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Saratoga Springs

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

December 14, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

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

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Immigration, Jewish History, Literature, Manhattan, Medical History, New York City, Publishing, Saratoga, Saratoga Springs

Proctors Theatre Collaborative Wins Historic Preservation Award

November 22, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

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

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Albany, Architecture, Historic Preservation, Performing Arts, Preservation League of NYS, Saratoga Springs, Theatre

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

November 12, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

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)

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Genealogy, Legal History, Political History, Saratoga County, Saratoga Springs

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

October 4, 2021 by Dave Waite Leave a Comment

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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Crime and Justice, Gambling, Mechanicville, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Saratoga Springs, Vice

New Visitor Facility Opens at Saratoga Performing Arts Center

September 5, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

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

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga Tagged With: Performing Arts, Saratoga Spa State Park, Saratoga Springs, SPAC

The Saratoga Racecourse Backstretch Backstory

August 27, 2021 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Black History, Hispanic History, Horses, Immigration, Labor History, Latino History, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Saratoga Race Track, Saratoga Springs

Saratoga’s Kensington Hotel: From Sanitarium to Skidmore

August 24, 2021 by Bill Orzell Leave a Comment

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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Cultural History, Saratoga, Saratoga Springs, Skidmore College, Social History, Tourism

1890 Hikers: Albany to Lake George and Back

August 19, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

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

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Recreation Tagged With: Albany, Champlain Canal, Glens Falls, hiking, Lake George, Mount McGregor, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Saratoga Lake, Saratoga Springs, Schuylerville, Stillwater, Transportation History, Waterford

Gamblers and Gangsters of Saratoga

August 17, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

"Killer" Madden (at far left), notorious underworld figure, enjoys a laugh with a few of his pals in the dining room of the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga SpringsSaratoga has always been a gambling town. Even before the famous racetrack was built, Saratoga was full of gambling dens.

Many of the early gambling places were run by men who were considered “gentlemen gamblers.” They ran relatively clean games and generally avoided violence or other forms of vice. They were professional gamblers.

Later, with gambling well entrenched and Saratoga’s location along the notorious bootleg trail from Canada during prohibition, Saratoga attracted nationally known gangsters. [Read more…] about Gamblers and Gangsters of Saratoga

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Crime and Justice, Gambling, Prohibition, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Saratoga Race Course, Saratoga Springs, Vice

The 100th Fasig-Tipton Yearling Horse Sale in Saratoga: Some History

August 8, 2021 by Bill Orzell Leave a Comment

undated postcard of a Fasig Tipton sale in SaratogaThis week Fasig-Tipton will conduct its 100th Saratoga Yearling Sale. This is a remarkable achievement, not only in the thoroughbred industry, but for any business to reach the century mark with their product.

The yearling sales at Saratoga Race Course have long set the standard for the thoroughbred industry. Fasig-Tipton entered as a participant in 1917, with their purchase of property on East Avenue, giving them the advantage over existing auction companies like Powers-Hunter and the Kentucky Sales Company, who conducted their auctions in the race track paddock. Interestingly, all the competing companies would often hire the same auctioneer, the venerable George A. Bain, to deliver the chant. [Read more…] about The 100th Fasig-Tipton Yearling Horse Sale in Saratoga: Some History

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Events Tagged With: Horses, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga Race Course, Saratoga Springs, Sports History

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