100 YEARS AGO IN THE SARATOGIAN
Sunday, July 28, 1918. “Although thunder storms of more or less violence were reported in this section of the country,” The Saratogian reports, “scarcely enough rain to wet an umbrella fell on the city.”
After below-normal temperatures through much of the spring and the first few weeks of summer, a recent heat wave “continued with unabated force and during the early evening there was an almost breathless calm.”
For many people in the region, the Spa City is an escape from oppressive heat. “Hundreds of cars passed through the city, and many of the motorists stopped over for an hour or more to enjoy the fresh coolness of Congress Spring Park and to drink the waters at the Hathorn drink hall,” a reporter writes.
Business at the Hathorn reportedly is up 60% from July 1917. The drink hall is the number one destination for hot, thirsty spectators at the evening concerts in Congress Park. Many improvements have been made there over the past year.
“The drink hall has been redecorated in white and green and a considerable amount of shrubbery has been added. New Tennessee marble drinking fountains have been installed and special ventilators put in operation. By the use of the ventilators the large hall is kept cool and inviting through the heat of the day.”
Patterson spring water is pumped into a fountain at the drink hall. “This water is credited with being a preventive of insomnia and is also said to have certain tonic effects,” the reporter notes, “At any rate it is in big demand by summer visitors, just before retiring.
“Racing men say that in the old days, when the Canfield club was running wide open [i.e. with gambling], players who had been hit rather hard would go to the Patterson spring, drink several glasses of the water, and return to the game with nerve – or nerves – fully restored.”
The Lincoln Bathhouse is also doing record business, according to superintendent J. G. Jones. He tells a reporter that today is “the biggest day in the history of the local bathhouses.”
During tonight’s concert by Noller’s Troy City Band, “hundreds of persons were forced to stand because of lack of sufficient seating facilities to take care of the throngs. The hill back of the band stand was black with people, many of whom were sitting on the grass and on the edge of the paths.”
A crowd of more than 1,000 people is also a record breaker for Saratoga Lake, where a reporter notes that “The bathing beach and dressing rooms were crowded to capacity and the crowd remained until closing time.”