MEMORY LANE
Brown Bag Lunch program recalls Spa City’s rich, colorful past
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Local historians Dave Patterson and Charles Kuenzel led people on a fun-filled trip down memory lane Thursday, to some of the Spa City’s most iconic former landmarks, such as the United States and Grand Union hotels, where presidents, poets and America’s wealthiest residents once gathered.
More than 125 people turned out for their presentation, “Stories of Old Saratoga,” the first in a series of monthly fall Brown Bag Lunch programs at Saratoga Springs Public Library.
Patterson pointed out how history has repeated itself on Broadway, where many new buildings have street-level retail shops and residential units overhead.
“That’s not new to the 21st century or 20th century,” he said. “They did it in the 19th century, too. The Grand Union Hotel is a good example. It was quite an ordeal to travel here, so when people came they came for the season — June, July and August.”
They brought money, lots of it, which they’d spend in stores along the bottom of the massive Grand Union that stretched from Congress to Washington streets.
“Tiffany’s in Saratoga Springs did more business in summer than it’s New York City store did all year,” Patter-
son said.
Visitors were attracted by the city’s mineral springs and their purported health benefits. Doctors advised people, after drinking it, to take a brisk walk.
“With the amount of magnesium in it, it was probably to the bathroom,” Kuenzel joked.
But the business generated by Saratoga water was no laughing matter. Up to 8 million bottles were shipped around the world, even as far as China — spreading the city’s fame with them.
No wonder there are 10 other towns, counties and geographic locations called Saratoga across America, from Virginia to California. There’s also a village called Saratoga in New South Wales, Australia.
Seven U.S. presidents, literary figures such as Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe and James Fenimore Cooper; along with railroad magnates and industrialists Stanford, Vanderbilt and Rockefeller came to Saratoga.
“It was the place to go,” Patterson said.
However, he reminded listeners that accommodations weren’t as luxurious as modern hotels.
“The rooms weren’t that fancy,” he said. “It was mostly a dresser, a bed and cold water. Workers lived on the upper floors. There was no air conditioning. Think how it was this summer.
Imagine what it must have been like back then on the seventh floor.”
John Morrissey, a bare knuckles prize fighter of Irish descent, launched a major new chapter in Saratoga history by starting the first thoroughbred racing meet, a four-day affair, in August 1863. He also built a casino in Congress Park, which people passed by en route to the track or Saratoga Lake, as modern-day Congress Street was once connected to Union Avenue.
In 1883, Richard Canfield purchased the casino, now named for him, and added a luxurious new dining room with ornate stained glass in the ceiling. He also created an Italian garden outside, with expensive marble statuary.
Ladies and local residents weren’t allowed in gambling rooms. The proprietor didn’t want Saratogians to lose their money, become angry and try to have the casino closed.
Donations to local churches helped quiet antigambling sentiment as well.
Visiting wealthy patrons could afford to absorb some losses, and enjoyed the atmosphere and camaraderie.
“For over 50 years, gambling went on there every day,” Kuenzel said. “It was an elegant dance they did, in terms of separating people from their money.”
The program also introduced people to famous characters such as singeractress Lillian Russell and her good friend, Diamond Jim Brady, who once gave her a gold-plated bicycle with silver spokes and a jewel-encrusted handlebar.
Patterson sand Kuenzel also told about Willow Walk, a spot where young men could court their sweethearts. In addition to its healing waters, racing and gambling, wealthy families came to Saratoga, hoping their children would find a suitable partner of the same social station.
“It’s a great city that has a lot of stories to tell,” Patterson said.