Plattsburgh

Comments Sought On Historic Lake Champlain Islands, Facilities

August 6, 2015 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has issued a Draft Lake Champlain Islands Management Complex Unit Management Plan (Draft UMP) in compliance with the Adirondack State Land Master Plan. The plan includes a number of historic and recreational sites.

Public comments on the plan are being accepted through September 18, 2015. A Public Meeting on the Draft UMP will be held August 20th in Plattsburgh. [Read more…] about Comments Sought On Historic Lake Champlain Islands, Facilities

Walking Tour of Plattsburgh’s Old Base Sunday

August 6, 2015 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Clinton County Historical Association (CCHA) will be partnering with City of Plattsburgh Historian, John Krueger to offer walking tours of Plattsburgh Old Base.

Starting the tour with the 1609 discovery of Lake Champlain, the tour will explore Lake Champlain’s vast military history that led up to the Battle of Plattsburgh, which paved the way for what is known today as the Plattsburgh Barracks/Post or, as to most locals, the Old Base. Once housing the Army, Navy and Air Force, the Old Base is a monument to the city’s military past. [Read more…] about Walking Tour of Plattsburgh’s Old Base Sunday

The Dannemora Prison Break and Extreme Tourism

July 14, 2015 by Peter Feinman 5 Comments

The hunt by law enforcement officials for two escaped convicts from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora became a nonstop reality show in the media. For several weeks, each and every movement of the convict hunters was chronicled. When one was killed and the other wounded and captures, the show was over. So was the economic windfall. [Read more…] about The Dannemora Prison Break and Extreme Tourism

Uncovering the True Birthplace Francis Pratt

June 8, 2015 by Lawrence P. Gooley 1 Comment

After he and Amos Whitney formed Pratt & Whitney in 1860, Francis Pratt served as president until 1898, while Whitney was the general superintendent.

Their personal and joint histories prior to forming the company are well documented in many sources. Comparison with other records suggests only one discrepancy, but to historians it’s a whopper. The issue: where was Francis Pratt born and who can claim him as their own? [Read more…] about Uncovering the True Birthplace Francis Pratt

The Northern New York Roots of Pratt & Whitney

June 1, 2015 by Lawrence P. Gooley 1 Comment

In the year 2000, five years after Plattsburgh Air Force Base closed, Pratt & Whitney signed a lease, moved in, and set up shop on the former base property. Many jobs and residents had been lost in the air-base shutdown, making Pratt & Whitney a valued anchor business in the recovery effort.

Their arrival might have been a homecoming of sorts with historical significance, but persistent misinformation carried forward for more than a century appears to have robbed the region of an important link to the past. [Read more…] about The Northern New York Roots of Pratt & Whitney

Plattsburgh To Honor Comedic Actor Jean Arthur

April 23, 2015 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On Saturday, May 2, 2015 the Clinton County Historical Association and Museum in partnership with the City of Plattsburgh, SUNY Plattsburgh’s Center for the Study of Canada, and The Strand Center for the Arts will commemorate film legend Jean Arthur with an all day celebration beginning with the official unveiling of a plaque at her birthplace

Born Gladys Georgiana Greene on October 17, 1900 to Hubert and Hannah Greene, Jean Arthur and her family resided that day at 94 Oak Street and lived in Plattsburgh, NY from 1887 to 1903. She died in 1991. [Read more…] about Plattsburgh To Honor Comedic Actor Jean Arthur

Saranac: Life and Times of an Adirondack Town

January 22, 2015 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Clinton County Historical Association (CCHA) will open a new exhibit from 12 to 3 pm on Saturday, January 24th: Saranac: Life and Times of an Adirondack Town. Since 2010, the CCHA has invited Clinton County Historians to take part in the Museum’s I Love Clinton County Exhibition Series. The Town of Saranac is being highlighted in this year’s series focusing on town history.

Jan Couture, Town of Saranac Historian and the Seney family of the Saranac Family History and Research Group curated the exhibit which highlights Saranac’s history as a mining, manufacturing, logging and farming town. The exhibit which will be on display at the Museum until October 2015. [Read more…] about Saranac: Life and Times of an Adirondack Town

Plattsburgh Old Stone Barracks Plans Announced

November 25, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Friends of the Old Stone Barracks (FOSB) has announced the results of their request for proposals and a new life for Plattsburgh’s Old Stone Barracks.

FOSB has come to an agreement with Terry Schmaltz and Mary Theresa Pearl, proprietors of Valcour Brewing Company, and will assign the contract to purchase the Old Stone Barracks to them. Pearl is originally from Plattsburgh and both she and Schmaltz are retired Army officers. [Read more…] about Plattsburgh Old Stone Barracks Plans Announced

John Quincy Adams, Treaty of Ghent Event

November 25, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Clinton County Historical Association (CCHA) will host a presentation by Vincent Puliafico on the Treaty of Ghent on Monday, December 1st at 7 pm. Using John Quincy Adams diary and other sources, Puliafico impersonates John Adams, giving a chronological presentation on the Treaty of Ghent negotiations.

The presentation emphasizes how the news of the Battle of Plattsburgh arrived and affected the mood at the peace table discussions. Other questions answered include, who won the War of 1812 and what was gained? [Read more…] about John Quincy Adams, Treaty of Ghent Event

Ben Haynes: Deacon Builder of the North Country

November 18, 2014 by Lawrence P. Gooley Leave a Comment

No matter how long a life lasts, the residue left behind is often fleeting, and within a generation or so, most of us are largely forgotten. But it’s also true that every life has a story, and many are worth retelling. I often glean subject matter from obituaries, or from gravestones as I walk through cemeteries. A tiny snippet of information stirs the need to dig for more, perhaps revealing unusual or remarkable achievements and contributions.

A fine example involves Benjamin Wood Haynes, a native of Westford, Vermont, who lived and worked in northern New York in the latter half of the 1800s. Intriguing to me was a reference to him as a “builder,” and so the digging began, yielding some impressive nuggets. [Read more…] about Ben Haynes: Deacon Builder of the North Country