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Saratoga County History Center

Isaiah Blood: The Forgotten Industrialist of Bloodville

February 20, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Isaiah Blood and his Bloodville ResidenceA man with the ominous-sounding name of Isaiah Blood, born on February 13, 1810, once operated one of the largest tool factories of its kind in New York State, along the Kayaderosseras Creek in Saratoga County, 150 years ago.

The Ballston Scythe, Axe and Tool Works shipped hundreds of thousands of quality hard-edge tools around the world for decades. [Read more…] about Isaiah Blood: The Forgotten Industrialist of Bloodville

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Ballston Spa, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable

Isaac Jogues: Man On A Mission

February 1, 2021 by Sean Kelleher 2 Comments

The Jesuits of North AmericaWho is Isaac Jogues? Before we address this question, we should acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land when I write this article – the Iroquois Confederacy and the Algonquians – and pay our respect to their elders’ past, present and emerging. [Read more…] about Isaac Jogues: Man On A Mission

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley Tagged With: Lake George, Native American History, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable

Veteran’s Honor Roll Is One Town’s Lonely Sentinel

January 15, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Town of Wilton’s Veteran’s Honor RollIn winter, it stands silently like a lonely sentinel, set back from Ballard Road in the Town of Wilton, Saratoga County. Day and night the traffic whizzes by the Veteran’s Honor Roll, yet its presence is overlooked by most. [Read more…] about Veteran’s Honor Roll Is One Town’s Lonely Sentinel

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Wilton

Ballston’s Hawkwood Estate: Teddy Roosevelt, Guy Baker & The Countess

January 8, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Hawkwood circa 1900Theodore Roosevelt spent a bit of time in Saratoga County, particularly in the years leading up to and including his time as Governor of New York (1899-1900).

TR would often visit a friend, Guy Baker, who lived in Ballston. He hunted on Baker’s Hawkwood estate and sometimes brought members of his family for short visits with the Bakers. [Read more…] about Ballston’s Hawkwood Estate: Teddy Roosevelt, Guy Baker & The Countess

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Ballston Lake, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Theodore Roosevelt

Saratoga County’s Cold War Rocket Test Facility

December 27, 2020 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Rocket Test from Observation BunkerOn Christmas morning, December 25th, 1945, the residents of Saratoga County were startled by a loud noise. It was not the clatter of Santa’s reindeer on the roof but instead America’s race to the Moon had begun. [Read more…] about Saratoga County’s Cold War Rocket Test Facility

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable

The Life and Death of a Saratoga County Patriot

December 22, 2020 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Daguerreotype believed to be the image of Uriah Gregory near the end of his lifeThe last week of the year 1843 was a difficult time for Ballston farmer Uriah Gregory. On December 29th Uriah lost his beloved wife, Tamer, his partner of more than sixty-five years, with whom he shared a life in the earliest days of the new nation. [Read more…] about The Life and Death of a Saratoga County Patriot

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Ballston Spa, Battle of Saratoga, Military History, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable

Kathryn Starbuck: Saratoga Suffragist, Attorney, and Politician

November 30, 2020 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Kathryn Helene StarbuckKathryn Helene Starbuck was born in Saratoga Springs in 1887, only a few years after her father, Edgar Starbuck, had moved to town and purchased a department store on Broadway. Kathryn was a bright young girl and after graduating from Saratoga Springs High School went on to earn a degree from Vassar College in 1911.

In 1914, she became one of the first female graduates of Albany Law School and was admitted to the New York State Bar Association the following year. [Read more…] about Kathryn Starbuck: Saratoga Suffragist, Attorney, and Politician

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Political History, politics, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Suffrage Movement, womens history

Ballston Spa’s Abandoned 1814 Factory Awaits Rediscovery

November 26, 2020 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Ballston Spa in 1815In November, 1813, nine men met in the city of New York to sign an agreement, handwritten by Nicholas Low, to form the Ballston Spa Company for the manufacture of cotton, wool and linen fabrics. They pledged an initial capital of $100,000 in shares of $100 each. A month later the Company announced it would “extend the capital stock” to $800,000, a staggering sum for those days.

Low was a businessman and friend of the rich and powerful of the nation. One was his late colleague Alexander Hamilton. During the 1790s, Low helped midwife the birth of the village of Ballston Spa, in Saratoga County.  He owned most of the land upon which it was laid out and spent a fortune developing the village, including the famous Sans Souci Hotel. [Read more…] about Ballston Spa’s Abandoned 1814 Factory Awaits Rediscovery

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Ballston Spa, Brookside Museum, Industrial History, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, War of 1812

Stewart’s Shops History: Eisenhower’s Ice Cream Cake

November 8, 2020 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Ike Cuts a 150-Lb Ice Cream CakeElection week seems like an appropriate time to share this Presidential Story.

On June 22, 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower visited the Vermont State Dairy Festival in Rutland. The Festival held a barbecue that day in the President’s honor. When it was over, they presented the President and his Presidential Party with a 150-pound ice cream cake. The cake represented a day’s work for twenty cows. [Read more…] about Stewart’s Shops History: Eisenhower’s Ice Cream Cake

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Food, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Vermont

Calvin Preston: A Survivor of Two Calamities

October 30, 2020 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Calvin W. PrestonOn the sunny morning of October 21, 1861 – to cheers from tens of thousands of citizens, with bands playing and the roar of cannons – Calvin W. Preston, Galway farmboy boarded a towboat-drawn barge at the Albany, NY docks with other soldiers of the Ellsworth Avengers regiment for the beginning of a dangerous and arduous journey that would lead to perhaps the most important battle of the Civil War: Gettysburg. [Read more…] about Calvin Preston: A Survivor of Two Calamities

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Civil War, Military History, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable

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