USA > New York > Warren County > History of Warren County [N.Y.] with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 50
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From notes printed in the Messenger in 1873, prepared by the Rev. Ephraim H. Newton, a more detailed account of the industries of the village can be given, as they existed in July, 1835. For example, on the south side of Washington street, leading east from the village, were Dwight Hitchcock's general store; Peter Pelkey, shoemaker ; Drs. Peck & Clark's drug store; a livery stable, kept by Enoch Ellis; James Parmeter's wagon shop, and Thomas Ramsey's stone-cutting establishment. On what is now Jay street (then called "The Lane ") were John R. Wilson's blacksmith shop ; Charles Cleveland in the same business; Elnathan Parsons's tannery. On the north side of Wash- ington street Lewis L. Pixley kept a general store; Felix M. Duffie had a barber shop; Elnathan Parsons a shoe store and shop; Sheldon Benedict a saddlery and harness shop; Peter Powell & Company, general store, drugs, etc .; Daniel Peck & Son, druggists and general stock; Harmon Peck, stoves, iron and tinware. On what was then Pleasant street, leading north from the center of the village, on the east side were Pixley's store, already mentioned ; Nehemiah Sheldon's tailor shop, and Lewis Numan's general store; on the west side were James Sisson's store, with a general stock, and Amarillis S. Lindsley's millinery shop. On the east side of River street, leading south from the Glens Falls Hotel, were the post-office, with Jabez Briggs as post- master, and his grocery; A. N. Cheney's grocery; Allen T. Seaman's shop and clothing store; K. P. & H. J. Cool's store and cabinet shop; Dilwin Gardner's shoe store, currier shop and tannery; Henry Spencer's livery and tavern stables; John G. Spencer's grocery; then there were the lime kilns, quarries, lumber yards, etc., with De Forest & Freeman's store, Butler & Put- nam's blacksmith shop, William Williams's woolen factory, Hawley & Arms's saw-mills. On the west side of this street were the Glens Falls Hotel, then kept by Rogers & Brown ; James Wells's tailor shop, Roswell Bacon's marble cutting shop, James H. Comstock's hat store, Robert Dixon Barber, book binder, William Robinson's grocery, Rodgers & Cowles's general store, Calvin Robbins's stone blacksmith shop (then building), James F. Kelly's grocery, David Johnson's office and lumber yard, A. W. Flack's grocery, the Glen House, Putnam & Prouty's wagon shop, A. J. Everett's blacksmith and forging shop, Abraham Wing's saw-mills, Jonathan Whitman's shingle-mill, J. W. Freeman's saw-mill, William Nunn's saw-mill, a stone structure which was burned in 1835, J. W. Freeman's gypsum-mill, Adams & Cronkhite's grist- mill. On Warren street, west side, were George G. Hawley's store, John A. Ferriss's hat store, J. W. Willson's grocery and meat market, the Messenger printing office, E. Williams's store, Samuel S. Tallmadge's store. On the east side of this street were James Sisson's store, William Fowler's shoe store, the Misses Ranger, milliners, P. S. Chapman's tavern.
The foregoing embraces all or nearly all of the business industries of the village at that date. The stores and shops on several of the streets, which are
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
now entirely given up to traffic, were then interspersed with dwellings. Drs. Bethuel Peck, Billy J. Clark and N. E. Sheldon looked after the bodily ills of the community, while the quarrels of the vicinity were adjusted in a legal man- ner by William Hay, John L. Curtenius, E. H. Rosekrans and Ira A. Paddock. The lumber and lime business were then the chief industries of the place.
In this connection it will not be uninteresting to quote the following scheme for the development and improvement of Glens Falls which was evolved by E. H. Newton : -
" In July, 1835, I, E. H. Newton, formed the following visionary scheme for the improvement of the village of Glens Falls, viz .: That some one man of capital or company of men of ability and enterprise in the first place purchase all the lands and real estate which Micajah Pettit, of Sandy Hill, owns or holds in this village ; also the Glen House or tavern stand and all the real estate ap- pertaining thereto, in possession of Henry Spencer, esq., also the tanyard and the lands and buildings thereto attached, owned by Dilwin Gardner, esq., then run a straight line from or near the southwesterly corner of the said Gardner's tanyard to Calvin Robbins' stone dwelling house, and throw the whole of the land south of the line into a sidewalk, street, wharfs and lumber yards. Then commencing on the corner of the street which I shall now call Canal street and the street running from the Hudson River bridge to Peter Threehouse's Glens. Falls Hotel, which I shall call River street, and erect a line of elegant stores, shops, offices, etc., with a finish of stone-pillared fronts, of three or more stories high and with cellars running into the bank in the rear, and the whole founded upon a rock. Then under or near Drs. Peck & Clark's drug store build a res- ervoir holding not less than 1,000 hhds. of water, and let this water be conveyed in aqueducts to this range of buildings, and the head will be sufficient to carry it to every apartment and the roofs thereof. Let the buildings be of stone, the fronts of the 2d and 3d stories with a finish of marble-hewn, sawn, cut-brick. This street will be spacious, the centre of business and wealth, accessible to every species of trade and art. The Glen House to be rebuilt, finished and furnished with splendid accommodations for travelers and visitors of the Falls of the Hudson. This will prepare the way to throw the residue of the Pettit land into the market at a great advance. The scheme is grand in theory, but will be grander if carried into effect. So says EPHM. H. NEWTON."
The financial crisis of 1837-38 came on and Glens Falls suffered heavily, in common with all other localities; but the tide of progress was not permanently staid; the village was controlled in its business relations by men of energy and ability, whose influence and determination were sufficient to inspire the entire community with courage.
Incorporation. - The subject of incorporation of the village had often been discussed, and on the 8th of December, 1838, a notice of application to the Legislature for the passage of an act of incorporation of the village of Glens
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
Falls appeared for the first time in the Glen's Falls Spectator. The act of in- corporation was passed in April, 1839. The corporation as then defined con- tained a population of 1,270 whites, 621 of whom were males and 649 females, and nineteen colored persons. The first election of village officers was held on the 4th of June, resulting as follows : -
John A. Ferriss, Calvin Robbins, John W. Willson, George Cronkhite and James Sisson, trustees ; James Palmeter, Dwight Hitchcock and Henry Fergu- son, assessors; William Peck, treasurer; Orange Ferriss, clerk; Hazzard Green, constable, and Ira Green, collector. S. S. Tallmadge and Orange Fer- riss were then justices of the peace of the town. At the initial meeting of the board, four days after the election, the trustees chose John A. Ferriss for pres- ident and adjourned. This custom of allowing the trustees to elect a president continued in vogue until 1874; since then the people have voted direct for that officer. The clerk was for many years elected by the people instead of being appointed by the trustees as at present.
The village boundaries, as given in the act of incorporation, are as follows : " All that part of the town of Queensbury, in the county of Warren, contained within the following bounds, namely: Beginning at the north bank of the Hud- son River at low water mark, under the center of the bridge which crosses said river at Glen's Falls, running south seventy-six degrees thirty minutes west, along said river at low water mark, five chains and eight links; thence south forty-one degrees west, along said river at low water mark, eight chains; thence south twenty-six degrees west, along said river at low water mark, three chains; thence west twenty-eight chains and fifty links to stake standing on the west- erly side of the Haviland road; thence north thirty minutes west, seventy-six chains, to a stake standing in the highway in front of Henry Philo's house, in range with the north line of lot number twenty-nine of the first division of lands in the town of Queensbury ; thence east a part of the way on the north line of said lot number twenty-nine, eighty chains to a stake standing on the land of William McDonald; thence south thirty minutes east, eighty-two chains to the said Hudson River, at low water mark; thence north forty-two degrees west, along said river, at low water mark, twelve chains ; thence north sixty-nine degrees west along said river at low water mark, ten chains; thence north eighty degrees west along said river at low water mark, twenty-two chains to the place of beginning, shall hereafter be known and distinguished by the name of the village of Glen's Falls, and the freeholders and inhabitants re- siding in said village, are hereby constituted a body corporate, by the name of the trustees of the village of Glen's Falls."
A code of by-laws and ordinances was passed upon by the new board and the village government was established on a firm basis. The trustees were also empowered to act as excise commissioners, and the first year granted one tav- ern license and five to " groceries ; " no saloons are mentioned in the records.1
1 These licenses were granted to Alanson Dixon, for a tavern, and to John W. Willson, A. W. Flack,
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
The receipts from this source were $30. The clerk was paid $25 for his year's service and the treasurer $3.25.
Simultaneously with the application to the Legislature for the incorpora- tion of the village, as before mentioned, a notice appeared in the same sheet that application would be made to the Legislature for an act of incorporation embracing the right to construct a toll bridge across the river at this place; this notice was followed in the same month by three others similar in charac- ter. It appears that this project was looked upon as one the franchise for which would be very valuable ; but it was destined to fail at that time, and in January, 1839, a notice was published in the Spectator to the effect that appli- cation would be made to the Board of Supervisors for a meeting of the board " to be held at the house of A. B. Tubbs," on Wednesday, February 20th, to levy a tax upon the several towns for the purpose of "repairing the present bridge or constructing a new one across the Hudson River at this place, and to construct other bridges in said county if deemed necessary." This notice was signed by A. W. Morgan, Keyes P. Cool, Walter Geer, jr., B. J. Clark, Orlin Mead and William McDonald.1
In spite of the depression in financial affairs, another notice appeared at the time under consideration announcing application for a charter of incorpor- ation of a company " with banking powers" to "improve the navigation of the upper portion of the Hudson River, either by canal or slack water navigation." Of this scheme Dr. Holden afterwards wrote: " This is memorable for more reasons than one. Firstly, because of the banking clause and its insertion at a period soon after the passage and repeal of the odious small bill law. (In that connection, the older residents may remember the twenty-five cent "shin- plasters " issue by Mead & Sanford, and imitations subsequently thrown into circulation by Underwood, and which were made payable in White Pine Butts at Wing's saw-mill, or new rum at Richard's tavern). Secondly, the presenta- tion of this petition originated a commission and appropriation for one of the most thorough topographical surveys and elaborate reports ever made in the State. Surveyors, engineers, chain-bearers, axe-men and pack-carriers accom- panied by that gifted and sad-fated child of song, Charles Fenno Hoffman, threaded our northern forests, taking elevations and channeling out the grim old forest in tracks which can yet be seen. It was in one of these dim, green alleys of the 'forest primeval ' where was to be the canal to the Great Bear Lake, 'a project that seems to have been a pet at one time.'"
The banking scheme alluded to again came before the public early in the year 1839, when the following appeared in an editorial : -
James Morgan, Chris. Shaw and Hazzard Green, as grocers. In 1841 the trustees refused to grant licenses to grocers to sell liquors in quantities less than five gallons.
1 In February, 1841, the county of Warren was loaned $2,500 by act of Legislature, out of the common school fund, to build a bridge over the Hudson at Glens Falls. A. W. Morgan, Daniel Rob- erts and George G. Hawley, of Queensbury, were appointed commissioners under the act.
431
PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
" A meeting of the subscribers to the Glens Falls Banking Association is to be held at the Glens Falls Hotel on the 2d day of February next for the purpose of choosing thirteen directors and other preparations necessary to go into operation as soon as possible. There is not a better location for a bank north of Troy than this." The project was not consummated for some unde- fined reason, and Glens Falls was without a bank for more than ten years after- wards, as will appear further on.
While the newly incorporated village was enjoying its era of prosperity consequent upon the construction of the canals, and men were constantly com- ing hither who subsequently became instrumental in adding greatly not only to their own wealth, but to the general activity and growth of the place, educa- tional and religious institutions increased in number and influence. We have already alluded to the old academy, built in 1814, which had a useful career. A village library was founded in 1835 which became a popular and beneficial institution for a number of years ; and soon afterward the Female Seminary was built by Sidney Berry. The Spectator of May 19th, 1837, contained a very eulogistic notice of the annual examination which had just been held. The seminary was then under the direction of Miss Lucy Harris as principal ; the institution passed to the direction of Miss Downs and her sister in 1849 and became quite prosperous. In the latter part of the year 1839 a Lyceum was organized. The following expression relative to this institution is found in the notice in the Spectator calling for a meeting of organization : "That a positive benefit is the certain result to our village from a well-conducted and well-sustained Lyceum, no person can doubt ; and as it is a matter of public profit, it should also be a matter of sufficient public interest to elicit a full house and efficient measures."
The principal business of the village authorities for a number of years was the improvement of streets, making additions to the facilities for extinguishing fires and auditing the limited number of accounts against the corporation. The first practical steps toward protecting the village from fire were taken in the latter part of 1841, when a resolution was passed " that Henry Spencer be appointed to procure such hooks and ladders as may be necessary for the use of the village, and to secure a permanent place of deposit for the same." In the next year measures were adopted for the purchase of an engine and other apparatus, as will hereafter appear.
Henry Spencer was president of the village for the year ending in May, 1843, and at the annual meeting for the election of officers he was voted twen- ty-five dollars for his services in that office. This action established the prece- dent which has since been followed, of awarding the successive presidents an annual salary.
The trustees were extremely solicitous in early years for the good looks of the streets and made some stringent regulations in regard to keeping them free
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
from incumbrances. Even a pair of hay scales which D. H. Cowles, a promi- nent business man, began erecting in 1843 on the Warren street side of his block, were vetoed as an incumbrance and contrary to the village by-laws. He was, however, permitted to place them on the Ridge street side of the block.
Perhaps we shall be able to give our readers a tolerably clear idea of the business interests of the village in the period between 1850 and 1855, by again appealing to the advertising columns of the local newspapers. In a number of the Glens Falls Free Press of April 15th, 1854, we find it announced that Cowles & Co., have just removed their stock of goods to the store of A. Sher- man on Glen street. The copartnership of Morgan & Lapham was then just dissolved ; the firm having been engaged in a general mercantile business. The new firm to continue the business was composed of James Morgan, Jerome Lapham and Charles Corliss. George C. Mott and Dr. A. W. Holden carried on the drug business; Dr. N. E. Sheldon also sold drugs, and M. C. Rich an- nounced himself as a jeweler, "two doors north of Cronkhite Bros., Glen street." J. C. Higby was prepared to rehabilitate gentlemen in fashionable tailoring, ready-made clothing and furnishing goods in a new establishment at the " north end of the Glens Falls Hotel," after which they could go to Car- los Morgan, "two doors north of Glens Falls Bank," or to Edwin O. Peck, artist in daguerreotype, "one door west of M. C. Rich's jewelry store," and have their pictures made. Hermon Peck, on " Warren street, sign of the big pad- lock," and Noble Peck & Co. (Noble Peck and J. L. Kenworthy), "Sandy Hill Street, a few doors north of the Glens Falls Hotel," supplied the community with hardware, stoves, etc. Sheldon Benedict announced his abandonment of building to engage in the saddlery and harness trade, "at his old stand between Vaughn's and Peck's stores," and Bennett & Traphagan (C. R. Bennett, J. T. B. Traphagan) carried on the same business at the " third door above Glens Falls Bank." E. Benedict & Co. (from which firm William Dunning had just withdrawn) were engaged in boot and shoe trade, which line was shared by A. F. Smith on Exchange street. The firm of Cool & Hall (H. J. Cool, E. C. Hall) had recently dissolved, and the sale of hats and caps continued by the senior member. The Harris Lime Company, in "the old stone store near the canal bridge," offered flour and groceries generally, and J. D. Cornell & Co. were engaged in the same line. Among other business establishments at that date were George C. Mott & Co., hats and caps; William Peat, fashionable tailor; James E. Mart & Co .; J. S. Ladow, and Hopkins & Dix, machinists ; Cool & Robinson, Nova Scotia and western plaster, etc. ; J. B. Cool & Bros., salt, etc .; and Briggs & Lapham, makers of endless chain pumps.
From the Warren county Whig of about a year later we gain additional information of other business establishments in the village, of which the follow- ing is a brief summary : Fred E. Ranger, bookseller, No. 3 Merchants' Row ; John H. Martin, jeweler, No. 2 Exchange; W. R. Winchell, clothing and
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PATENT AND TOWN OF QUEENSBURY.
furnishing goods, "north end of Carpenter's new hotel, Glen street ; " Drs. B. & M. R. Peck, druggists ; John N. Clements, jewelry and musical instruments, two doors north of Rich's jewelry store, Glen street ; J. S. Van Winkle, con- fectioner ; James E. Martin & Co., general store, " a few doors north of the Glens Falls Hotel ; " J. C. Johnson & Co., hardware, wines and liquors, grocer- ies, etc., Glen street ; J. E. & G. W. Dean, marble, Exchange building ; S. W. Holdredge, musical merchandise, " No. 2 Cowles's new building, up stairs ; " F. Smith & Co., "respectfully announced the opening of a new clothing store in Cowles's new building ; " Henry Wing, general store in the "Brick Row; " Cheney, Arms & Co., "new plaster-mill, adjoining the grist-mill," (South Glens Falls); George Clendon, jr., manufactured soap and candles, corner of Glen and Pine streets; and Daniel Benedict made brick one mile north of Glens Falls; E. M. Forbes was insurance agent; J. S. Perine, justice of the peace, and E. B. Cowles, architect and builder. Wood sawing and turning was carried on at South Glens Falls by Gardner T. Lewis, and Eastwood & Carpenter had a market on Glen street.
From this date to the present the growth of Glens Falls has been steady and healthful, as will be seen in succeeding pages, and the public spirit of its citizens has kept pace with it in the establishment of all needed public institu- tions. The ordinances had already, in 1841, been amended and considerably extended, mainly in the direction of keeping the streets in order and free from roving animals.
The building of the plank road from Glens Falls to Caldwell in the year 1848, was an improvement of great utility and added to the general develop- ment of the place through more rapid and easier transportation southward from the interior of the county.
Coming down to the end of the first decade of the existence of the village as a corporation, we find that there were then twenty-five streets in the place, a number that has since grown in about thirty-five years to nearly eighty ; and the general business interests of the village had increased to the satisfac- tion of the most hopeful.
The lack of sufficient water supply for the village had been felt for some years, and in April, 1848, a project was agitated for bringing a supply of pure water to the village in pipes. For this purpose Daniel G. Harris was given permission to lay pipes, with the stipulation by the authorities that he should leave the streets in as good condition as he found them. For adequate reasons the scheme was never consummated, and the old wells and cisterns, to which frequent additions were made, furnished the only water supply for many years and until the inauguration of the present complete system.
In 1853 the Glens Falls Cemetery was established upon lands purchased of Andrew Porteous. Patrick Johnson was appointed as the first sexton, in April, 1855.
28
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
In 1854 the first movement was made towards introducing illuminating gas into the village. In April of that year Messrs. Sabbaton & Merrifield, of Albany, were given the exclusive privilege for two years of laying pipes in the streets for this purpose, provided they began the construction of works within four months and prosecuted the same to completion. The pipes were laid and in April, 1856, the trustees authorized the erection of a gas lamp post at each of the town pumps (where the fountain and the soldier's monument now stand). For the succeeding three years these two lamps supplied all the light the village had; in 1859 six more lamps were added, and this number has been increased until now about one hundred and thirty lamps of gas and naphtha illuminate the streets.
The year 1863 saw the erection of the brick school-house in the village. At a special meeting held January 20th, of that year, the trustees were directed to purchase the old building and lot in front, in district No. 20, for which pur- pose they were directed to raise by tax $350. They were also directed to purchase of Thomas Kirkham land enough to make a lot equal to the extent of the former lot, on South and West streets, at a cost not exceeding $200. George Conery was directed to prepare a plan for a school-house. The build- ing was erected of brick, 70 by 35 feet, costing $1,400.
There is little of importance to record in the general history of the village from the period last considered down to the breaking out of the war. Glens Falls then became the headquarters for a large district surrounding, and dur- ing the years of the great struggle, the village partook of the military charac- ter !prevailing throughout the country, while business activity was greatly enhanced. In patriotic endeavor to respond to the different calls of the gov- ernment for men and means, as well as in their determination that Queensbury soldiers and their families should not needlessly suffer, the inhabitants of Glens Falls and the town at large were not outdone by those of any community in the State. The details of the events of this period have already been given to the reader.
Before the close of the war, and on the 3Ist of May, 1864, the village was the scene of an appalling calamity. A fire so destructive as to nearly wipe out the business portion of the place swept over the village, leaving but three of the numerous stores and but little of the manufacturing portion of the village. The loss reached about half a million dollars. For a full account of this con- flagration, the reader is referred to the chapter on the press of the county, where will be found a fac simile of the first issue of the Messenger after the fire, in which is printed a detailed account of the event.
There were not wanting among the inhabitants of Glens Falls those who looked upon this disastrous fire as a blessing disguised ; such was the case even among some enterprising men who were actual heavy losers in dollars and cents. A large number of buildings were destroyed which were anything but
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