The untold social story
Spa City’s predominately Black West Side bought out, moved all in name of progress
In 1964, Beathora Tillery signed over her home to the city. For the price of $8,500, the owner of 11 Federal St. agreed to abandon her home of 11 years and let the city demolish it.
Tillery then left the Spa City for New York City. It’s likely she never returned.
And Tillery was not alone. She was among hundreds in the 1960s who were living in the predominately Black West Side whose homes were bought out and residents relocated, all in the name of progress. Back then it was called urban renewal and by resolution its stated goal was “the elimination and prevention of the spread of … slums and urban blight.”
City Supervisor Matthew
Veitch said the effort shaped the city’s landscape, improved its economic viability, traffic patterns, parking and infrastructure. But, he admits, the controversial project also impacted its population, forcing many to sacrifice their homes and businesses to the wrecking ball.
“It was devastating to people,” said Veitch whose grandfather, Donald Veitch, was the executive director of the city’s Urban Renewal Agency. “People were moved out of their homes and mass condemnation occurred throughout the neighborhood. Whole families and people who knew each other for many, many years got displaced by urban renewal. If you look at it from that perspective, it’s kind of a horrible project. We don’t do urban renewal anymore and there’s a reason why.”
Veitch is the city’s unofficial expert on the subject. He has done extensive research on the three federally funded urban renewal projects: the first on the West Side dramatically changing Congress Street and Woodlawn Avenue, a second to develop the Saratoga Springs City Center and a third, smaller one on Putnam and Henry
streets.
He holds copies of all the deeds of homes and businesses torn down as well as the agency’s meeting minutes, a brochure selling the idea and dozens of before-and-after photographs that show how the city changed — from one that was densely populated and diverse to one with new plazas and parking lots, subsidized housing, apartment complexes and boxy brick commercial and government buildings. The new city, Veitch admits, was likely more white.
“It was a different city,”
Veitch said. “There were more African-americans . ... There is far less of an African-american presence in the community now.”
Census figures bear that out. Black population in the city, though never large, diminished after urban renewals, from 5 percent in 1950 to 2.64 percent in 2010.
Though records do not show Tillery’s race, genealogical records show she died in 1981 in New York City. Others like Helene Smith, who also lived on Federal Street, also left for New York City, the records show.
Others took off to Poughkeepsie and Glens Falls, but a good number of westsiders moved farther west to Grand Avenue or Ash Street, or to the south, to Jefferson Terrace.
Carol Daggs, author of “Saratoga Soul Brandtville Blues,” which chronicles her Black family’s history on the southern end of the city, said urban renewal was cruel to those who lived on the West ide.
“It cut out a whole section of people,” Daggs said. “It’s evil. When you clear out Black businesses, where are you going to get your hair done? People had to go to Albany and Schenectady. I feel so badly about it. Congress Street was once beautiful.”
The West Side, known as the Dublin neighborhood, was also vibrant with Italian, Irish and Jewish homes and businesses.
The population shuffle that changed the make-up of the city spanned from the early 1960s to the mid-1980s. Many of the changes wrought can still be seen today. They include relocating Hattie’s Chicken Shack to Phila Street and Saratoga Water (then known as Saratoga Vichy) to Cady Hill Road, building the Saratoga Springs City Center and installing a massive pipe underground to alleviate perpetual flooding in the city’s “gut” or Spring Valley area during heavy rain.
Urban renewal also moved both of the Black houses of worship, now known as Dyerphelps AME Zion Church and Mt. Olivette Baptist Church, to Crescent Street. It set the stage for Ardelle Mouzon-mccoy to fight to preserve her home, which is still standing and is now known as Mouzon House. And ultimately, Veitch said, urban renewal inspired the creation of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation and the preservation of its first building, an English cottage gas station that was moved off Broadway onto Spring Street. Today, it is the Bread Basket Bakery.
But before preservation was something to be revered, urban renewal was all the rage. In addition to Saratoga Springs, it took place in Albany, too — a way for Gov. Nelson Rockefeller to build the Empire State Plaza — tearing down neighborhoods in its path. While there was pushback in Albany, there was little in Saratoga Springs — at first.
“My research shows there was support for it in the community,” Veitch said. “The Saratogian was always positive about urban renewal. They applauded the projects. … We didn’t have social media with videos showing here comes the government, kicking me out of my house . ... Then the community would react.”
Of course, it wasn’t just homes. Landmarks were tore down, too. Jack’s Harlem Club, a number of Jewish rooming houses including the Hotel Brooklyn and the city’s large bakery, Fallick’s, that made the breads and rolls for all the hotels.
“I remember Fallick’s,” said Sidney Gordon who is 91 and recalls the pre-urban renewal city well. “The owner, Max Fallick, made rye bread, pumpernickel, rolls. It was a Jewish bakery, but not kosher. The smell that came from there was kind of hypnotic.”
Gordon, who worked shining shoes at both the United State Hotel and the Grand Union Hotel, both demolished in the 1950s, said at one time, the West Side of the city was vibrant, with bars, restaurants and shops. But once the hotels closed down, and workers, many of whom lived in that West Side neighborhood, lost their jobs. Businesses started to close. Homes fell in disrepair. Some buildings were simply abandoned.
At that time, Veitch said, the city could best be described as “gritty.”
“It’s hard to imagine our city in a decrepit state because it is not today,” Veitch said. “It really was back then. … there were a lot of positives with urban renewal. It revitalized the downtown. There were infrastructure improvements, sidewalks. It put in nice new housing and retail.”
Bringing in more property tax dollars was one of the benefits. City documents show that real estate taxes collected before urban renewal for the West Side were $39,520 a year. After urban renewal, they were $284,944. Before the City Center was built, taxes collected for that area were $83,020 a year. After it was built, the city took in $521,270.
Allan Polascek, a member of the city’s zoning board throughout the 1970s, said before urban renewal, many businesses were boarded up on Broadway and that the project made the city what it is today, energetic with a bustling downtown. He also said the project was also “a blessing in disguise” for many of the owners of the Jewish rooming houses along Broadway that were no longer doing a good business and were in disrepair.
Those on the West Side, however, were full-time residents. That first urban renewal project was the largest, taking over 117 properties by eminent domain for 17 developments including the Stonequist Apartments, a Friendly’s restaurant, Gaslight Apartments, Gloversville Saving Bank and the city’s Senior Citizen Center.
“Some call it progress, others regress,” Gordon said. “Times goes on and things change. Do they change for the better? I’m not one to say.”
Despite all of his binders documenting urban renewal, Veitch said the human element is missing.
“Frankly, the social story, the social problem, the people-part of the story is not recorded,” Veitch said. “You don’t hear that story. … There is not the tale of the folks who lived on Congress Street and their experience with urban renewal. We all kind of look at today in hindsight and say . ... we don’t know what it was like to be affected by it.”
Many of the people, like Tillery, who were displaced by urban renewal are gone, making it hard to hear those stories. But Daggs said urban renewal’s legacy still stings.
“They made sure that all the Black businesses were gone or had to leave,” Daggs said. “People made all kinds of excuses on why the buildings and people had to go. People didn’t have a chance.”
““It’s hard to imagine our city in a decrepit state because it is not today. It really was back then. … there were a lot of positives with urban renewal. It revitalized the downtown. There were infrastructure improvements, sidewalks. It put in nice new housing and retail.” — Matthew Veitch, county supervisor and unofficial historian of the urban renewal project