 

So, why did this middle-aged Ivy League educated down state society couple choose to pursue farming? My search uncovered no clear answer, though when interviewed after a year and a half in business, both were clearly pleased with their decision. As the couple sat together in the dairy’s outdoor seating area Mr. Browers shared his pleasure with the way those in the area had begun to realize the benefits of goat’s milk with their products being used as far away as Schenectady. The article, published in the July 2, 1942, Saratogian told this about Eunice Brower:

Mrs. Brower is quite as much in earnest about the business as her husband, who told me “She has turned out to be a regular veterinarian in case any of the goats are taken ill. She knows just what to do.” She loved the work as well as her husband, and so pleasant and delightful is their new venture that over the weekend both had to turn in to help with the numerous parties there. 

The advertising of both the dairy and the benefits of goat’s milk was a large part of the Browers’ marketing plan. In 1941 the dairy ran at least a dozen different ads, with catchy phrases and gimmicks that were sure to catch the attention of those reading the Saratogian newspaper. Another part of their strategy to bring their product into the public eye was what today we would call direct marketing. In the Saratogian during June the dairy ran the following advertisement: “Young girl or boy, must be 16 to 18, about 5 ft. 6 in. tall with sales personality. To sell goats milk during season. Apply in person, 12 to 1 p.m. Putnam Place Goat Dairy, Inc.” 

The search for a salesperson was successful and that summer a young man wearing the same uniform worn by employees in the goat milk processing room guided a goat-powered cart selling cups of fresh goat’s milk on the streets of downtown Saratoga Springs. We are fortunate that a photograph of one of these carts, as it sat in front of the Edelstein Jewelry store in downtown Saratoga, has survived and can be included in this story.

In another effort to promote the value of their product that summer, the dairy published a brochure extolling the science supporting goat milk’s safety and benefits. This eight-page pamphlet with its whimsical goat logo on the front weighed heavily on scientific charts and calculations comparing the fat content, curd tension, and vitamin content of cow and goat milk. If nothing else, this promotional tool would overwhelm the average reader with information leading them to believe that countless experts recommended the milk of goats. The last page reinforces this by giving the names of thirty physicians, scientists, and government organizations as sources for the tract. To ensure that the reader would patronize Putnam Place Goat Dairy, these Road Directions were included:

The dairy is situated about one and a half miles from the center of Saratoga Springs. It may be reached by proceeding along Church Street from the west or east to Myrtle Street which is adjacent to the Saratoga Hospital. On entering Myrtle Street proceed north for about five hundred yards, to the dairy. 

In 1942, their second year of operation, the Browers opened an outdoor milk and ice cream bar at Putnam Place. To accommodate their customers, tables with oversized umbrellas were placed under the large trees surrounding the mansion. This cool and shady spot soon became a destination for young and old alike. To draw in even more customers, in early summer they added “Beefburger Heaven” and began offering a full menu, waitresses, and hours that extended as late as 11 p.m. As with their goat’s milk, advertising for their menu choices was highlighted with names guaranteed to grab the reader’s attention such as CubanBurger and WineBurger. 

Unfortunately, this expansion of their business was short-lived as only a week after closing the outdoor restaurant for the season, the Browers posted a notice in the Saratogian that they would be closing their dairy operation for the “duration of the war.” 

Behind the scenes at Putnam Place, the family had begun to raise chickens and with the closing of the dairy focused on raising the poultry and selling dressed ready-to-cook birds. As with the dairy operation, help wanted advertisements went out for people to work in their processing plant and to assist with the clerical work. Soon even the business name was changed to Saratoga Poultry. In 1946 the Brower family put the whole operation up for sale, advertising an “exceptional broiler farm completely equipped to raise and dress for market 50,000 broilers yearly.” 

At the same time, the family began selling off the contents of Putnam Place and in 1947 the mansion itself was sold to Morris Eisland ending nearly 150 years of ownership of the property by the Putnam family. Eisland, who had owned another hotel by the same name on Phila Street during the 1930s, operated the Iceland Hotel into the 1960s. After years of abandonment and deterioration, the historic building burned to the ground in 1973. 

 Sources: 

newspaper archives at nyhistoricnewpapers.org and fultonsearch.com. Rachel Clothier, Town of Corinth Historian

Canallers Were a Rowdy Bunch

Written by John L Scherer on . Posted in History.

Erie Canal Lock 19 at Vischer Ferry  Photo provided by The Saratoga County History Roundtable.

As we prepare to celebrate the Bicentennial of the opening of the Grand Erie Canal in October 1825, we look back on life along that engineering wonder, billed as the eighth wonder of the world.  This artificial 365-mile-long river connecting the Hudson River with Lake Erie had a system of locks to raise boats to different levels as they headed west and lowered them as they headed east.  The canal crossed rivers and streams on aqueducts and passed dry docks where the boats could be constructed or repaired.  Life along the canal became the subject of folklore, stories of the cooks, the hogees who led the mules and of course the canallers themselves.

Canallers had a reputation for leading a rough life.  It seems as though they were always fighting one another, drinking, or fraternizing with the cook.  Some even hired professional fighters to ride their boats to give them an edge on getting through the locks first.  Some professional prize fighters such as John L. Sullivan actually got their start on the Erie Canal.  The canallers who passed through Vischer Ferry and Rexford were no different.  Justice of the Peace records for the Town of Clifton Park seem to bear this out.

A number of complaints concerning canallers at Lock 19 were found some years ago along with other records stored in an old trunk at the former Kowalchyk home on the north side of Riverview Road east of Vischer Ferry.  John Witbeck Van Vranken built this house in 1847.  He was Justice of the Peace for the Town of Clifton Park during the 1850’s and 1860’s.  These complaints confirm the stories of fights at Lock 19 to see who would enter the lock first.

Joseph G. Cronkhite, lock tender at Lock 19, filed a complaint on October 6, 1866 against Warren Dutcher who ran the Canal Boat Humbolt.  Dutcher evidently incited and encouraged one of the men on his boat to whip Cronkhite, saying to him, “damn it why don’t you strike him.”  A man whose name was unknown, but was described as “being of medium height, wearing dark colored clothes and of spare face with dark whiskers or small mustache,” violently assaulted and beat Cronkhite.

Another member of the crew of the Boat Humbolt also incited the aforesaid person to assault Cronkhite by using violent and exciting language toward him.  Cronkhite filed his complaint in hopes that Warren Dutcher and the crew of the Boat Humbolt would be apprehended and held to answer to his complaint.  However, by the time this complaint was filed the Boat Humbolt and crew were probably miles away.

Sometimes canallers would ram other boats in an effort to race them into the lock.  On September 29, 1866, Frank Slater filed a complaint against John Doe, Richard Roe, James Jackson, and John Jones, persons whose real names are unknown, but who are the Master and crew of the canal boat Thomas G. Alvord.  The Thomas G. Alvord rammed into Slater’s boat.  The Master and crew were not residents of Saratoga County.

A similar incident occurred a year later on September 26, 1867 when John W. Uber’s boat was rammed by four men (names unknown) navigating the canal Boat D. F. Stafford.  Uber was a resident of Saratoga County, but the men who rammed his boat were not.  They were probably never caught.

On June 18, 1864, Oliver Dresler of Montgomery County complained that three men, the captain and crew (names unknown) of the canal Boat Ocean, stole his towline.  Again, the men were not residents of Saratoga County, and were probably never apprehended.

Another complaint describes an unusual incident about one poor loser at Lock 19.  He threw a rope around the lumber on a competing canal boat as it was entering the lock and pulled the lumber off the deck of the boat.  After the lumber was retrieved, the culprit was hauled to justice Van Vranken to settle the feud.  Needless to say, both parties went on their way after a reprimand from the justice.

Town Justice John W. Van Vranken (1820-1869) lived alongside the canal making it easy for canallers to file their complaints as they happened.  These complaints offer us a glimpse of life along the Erie Canal one hundred and fifty years ago when 175 boats per day passed through Lock 19 at Vischer Ferry and Locks 21 and 22 at Rexford.

Clifton Park’s celebration of the Erie Canal’s Bicentennial will be held on October 11 and 12 at Vischer Ferry.  Canal Fest will feature a parade, antique cars, canal exhibits, wagon rides to Lock 19, canal songs by George Ward, walking tours, children’s games and a play of canal stories and music produced by Andy Spence of Old Songs.

Source: 

Justice of the Peace records of John W. Van Vranken located in the History Room of the Clifton Park Halfmoon Library.  See library’s web site Local History – Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library

Mechanicville’s “Field of Dreams”

Written by Sandy McBride on . Posted in Featured, History.

The bat at the Field of Dreams. Photo provided by The Saratoga County History Roundtable.

I love the movie Field of Dreams.  I especially love the part where the spirits walk out of the cornfield to join in the baseball game.  To me, it showed spirits in a whole new light. So, when Mike Sullivan tipped me off that in our own Hudson View Cemetery we might have had some spirited baseball going on some years back, I thought I’d check it out.

Mike is an avid historian, particularly interested in military history as well as local history.  When, on one of his visits to Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth’s grave, Mike spotted a baseball bat and helmet hanging from a massive maple tree, he was, of course, intrigued.

The message on the black bat reads “This bat is for all the great baseball games played here . . . 1982, 1983, 1984 . . . and the kids that played it”.  Baseball games played here?  In a cemetery? 

Hudson View is a lovely old cemetery, with graves dating back at least to 1830.  It sits on rolling ground at the crest of a hill overlooking the city, 76 acres of knolls and woods and wide expanses of green grass.  There are old family plots, some with soaring monuments marking the resting places of once-prominent figures in the city’s history.   There are neat rows of more recent gravesites.  There are soldiers’ graves, babies’ graves, clustered graves of whole families, and often single and seemingly lonely graves.  More than 6,000 folks have been buried here in Hudson View.

If you walk along the eastern side of the cemetery, along the top of the hill, you’ll come to the Old Section.  A tall granite spire topped by a brass eagle and surrounded by a wrought iron fence marks the grave of Colonel Ellsworth, who was a dear friend of President Abraham Lincoln.  The colonel was the first Union officer to die in the War Between the States.

Reared here in Mechanicville, Elmer was a boy who played at being a soldier, who wanted desperately to be a soldier.  He dreamed, played, learned and worked on the streets of our town and probably in the fields that surrounded this little village at the time.  One might wonder, as baseball was invented around the time he was born, reportedly by a man from our neighboring community of Ballston Spa, if Elmer ever gathered his buddies, a bat and a ball, and went to the top of the hill overlooking the canal and the railroad to play a game of pickup baseball.

The Ellsworth monument sits back in the quiet far reaches of Hudson View, and overlooks a small open field, a yet-to-be-used part of the cemetery.  The field is a natural bowl amid the rolling knolls and is ringed with rows of granite and marble headstones. It was to this field, a “field of dreams”, so to speak, that these very-much-alive boys of summer came to play back in the early 1980s.  

Caretaker Jim Doty, who was the caretaker back then, too, saw no harm in it, he says.  They weren’t tipping tombstones; they weren’t desecrating graves.  He says they were always respectful and considerate and picked up after themselves. They weren’t bothering a living soul. They were just indulging in the great American pastime, down there in a quiet, lonely field in the back part of the cemetery. 

It was an era when Steve Carlton was baseball’s finest, when the St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers were World Series champs, when George Brett used too much pine tar on his bat. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was the album of choice, but there was no such thing as an iPod. Donkey Kong and PacMan were lighting up the screens at the video arcades.  Few homes had computers, Game Boys didn’t exist, and not one kid owned a cell phone.  But there was baseball.

Inscribed on the Louisville Slugger, which hangs to this day on the tree, in neatly painted silver letters are the names of 13 neighborhood boys from down the hill . . . boys now grown to men.  

These boys dreamed, played, learned and worked here in the streets of our town.  Most of them graduated from well-known colleges and universities. Some have remained here and have become respected and productive members of the community. Some have careers and families in other places. One became a professional athlete, and one is himself now buried here in the cemetery where he used to thrill to the crack of the bat.  

Today, as always in the early days of autumn, the baseball playoffs are the talk of the sports world, and fans everywhere are eagerly anticipating the upcoming World Series. Some things never change.  

But I like to think that back then, in the carefree summer and early autumn days of the mid-1980s, the spirit of young Colonel Ellsworth enjoyed watching those boys play baseball.  I like to think that he and all the other spirits who rest here in the peace and quiet of Hudson View became baseball fans for just a few brief years, treated to the greatest game there is — kids playing ball just for the love of the game.

Putting Fun in Congress Park

Written by Bill Orzell on . Posted in History.

Advertisement for the Tom Thumb Miniature Golf Course
 in Congress Park.

Saratoga Springs has always been on par with its entertainments, yet some of those adopted in the past seem unthinkable in our time. An enterprising gentleman named Garnet Carter operated an amusement park on top of Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga, Tennessee which he called Fairyland. In 1928 he installed a miniature golf course there, which found instant success and was wildly popular. 

Newspapers across the country reported the fashionable phenomena, which they also termed “Tom Thumb” golf, as well as pony golf, midget golf, peewee golf, and pigmy golf. Originally conceived as an aid to the serious golfer in practicing putting, Chattanooga’s Mr. Carter patented and marketed a variety of prepared fairways and greens which could be shipped across the country, and laid out in configurations that fit the locality, for fun use and diversion.

In mid-June 1930 the Saratoga Springs City Council unanimously voted to grant a one year lease to Jerry J. Mickle to operate a miniature golf course in Congress Park, expressing the opinion that something of the sort was needed to provide entertainment in the city greensward. Cinders and ashes were drawn into the park to be used as a the foundations for the putting greens, where they were laid out in the section between the Canfield Casino and Spring Street, immediately west of the Spit & Spat fountain in the Italian Garden.

Concessionaire Mickle surrounded his Tom Thumb golf course with an admission fence, and electric lights for nighttime play. The Saratoga Race Course, the Lakehouses and Broadway hotels had long been the dress parade of the democracy, yet this new attraction added another unique facet. The decorated human appreciates being admired and attracting attention, and there was no better opportunity than the brightly lighted stage-like setting of the miniature golf course in famous Congress Park. Yet one more Spa venue to see and be seen.

U.S. Patent Office Document listing patent number 83,503 granted to Garnet Carter for a Miniature Golf Course units.

On the cusp of track season in late July of 1930, the Saratogian reported the heavy use of colored pellets on the cottonseed and cocoa fiber manufactured greens,

“New amusements of this city got a big play over the week-end. At the Tom Thumb golf course in Congress Park, a large number of players went the rounds yesterday and Saturday. The course has been crowded almost every day since its opening and the past week-end marked one of the largest yet seen.”

Tee-mats and scorecards became common sights in the Park.

As a concession on public property, Mr. Mickle was required to keep transparent books, which showed a profit during the season of 1930, with a very thin margin on the black side of the ledger, mostly due to the introductory rental rate the City of Saratoga Springs allowed. In 1931, however, this rate was increased substantially.

The NEA wire service column carried in the October 5, 1931 Saratogian editorialized,

“Miniature golf, having written amusement history last year, now seems to be writing its own obituary in red Ink.”

These were hard times when men would walk along Broadway with their empty pockets turned inside-out, colloquially called “Hoover flags,” in mute protest of the lack of governmental interest in their fiscal plight. The economics of the Great Depression wrought a cruel list of business and bank failure in the early 1930’s, fostering the New Deal as the path through fiscal woe. The miniature golf links in Congress Park were one more victim of the malady. To create a successful start-up business, launched during this severe financial downturn, would be as difficult as caracoling elephants.

In the early summer of 1932 the Tom Thumb course and its surrounding fence were removed, as the City Fathers pondered replacing the operation with shuffleboard courts. The area the diminutive fairways and greens had occupied were reseeded into lawn, and this failed enterprise faded into the long history of Congress Park.

John W. Taylor, New York’s only Speaker of the House

Written by Stephen Williams on . Posted in History.

Photo provided by The Saratoga County History Roundtable.

It’s a good bet nobody referred to John W. Taylor as “Dubya,” the way critics once derisively referred to President George W. Bush.

Almost certainly, the early 19th-century Charlton native and Ballston Spa resident, who twice served as speaker of the United States House of Representatives over 200 years ago, was too dignified for that sort of thing.

It’s worth looking back on Taylor, the only New Yorker to ever serve more than 24 hours as Speaker of the House, the head leader of the House. (The one-day role belonged to Rep. Theodore Pomeroy of Auburn who served as speaker for 24 hours in 1869 to complete the term of Schuyler Colfax, who became vice president of the United States.)

Taylor was born on March 26, 1784, at home in the town of Charlton (which was still a part of the town of Ballston, Albany County, at the time). An historic marker on Charlton Road roughly marks his birthplace. His parents, John and Chloe, were among a group of settlers who moved to Charlton from Freehold, New Jersey in 1774, around the time the Charlton area was first settled by Europeans, according to an essay written in the 1950s by Levi Packard, principal of the Charlton Academy. His father served as town supervisor, justice of the peace, associate Saratoga County judge and served one term in the state Assembly in 1797-98.

John W. was the fifth of 10 children. He attended Union College in Schenectady, graduating as valedictorian at age 19 in 1803.  He then studied law with Samuel Cook, whose office was across from the courthouse on Middle Line Road near Ballston Center. He also delved into the lumber business, living in Corinth for a few years. John launched his political career in 1811, winning a term in the New York State Assembly. He married Jane Hodge of Albany County, and together they had eight children.  John moved back to Ballston Spa, where he moved on to the national political scene. 

Taylor served the area in Congress for twenty years from 1813 to 1833, entering during the War of 1812 right through a tumultuous time of westward national expansion to the Mississippi River and beyond. The nation’s politics were going through a new revolution: The “common people” grew resentful of the aristocrats who had been in control of national politics since its founding. The big national issue was the dispute over the expansion of slavery as pioneers settled more westward and new states were added to the union.

“The 1820s were a decade of discontent, born in depression, streaked with suffering and panic, shaken by bursts of violence and threats of revolution,” historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. once wrote, explaining the rise of politicians like the rough-edged warrior Andrew Jackson, who became president after the 1832 election.

Like many in the North, Taylor was opposed to slavery. History records him as among the writers and strong supporters of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the first of several problematic efforts to find common ground on an issue that turned out to be the kind that wars are fought over.

Under the compromise, Missouri was admitted to the union as a slave state, and Maine as a free state, on the condition slavery not be extended further westward in territories north of the Arkansas-Missouri border.

Page Smith, another noted historian, records Taylor as the author of a “sweetener” provision to get Southern votes — it said when a slave escaped, “such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed” by their owner. The provision arguably led to the development of the Underground Railroad network to surreptitiously aid escapees seeking Northern freedom.

Taylor was House speaker for four months in 1820-21, and also served a two-year term as speaker in 1825-27. He supported President John Quincy Adams, one of those aristocrat leaders and the son of Founding Father President John Adams, even as Adams’ popularity sank, and lost the speakership in the middle of Adams’ term.

Taylor himself seems to have been an aristocrat, as one might gather from the fine house he built in Ballston Spa, overlooking a bend on Gordon Creek. It still stands today on West High Street.

After losing his bid for an 11th term in the election of 1832, Taylor returned to the practice of law in Ballston Spa for a few years. He was elected to the state Senate in 1840 but resigned in August 1842 after suffering a stroke. The following year John moved in with a daughter in Cleveland, where he died on Sept. 18, 1854, at the age of 70. After his death, his body was returned to his hometown, and he is buried in Ballston Spa Cemetery.


Contact The Saratoga County History Roundtable at: saratogacohistoryroundtable@gmail.com