Boldt’s Wellesley Island Properties Included The Birches And Swiss Chalet According to The New York Times, George C. Boldt’s Swiss Chalet was originally built as a guesthouse in 1895. In the late 1800s, Boldt began developing properties in addition to his Wellesley House and farm on Wellesley Island as a “colony” of cottages. With a […]
The Twelve-Year Battle To Build A New Watertown High School On Washington Street Efforts began in earnest in 1937 to build a new Watertown High School to replace the then 30-plus-year-old Sterling Street facility, which had been expanded upon over its short history. In 1938, a voting referendum was held, and an overwhelming majority wanted […]
Boonville Train Crash One Of Worst In History Of Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Division Of NYCRR. Called one of the worst train accidents in the history of the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg division, the Boonville train crash on July 4, 1908, involved two passenger trains and one freight train in a head-on collision that took the […]
James T. Easton Of Brooklyn Erects Stuyvesant Lodge On Cherry Island Stuyvesant Lodge is another of the mid-1880s summer homes in the Thousand Islands that doesn’t appear to have much information in newspapers nor photographs in general to help recount its history. Built on Cherry Island, earlier known as Whortleberry Island which the local river […]
Goulding, Bagley & Sewall Became Bagley & Sewall, Later Purchased By Black Clawson The origins of Black Clawson date back to the 1820s when George Goulding opened a business on Fairbanks Street for manufacturing machinery and mill supplies. The company had many partners in its early years, Benjamin Berry and Andrew Anderson being two, before […]
Completed In 1884, The Marsden House, Later The Thousand Islands Hotel, Became a Landmark In Alexandria Bay After a short stint in Cape Vincent, Gaston A. Marsden moved to Alexandria Bay in 1875 and had the Marsden House erected in 1884 on the site of the former Cedar Hall, a summer building that he previously built […]
Kite Day and Country Jamboree Drew Thousands To Thompson Park In The 70s & 80s It may be hard for younger generations to fathom, but when Kite Day and the country music Jamboree were held annually in Thompson Park during the late 70s and early 80s, sun-baked crowds often averaged between 7,000 to 10,000 individuals […]
Cleveland Mayor William G. Rose Builds Mansion On Rose Island – Later Summer Home for Gen. J. Leslie Kincaid In 1880, William G. Rose, former mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, purchased Rose Island from Charles Walton and John F. Walton, executors of Azariah Walton, deceased, for $475. About the same time, Catherine P. Herrick sold the […]
Edwin Paddock Mansion Becomes Jefferson County Historical Society The Paddock Mansion on Washington Street in Watertown, N. Y., for nearly a century now home to the Jefferson County Historical Society, was built in 1876 for Edwin L. Paddock four years after the death of his influential father, Loveland Paddock. Edwin had his home, a mixture […]
The Thousand Island Yacht Club On Welcome Island – Est. 1896 The Thousand Island Yacht Club’s home on Welcome Island began in 1895, when W. C. Browning, a director of the then named Thousand Island Club and head of the St. Lawrence River Real Estate Association, purchased Welcome Island with the intention of building a […]
Is The Jefferson County Fair The Longest Consecutively Running Fair At 206 in 2023? The Jefferson County Fair has the distinction of being the longest consecutively running county fair in the United States and will be celebrating its 208 consecutive years in 2024 . . . or so it’s being promoted as such. In researching […]
F3 Boonville Tornado on May 2, 1983 Caused $15 Million In Damage The Boonville Tornado of May 2, 1983 was part of an outbreak in Michigan, Ohio, Southern Ontario, Pennsylvania and New York. The storms resulted in a total of five fatalities in New York and Ohio, with three occurring in the Empire State alone. […]
George Cook And The Soldiers’ And Sailors’ Monument, Dedicated In 1891 The story behind George Cook and his wife, Adeline Granger Cook, gifting the city of Watertown its soldiers’ and sailors’ monument in 1891 is a remarkable one given George’s personal history and the fact he wasn’t a native of the area. George and Adeline, who […]
The Carson Mansion, Most Photographed Victorian Mansion In The USA? The story of Eureka, California’s Carson Mansion begins with a man’s quest for gold in the 1849 gold rush, but striking a fortune in redwood instead. Born in New Brunswick in 1825, William Coleman Carson left Canada at the age of 24 during the gold […]
Westminster Park – Est. 1877 On “Wells Island” In 1877, an association was formed to purchase land on the eastern end of Wellesley Island in what would become Westminster Park. The Watertown Daily Times reported in April of that year that the proposed purchase was to make the park of approximately 500 acres “a popular […]
Life In The Sand Flats Revolved Around Gardening For Many Italian-American Immigrants In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Sand Flats, an area consisting of lower Arsenal Street and spreading to Coffeen Street, became home to early Italian-American immigrants who transformed what was described as swamplands on the west side of the city of […]
Twin Island – Two Little Islands With Two Big Stars Not too far from Castle Francis and the Thousand Island Park is Twin Island, an unassuming little slice of paradise on the St. Lawrence with wonderful views and once the summer home to a well-known comedian and future Hollywood star. The island’s close proximity to […]
Paddock Arcade, First Glass-Covered Street In The United States Long before it was home to the Paddock Arcade, the lot on which the first “glass-covered street” in the United States has stood for 172 years was the place where Hart Massey built his first house in 1801. The name Paddock Arcade was simply derived from […]
Castle Francis, The 1000 Islands Summer Home With A Turret Castle Francis was another summer home in the 1000 Islands region erected by Seth G. Pope of Ogdensburg sometime during the mid-1880s for Rev. M. W. Chase, also of Ogdensburg. Situated on what was once referred to as Long Tree Island, it was less than […]
After Court Battle, 1000 Islands Music Festival Featuring Blue Öyster Cult Falls Far Short Of “Feared” 100,000 Attendees Summertime is the perfect time for a music festival. The 1981 1000 Islands Music Festival was coming on the heels of a few years of low-keyed events – so low-key, in fact, there was scant media coverage, […]
Wau Winet Island – Then And Now One of the earliest information on the many variations of spelling for Wau Winet Island in local newspapers came in 1892 when Charles E. Hill of Chicago moved and raised the existing cottage and built an addition to it. Later that year, he would relocate his family to […]
The City’s Parks and Recreation Playground Mardi Gras Parades Of Yesteryear Trying to find history on Watertown’s Parks and Recreation playground Mardi Gras parades involving its many playgrounds over the years is the epitome of looking for a needle in a haystack. The keywords “Mardi Gras” in newspaper databases ultimately pull up thousands and thousands […]
Michael Chauncey of New York City Erects A Thousand Islands Showcase Property On Cuba Island Michael Chauncey, one of the largest real estate dealers in Brooklyn, purchased Cuba Island from the Cornwall Brothers in 1890. The one-acre island, formerly the property of W. E. Story of Buffalo, was purchased by the Cornwall Brothers just two […]
Kinney Drugs Opens Its 12th Location In 1959 At Seaway Plaza The birth of Kinney Drugs began in 1903 with the opening of its first store, in Gouverneur, N.Y., by Burt O. Kinney. Born in 1873, the 30-year-old Kinney, a native son, would build a regional drugstore chain that continues to grow at a measured […]
H. H. Babcock Mansion Gets A Greek Revival Makeover By Anson R. Flower And Later Becomes Cleveland Funeral Home Constructed in the 1860s for Henry Holmes Babcock, president of the H. H. Babcock Co., the grand white Babcock mansion at 404 Sherman Street, home to the Cleveland Funeral Home since 1952, was heavily influenced by […]
Rosette Island – Longue Vue Island Added To U.S. National Register Of Historic Places In 1982 In 1901, Hudson P. Rose purchased a parcel of land, possibly what became Rosette Island, from his brother, Frederick H. Rose, in the town of Alexandria. Four years later, in May of 1905, Hudson and his wife, Molly M. […]
J. B. Taylor Summer Home Turned Into Pine Tree Point Club By Thomson Family The Pine Tree Point Club made its debut in 1954 after A. Graham Thomson and his wife, Therese Theoret Thomson, purchased the original palatial stone mansion overlooking the St. Lawrence River at Alexandria Bay from Dr. and Mrs. (Sallie Taylor Robinson) Walter […]
Fairyland Island, Home To The Hayden Family Summer Homes Fairyland is the curious name given, and rather confusingly so, to an island, a summer home, and a summer home on another island that was once referred to as Little Fraud Island. Throw in a few generations of the Hayden family with three different summer homes […]
Adventure Town 1000 Islands Brought The Wild West To Edgewood Resort Looking to draw tourists to Edgewood Resort, co-owners George L. Clark and George (Bud) H. Hebert would create Adventure Town in 1955. An ode to the wild-wild west of yesteryear, Adventure Town was constructed on the site of the former Edgewood International Speedway and […]
Explosion At 423 Dimmick Street Leaves 8 Children Dead In Watertown Tragedy, July 12, 1922 On a warm, sunny summer afternoon, eight children ranging from the ages of 8 to 16 gathered at 423 Dimmick Street in Watertown, N.Y., to play a game of croquet. The residence, a two-story concrete block building, belonged to Mr. […]
The History Of The Oscar Paddock Carriage House – The Finest Of Its Time The Oscar Paddock carriage house, built with a barn and stable in 1876 when Oscar Paddock remodeled his home at 216 Washington Street, was a two-story brick building fronting Stone Street at its original address of 9 (it would later be […]
New York City Supreme Court Judge Donahue Summer Home On Steamboat Island One of the early mansions in the Thousand Islands, the Judge Donahue summer home on Steamboat Island, has been a bit of a challenge to find information on as is Judge Donahue himself. Once Judge Donahue, a Supreme Court judge from New York […]
The Oscar Paddock Mansion On Washington St. Along With The Other Paddock Mansions Were Sights To Behold One of the old homes on Washington Street that has long since departed is the Oscar Paddock mansion, once located next to sibling Edwin Paddock‘s mansion which has been home to the Jefferson County Historical Society for 100 […]
The Palatial Orville Brainard Mansion Became Elks Club In 1913 One of the earlier palatial homes on Washington Street in Watertown, N.Y., was the Orville V. Brainard mansion. Although no definite date could be established for its construction, references to it as the Brainard address on Washington Street appear as early as the 1860s. Its […]
F. W. Woolworth’s Vision Of The Woolworth Building on Public Square Was Much Different Although F. W. Woolworth had architectural plans in development for a new Woolworth building in Watertown completed by Cass Gilbert, notable architect of the Woolworth Building in New York City and then the largest building in the world, it was the […]
Imperial Isle in the 1000 Islands Long before Gilbert T. Rafferty built his castle-like summer home on Imperial Isle in “Millionaire’s Row,” the island was described in the book Meanderings Among A Thousand Islands as once being “not much more than a little cluster of rocks with a few trees on one of them.” It would […]
Frank Augsbury, Who Renovated Madison Barracks, Brings Northern New York WaterFun Village The first attempt at building WaterFun Village at Collins Landing near the foot of the 1000 Islands Bridge began in 1979 when Interstate Recreation Co., Hilton Head, South Carolina, in conjunction with 20 limited partners, sought to lease property from the Thousand Islands […]
Westcott Family Property Since 1803 Becomes Part Of Westcott Beach State Park Westcott Beach had long been part of the Wescott family, going back to their building a farm on Chestnut Ridge in 1803. In the 1930s, then-owner Charles Wescott would operate it as a private beach charging .25¢ admission per vehicle. Within a few […]
From Kirby House, to Earll Hotel, Hotel Hardiman and Roosevelt Hotel, the Old Court Street Hotel Saw a Lot In Its 116 Years The Kirby House on Court Street was built in 1850 when the village of Watertown was experiencing unprecedented re-construction after the great fire of 1849. Occupying the site previously was a house […]
High Upon Bartlett Point Once Sat Manatauk Hotel Overlooking Clayton and The St. Lawrence River Completed around 1901, what was most commonly known as the Manatauk Hotel was briefly named both the St. Lawrence Club House and the Clayton Clubhouse. Perched high atop what was then named Prospect Point, formerly (and currently once again) Bartlett […]
Last of The Jean’s Beans Still Going Strong At Same Location Despite Difficulties Launching In 1953 Even if you’ve never been able to walk into Jean’s Beans on Eastern Boulevard and savor the aroma on any given day, chances are you may very well be familiar with Jean’s Potato Chips, established in 1924. In their […]
Jefferson County Almshouse, Once An Orphanage, County Home For The Aged And Deathbed Of Famed Musician Nick Goodall The long history of the Jefferson County Almshouse, also known as the County Home for the Aged and “Poor House,” began back in 1825 when prominent citizens were appointed to find a suitable site for erecting a […]
The Adriel Ely Store Has A Long and Notable History Of Connections To Who’s Who In Watertown History The Adriel Ely store was just one of many businesses to occupy the two-story stone building that long ago graced the south corner of Washington and Stone Streets in the 19th century. For clarity’s sake and having […]
Neh-Mahbin, Summer Home (Or Island?) To James H. Oliphant And Family One of the more curiously named islands of the Thousand Islands region, Neh-Mahbin, has outdone its landbound neighbor, Keewaydin, in the various spellings found over the years in various media. They include Neh-Nahbin, Neh-Mahbin, Neh-Mahdin, Nehmahdin, Ne-mah-bin, Neh Mahin, Neh Nabbin, Nehmabin, Nemabbin, Neh-Mabin […]
The Fairgrounds Pool, Later Renamed Steve D. Alteri Pool, And A Strange Case Of Déjà Vu. When it comes to the Steve D. Alteri Pool, aka the Fairgrounds Pool, and its history, one is reminded of the quote from philosopher George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Various iterations of […]
Judge Sawyer Mansion at 141 Ten Eyck Street One of the large, old homes in the city is located at 141 Ten Eyck Street and was the Judge Sawyer mansion back around the turn of the 20th century. The only construction date located, its address changing at least three times from 5, to 111, to […]
Emma Flower Taylor Gifts The city A Bide-A-Wee Hospital Prior to the creation of the Bide-A-Wee Hospital on Bradley Street, Emma Flower Taylor would gift the House of the Good Samaritan the Taylor building, originally intended for use a contagious hospital for care of those with communicable diseases, in 1905. However, the board of the […]
Singer Castle Built For Frederick G. Bourne, President Of Singer Manufacturing Company Singer Castle on Dark Island was the last castle built among the Thousand Islands, and it was originally named The Towers. Long before that, Native Americans called the island Lone Star. Its current name, Dark Island, comes from the dense evergreens that cast […]
The Strand Opened in 1914 as a Modern Theater on Franklin Street Watertown, NY, would see the opening of The Strand, a “new moving picture theatre” on lower Franklin Street, on Christmas 1914, three years before the Olympic Theater on lower State Street and about seven years after the Orpheum opened on Polk Street and […]
Hillcrest Farm on Ives Street Has An Impressive History Of Ownership Hillcrest Farm on Ives Street was named as such by Anson R. Flower who purchased it in 1901. Its rich history dates back to 1816 and through the long ownership of former congressman Willard Ives in the mid-to-late 1800s. Former longtime Watertown mayor John […]
Hardiman-Woolworth Co., One of the Largest Furnishing Houses in New York State The Hardiman-Woolworth store was a long-time fixture on Court Street, having grown from a small store to one of the three largest furnishing houses in New York State outside of greater New York, according to the Watertown Daily Times. A good deal of […]
The Harris House, One of Watertown’s Earliest Taverns and Hotels on Public Square Built in the late 1820s by Nathan F. Butts as a Butler’s tavern, the Harris House had many owners over the decades and was purchased in 1852 by Silas Gates, father of Edward M. Gates who would later become city postmaster. The hotel/tavern […]
October 30, 1938 War of the Worlds Old Time Radio Broadcast Causes Mass Hysteria Before the golden age of television became the popular mode of home entertainment, H. G. Wells’s 1897 War of the Worlds serial in Pearson’s Magazine would make its dramatic debut on October 30, 1938, on the era’s more popular medium, the […]
George Boldt’s Wellesley House on Wellesley Island George Boldt‘s Wellesley House is often overshadowed by the Waldorf-Astoria proprietor’s construction of Boldt Castle on Heart Island, which was conducted around the same time. While overshadowed is an appropriate term for perhaps any property on the St. Lawrence in comparison to Boldt Castle, with over 50 rooms […]
After 37 Years, Partridge Berry Inn Rekindles Anew By The Fireside The Partridge Berry Inn would begin as a vision William J. Monnat had of owning a barn-beamed fine dining establishment in Watertown, N.Y. A landscape architect with a penchant for historical buildings and preservation, Mr. Monnat would begin his enterprise of the Black River Garden […]
Carthage, Watertown & Sackets Harbor Rail Road Depot, Built in 1871, Becomes Marcy-Buck Building Before becoming the Marcy-Buck building, which was only one of many variations of business names attributed to Richard Marcy‘s initial coal business over the years, the three-story brick building on the corner of Mill and Factory Streets was initially built as […]
The Carlisle At 273 Paddock Street – Named After 3rd Owner, Floyd L. Carlisle The story of The Carlisle, as it would later become known, starts with Mrs. Grace L Devendorf Hunting purchasing the property at the corner of Paddock and Holcomb Streets in 1905 from Edwin L. and Olive A. Paddock. Grace and her […]
Old Court Street City Hall – Erected In Controversy, Demolished In Controversy The city forefathers who built the Court Street city hall didn’t have crystal balls. Nor did their forefathers who deeded the land to the then village of Watertown for use as a burial ground, for that matter. One can only imagine the dismay […]
Woolworth Relocating To 146 Arsenal Street – The Urban Renewal’s “Success” Story When the city of Watertown started kicking around the idea of Urban Renewal in 1959, Woolworth most likely was never even considered a possibility for relocating to what would become a huge empty parcel between Court and Arsenal Streets – why would they? […]
James F. Starbuck, Prominent Attorney, and Later State Senator, Builds Starbuck Mansion At 253 Clinton Street The Starbuck mansion at 253 Clinton Street, once declared by Watertown Daily Times writer David F. Lane to be “One of the Watertown’s most imposing mansions,” was completed in 1866, nearly 40 years before its arguably more imposing neighbor, […]
The Hungerford Mansion Will Be 200 Years Old In 2025 Orville Hungerford had the Hungerford mansion constructed in 1824-25 on the corner of now Washington and Mullin Streets in Watertown, N.Y. As it approaches its 200th year in existence, the mansion, long considered one of the showpieces of Northern New York, has seen a lot […]
George C. Boldt Builds Mansion On Belle Island, Sells It To Former Carnegie Vice President Alexander R. Peacock One of the lost treasures of the Thousand Islands was built on Belle Island, oft-referenced to as Belle Isle, by none other than George C. Boldt. Sometime before the summer of 1902 and during the construction of […]
The Crystal Restaurant On Public Square, Since 1925 In the opening of his review of the Crystal Restaurant for the Watertown Daily Times in 2005, Walter E. Siebel wrote, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was on the set of a 1920s movie being filmed in downtown Watertown. The overhanging neon sign out […]
Watertown Chamber of Commerce Lures Shaughnessy Knitting Mill To City in 1909 According to a news brief in Fibre & Fabric printed in 1909, the Shaughnessy Knitting Mill located in Amsterdam, N.Y., accepted a proposition made by the Watertown Chamber of Commerce to move their plant to Northern New York. The company would work temporarily […]
Many Prominent Owners Of The Old O’Brien House At 216 Keyes Ave Over The Years The early history involving 216 Keyes Ave is quite interesting due to its ownership by prominent citizens and the changes made over its first 50 years, making it hardly recognizable in later years compared to its original incarnation. Keyes Ave […]
Wall Street Broker Charles I. Hudson Built “The Ledges” at Anthony Point In 1885 In 1885, one of the lost gems of the Thousand Islands, The Ledges, was built on the mainland peninsula of Anthony Point and near the entrance to Carnegie Bay. Built by Charles I. Hudson of the brokerage firm C. I. Hudson […]
Benny’s Steak House Had Three Different Locations Before Closing In 2006 Benny’s Steak House was one of the most recognizable landmarks on Arsenal Street, first located at its 1262 address for several years starting in 1968. In 1972, Benny Tufo purchased the one-story brick building at 1050 Arsenal Street that once was home to the […]
Micah Sterling Builds Sterling Mansion, Later Becomes Home To Holy Family School Micah Sterling built the Sterling Mansion in 1826 on a sprawling estate that spanned several blocks and formed a park, Sterling Place. Born in Lyme, Conn., on November 5, 1784, Micah entered Yale in 1800 at 16, where he was a classmate and […]
Anson R. And Roswell P. Flower Erect A New Trinity Church On Sherman Street With the old, wooden Trinity Church on Court Street in need of a modern replacement by the mid-1880s, the vestry would soon be seeking greener pastures. The cornerstone to Trinity House, a gift from Anson R. Flower and Roswell P. Flower […]
Louis Marx Purchases Melrose Lodge, Expands Upon It And Renames “Casa Blanca” Casa Blanca (also known as Casablanca) on Cherry Island began in what was originally known as Melrose Lodge, built sometime around 1880 by Albert Benton Pullman, brother to George Mortimer Pullman. George was one of the earliest pioneers of the Thousand Islands and would […]
Harriett Pullman Carolan Builds Carolands Chateau In San Francisco Bay Area Taking nearly two years two complete with construction finishing in 1916, Carolands was the ambitious creation of Harriett Pullman Carolan who was brought up in the large mansions and summer homes of her parents, George and Harriet Pullman. Whether it was the family home […]
Giovanni’s: A Terrific Trattoria on LeRay Street Giovanni’s first opened in the late 1960s at 302 State St., where the Time Warp is presently, and since 1979, a fitting name when taking a trip down memory lane. The State Street location previously had been home to the National Restaurant and Sboro’s in the 1940s, then […]
Hamilton Street School Built In 1899 To Relieve Overcrowding At Lamon Street School In April of 1898, Watertown’s board of education requested to the common council for $6,000 to be used to build Hamilton Street School to help relieve the overcrowding conditions at the nearby Lamon Street school. A committee looking to resolve […]
Stony Crest Island, aka Warner Island and Jewel Island The first mention of Warner Island, later named Jewell and Stony Crest Island, in the local press came from the Watertown Daily Times in 1873 when the Watertown Commandery No. 11 of the Knights Templar made a daylong excursion to the Thousand Islands. There, they came […]
Shadow Lawn, the “White House by the Sea” John A. McCall, President of the New York Life Insurance Company, would have the mammoth 52-room mansion known as the original Shadow Lawn constructed in the early 1900s. Located in West Long Branch, New Jersey, which neighbors Elberon, home to the other “lawn” in the area, George Pullman‘s […]
Emma Flower Taylor Residence 224 S Massey St Built After Divorce From J. B. Taylor The Emma Flower Taylor residence, located at 224 S Massey St., was erected in 1917-18, eight years after the divorce of Emma Flower Taylor and J. B. Taylor. Emma took leave of the brownstone mansion on Clinton Street, built by […]
Johnston and Hudson Residence Erected by William Johnston in 1895 at 246 S Massey St, Later Sold To Supreme Court Justice Henry Hudson The Johnston and Hudson residence located at 246 S Massey Street was erected by William Johnston in 1895. That year, Johnston purchased the former house owned at times by Hiram Holcomb, who […]
The Dutch Elm Disease Forever Changed the Landscape of Washington Street Ice Storms and a microburst. Neither have had a more lasting impact on the landscape than the Dutch elm disease that spread like wildfire throughout not just Watertown, but most of North America, Europe and New Zealand. First reported in the United States in 1928 and […]
Neil Hunt, Neighbor of Henry Heath, Purchases St. Elmo Island in 1884 St. Elmo Island in the Thousand Islands was first owned by Elisha Kemp back in 1823. What it was named at that time is uncertain, but it would eventually be purchased by that dynamic duo of Cornwall & Walton, who gobbled up islands […]
Mrs. George Pullman Mansion in Washington, D.C., Becomes Russian Embassy then Russian Ambassador Residence The history of what would be known as the Mrs. George Pullman Mansion erected in 1910 in Washington, D. C., really begins in 1896 with the marriage of eldest daughter Florence to a Chicago lawyer with political ambitions, Frank Orren Lowden. […]
A&W Drive-In, 728 Bradley Street “Come As You Are – Eat In Your Car!” Who doesn’t remember A&W and that “frosty mug taste”? Or better yet, who could forget the bees always buzzing around that Bradley Street Location? A&W Root Beer was the creation of Roy W. Allen, who in 1918 was a hotelier in […]
The Florentine D. Roth Mansion Becomes Home to Sisters of St. Joseph’s Music Conservatory The Roth mansion, which stood on the south corner of Washington and Mullin Street, was built by Florentine Daniel Roth about seven years after he moved to Watertown in 1882 with his wife, Emily Santee Roth, from Nazareth, Pennsylvania. After rising […]
Streeter Block Become J B Wise Block, Home to the Victoria Theater The Streeter Block was built in 1843 by Nelson W. Streeter, a clothier and clothing manufacturer. Throughout its history, the four-story block building would be host to numerous stores ranging from the aforementioned clothing to grocers, meat markets, liquor stores, restaurants, and tobacco shops […]
Nobby Island: Henry Heath’s Vision of Utopia in the 1000 Islands The “recorded” history of Nobby Island begins with George Pullman having purchased it along with one of its neighbors, which would become Pullman Island. Pullman subsequently invited Henry Roswell Heath to the island in 1868 to help recover from bad health (some references note […]
The Lincoln Restaurant and Aldimar Restaurant Nearly 30 years on Public Square in the Lincoln Building Nicholas Zaferis opened the Lincoln Restaurant, later the Aldimar Restaurant, in April of 1957 at the Lincoln Building on Public Square. At that time, the city of Watertown had many well-known restaurants, including Morgia’s; the New Parrot Restaurant, the […]
The Emma Flower Taylor Stable Murders – Double Murder By Shooting Still Unsolved The Taylor stable murders are one of the more intriguing unsolved murders in local history, dating back 111 years now. The double homicide and investigation seemed straight out of a Sherlock Holmes story and happened on the property of one of Watertown’s […]
Sport Island and its short-bridged neighbor, Little Lehigh The history of Sport Island and Little Lehigh began with the Packer and Wilbur families in 1872, when Cornwall & Walton sold an unnamed island to Harry E. Packer for $100. Harry was only 22 years old at the time and lived a relatively short life, passing […]
Madison Barracks Erected after Sackets Harbor Becomes an Important Military Installation During the War of 1812 Named after President James Madison, who visited during construction, Madison Barracks would be the logical progression to Fort Pike and Fort Tompkins. Both played a vital role in the War of 1812, as Sackets Harbor was attacked twice by […]
A Look at the History of the Black River Valley Club (BRVC) Building The Black River Valley Club was formed in 1905 under the name “Kamargo Club.” One of their first meetings was held in a room at the Chamber of Commerce, where the name would officially change to the Black River Valley Club due […]
Fairlawn, the Pullman Summer Residence on Ocean Ave, Elberon, N.J. Built in 1874 at Elberon, New Jersey, Fairlawn would be the Pullman’s second summer retreat aside from their Pullman Island cottage in the Thousand Islands and eventual home to their Castle Rest completed in 1888. The Pullman family would be introduced to the upscale, coastal community […]
Union and Jefferson Mills Were Two of the Old Mill Street Mills from the 1800s The first of the Mill Street Mills to be erected goes all the way back to 1806 when Jonathan Cowan built a grist mill right on the south side of the Black River, approximately where Derouin’s Plumbing & Heating was […]
A Look Back at the History of Manhattan Island in the 1000 Islands The first cottage to be built in the 1000 Islands was purportedly on Manhattan Island’s main island and credited to Seth Green, who had purchased it back in 1853 and named it Green Island. After residing in the small cottage he built […]
The Pullman Mansion on South Prairie Ave, Chicago, Illinois Construction on the Pullman Mansion in South Chicago would begin in 1873 after George Pullman paid top dollar for the land on South Prairie Ave. The area, located just southeast of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, would become the city’s epicenter for social and cultural […]
Starbuck Arena Saw The Birth of “Sugar” Ray Robinson On January 4, 1939 On January 4, 1939, a 17-year-old Walter “Walker” Smith, Jr., would arrive on the boxing scene at Starbuck Arena, in Watertown, N.Y, having assumed the name Raymond Robinson from a friend’s birth certificate in order to meet the age requirements for AAU. […]
Neuschwanstein Castle: Construction Started in 1869 But Never Completed For King Ludwig II Of Bavaria Construction on Neuschwanstein Castle started in 1869, six years after King Ludwig II took the throne at 18. An ode to Richard Wagner, whose opera works the King adored to the point of becoming his patron, Neuschwanstein Castle, along with […]
Musselman’s Confectionary at the Y.M.C.A. Bldg 1922 – 1944 In December of 1923, J. Joseph Musselman would open a new candy store, Musselman’s, in Watertown having great success in Utica for a number of years where he continued to be invested as well. At the time, Watertown had a number of confectioners including Nicholas D. […]
The Martello Towers of Kingston, Ontario If ever taking a road-trip to Kingston, Ontario (or a ferry, for that matter), one is likely to have noticed the Martello towers, three in all, standing near the shoreline while a fourth, the Shoal Tower, is off shore on the water a short distance (the three others are […]
Completed in 1880, Theological Hall is the Third Oldest Building on Queen’s University Campus Like many construction efforts in its era, Theological Hall was built on donations, or subscriptions, made my citizens as a means of building something that would benefit the community. It would be the third building constructed as part of what was […]
The E. W. Dewey Cottage on Friendly Island, 1887 – 1947 One of the more obscure summer homes in the Thousand Islands was the E. W. Dewey Cottage located on Friendly Island. I use the word obscure as it was often overshadowed by the likes of Castle Rest, Hopewell Hall, and Boldt Castle, all within […]
The Otis House Fire Was The Most Destructive In Watertown Since 1849 The Otis House on Arsenal Street opened in 1891, but it was actually the result of a major renovation and remodeling of the Globe Hotel, which opened 40 years prior, just after the great fire of 1849. The Otis House would draw rave […]
Change Location
Find awesome listings near you!
Memory Ln uses cookies to ensure you get the best user experience on our website.