New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Saratoga Springs

Saratoga Race Track’s Wilson Chute is Returning; Here’s Some History

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Sanborn Fire Insurance Map 1 (May 1954) showing the Saratoga Racing Association grounds (the Wilson Chute is marked with an arrow)The New York Racing Association has recently announced a revised configuration for the historic Saratoga Race Course for the 2022 race meet. A chute, or straight-away will return, allowing for a start directly into the clubhouse turn for races of one mile in distance. Known as the Wilson Chute, it had been a regular feature of the track until 1972, when the area was converted to additional parking.

The Wilson Chute is named in honor of Richard T. Wilson, Jr. who had been the President of the Saratoga Racing Association beginning in 1909. As an executive and an investor, he was integral in saving racing at the Spa and then developing the sport and the racing plant that so many are familiar with today. [Read more…] about Saratoga Race Track’s Wilson Chute is Returning; Here’s Some History

The Saratoga Electric Railway’s Battle With The D&H

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Trolley Trestle in Geyser Park ca. 1900Many are aware that one of the first steam railroads in the country was the Saratoga and Schenectady Railroad, which began regular service in 1832. The coming of the railroad provided a great boost to the growth of the resort town of Saratoga Springs.

Fewer may realize that sixty years later the resort and the surrounding communities benefited greatly by another transportation revolution, the electric railway. However, the beginning of the trolley age was not without its birth pains. [Read more…] about The Saratoga Electric Railway’s Battle With The D&H

Saratoga’s ‘Fanny the Flower Girl,’ Gotham Book Mart Founder

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Congress Spring, Saratoga, 1849Frances Steloff was the daughter of a Russian immigrant and itinerant rabbi who, in an age of rising anti-Semitism, was one of the early Jewish settlers in Saratoga Springs. The large family lived in dire poverty.

After the death of her mother, Frances was “informally” adopted by a wealthy Boston couple. Having run away from her foster parents, she made her way to New York, worked in a Brooklyn department store selling corsets, before establishing a tiny bookshop in Midtown Manhattan. On her death, after eighty-one years in the business, she was revered as one of America’s most influential booksellers and bibliophiles. Founder of the Gotham Book Mart, she turned her establishment into a center for avant-garde literature. [Read more…] about Saratoga’s ‘Fanny the Flower Girl,’ Gotham Book Mart Founder

Proctors Theatre Collaborative Wins Historic Preservation Award

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Universal Preservation Hall by Richard LovrichThe Proctors Collaborative of Albany and Saratoga Springs has won a 2021 Excellence in Historic Preservation Award from the Preservation League of NYS.

The 28,000-square-foot industrial building in Albany’s Arbor Hill neighborhood that is now home to Capital Repertory Theatre (theRep) and the formerly condemned church that is now Universal Preservation Hall (UPH) represent very different preservation projects. [Read more…] about Proctors Theatre Collaborative Wins Historic Preservation Award

Walter Butler: 1st Saratoga Springs Mayor, Defender of Vichy (Springs)

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First City Council of Saratoga Springs 1915 Mayor Walter P Butler is at center Harry B. Settle photo courtesy Saratoga Springs History Museum, George S. Bolster CollectionWalter Prentiss Butler was born in Saratoga Springs on April 1, 1863, at 596 Broadway. He was the son of Captain James P. Butler and Naomi Clements Butler. His father was Provost Marshal in Saratoga Springs at the time of the Civil War.

Walter received his preliminary education in Saratoga Springs public schools and later attended North Granville Military Academy, Peekskill Military Academy, and Phillips-Exeter Academy. He completed his legal studies at Columbia University in 1887 and was admitted to the Bar of New York State the same year. [Read more…] about Walter Butler: 1st Saratoga Springs Mayor, Defender of Vichy (Springs)

The Saratoga County Law and Order League’s Campaign Against Gambling

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The sneering women of the Law and Order League in John Ford's 1939 film StagecoachIn the 1870s social reform movements swept across the nation. Law and Order Leagues, and other similar organizations, sprang up to campaign against issues as varied as baseball on Sundays, drinking, gambling, and sex trafficking.

Forty years later, members of the Saratoga County community formed their own Law and Order League to address many of these same “evil” influences on society. The leader of this organization was George H. West, the son of Galway, NY farmer Matthew West. The younger West had been elected to the New York Assembly where he served in 1899 to 1900. [Read more…] about The Saratoga County Law and Order League’s Campaign Against Gambling

New Visitor Facility Opens at Saratoga Performing Arts Center

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The Pines courtesy State ParksVisitors to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) at Saratoga Spa State Park can now enjoy a new $9.5 million visitors services center unveiled earlier this season by Governor Kathy Hochul prior to her swearing-in in August. [Read more…] about New Visitor Facility Opens at Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The Saratoga Racecourse Backstretch Backstory

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Saratoga Backstretch Fred BrennerThe saga of thoroughbred racing at Saratoga has largely been told by and about the horse owners, tycoons, the rich and famous of their era.

The people who actually care for the horses, the backstretch (barn area) workers, grooms and hot walkers often receive little attention. [Read more…] about The Saratoga Racecourse Backstretch Backstory

Saratoga’s Kensington Hotel: From Sanitarium to Skidmore

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The Kensington Hotel on the north side of Union Avenue between Circular and Regent Streets. Lucien R. Burleigh 1888 bird’s-eye-view map of Saratoga Springs.Visitors from every part of the world have made their way to Saratoga Springs for myriad reasons, but mainly for their health or their hippic interest.

They have been accommodated in fabulous structures, but unfortunately most of these great hotels have been lost. In their time they established a superior level of service, dedicated to sybarite satisfaction which help make Saratoga a resort destination. They mainly stood along Broadway.

The Kensington Hotel however, stood away from the others. Its location was on fashionable Union Avenue, the splendid thoroughfare which reaches from the village to Saratoga Lake, with the race track in between. [Read more…] about Saratoga’s Kensington Hotel: From Sanitarium to Skidmore

1890 Hikers: Albany to Lake George and Back

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The following letter was original published in the trade magazine American Stationer on May 1st, 1890.

To the Editor of The Stationer

As the heated term of the year draws near I presume that any number of stationer clerks [stationary store clerks] are asking themselves as to how, when and where they shall spend their vacations. I want to give them a bit of advice regarding a summer outing. [Read more…] about 1890 Hikers: Albany to Lake George and Back