Back to Homepage New York - Albany Albany - Points of Interest New York - Auburn Auburn - Points of Interest New York - Binghamton Binghamton - Points of Interest New York - Buffalo Buffalo - Points of Interest (Downtown) New York - Buffalo - Points of Interest (Midtown) Buffalo - Points of Interest (Midtown) North Buffalo - Points of Interest (Midtown) East Buffalo - Points of Interest (Midtown) South New York - Elmira Elmira - Points of Interest New York - Ithaca Cornell University - Ithaca, New York Ithaca - Points of Interest New York - New Rochelle New Rochelle - Points of Interest New York - New York City New York City - Points of Interest The New York Public Library Brooklyn Bridge Manhattan West Street and North (Hudson) River Water Front Lower West Side South Street Wall Street District City Hall District Bellevue Hospital Metropolitan Opera House The Empire State Building Downtown to Uptown Brooklyn The Bronx Queens Staten Island New York - Niagara Falls New York - Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie - Points of Interest New York - Rochester Rochester - Points of Interest New York - Saratoga Springs Saratoga Springs - Points of Interest New York - Schenectady Schenectady - Points of Interest New York - Syracuse Syracuse - Points of Interest New York - Troy Troy - Points of Interest New York - Utica Utica - Points of Interest New York - Yonkers Yonkers - Points of Interest New York - Geology New York - Topography New York - Plant and Animal Life New York - Conservation and Recreation New York - Archeology and Indians New York - History New York - History - After the Revolution New York - Transportation New York - Agriculture New York - Industry New York - Ethnic Groups New York - Folklore New York - Religion

New York - Saratoga Springs Saratoga Springs (330 alt., 26,186 pop.), resort city of the Adirondack foothills, famed for its mineral springs, its horse racing, and its old hotels, for eight months of the year is just another central New York State town. It stirs with anticipation in June, swings into preparatory activity in July, and rushes headlong into the full tumult of its summer season in August. In September the decline begins. In October the town resumes its character as a sectional trading center, settling into its winter normality, which is broken only by occasional social functions at Skidmore College and a winter sports carnival. In August; the month of the races, Saratoga's population increases fourfold, beyond the resources of its numerous hotels and uncounted rooming houses. The main industry of the permanent inhabitants becomes the renting of homes, ranging in size and character from the unpretentious dwellings of Congress Street to the palatial mansions of Union Avenue, and of garages, automobiles, saddle horses, and what-not by the day, week, or month. Horse racing, rich in turf tradition since the 1850's, draws thousands of summer visitors of every class. In the paddock, socialites rub elbows with stable boys, politicians prognosticate with rustics, and the famous mingle with the infamous. Night life during the racing season is gay and diversified. Entertainment ranges from black and tan revues in back-alley cafes to radio and stage headliners amid swank splendor. Until recent years gambling flourished: ivory balls clicked on the numbered slots of spinning roulette wheels; case cards flipped on faro layouts; no-limit dice games and table-stake poker were on tap in gambling halls, night clubs, and near-by roadhouses. With the running of the final race on 'getaway day,' the exodus from Saratoga comes with startling abruptness. For a few hours the streets are congested, and then the town is deserted. In September most of the large hotels close. A few of the smaller ones, clustered about the city's southern entrance, remain open, and their patrons make daily pilgrimages to the near-by Spa, where a monumental group of buildings houses the baths on a landscaped tract above the Vale of Springs. In this quieter atmosphere historic Saratoga comes into its own. Broadway, the wide main thoroughfare, is transformed from a 'Gay White Way' to a small town ' Main Street,' its ancient elm trees half revealing, half concealing the rambling old hotels of outmoded design flanked by more modern business buildings. An occasional horse-drawn hack hunts dejectedly for fares. The Grand Union and the United States hotels recall something of the spacious grandeur of the post-Civil War period; Canfield's Casino, citadel of chance during the halcyon days of the Gay Nineties, rests in quiet dignity on the green carpet of Congress Park; and Yaddo broods above the hushed beauty of its terraced, timberguarded grounds. The growth and development of Saratoga has been closely associated with its mineral springs, the waters of which have been in systematic use since 1774. Large numbers of wild animals, attracted by the saline properties of the water, made this section a favorite hunting ground for the Indians, who called it Saraghoga (place of swift water). The Mohawk and the Oneida built hunting lodges at the springs each summer, and the Saraghoga of that era was as well known to the Indians as the modern Saratoga is to the white man today. For many centuries High Rock Spring was called by the Indians the Medicine Spring of the Great Spirit. Father Isaac Jogues, Jesuit missionary and explorer, is believed to have visited the springs in 1643. In 1767 Mohawk braves are said to have carried Sir William Johnson to the springs on a stretcher, that he might benefit from the waters. Johnson's strength was improved and he returned several times. In 1775 Dirck Schouten built a cabin near High Rock Spring, but he heeded Indian warnings and moved away from that beneficent abode of the Great Spirit. The Revolutionary War delayed settlement further, but the curative powers of the waters were recognized and the resultant value of the land was foreseen by many colonists. In 1783 George Washington attempted to buy High Rock and adjacent springs. The development that has made Saratoga a place of international reputation began with arrival of the pioneer Gideon Putnam in 1789-In 1802 he bought the land around the present Congress Spring, cleared the heavy timber, and built the three-story frame Union Hall, 'the first commodious hotel erected at the springs for the accommodation of visitors.' People were attracted to the spot, and when they came to settle they found Putnam ready to sell them lots around his inn. Thus Saratoga Springs was built around a hotel. In 1811, during the construction of Congress Hall, his second venture, Putnam was fatally injured. The first United States Hotel was built in 1824. The second railroad in New York State, the Schenectady & Saratoga, was opened in 1832. Saratoga soon surpassed the earlier popular Ballston Spa, which had the seeming advantage of a more solid foundation in industry and commerce, by devoting itself wholeheartedly to the service of its visitors. To its natural attractions for people who were health-bent, Saratoga added man-made attractions for those who were pleasure-bent, and the spa became the social and sporting center of the country. In 1841 a guidebook described the clientele of the hotels as a mingling of 'gentlemen of the turf, connoisseurs of the odd trick, and the amateurs of poker.' In the Civil War period the Leland Opera House and the Grand Union Hotel were the centers of the North's social world. General U.S. Grant attended the grand ball that opened the opera house in July 1865. He held receptions at the Grand Union while President of the United States. Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt brought his bride to the springs in 1869. Jay Gould and Mr. and Mrs. John Wanamaker were frequent visitors. 'Aunt Kate' Weeks, cook in a hotel on Saratoga Lake, one day attempted to make perfectly crisped French fried potatoes, but evolved instead the tidbit known for years as 'Saratoga Chips,' since grown widely popular under the name of 'potato chips.' The Saratoga Association for the Improvement of the Breed of Horses was incorporated in 1865 by a group of sportsmen that included William R. Travers, Leonard W. Jerome, and Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the present track was built in the same year. On the older Horse Haven track, harness races had been held in the 1850's. The Association was subsequently taken over by John Morrissey, heavyweight bare-knuckle boxing champion of the United States, member of Congress, and State senator, who also erected in 1870 the first section of the present Casino, later made worldfamous by the debonair patron of art, Richard Canfield. For mid-Victorian America, Saratoga was the 'Queen of the Spas.' 'For gayety it was not to be surpassed on this continent, however gauche it may have appeared to visiting foreigners; the racing season, the gambling palaces, the "flirting and dancing" as advertised in one guide book, and the countless numbers of marriageable daughters, all displayed by their fond mothers like vegetables in a market stall, were but a part of Saratoga's charm . . . for the gossips there were the endless hotel verandas, for dancers bands playing Lanner and Strauss waltzes almost without stop.' In 1890 discovery of a process for the extraction of carbonic gas from the waters of the springs brought a period of exploitation that for several years threatened the spa with eventual destruction. Wells were operated by pumps until the output reached 150,000,000 gallons a year and the levels of the springs were lowered to such a point that many ceased to spout. To prevent wholesale despoliation of its natural resources, the State in 1910 began a program of conservation and development which has resulted in the purchase of 163 springs and 1,000 acres of land surrounding them, and the construction of baths, a research institute, a Hall of Springs, and a hotel, the Gideon Putnam, at the center of the State reservation. A prime mover in the development of the Spa was George Foster Peabody ( 1852-1938). Greetings from Saratoga Springs, New York Art Print Buy at AllPosters.com Broadway, Saratoga Springs, New York Art Print Buy at AllPosters.com Swimming Pool, Saratoga Springs, New York Art Print Buy at AllPosters.com