Ij'

HISTORY
OF

PLATTSBURGH,
N.Y.,
FROM
ITS FIRST

SETTLEMENT TO

JAN.

I,

876

='^^=:^$^:^ 5?r^^^^fc=^'

PLATTSBURGH,
1877.

N.Y.

HISTORY
OF

PLATTSBURGH
FROM
ITS FIRST

SETTLEMENT TO
J6^\
].ii

JAN.

I,

1876.

"^e^L^^

ii

PLATTSBURGH,
1877.

N.Y.

INTRODUCTORY.
\^
?^'
,

In the year 1871 a series of articles were prepared by

Peter S. Palmer and published in the Plattsburgh Republican

under the name of

"

Northern

New York

Historical

Society Papers."

Paper

"

one," of that series, which reis

ferred principally to the village of Plattsburgh,

repro-

duced

in the following pages.

PLATTSBURGH (VILLAGE).
One hundred and
ment issued
land, lying

seven years ago the English governfor

mandamus

thirty

thousand acres
to

of

on the west side

of

Lake Champlain,

be

surveyed to Count Charles de Fredenburgh.

rant bears date January
1

The

warhad,

1,

1769.

De Fredenburgh
this,

however, several years prior to

selected the tract

covered by the warrant and commenced improvements

upon

it,

by the erection

of a comfortable dwelling-house
its

on

the south bank of the river Saranac, at

mouth, and of

a saw-mill, at the rapids, three miles above, yet

" Fredenburgh's Falls."
it
^

known as

From

papers in the land-office,

appears that on the 19th of August, 1767, Fredenburgh

associates petitioned for a grant of 20,000

and nineteen

acres of land, at

Cumberland Bay, on the west

of

Lake

Champlain, for which a warrant of survey was issued January

27,

1768 {Vol. XXIV.).

On

the

nth

of January,

1769, a

mandamus was

issued, granting de

Fredenburgh

30,000 acres, which was followed on the 24th of

May by

a warrant of survey, to lay out the 30,000 acres on the west side of the lake, beginning
island of Valcour, including both
at a point

opposite the

banks

of the "

Saranak"

River as far as the high

falls,

the sandy beach and creek,

and

also the

whole point

of

Cumberland Bay, commonly

1 See recital in Patent of Plattshurgli. The dwelling-lioiise occupied by de Fredenburgh, stood near the site of the late United States Hotel.

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.
(Vol.

called Squinanton, or

Cumberland Head

XXXVII.).

The

value of this tract seems to have been well

known

at that time, as the land papers

show

that on the 5th of

April,

769, William Kelley, in behalf of

Lord Viscount

Townsend and

twenty-four

associates, petitioned for a

grant of 25,000 acres, bounded east by Cumberland Bay

and extending west on both sides

of the

Saranac River,

including the land covered by the warrant of survey, of

January

27, 1768,

above mentioned (Vol. XXV.).

De

Fredenburg,

who had been

of repute

captain
of

in

the

British army,

was a person

and

some pecunitime
766, to

ary means.

He was

one

of the

gentlemen composing the

Carlton, at the
1

retinue of Gov.

Moore and Gen.

they visited Lake Champlain in the autumn of

establish

the boundary line between the Provinces of

New York

and Canada.
is

His dwelling on the banks

of

the Saranac

described as having

been sumptuously

furnished, and the seat of refinement

and

taste.

Here,

surrounded by the families of his workmen, who dwelt

in

rude cabins near the lake or at the

" Falls,"

he lived

with his wife and children in almost unbroken solitude,

looking forward to the day when his broad acres would

be cleared and his possessions on the

Saranac should

produce baronial wealth.

De

Fredenburgh's

nearest

neighbors at

this

time

were John La Frombois, who lived on the shore of the lake, a short distance south from Sax's Landing, in
Chazy, and William

Hay and Henry

Cross,

who

resided

on

Friswell's Patent, opposite the island of Valcour.

As

early as 1766 a small cabin

had been erected by William

PLATTSBURGH
Gilllland,

VILLAGE.
at the

on lands claimed by him

mouth

of the

Salmon

River, for the purpose of preventing an encroachin that direction.

I

ment by De Fredenburgh
permanently occupied.'

It

was never

have

no data from

which

to ascertain the duration of

De

Fredenburgh's residence,

or the extent of the improvements

made by him.
Revolution, and

He
re-

removed

his

family to Montreal a short time before the

of the

commencement

war

of the

turned alone to protect his property.

About

this

time

the house and mill were burnt down, and

De

Fredensettle-

burgh mysteriously disappeared.

No

subsequent

ment was made

1785.

in this

immediate vicinity

until the year

In
in

781, the Legislature of the State of

New

York,

order to encourage the

raising

of

troops

for the

defense of the State, passed certain

ties of

acts, offering

boun-

unappropriated lands to such

officers

and

soldiers

as should enlist within a time specified.

These bounties

were divided into rights

a provision in the
act,

of

500 acres each, and there was

that

whenever any number

of

persons entitled collectively to sixty-one rights, or 30,500

acres,

should join in a location, the lands so located

should be laid out in a township of seven miles square,

and that the remaining 860 acres

in

such township

should be reserved for gospel and school purposes.

In 1784, Zephaniah Piatt, of Poughkcepsie, in behalf
of himself and thirty-two associates,

who

collectively

had

acquired the requisite

number

of " rights," located

them

upon the

tract of land

which had been claimed by

40, 133.

De

"

Watson's Champlain Valley," pp.

PLATTSBURGH
his

VILLAGE.

Fredenburgh under

warrant, and, on the

12th of

August
and

of that

year, procured

the requisite certificate

from the Surveyor-General, that the lands were vacant

unappropriated.
Piatt,

Letters

Patent were

issued

to

Zephaniah

on the

26th day of October,

1784.

About
in

the

same

time, Mr. Piatt obtained

from the State,

behalf of

himself,

Nathaniel Piatt and

Simon R.
to

Reeves, a patent for two thousand acres of land, including

Cumberland Head, and extending north

lands

belonging to Beekman and company.'

These two

tracts

were incorporated into a town

of April, 1785.

called Plattsburgh,

on the 4th day

Three

years later the boundaries of the town were extended so

as to include the territory

embraced within the

limits of

the present towns of Beekmantown, Dannemora, Saranac,

and Schuyler

Falls, with a part of

Peru and Black Brook,

of Franklin.
1

and a small portion

of the

county

On
tors

the 29th day of October,

784, three days after

the Patent of Plattsburgh had been issued, the proprie-

met

at the inn of

John Simmons,

in the city of

New

York, to devise plans to secure the immediate settlement

of the lands

an object
six

of

much

importance, as the patent

"

contained a condition requiring the patentee to

settler

put one

upon every

hundred acres
its

of land in the tract,

within three years after

'

date,"

and declaring that "for

to the legislature,

De

Fredenburgh's children applied unsuccessfully

at a later period, for recognition of their title to the tract claimed

father.

by their
Gilli-

The

title

to

Cumberland Head had been claimed by William

Lieut.

hnd, under assignment from

the colony of

Lowe, an

officer

who had served under

Lowe's claim was
pp. Ii8, 193.

New

York,

in the

French and Indian war.

not recognized by the State.

"

Watson's Champlain Valley,"

PLATTSBURGH
non-compliance
in

VILLAGE.

making such
to give to

settlement," the lands

granted would revert to the State.

proposition was

At

this

meeting a

made

such of the proprietors

as should within two years from that time build a

dam

and

mills

upon the Saranac, the exclusive

mill-lot of fifty acres,

title

to the

Fredenburgh Falls

and

to

one hunits

dred acres lying on the north side of the river at

mouth.
Piatt, Piatt,

This proposition was accepted by Zephaniah

Peter

Piatt

Newcomb, Nathaniel Rogers, Charles Piatt, Thomas Treadwell,

Tappen,
Zaccheus
of the associates

Simon
Israel

R. Reeves, Melancton Smith, Jonathan Lawrence,

Smith and John Addams, twelve

at

who met
agreed
"

the

house of Judge Zephaniah

Piatt

in

Poughkeepsie on the 30th December, 1784, and mutually

to be jointly

concerned

in the building of a saw-

mill, grist-mill

and a forge on the

to

river

Saranac the next

summer, each

advance an equal proportion of money.

augeu" (pirogue)
of a

They
Piatt

also agreed to build a " petty

size,

moderate

and

to

purchase twine for a seine.

for the

Judge

was appointed agent

at $541,

company.

The expense
^100;

was estimated
Irons,

as

follows:

Millstones,
;

^125;

Nails,

$37.50; Iron, $16

cloth,

Transportation,

$15; Saw, $7.50; Bolting

$15

Pork, $So; Bread,

title

$65

Rum

$So}

On
and

the 6th February, 1785, the

to the 100 acres

to the

Fredenburgh
It

Falls mill-lot
of

was vested
the

in the twelve

by deed.

was the intention

company

to

procure the iron ore for the forge from a

State, lying
of

bed owned by the

on the borders
Point,

of the lake,

about eieht miles north

1

Crown

known
!

as the

Eighty dollars for rum and only

sixty-five for

bread

but they were

buildinjr a srist-niill.

8
"

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.
1784, chapter 63, 4,]

Skeene's ore bed;" [Laws of

and, for this purpose, they obtained permission from the

State to take ore from that bed for the term of ten years.

Laws

of 1785, chapter 57, 3.]

this section in 1763,

Mr. WilHam GilHland, who visited

says of the Saranac
this river,
:

"

Proceeded about two miles up

to be

which proved
its
is

much
;

larger than the Bouat

quet,

and rapid from

mouth up
a
rift,

about 400 yards

from the lake there

conveniently
will
lifted,
fall

where the water may be

it

and, by carrying

about 200 yards,

feet that

produce a
raised
^

of about 10 feet,

which with two

will

may be
a
It

by a small stony dam,

be enough for

mill."

At

the head of these rapids the

dam was

built.

crossed the stream at the bend of the

rods above the present dam.
side of the
grist-mill
river,

river, forty

or

fifty

A forge

was erected

on the west
saw-mill,

near the dam, and a small

thirty rods below.

and a

some twenty or

These

mills

were supplied with water through a flume,

river.

passing along the margin of the

eight feet in height.

The dam was about

The frame
22d

of the saw-mill

was raised on Monday, the

last

of June, 1785,

and as the

pin was driven home,

Cornelius Haight, one of the workmen, proclaimed the

mill " the glory

of the Saranac."

The proprietors also set apart 997 acres, as gift lots, to the first persons who should settle on the patent, and laid
out 30
lots of

100 acres each, to be sold at a

"

low

rate."

These

lots

included

some

of the best lands in the township.

in

The

" gift lots"

*

were twelve

number. Number one, which

p. 117.

"Watson's Champlain Valley,"

PLATTSBURGH
contained 6i
Street,
acres, lay north

VILLAGE.

and adjoining Cornelia

to the

and extended from the Convent D'Youville

This
lot

lake shore.

was given

to Charles

Piatt,

who

also received lot two, containing 67 acres,

which adjoined
three,

number one on
lot

the north.

Next north was number

containing 100 acres, conveyed to

Thomas

Allen.

This

extended as far west as the Bailey farm.

Jabez Pettit

received

number

four,

which

also

extended from the lake

shore to the line of the Bailey farm, and was bounded on

the north by the Boynton road.

Numbers five, six, seven and

B. Hart-

eight contained 81 acres each, and were given, in the order

named,

to

Kinner Newcomb, Mr. Sexton, John

wick, and Derrick

Webb, and included

lot.

all

the territory

lying west of Catherine Street, to an extension south of

the east bounds of the school

Number nine

contain-

ed 81 acres, and was given to Cyrenus Newcomb.

lot

This

was bounded by the school

lot

on the west and by the

old

Beekmantown road on

the east.

Number

ten,

which

contained 50 acres, lay on the opposite side of this road,

and included the Bailey homestead farm and a portion

of the

Boynton farm, lying south

to

of the

Boynton

road.

This was given

Moses Soper.

Jacob Ferris received

all

number
territory

eleven, containing

120 acres, including

the

on the

east side of the river, extending south as far

as the

bend

of the river, near old Fort

Brown. This

lot ex-

tended twenty-five feet into the

half its water power.

river,

and included one-

given to Charles

Number twelve, which was also Piatt, who received numbers one and

two, contained 94 acres. This lot lay north of the Boyn-

ton road and included the east portion of the farm lately

owned by Mr. Hewitt.

lO

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

The 30
a
"

lots of

100 acres each, set apart to be sold at

low

rate,"

were also advantageously located, including

all

the territory on the Boynton road as far west as the

lot,"

"

Glebe

and that on the Plank Road and Rugar

Street, as far west as Thorn's corners.

Of these
23, 1785,

lots

there had been sold, as early as

August

on the

Boynton

road,

lot

one

to

Peter

Roberts, lot

two to

Charles McCreedy, lot three to John Kelly, lot five to

Melancton L. Woolsey, and

liam Mitchell.
lot ten to

lots

seven and eight to Wil-

On

the west road,

lot

now

the plank road,

Daniel Averill,

eleven to Joseph Wait, lot

lot

seventeen to Simeon Newcomb,

eighteen to Daniel
;

Newcomb, lot fourteen to Mr. Saxton and on road or Rugar Street, lots nine, thirteen and
and
lot

the south
fifteen,

to
Jr.,

Daniel Averill, Nathan Averill, and Daniel Averill,

twenty to Samuel Beeman.

the

On
81
lots,

23d day of August, the proprietors divided

24,300 acres

among

themselves.

The

division

embraced

one-third containing 200 acres, one-third 300 acres,

and the remaining one-third 400 acres each.

tion

The

appor-

ment was made by

']'],

ballot.

Simon R. Reeves drew

lots 6, 31, 58, 10, 33,

19,46,72

2,700

acres.
15, 40,

Simon
74

R. Reeves and John Addams, numbers

acres.

900
Isreal

Zacheus Newcomb,
21,

16, 30,59,

900
acres.

acres.

and Samuel Smith,

51, 73
I,

900

Zephaniah
acres.

Piatt, 20,47, 68, 22, 29, 65,

52,

63,3,42,663,600
acres.

John Addams,
and Son,
38,69
14, 35,

5,

39,

55,

900
acres.

Burnett Miller
23,
12,

62

900

Melancton Smith,

900 acres. 48,60 900 56, 900

7'

Charles Piatt and Piatt Rogers,

acres.

Thomas Storm and Lewis

Piatt Rogers,
17, 43,

Barton,

32,

acres.

67

900

PLATTSBURGH
acres.

VILLAGE.

Peter Taylor, Benjamin Smith and Albert An2,

drance,
Berrien,

28,

57

900

acres.

Benjamin Walker, John

25,
37,

and Andrew
Piatt,

Billings,

78

900

acres.

Nathaniel
3,600.

11,50,76,79,36,64,8,27,54,4,41,81

Nathaniel Tom, Jonathan Lawrence, and Eben-

ezer Mott, 13, 44, 75

900
53

acres.

Benjamin Calkins, Ben26, 80,

jamin Titus, and Jacobus and Samuel Swartout,

70

900

acres.

William Floyd, Ezra L'Homedieu, and

John Smith,
24, 45, 71
iel

18, 49,

900

acres.

Thomas Tread well,

900
9,

acres,

and Philip Schuyler and Nathanacres.

North rup,

34,61

900

Prior to this division, the town had been organized

and town

officers

duly elected.

The

first

town meet-

ing was held at the dwelling-house of Charles Piatt, on

the third
pervisor,

Tuesday

of June,

785.

Mr. Piatt was elected SuPiatt,

and Zaccheus Newcomb, Nathaniel

Commissioners
of

and

Piatt Rogers,

Highways.

On

the ist
to the

day

of October, the

Commissioners made return

town clerk

of the public

highways
still

laid out in the town.

Many

of these roads are

in existence,

and form the

principal highways of the town.

number, however,

which appear
never opened.

to have

been

laid

out at this time, were

The

earliest

complete record of town

officers

have

found are those for the year 1786.

The town meeting

Charles Piatt

was held on Tuesday, the 3d day

of April.

was elected Supervisor; Kinner Newcomb, John Ransom, and Jacob Ferris, Assessors; John Ransom,
Clerk
;

Town
Ferris,

Darick Webb, Jonas Allen, and Jacob

;

Overseers of the Poor

Samuel Beeman, Cyrenus New-

PLATTSBURGII
B.

VILLAGE.

comb, and John

Hartwick, Commissioners of High-

ways

Darick

Webb

and Cyrenus Newcomb, Appraisers

;

of Insolvent Estates

Thomas

Allen, Allen Smith, and

Abraham Montee, Constables; Thomas Allen, Collector; Col. Edward Antill, Capt. Benjamin Mooers, and Major
Golvin, Commissioners of
trict
;

Roads

in the

Northern Dis-

Kinner Newcomb and Lewis Reynolds, Fence

;

Viewers

and Jacob

Ferris,

Kinner Newcomb, Samuel

Beeman, Jonas Allen, Titus Andrus, Joseph Thurber,

Capt. Montee, and Mr. Harden, Pathmasters.

Jacob Ferris,

who owned

the water-power on the east-

side of the river, built a saw-mill at the east

end
it.

of the

dam, and a

grist-mill a short distance

below

(See

Record

of Deeds, Liber K., p. 199.)

fulling-mill, dye-

house, and mill-house were subsequently erected, on the

same
to

side of the river.

In November, 1787, Ferris conof his

veyed an undivided half

water privilege and mills

half to

Benjamin Mooers, and the other

in

Theodorus

Piatt,
1

October,

1792.

On

the

8th of

November,

796, Mr.

Mooers conveyed
Piatt.

his interest in the property

to

Zephaniah

The
also
to

mill property

on the opposite
In

side of the river

ber,

had

changed owners.
one hundred

Novem-

1797, the

title

the

acres, except

twelve building

lots, laid
title

out by Piatt Rogers, as surveyor,

in

79 1, and the

of so

much

of the Ferris lot as

had
in

been

set apart for mill purposes,

Piatt,

had become vested

Zephaniah

Theodorus
;

Piatt,

and Melancton Smith,

as tenants in

common

Zephaniah Piatt owning an undifourth.

vided

half,

and the others each a

In this year, 1797, the old

dam

at the

bend

of the

PLATTSBURGH
river

VILLAGE.
site of

was torn down, and a new one, about fourteen

on or near the

feet

high, ^\as erected

the present dam,

and new
198.)

mills built there. (See 17 Johnson's N. Y. Reports,

race or canal

was

also

dug across

to " Clark's

Landing," and a forge and fulling-mill were built on the

low land near

this time, stood

its

mouth.

The

grist-mill, erected

about
fifty

near the west end of the dam, about

street.

feet

back from the

This mill was destroyed by a

freshet a few years afterwards,

mill

when

the location of the

was changed

to the site of the present stone mill

on

the east side of the river.

several persons were

At
in

the time of this freshet

engaged

removing the machinery

;

from the

when the building fell all escaped except Daniel Robinson, who was carried down the stream as far
mill,

as Mr. Sailly's ashery, one hundred rods below, where he

was rescued by persons standing on the

the water subsided, the

shore.

When
The

millstone was found at the place

of the river.

where Robinson had been drawn out

"Governor" declared
and floated upon
probable,
still

that

when he found
to

the mill was

tumbling to pieces, he clung

it

the millstone for safety,

to that point.

The

story seems im-

the fact that the stone was found at the

is

place where he landed,

freshet

evidence of

its

truth.

This

was

for

many

years afterwards referred to as the

the river on a mill-

one

"

when Gov. Robinson rode down

mill property

stone."

While the
Piatt,

was owned by Zephaniah

is

Theodorus

Piatt

and Mclancton Smith, what

This

now known
was
laid out

as the

" eight-and-one-half

acres mill-lot,"

and appropriated to

mill purposes.

PLATTSBURGH
all

VILLAGE.
upon both
title to

inclLidcd
river.

the mill privileges

sides of the

In December, 1817, the

in

the whole property

is

became vested
ner
in

Levi Piatt.

The
Piatt

following
his title
:

the

manand

which Judge Piatt acquired

In 1797, as
one-half,

has been stated, Zephaniah

owned

Theodorus
Zephaniah

Piatt

and Melancton Smith each one-fourth.

died in 1808, devised one-fourth to
to Levi in

Piatt, wdio

his son James,

who conveyed

November, 1809.

He
who
L.,

devised his remaining one-fourth to his son David,

died before his father.

This portion went to ZephJames, Charles

aniah Piatt's eleven surviving children.

and Jonas, conveyed

their interest to Levi in 1809-10,

and Levi took one forty-fourth

as heir.

The

title to

the

remaining seven parts was acquired by Levi by commissioner's deed on a sale in partition.

Theodorus

Piatt

conveyed
out,

his one-fourth, in July, 1803, to

to

Barnadus Swart-

who conveyed

Melancton Smith, Sidney Smith,

Bleeker was a party

and John Bleeker,

to the partition suit.

in June, 1804.

Melancton and Sidney Smith conto

veyed their interest

Levi

Piatt, in

December, 181

7.

The

elder

Melancton Smith died

in

possession of his

one-fourth,

which was subsequently sold on execution

\Mckoff, in No-

against his heirs and devisees, and conveyed by sheriff's

deed

to

John Suydam and Henry

1

S.

vember,

8 10.

partition suit.
ber, 181
7.

Suydam and Wickoff were parties to the They also joined in the deed of DecemBank
of

In May, 1827, the

to
all

Plattsburgh acquired

title

the water-power in

the eight-and-one-half

acre

mill-lot,

and

also to land lying north of Bridge Street,

on

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

the east side of the river,"which was not tlien considered

a portion of the mill property.

The Trustees

of the

Bank subdivided

that portion

of the eight-and-one-half

acre lot adjacent to the river, and the lots on the north
side of Bridge Street into eight mill-lots,

and

after reserv-

ing for the grist-mill a supply of water

suflficient for

eight

run of stones, allotted the residue of the water to these

mill-lots, in the

proportion of one-third to the west side

to the east side of the river.

and two-thirds

tion thus allotted to each side

lots

The proporwas subdivided among the

lying on the respective sides.

one, adjoining the

On

the east side

number

dam, and number two, lying

enti-

between number one and Bridge Street, were each

tled to two-elevenths.

Numbers

three and four, lying on

the north side of Bridge Street, to the

same

quantity,
last,

and number

five,

which

lay north

and below the two

to three-elevenths.

On

the west side,

number

six,

adjoinallot-

ing the dam, was entitled to one-fifth of the water

ted to that side of the river,

and number seven, adjoining

but below the dam, and number eight, which fronted on

Bridge Street, to two-fifths each.

All of this mill property was sold at public auction,

by the
mill-lots

trustees,

in

July, 1829.

The

grist-mill,

and the

numbers

one, six

and seven, were purchased by

Richard Yates, as trustee for certain State Banks, and

the remaining lots by John Palmer.
sale,

At the time

of this

a small portion only of this water-power was in use.

six,

On

the west side of the dam, on lot

a brick building

stood, used as a wool-carding

and cloth-dressing estab-

lishment.

An

old saw-mill stood in the stream, just be-

PLATTSBURGH
lot

VILLAGE.
oil-mill.^

low the dam, on

eight,

seven, and an old building on lot

which had been used as an

the saw-mill over

Access was

had

to

a causeway of slabs, leading

river

from Bridge Street between the

and the

oil-mill.

These three
were

buildings, with an old rickety saw-mill at

the east end of the dam, on lot one, and the grist-mill,
all

the works then connected with the water-power

at this

dam.

An

old red building stood on the south

side of the street near the east

end

of the

bridge,

and

a small
street.

wooden building on the opposite

side of the

dwelling, which the miller generally occupied,

stood on the west side of Green Street in rear of the old

Israel

Green Hotel, and there were three small dwellings

of a

on the south side

passage-way running along the

bank

of the river opposite the

Upper
after

Island.
his purchase, con-

Judge Palmer, immediately

structed a flume, for the supply of lots two, three, four,

and

five.

He

also, in

1830, built a

dam about

half a

mile further up the river, at the Covered Bridge, on which

Mr. Cyrus Waterhouse, the next year, erected a small

saw-mill.
In 1835,

Ashley Clark erected works

for saw-

ing marble at this dam.

In the spring of 1833, Judge

side of Bridge Street

Palmer sold
at the lower

lot " four,"

on the north

dam,

to- Clark,

Reynolds

&

McGregor, who
similar building

erected works for sawing marble.

was subsequently erected by

Hill,

Stephenson

&

Board-

man on

lot

" five."

At

these mills, and at the marble

mills of Mr. Clark, at the

upper dam, large quantities of

quarries were sawed.
in 1821.

marble from the

1

Isle

La Motte

The

oil-mill

was started by John Mallory,

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

In 1833, Douglass L. Fouquet purchased the east

half of lot
"

three,"

on which he erected a large wooden

building.

Here

C. S. Bliss

&
J.

Co. carried on the carding

for a short time,

and cloth-dressing business

were succeeded by Hiram

when they
trans-

Bentley,

ferred his interest to Mr. Fouquet.

who in 1835 At this time

(1835)

Noyes

P.

Gregory carried on the carding and cloth-dress-

ing business at the west end of the bridge.

Horace
Clark,

Boardman had
erected on

small

foundry in a stone building

the marble mill of
operation,

number "five;"

McGregor
woollen
factory.

&

Co. was in

full

and the small

building at the east end of the bridge, near Fouquet's

mill,

was occupied by E. H. Barnum

S.

as a

comb

William Palmer and Charles

Mooers occu-

pied the stone building which had been erected in 1833,

on the

site of

the old oil-mill, as a cotton factory.

Cor-

nelius Halsey

&

Co. had another cotton factory in the

brick building at the west end of the dam.

Owing

to

the great difficulty and expense of reaching a southern

market during eight months

of the year,

and the small

capacity of these establishments, the manufacture of cot-

ton cloth was soon abandoned.

also closed after a

few years.

The marble At or about

The

mills
this

were
time,

Peleg T. Stafford and James Smith had a small machine

shop

in rear of the

Fouquet building.

old saw-mill

continued in a dilapidated condition, and was used for

custom work only.

J.

It

continued so until

846,

when

F.

&

S.

W.

Barnard, of Albany, erected a large saw-mill

at that place.

After C. Halsey

&

Co. had discontinued

the manufacture of cotton cloth, the brick building was

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

used principally as a wheelwright and cabinetmaker's

shop, until about the year 1859,

when

it

was torn down

and a saw-mill erected by Mr. Tefft

in its })lace.

Having
of the

"

glanced

"

at the early history of that portion

one hundred

acres,

which

is

directly connected
let

with the mill privileges at this place, time

us return to the

when
lots

the twelve building lots were laid out, in 1791.

These

extended west as
acres,

far as the

west

line of the

one hundred

which was about ten rods east from

all

the present line of Catharine Street, and included

territory

the

now bounded

north by Cornelia Street, south by

the

brow

of the hill in rear of

Broad

Street,

and east by

Margaret

Street, as laid out

between Cornelia and Brinkcontinued to the

river.

erhoff Street,

and that
all

line

They

contained in
of

about forty-three acres of land, and were

uniform depth, east and west, but varied in width from

seven to eleven rods.

Although these
1791,
1797,
I

lots

were surveyed

and apportioned

in

do not find that any portion

was occupied

until

when Doctor Chauncey Fitch

of the present

bought number two, north

Court House,
of

and the same year erected a dwelling on the east end

the
lot.

In February of that year,

number
the

five

was conSeptem-

veyed

to Mrs.

Phebe Ketchum, who,

lot in

as appears from the

record of deeds, lived on the

month
in

of

ber following.

The

next year, William and James Bailey

the southeast
site

purchased about one-fourth of an acre

corner of number
jewelry
store,
five,

near the present

of

Reed's

upon

which they erected a

by Bailey
efifice,

store, sub-

sequently occupied
Piatt

&

Piatt.

Theodorus

had a small

near a deep ravine south o

PLATTSBURGH
this
store.

VILLAGE.

These buildings fronted upon

the unoc-

cupied lands of the mill owners.

At

that time there

were no other buildings

in this section of the settlement

until 3^ou reached the vicinity of the block-house,

"

on the

south road."

Near

this block house, Peter

Roberts had

built a blacksmith shop.

Beyond were
lots.

several dwellings

erected on one of the gift

Piatt

Prior to 1795, Nathaniel

had become the owner

Broad

of all the land

"

on the south
" of

side of

Street, west of the

building lots

the

mill proprietors.
lots,

These he had
which

laid

out into 17 building

called the city lots, of

12 lay to the west of the

block-house, and 5 to the east.

building stood on the north bank of the river, a

of the present railroad crossing, then

few rods west

or

soon afterwards occupied by Piatt

&

Mooers, as a

store..

Next
1

east,

was the residence

of

Peter Sailly, erected in

795-6, with a store-house and ashery upon the bank of

the river opposite his dwelling.

Next

east of

Mr

Sailly 's,

stood a dwelling-house, built by Charles Piatt, and then

occupied by Benjamin Graves, and beyond were three or

four dwellings, and on the bank of the lake a block-house,

which was then used

as a

Court-House and

Jail.

On

the

east side of the river,

John Clark had

built a

house upon

the site of the old Fredenburgh house, which was occu-

pied by
ern.
river,
" "

him and subsequently by

of this building, at

Israel

Green, as a tav-

small store-house stood on the margin of the

the place then called
also

back

Clark's Landinsf."

There were

two

buildinurs

on
In
lot

the point," which had been built by Jacob Ferris.

1

September,

793,

John Lewis Fouquet purchased the

2

20

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.
wliicli

now owned by Mr.

dwelling,

Lansing, upon

he erected a
Piatt
built

and soon afterwards

Zephaniah
as

the

"homestead,"

now known

the

"government

house."

These

buildings, with the mills

1

and the mill-houses

attached, constituted, about

798, nearly the entire settle-

ment within the present

time,

limits of the village.

Up
;

to this

no

streets

had been projected or opened

being the

the only

thoroughfares

common
"

highways, leading
proprietors' mills,"
in

from the surrounding country to the

as they
ber.

were

called.

These highways were four

as

numroaid,"

One known
another

the

"

Cumberland Head
South

passing along the north bank of the river to the foot of

the bay
;

known

as

"

Street,"

which lead

past Roberts's blacksmith shop, to the settlements in the

western and south-western parts of the township

another
inter-

known
known

as " the road to

Beekman's Patent," which

sected South Street near the Roberts shop, and a fourth

as the " Peru
east

Road," which crossed the bridge

and ran along the

the lake, to the

bank

of the river

and the shore of

mouth

of the

Salmon River and beyond.

South Street, between
shop,

There was
Theodorus
margin

also a short

road from Clark's tavern to the

point.

two Ferris buildings on the

Piatt's
ofifice

and Roberts's

was a

crooked way, passing through the pine bushes along the

of a ravine.
its

Although

population at this time could not have

fifty,

exceeded two hundred and

theless

the village had never-

become a place

of

considerable

importance.

Plattsburgh was the shiretown of a large tract of country,

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

extending to Lake George on the south and to the banks

of

the

St.

Lawrence on the

west.

Courts were held

here, at

which the principal

citizens of the

county

as-

sembled, as ofHcers, jurors, witnesses or suitors, or to

confer together in relation to the political and local questions of the day.
Its

merchants controlled the business

of a large section of country, collecting pot and pearl

ashes and furs for export, and sending, yearly, long rafts
of timber to the of the ten

Quebec market.

When
St.

the inhabitants

townships upon the river

Lawrence

peti-

tioned the legislature of 1802 for the organization of the

county

of

St.
"

Lawrence, they based their application

difficulty,

upon the
jurors

extreme

troubles

and expenses,
attending at
Platts-

and witnesses must be subject

to, in

such a distance, together with the attendance at

burgh

for arranging

and returning the town

had resulted

business."

similar complaint, three years before, by the inhabi-

tants of

Crown

Point,

in the organization of

Essex County.

These changes did not

affect the busiit

ness or prosperity of the village, while

inhabitants of

relieved

the

Crown

Point and of ten townships from a

most serious inconvenience. In Winterbothani's America,

vol.

ii.

p.

324,

the

author refers to the early prosperity of the

the intelligence
of the
:

village,

and

first

settlers,

in

the

following

quaint language

"

They have
glass

artisans of almost every

kind

among

them, and furnish

building,

among

themselves
Polite

all

the

materials

for

excepted.

circles

may

here be found, and the genteel traveller be enter-

tained with the luxuries of a sea-port, a tune on the

22

PLATTSBURGII

VILLAGE.

harpsicord, aiid a philosophical conversation."

This was

Plattsburgh in 1792.

*'

known that New York was originally a Slave State." The " institution," however, never flourIt is

well

ished in this or in any of the Northern States

if

result,

we may judge from

the efforts of Massachusetts to

continue the slave-trade, attributable more to the influence of climate, than to the principles of the people.

Gerrit Smith encountered and was repulsed by the

same

obstacles of climate, when, a few years ago, he attempted

to settle the blacks

among the hills and snows of his Franklin County lands. The influence of a northern
1

climate led to the enactment of a law, in

798, for the

gradual emancipation of slaves.

18
4,
1

This was followed, in

slaves,

7,

by an act declaring that

;

all

born after July

or, if

1799, should be free

if

male, at the age of 28,

female, at the age of 25.

In 1790, the whole

21,324, of

number

of slaves in the State

in

was
In
fifty-

which seventeen resided

this county.

1800, the
eight.

number

in this

county had increased to

From

this time the

number gradually

decreased.

In

810, as

shown by the census, there were but twentyrecords

"

nine slaves in the county.

The town

show

that

on the i6th day of

August, 1794, the

negro

man
his

Hick, and Jane, his wife,"

In

were manumitted by Judge Treadwell.

following.

September

Hick bought

daughter Cynthia of the

Judge

for seventeen

pounds

(^42.50).

Judge Treadwell,

about this time, also manumitted his

man York ;

Brist

was manumitted by John Addams,

in April, 1803,

and

PLATTSBURGH
Will, in

VILLAGE.

23

November, 1804.
"

On
Gin

the ist of January, 1806,

his
"

Benjamin Mooers manumitted

"

negro

girl,

Ann,^'

and Robert
1806.

Piatt

gave

her freedom, in

May,

On

the 6th of January,

Piatt

1808, the executors of

Zephaniah

manumitted

Cato,

and

in

May

of the

same

year, Peter Sailly,

manumitted Dean and her three

William Bailey,
Pete.
also,

Abel and Caty. on that day, manumitted his man

children, Francis,

The town books

service.

also contain the records of the birth

of sixteen children, born of slave

mothers and held to

Some

of these are

still

living
of

and reside

in this

county.

One, born on the 28th

December, 18 14, was

named Sir George Provost a compliment of which the commander of the British forces at the siege of Plattsburgh
was probably never informed, and could
fully appreciate.
I

not, therefore,

have referred to two block-houses, as standing here

in 1798.

One
of

stood on the bank of the lake, on the farm

of Elric L. Nichols; the other

was within the present

J.

bounds

Broad

Street, near the residence of the late

D. Woodward.

This

latter

was erected

for the protec-

tion of the inhabitants at the time

try

when

the whole coun-

apprehended a general Indian war.

For several years

the settlers in that locality were accustomed to pass the

night within
for

its

walls.

This block-house was never used

of refuge

any other purpose than as a house

from fan-

cied danger.

The one on
first

the lake shore was built in

jail.

1789, and was at

intended for a

[See act

passed March
of Clinton

3,

1789, which recites that the inhabitants

to build a block-house at

County are disposed

24

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

Plattsburgh, to be used as a

jail,

&c.]

It

was afterwards

enlarged and used as a court-house and school-house,

and as a place

of public
1

worship.

The court-room was

not completed until

in 1806,
it

796.

At

the annual town meeting

was voted to repair the old block-house, with a

it,

brick chimney, and glaze

and that

it

be used as a Poor-

House.

On
met

the 9th June, 1788, the leading

men

of the

county

in this village to take their official oaths of office

and

organize our county government.

Melancton L. Wool-

sey administered the oath of office to Judge Charles Piatt,

who,

in turn, "

swore

in "

Mr. Woolsey as County Clerk.

table,

Then

the

other county officers approached the

roll

signed the

and severally swore that they would support

;

the Constitution of the United States

that they

renounced

and abjured allegiance

to "

all

and every foreign King,

all

Prince, Potentate and State, in

tical as well as civil,"

the matters, ecclesiasfaithfully per-

and that they would

form the duties

pointed.

of

the office to which they had been apSheriff,

Benjamin Mooers took the oath as

and

Abraham Beman, Stephen

as

Taylor, and Zacheus Peaslee,

deputies
;

John

Fontfreyde
Piatt,

and John Stewart, as

;

coroners

Theodorus

as surrogate

Peter Sailly,

William McAuley, Pliny Moore, and Robert Cochran, as

Associate Justices; Charles Piatt, Theodorus Piatt, William McAuley, Pliny Moore,

Murdoch McPherson, Wil-

liam

Beaumont, George Tremble, Robert Cochran and

Charles Hay, as Justices of the Peace; and Kinner

New-

comb, as deputy

clerk.

The

first

Court

of Sessions

for the

county

of Clinton

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.
Judge Chas.

2$
Piatt presided,

was held

in

October,

788.
Piatt,

assisted by

Theodorus

Pliny Moore, Peter Sailly,

William McAuley, and Robert Cochran, as Associate

Justices.

Benjamin Mooers was

Sheriff,

and Melancton

L. Woolsey, Clerk.

The

coroner, four constables and

seventeen grand jurors were in attendance.

Of the

latter

sixteen were sworn in and one was set aside " for refusing
to take the oath of allegiance."

This jury, the

first

grand

inquest which assembled in Northern

its

New

York, closed

labors by indicting two of

its

members
term

for official mis-

conduct.

They were

tried at the next

of the court,

when
fined.

one was acquitted and the other convicted and

The

courts were very strict to enforce prompt attendance

of jurors

on the part
grand and
overlooked.

and

officers.

The

records are

filled

with orders imposing fines upon dilatory constables and

petit

jurymen.

The Bench was not

first

always

In 1825, two of the Associate Judges were

indicted for "

not attending at court the

1827, for the

day,"
this

and
day

two others,

in

same

offense.

At

(1876) a venerable old gentleman resides in the village

who remembers

that,

in

1828, he

was indicted

for the

heinous crime of ''holding stakes at a

/lorse-race,''

and

wonders why, now-a-days, people can

at horse
societies.

pul^licly sell pools

trots

under the auspices

of

our agricultural

The minutes

of the

Oyer and Terminer

for 1828 in" for

form us that one Andrew Clark was indicted

ling a misdemeanor."
of the people

inveig-

What

offense against the peace

at-

and their dignity the seductive Andrew

26

PLATTSBURGH
to

VILLAGE.
is

tempted

wheedle with

soft words,

not stated.

It

was evidently

of a local character, for the Circuit

Judge
Su-

ordered the case to the General Sessions.

In August, 1796,

Judge Egbert Benson,

at the
first

of

the

preme Court, presided

held in the county.

Oyer and Terminer

Court were subseJr.,

Terms

of this

quently held here by John

Lansing,

James Kent,

Morgan Lewis, Smith Thompson, Ambrose Spencer,

Wm.

N.

Van

Ness, Joseph C. Yates, Jonas Piatt, and

John Woodworth.

Reuben H. Walworth held

1823.

his first

Circuit in this county, in June,

These Courts

were held

at the old
jail

Block-House

until 1803,

when a Courtwas burnt by

House and
ing
lots.

were completed on one

of the twelve build.

This new building cost $2,75 1

It

order of General
in
fire
1

Macomb, during the

siege of Plattsburgh,

8 14,

was rebuilt in 181 5- 16, and again destroyed by

in 1836.

At

this last fire, the outer walls reniained

uninjured, and

form the walls of the present Court-

House.'

The

first trial for

felony before the

Oyer and Termito imprison-

ner was in 1797, Judge

Lansing presiding, when one

David Smith was convicted and sentenced

ment

for ten years at hard labor.

He was

to be confined

in the jail of

Albany County
counterfeiters.

until the State Prison

ready for the reception of prisoners.

was showed The court

At the June term, 1808, Smith Thompson presiding, Thomas Munsel, David Judge
to

no mercy

Ransom, and William Barns, were convicted

>

of this offense

The June term

in

1797 and in 179S was held "at the Block-House in

Willsborough."

PLATTSBURGII

VILLAGE.
life in

27
the State

and each sentenced

to be

imprisoned for

Prison, in the city of

New

York, and David Langly was

"

sentenced to fourteen years' imprisonment for

ing
" to

attempt-

pass counterfeit money.

fifteen

Between the years 1825

and 1837,

persons were convicted as counterfeiters

and seventeen
in

for

breaking

jail.

Of the

last, six

escaped
Jail

the

fall

of

1828.

The

last

was a "General

Delivery," through a hole cut into the court-room above

the prison.
In olden
times, the

administration of the laws was

attended with more ceremony and parade than at the

present day.
his

The
the

Presiding Judge was escorted from

rooms
;

to

Court-House, by the sheriff and his

officers

the attending deputies and constables bearing

long white w^ands, or white staves tipped with black.

the judge, with measured step, picked his

As

way through
surrounding

the dust or

mud

of the

unpaved

streets, the

crowd would wonder, as did the

burn,"

citizens of "

Sweet Au-

when they looked upon the well-filled head of the village master. Although many of the forms and ceremonies of those early days were not in harmony
with the republican character of the people, there was

much
bar.
I

to

admire

in

the refined and educated dignity of

the bench, and the courteous tone and

manner

of

the

cannot here omit a remarkable instance

of the care

manifested by the local judges for the comfort of impris-

oned debtors.

The

records of the

Common
of the

Pleas

show

that immediately

upon the completion

"a

new Court-

House, an order was made that

passage from Caleb

28

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

Nichols's tavern to the

jail

yard and

liberties."

new Court-House be added to the The debtors, however, had rea-

son to complain of one clause of the order.

The passage
and was to
in force until to a

was confined
be in a

to a

space three feet

in width,

strait line.

This order Pemained

limits of the jail

May, 1805, when the

line
"

were extended

one half

of a mile

from the Court-House,

like their

in all

directions,"

and from that time debtors,

more

prosperous neighbors, could use both sides of the streets

when

returning from the tavern.^

of the

Another instance

sympathy

of

our local judges

of

for the distressed, occurred in 1805, in the case

The

People against Charles Langley.

The defendant had been

indicted for horse-stealing and let to bail. Subsequently he

had removed from the State on proceedings being instituted

against

him by

the town authorities, on a complaint of his

being the putative father of an illegitimate child.

cation

On

appli-

made by

the bail to be released, the following order

was entered
"May
The

in the

minutes

of the court

7,1805. The defendant having been committed (?;/ suxpicion of stealing a horse, was, on appearances of favorable circumstances, admitted
1

jail limits,

as established in 1804, indicate the buildings in the vicin:

ity of the

" From the Court-House south to the at that time house of Abram Travis, and from there to the houses occupied by Caleb Nichols, Marinus F. Durand, John Nichols, George Marsh, Theodorus Piatt, Jesse Kilburn, Benjamin Wood, and the new house owned by said Kilburn (corner Broad and Margaret streets), and the brew-house (opposite the present Post Office) also, north from the Court-House, to include the house lately occupied by Chauncey Fitch and now by Kilney Grey, and thence eastwardly, to the houses occupied by David Broadwell, Abraham

Court-House

Beeman, Peter

Sailly,

east they included

James Savage, and Charles Parsons, Jr." On the " the forge, mills and buildings belonging to the works

on the north side of the forge ditch, also, the fulling-mill and shop, and Israel Green's house and lot, and the saw-mill on the river, near the bridge, and the grist-mill and dam."

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.
;

29

to bail, and found sureties in $50 for his appearance at this Court but being: afterwards threatened, in consequence of an amour, he was forced to fly. The Court thereupon discharge the sureties from their recognizance, but order it continued against the principal. Court then rose till 2 o'clock in the after-

noon."

Could a Court be more tender

of the feeliiiijs o
;

of a

prisoner or of the pockets of his sureties

and can we

wonder that

after

such an exhibition of
!

its

sympathy, the

Court adjourned for refreshments

Prior to the year 1800, there were but three resident

attorneys in this village: Adrial Peabody,

ted to the bar in
Miller

who was

admit-

1795, and Caleb Nichols and

in 1796-7.

Eleazer

who were admitted

Before this time

the principal business of the Courts

had been transacted

by attorneys residing
cuit with the judges.

at a distance,

who

travelled the cir-

In May, 1802, Silas Hubbell and

to

Jonathan Griffen were admitted

bar;
Giliad

the Clinton

County
and

John Warford
Sperry
in

in

1805;

Julius C. Hubbell

1808;

Reuben H. Walworth, John

in 1812.
2,

Palmer, and Asa Hascall in 1810; William Swetland and

Miles Purdy in 181
1,

and John Lynde

The
John
jamin

resident physicians, prior to 181

were Doctors

Miller,
J.

Chauncey

Fitch, Oliver Davidson,

first

and Ben-

Mooers.

The
in

three named, with the other

physicians of the county, organized the Clinton

County
of

Medical Society,
ber, 1807.

this village,

on the 6th day

Octo-

Doctor Mooers commenced the study

in

of

medi-

cine with Doctor Miller,

the

summer

of

1806, and
in

was examined and licensed

uary,
1

to practice

medicine

Jan-

81

2.

He

had, however, practised extensively for

nearly two years prior to his admission as an assistant

to

Doctor

Miller.

30

TLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

During those early

bay abo'jnded with
flavor.

days, the waters of our river

and

fish of

great size and most dehcious

In the

months

of June, July,
in large

August and Septemwas then

of the

ber,

salmon were caught

numbers, with seine and

of the river

spear. ^

The water

at the

mouth

of sufificient

depth to

float the largest lake craft

day.

Vessels loaded and discharged their cargos in front

of Mr. Sailly's ashery,

on the north side

of the river,

and

at Clark's Landing, near the present stone mill,

on the

south side.

About

the year

1810,

Nathaniel Z. Piatt

built a store-house

on

"

the point," east of Fouquet's.

The

building was burned at the time of Col. Murray's

raid, in 181 3,

and was soon afterwards

wharf on the point,

rebuilt.

Carlisle
of the

D. Tylee
river,
1

built a

at the

mouth

near the

site of

the present railroad machine shop, in

of that year

8 16, and in

August

commenced charging
1

for

goods landed

there.

In the winter of

8 1 7-1

8, Mr.

Piatt

applied for a grant of land under water,

of erecting a
of vessels."

" for

the purpose

permanent wharf

for the

accommodation

store-house and dock were built the next

summer.

Until this time, pork, beef, &c., were unloaded

by casting the barrels into the lake and towing them

ashore.

Referring to Col. Murray's raid recalls two anecdotes

connected with that event.

River Street with Col.

The Colonel was walking up Durandand Mr. William Gilliland,

near-

who were

interceding for the protection of the private prop-

erty of the citizens.

The day was very warm, and when

Stave

ly opposite the present livery stable of

1

&

Ransom,

price

Salmon were caught here in large numbers had increased to one shilling per pound.

as late as 1825, but the

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

Murray took off

his.

hat and, with his handkerchief, wiped

the perspiration from his forehead. a paper dropped from his hat.
his

While thus engaged,

dropped
it

Gilliland adroitly

own handkerchief over

the paper and picked

up

unobserved.

This paper, on a subsequent examination,

was found

to contain information as to the best

mode

of

attack on Plattsburgh, together with a

map of
It

the

encampin the

ment and

military works at Burlington.

was

handwriting of one Joseph Ackley, who, about a year

previous, had

moved

into the village

from Canada, and

then resided in the small white house on Oak, near the

(now) corner of Couch Street.

His two daughters were

attending school at the Academy.

few days after

Murray's departure, Ackley was arrested, and, on an

examination before the Justices of the Peace, having admitted that he was the author of the letter, was sent to Albany,

but no one appearing against him, he was set at

and, with his family, returned to Canada.

liberty,

He was no

doubt a British emissary, more deserving of punishment

than William Baker, a sergeant of the 103d regiment
British Infantry,
of

who was executed

as a spy on the 26th

March, 18 14.

With the militia called out at the time of this raid, came Capt. Sherry's company of N. Y. State
Infantry.

When

the Captain reached the bank of the

Saranac, and saw the British vessels rapidly nearing the

shore,

he addressed his

men

with

few soul-inspir-

ing words, and, pointing to the approaching boats, ordered

them

to "'fight or

run as occasion might rcguirc"

It

was

an order timely given and promptly obeyed.

The men


32

PLATTSBURGH
if

VILLAGE.

did run, and

report

is

true, did

not stop until

they

reached the south bank of the Salmon River, near the

present village of Schuyler Falls.
ray had 1400

Considering that Mur-

men under
it.

his

command, the "occasion"

during the
late

seemed
lion
"

to require

An
I

officer

rebel-

improved upon Capt. Sherry's order by adding

as
I

and

am

little

lame,

will start

now."

It is

a fact worthy of note, that for

many

years boats
re-

passing through the lake did not enter our bay, but

ceived and discharged the freight shipped to or from the

village at

Cumberland Head.

The

"

Head

"

occupied a
Stores

prominent place

in the early history of the town. in

It

were established there

Fontfreyde, and others.
of
of
It

1786-7 by Peter

Sailly,

John

was

for

many

years the Port

all

Entry for the District

of

Champlain, where

entries

merchandise subject to duty were required to be made.

had also a direct communication with Grand

Isle

by

ferry.

Many
F.

of the

most prominent

citizens of the town,

including Benjamin Mooers,Theodorus Piatt, Peter Sailly,

Marinus

Durand, John Ransom, John Addams, MelancIn

ton L. Woolsey, and William Coe, had resided there.

August,

8 15,

John Nichols became the proprietor

of the

tavern at the old

Ransom landing, and gave

"

notice through

the columns of the

Republican',' that he

would run a
the partic-

stage between his house and the village,

ular

" for

accommodation

of passengers in

the steamboats."

Until 18 1 7, Mr. Nichols's wharf was the only landing in

this vicinity for the steamboats.

Notwithstanding the natural advantages of

its

location,

and the

intelligence, enterprise

and industry

of its inhab-

PLATTSBURGH
itants, the
first

VILLAGE.
was very gradual
1,

33
for the

growth

of the village

twenty-five years.

In 181

the village contained 78

dwelling-houses, 4 hotels,
offices.

13 stores and 11 shops and

Among

the merchants were

Co.,

Fouquet

&

Green,

Samuel Moore
White, John

&

McCreedy

&

McDowell, Lewis

Ransom, Carlyle D. Tylee, Benjamin G. Wood, Elijah

I.

and Roswell Wait, and

Piatt

&

Smith,

Several of the stores were then on Broad Street.

Trowon

bridge

Si

Seymour,

hatters,

occupied
is

building

Margaret Street, opposite what

now

Brinkerhoff Street.

The manufacturing
Broad
mill.

establishments, exclusive of carpenter

forge, a tannery

and wheelwright shops, were a small

Street,

on

two small saw-mills, a

grist-mill

and a

fulling-

The

only public building was the Court-House.

In October of this year, the mill

company

lands not

appropriated to mill purposes, were subdivided into building lots by Pliny Moore, William Bailey, and William

Keese,

who had been appointed by

the
is

Supreme Court

as commissioners in partition.

What
it

now known

as

the

"

Park," had been laid out as a public highway, eight

rods wide, as early as 1803, but

had remained enclosed

vil-

with the adjoining lands until their subdivision into

la2:e lots

bv the commissioners
1,

at this time.

In the Spring of 181

a public meeting was held in

Sailly,

the village,

at

which

Peter
Miller,

William

Bailey,

Melancton Smith, John

Griffin,

Samuel Moore, Jonathan

contributions, for

and Levi

Piatt,

were appointed a committee, with

authority to raise

money by voluntary

the purpose of purchasing a suitable lot and erecting an

Academy building.

The committee

selected a lot on

Oak

34
Street, to
street

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.
"

be bounded on the south by

a contemplated

to be laid
lot

out between the land of

seven," then

Melancton

Smith and

number

owned by Abraham
York.

Brinckerhoff,

Jr.,

of the city of

New

The

lot

was

four rods in front on

rods.

Oak

Street,

and extended back ten

On

the 14th of May, Mr. Brinckerhoff, in consid-

eration of $100, conveyed the lot to the committee, in

trust, " for

the purpose of erecting said

academy thereon."

The

building was immediately commenced, and was com-

pleted the

same

year.

The

building committee were,

Samwas
front-

uel Moore, Jonathan Griffin,

sixty feet long,

and Louis Ransom.

feet in width,

It

and twenty-seven

and

ed on

Oak

Street.

wide

hall ran

through the centre,

dividing the lower story into two large school-rooms.

large

room occupied nearly the whole

hall

of the

upper story,

and was reached from the lower

in the

by a broad stairway

northwest part of the building.

At

the time of

its

erection the

Academy was

the largest

and most imposing

public edifice in Northern

New

York.

In the winter of 181 3 and 14, the premises were leased

to the

United States government and used for barracks.

the artillery, and the old

The Academy was occupied by

Presbyterian Church by the infantry, the parade-ground

being between the two buildings.

The Academy was

of

refitted in the spring or

summer

1814 and used for school purposes with Spencer Wall

as principal teacher.

The upper room was used

of

worship and for public

many years as a place meetings. The Clinton County

for

Bible Society was organized in this room, on the 5th of

PLATTSBURGII

VILLAGE.
of

35

March, 1816, with Pliny Moore,

dent
;

Champlain, as PresiVice President

Doct John

Miller, of this village, as

Azariah C. Flagg, as Treasurer, and William Swetland

as Secretary.
of Chazy,
iel

The Rev.

J.

Byington and Roswell Ransom,

David Savage,

of

Champlain, the Rev. Nathan-

Hewitt, William Pitt Piatt, James Trowbridge, and

General Melancton L. Woolsey, of Plattsburgh, were appointed directors.

The

first

temperance society

in the

county was also

organized in this room.

A preliminary meeting
5,

was held

on the 7th day

of October, 181

at

which General Ben-

jamin Mooers presided, and Silas Hubbell, Esq., of Champlain, acted as Secretary.

committee was appointed

to
re-

prepare an address to the people, and the towns were

quested to send delegates to an adjourned meeting, to be

held at the same place, in the

month

of January.

The

address was published in the Plattsburgh Republican of

December
day

16.

It

was a strong appeal

"

for aid to sup-

press, not only intemperance, but the other vices of the

those

"

bummers

following in the track of war

swearing, gambling, and an open violation of the Sabbath.

The committee

refer to the great

consumption of ardent
at 30,000 gal-

spirits in the county,

which they estimated

lons annually, or nearly four gallons to each inhabitant,

including

women and
at the

children.
it

The

appeal was not

made

too soon, nor was

made

in vain.

The convention
"

was held
Society
"

appointed day, when a

County Moral
of

was organized, the salutary influence

felt

which

was long

throughout the county.

the supervision of the com-

The Academy was under

36

PLATTSBURGII

VILLAGE.

mittee and their successors until the spring of 1828,

it

when
of

was incorporated under the name

of the " Plattsburgh

of a

Academy," and placed under the control

Trustees, with perpetual succession.
of

Board

Incorporation,

is

April 21, 1828.

The date of the act The first Board of

Frederick Halsey,

Trustees was composed of Benjamin Mooers, John Lynde,

William Swetland, Jonathan

Frederick L. C.
Sailly,

Griflfin,

Heman

Cady, Ephraim Buck,

William

F.

Haile,

George Marsh, John Palmer, and

But two
of these

Henry K.
living

Averill.
Sailly,

gentlemen are now

Mr.

who

is

President of the present Board

of Trustees,

and Mr.

Averill,

who

resides in one of the

Western

States.
of trustees of the

The Board

Plattsburgh Academy,

has from the beginning been a strong one.

The

leading

men have
hold words

filled this
;

office,

and

their

names

are " house-

"

always serving without pay and often con-

tributing liberally in aid of the institution.

Mr. Swetland was for nearly his whole

ciated with the Board of Trustees,

lifetime, asso-

and

for

many years
life,

its

presiding

officer.

Judge John Palmer was

fied

also,

during his

identi-

with the institution.

The present Board are Frederick L. C. Sailly, Doct. Truman DeForris, Cornelius Halsey, Peter S. Palmer,
William

W.
F.

Hartwell, Smith M.
Vilas,

Weed, George

L. Clark,

Samuel

George M. Beckwith, John Henry

Piatt.

Myers, and Theodorus

The

internal

arrangement

of the

rooms

of the

Acade-

my was

changed several times.

At

first,

as

we have

PLATTSBURGH
stated, there

VILLAGE.

37

were two large school-rooms below and a

large hall above.

The partitions below were subsequently

They
off

torn down, and the whole thrown into one room.

were again put up and the north portion partitioned

into small rooms, for those

who wished
down.

to

reside in the

building

to be again torn

In 1839, or about that

time, an addition, doubling the capacity of the

Academv,

was erected by voluntary contributions

It is
er,

of the citizens.
first

said that Bela

Edgerton was the

head teach-

with Benjamin Gilman as assistant.

After the war,

of the classical

Spencer Wall was employed as principal

department, and continued to occupy that position until

the
fall

of

81

7.

On

the 9th of September, 18 16,

school

was

organized on the

Lancasterian plan, and

placed under the charge of William Young, of Albany.

In

May, 181 7, a "Sunday free-school

"

was organized,
in the

which was held every Sunday, from 8 o'clock

ing, " until the

mornof

time of public service."

The upper room

About
"

the

Academy was used

first

for this purpose.

in

This was probthis

ably the

Sunday-school

the county.
in the

time. Miss Clark

opened a school

Academy,

for

the instruction of

young

ladies in the various useful

and

ornamental branches
In November, 181

of education."
7,

Mr, Wall was succeeded by the

Rev. Frederick Halsey, with Miss

as assistants.
18 18,

Cook and Mr. Young,

in

Mr. Halsey was succeeded,

December,

by A. C. Fowler,

who remained

in

charge for a

year or more,

when Alexander H.

Prescott was appointassistant.

ed principal, with

David Brock as

At

this

38
time, Miss

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

Deming taught
in

the ladies department and

continued to do so until the Fall of 1824.

Mr. Prescott remained

charge of the

Academy until
After

about the year 1831, and during his administration, the

school deservedly acquired a high
leaving the
reputation.

Academy, Mr. Prescott kept

"

a private classi-

cal school in the village, until

August, 1833, when he was

appointed principal of the

at Schuyler Falls.

Clinton County

High School,"
at

He

subsequently removed to Chazy,

principal
of a school

and was
place.

for

some time

that

Mr. Prescott was succeeded

than Blanchard,
Jr.

in the

Academy by

Jona-

The number
Of

of students for the

these, thirty-five, in-

year 1832, was one hundred.

cluding Margaret Davidson, the gifted poetess, her brother, Levi P. Davidson, afterwards

an

officer in the

U.

S.

Dragoons, and William Sidney Smith, an

ist

officer in

the

known to have died. Of those of the classes of 1832, now living, we call to mind Samuel B. M. Beckwith and Doct. George Howe, now
Reg't U.
S. Artillery, are

of

Chateaugay

A.

J.

C.

Blackman,
;

of

Mooers

Joseph K.

Edgerton, of Fort Wayne, Ind.

ill,

Hon. John C. Church;

of

Oswego

Hon. D.

B.

McNeil, of Auburn
of

SamCity;

uel

Piatt

and George Stevenson,

of
;

New York

John White,
som, of Peru

Cleveland, Ohio

Rev. Cyrenus

Ran-

Erastus S. Mead, of Belmont, and Dewitt

C. Boynton, Rev. Charles L.

Hagar, John

W. Lynde,
S.

William D. Morgan, Elric L. Nichols, Peter

Levi
Piatt,

Palmer,

and George M. Sperry,

in

of this town.

Mr. Blanchard remained

charge of the

Academy

PLATTSBURGII
for several years,

VILLAGE.
in

39

and was succeeded

somewhat rapid
Robert T. Co,

succession by Mr. Boynton, Mr. Rich, Mr. Doohttlc, Mr.

Scott, Mr.

Foster, and
in

Rev

Dr. Coit.

nant was the principal

1844 and 1845.

On

the 5th of
as

January, 1846, John S. D. Taylor, better

known

Dor-

sey Taylor, was appointed principal. His brother, Joseph

W.

Taylor, joined him in September, 1847, and under the

joint

management

of the

two brothers, the Academy

at-

tained a high reputation in this section.

Royal Corbin succeeded as principal

P.

in i860,

Edward

McDonald in 1865, E. A. Adams in 1869, W. L. R. Haven in 1867, W. M. Lillebridge in 1869, and Oscar Atwood in 1871.
Nichols
in

1861, F.

G.

In May, 1867, an act was passed by the Legislature,

forming a Union School District

in the village,

and

vest-

ing the government of the schools and of the

in a

Academy
five

Board

of Education,

composed

of ten

members,
district,

to be elected
five to

by the qualified voters

of the

and

be chosen by the trustees of the Academy, from Since then, the

their

own number.

Academy

building

has been under the control of the Board of Education.

The
ing,

old building was destroyed by

fire

on Friday evenwere purchased

November

10,

187

1.

Two

lots

adjoining the old

Academy

building on the north, and

in the
fall

the foundation of a
of the year 1873.

new building commenced

for use

This building was completed

at a cost

of $35-ooc)>

aii<^l

opened
1

September

i,

1875.
history

The

year 181

was an important one

in the

of the village.

The

subdivision of the mill property and

the opening of Brinkcrhoff Street, unbarred the lands in

40

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

the central portion of the village, concentrated the mercantile

establishments,

which were, before

this

time,

widely scattered throughout the place, and generally infused a

new

activity

and enterprise among the

citizens.

The
time
;

building of the
preparations

Academy was commenced at this were also now made for the erection
worship, and for the estab-

of a suitable place for public

lishment of a public newspaper.

In

the spring of this year, a

at the

number

of

gentlemen
con-

met by appointment
sider

house of Peter

Sailly, to

the subject of establishing a political paper.

Be-

sides Mr. Sailly, there were present at this

meeting Col.

Melancton
Charles
Miller,

Smith,

Judge

Kinner

Newcomb,
General

Judge

Piatt, Isaac C. Piatt,

Caleb Nichols, Doct. John

Thomas

Treadwell,

and

Benjamin
Chazy, and

Mooers, of

Plattsburgh; Judge Carver, of

of

Judge Samuel Hicks,

Champlain.

stock

company

was organized, and a press and type having been purchased, the
first

number

of the

Plattsbtirgh Republicmt

was

issued.

The paper was

editor,

at first

under the

editorial

supervision of Col. Smith.

In 1813, Azariah C. Flagg

until

became the

and retained that position

about

the year 1825.^

I

have before
5 to 1820.

me broken
From

files
I

of

the

Republican

from 181
ter of
1

these

learn that in the win-

815-16, a stage line was established between this

village

and the

city of Montreal,

making two

trips

each

week.

In summer, the communication was by the steam-

' A small sheet had been started here in 1807, called the American Monitor^ which was discontinued after a feeble existence of less than two years.

PLATTSBURGII

VILLAGE.

boat Vermont, a small vessel one hundred and twenty

feet in length, with

an engine of twenty horse-power, comIn 1815, this boat ran

manded by
every

Capt. John VVinans.

St.

between Burlington and

John's, leaving Burlington

St.

Monday and
to land

Friday morning, and

at

John's

Wednesdays and Saturdays, stopping

Cumberland

Head

and take on Plattsburgh passengers and

freight.

In August of this year, a

nix,

new

boat, called the

Phoe-

Capt.

J.

Sherman, commenced running between

St.

Whitehall and
the Vermont,

John's.

This was a larger boat than

as
of "

and was
*'

advertised

uncommon

speed," and as being

fitted

up

in a style not inferior to

those on the North River."

trip

The

boat

made one round

when
the

each week.

What was

considered great speed in

those days,

may be
it

inferred from the fact, that

Chancellor Livingston was put on the North River, at a

cost of $1 10,000,

was the boast

of the

owners and the

from

wonder
to

of the public, that she could run

in twenty

New York
Thomp-

Albany
I

hours
January, 1823, Jonathan

also find that in

son, " the mail carrier,"

commenced running

a stage once

a week between Plattsburgh and Ogdensburgh, leaving

this village

every Tuesday morning, and arriving at Og-

densburgh on Thursday evening.

"

This

line

connected

with the steamboats on Lake Champlain and Lake Ontario,

and was advertised as

the best route between the

Eastern States and the country bordering on the great

lakes

and the

St.

Lawrence."

Mr.

Thompson announces

that he will carry his passengers in " covered spring car-

42
riages, strong
"

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.
and
"

and commodious," and he promises them

very good

excellent public houses on the route,"

roads for a

new
trips

country."

In December, 1824, the stages

made two

each week.

This winter we had a

tri-

weekly communication with Albany and Montreal.

daily mail route

was

first

established between Ogdens-

burgh and Plattsburgh

in July, 1837.

The
thoush
a

road over which Mr.

ered spring carriages,"

it

Thompson ran was now in very good

of
all

his

"

cov-

condition,

had once been the terror

those whose

business led

them through Chateaugay woods. In 1811, law had been passed, requiring the managers of the

lottery for the purchase of the botanic garden, to raise

$5,000, to be expended for the improvement of the road

between Plattsburgh and the town

of

Chateaugay, under

the direction of Peter Sailly, Jonathan Griffin, and James

Ormsbee, and the year following

anothe-i" act

had been

passed, authorizing the State Treasurer to advance the

money,

in

anticipation of

the drawing

of the

lottery.

amount thus furnished was found inadequate Yet nothing for the construction of a passable road. further was done until 181 7, when the road was im-

The

small

proved by the United States troops then stationed at

Plattsburgh.

This work was commenced in August of

that year, at a point three miles west from the village

{Thorn's corners), by a detachment of the Sixth Regiment,

under

command

of

Lieut-Col. Snelling, and was contin-

ued, from year to year, to the great disgust of the officers

and men,

until twenty-four miles

of the

distance
of

had

been completed.

In March,

1822, the

sum

$7000

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.
be expended
"

43
in

was appropriated by the

legislature, to

extending and completing" the road to Chateaugay, a

distance of fourteen miles.

One-half of this

sum was
By an

to

be raised by the counties of Clinton and Franklin, and

the residue was to be furnished by the State.
act

passed February

14,

1823, the Judges of the

Clinton

Common
or near

Pleas were authorized to erect a

the

toll-o-ate " at

dwelling-house of

Benjamin H. Mooers,

eighteen miles west of Plattsburgh village."

time, the road

From

that

was improved and kept

in

good

repair

by

the

tolls.

It

was an avenue
to

of travel of great

importance

and benefit

this village, as well as to the inhabitants

of Franklin County,

and

until the

completion of

the

Ogdensburgh

railroad,

w^as the j^rincipal

route of com-

munication between Lake Champlain and the towns in

Franklin County, and the eastern portion of
rence County.
St.

Law-

The
that of

first

execution for murder in this county, was

soldier,

James Dougherty, a

convicted for the murder of a

who was tried and young man named John

Wait, a resident of Salmon River, while the latter was

returning from Pike's Cantonment, where he had been
to deliver a load of

wood.
181
to
3,

He was
Judge

tried

at

the June

Oyer and Terminer,

and was sentenced

Jamesv..I,r/?nt presiding,

be hung on Friday, the 6th of

August

of the

same

year,

and

his

body delivered

to the
" for

President of the Clinton County Medical Society,

the use of said Society."

shore on the
1

"

He was hung On the Boynton road."

in

near the lake

26th March,

8 14,

William Baker, a sergeant

the British

Army

44

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

(103d regiment of Infantry), was executed as a spy.

He

was hung on the sand ridge between Court and Brinkerhoff Streets in the
villaG:e.

In July, 181

3,

one Francis de Alert and

to

his father
jail,

had been arrested and committed

charged with the murder
at of a

the

county

man named

Peter Miller,

Champlain.

They were both

raid

released by the British

in

at the time of the

under Col. Murray,

Francis
until in

August

of

that year, and fled to Canada.

after,
1

married soon
the winter
of

and remained

in

Canada

816, when, for

some unexplained purpose, he crossed

the lines into Champlain.

He was

immediately arrested
indicted,

and recommitted
tried

to

jail,

and having been

was

and convicted,

at

a Court of

Oyer and Terminer,

in

Judge Ambrose Spencer presiding, held was sentenced to be hanged on the 26th

June, and

of July.

His

body was delivered

dissection.

to

Doctors Beaumont and Center for

On
to

the morning of that day, the people of

the surrounding country, and from

in

Grand

Isle,

assembled

numbers

witness the execution.

Great was the

disappointment when, about nine o'clock in the morning,

it

was announced that Alert had cheated the gallows

victim,

of

its

by hanging himself
Pik'2

in his cell.

James
1

81

5,
1,

82

murder on the 30th June, before Judge Jonas Piatt, and acquitted. In June, George Hyde was tried for manslaughter before
was
tried for

Judge John Woodworth, convicted

State Prison for 14 years.

and

sentenced to

On

the

8th

of

March,

1825,

Peggy Facto

was

publicly executed.

Peggy Facto was convicted

for the

PLATTSBURGII

VILLAGE.
It

45

murder

of

her infant child.

was an unnatural and

aggravated crime.
string tied around
into the
fire,

The
its
it

infant

was

first

strangled by a

neck, and the body then thrown

where

was

partially

consumed.

The

mutilated remains were afterwards

pile of rubbish in the

concealed under a

woods, where they were found and

dragged out by dogs, and the murder thus discovered.

She was

tried at the

January Oyer and Terminer, 1825,

and sentenced by Judge Reuben H. Walworth, on Saturday, the 23d by the sentence of the Court, her dead

body was

to be delivered to the President

and members

of the Medical Society for dissection.

She was executed

on the arsenal

lot

on Broad

Street.

Francis Labare was indicted as accessory, and was

tried

and acquitted

at the

same term

of the Court.

On

the

28th June, 1826, Elvira Steel was indicted for the murder
of a Mr. Carter, keeper of the Plattsburgh Poor-House.

She was

tried at

the

same term before Judge Enos T.

ground
of insanity.

Troop and was

for murder,
trial

acquitted, on the

In

June, 1827, William H. Houghton, of Chazy, was indicted

and Harriet Dominy

as

accessory.

On

the

Houghton was acquitted. The trial continued several days. Houghton was defended by Judge Lynde
and Mr. Swetland,
of this village,

Ezra C. Gross,

of

Essex

County, and Samuel Stevens, then of Washington County.

After his acquittal
Harriet

Dominy was

discharged

from custody.

Alexander Larabee was hung on the arsenal

Broad
of Street,

lot

on

on the 23d

of

March, 1834,

for the

murder
tried

Leander Shaw,

his son-in-law.

He had

been

46

PLATTSBURGH
at the

VILLAGE.
To
the scaffold by the

and sentenced

January Oyer and Terminer.

the last he asserted his innocence and caused a declaration to

that effect to be read from

Rev. Father Rafferty.

Joseph Levert was tried and convicted at the Sep-

tember Oyer and Terminer, 1847,

wife,

for the

murder

of his

and was sentenced

to

be hung on the i6th of Noscaffold

vember, of the same year.

the
jail

yard.

The Levert made a

was erected
confession,

in in

written
of the
It

which he gave a detailed account

murder, which

was published
meditated
act.

in the village papers.

was a

cool, pre-

Joseph Centerville was indicted

at the at

October Oyer
Falls, of

and Terminer, 1854, for the murder,

his sister-in-law,
of age.

Schuyler

Margaret Rock, a
tried before

girl

about eleven years

at

He was
to

Judge James,

the next

February Oyer and Terminer, and having been convicted,

was sentenced
day
of

be executed on Wednesday, the 28th

March, 1855.

He

was hung

in the at

Court-House
of

yard,

upon the same gallows used

distress

the execution

Levert.

There was great

throughout the county of

Mr. Peter Sailly,

Clinton during the winter of 18 16-17.

in a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury,

under date

of

January
are

24, 18

7,

says

"

A large portion of the inhabitants

want
of bread, whilst the

much

distressed for

poorer

and laboring
of obtaining

class are absolutely destitute of the

it,

means
col-

at the high price

"

it

sells for."

The

umns
of

of the "

Republican

bear evidence to the severity

unusually cold and

the

season.

The summer was

PLATTSBURGIi

VILLAGE.
tlie

47
atmos-

backward.
phere
at

On

Thursday, the 6th day of June,

Plattsbiirgh

was

filled

with particles of snow,

and

it

was uncomfortable out

In

of doors

without a sreat-

coat.

Vermont
"

the weather was

fell

still

more

severe.
it fell.

On

Thursday

the

snow

rapidly, but melted as

Much snow
forenoon in

fell

on Friday night, and on Saturday

places.

in the

many

In Williston

it

was twenty,
at

and

in

Cabot eighteen inches deep.

The ground
far as

Mont-

pelier

was generally covered during the whole

8th),

of yester-

day (June

and the mountains, as

can be seen,

are yet completely white.

[Letter published in Rcptibli-

can of July

13,

dated Waterbury, Vt, June 9th.]

This

cold weather was succeeded by an uncommon drought.

No

rain

fell

during the months of August and September.

The

earth

became parched, and,

;

in clay soils,

opened

in

large cracks

swamps were

dried up, wells and brooks

rivers

failed to furnish water,

and the

became

so low that

the mills could not orrind sufKicient to answer the wants

of the inhabitants.

Wheat was brought

far

to the mills of

Messrs. Smith and Piatt, in this village, to be ground, by

farmers residing as

north as Lacadie, in Canada.

Fires also raged throughout the county, burning up large

quantities of timber

and frequently destroying pastures

rain of
"

and meadow
after the

lands.

No

any consequence

fell

until

loth of October.

The atmosphere,"
"

says the

Republican of October

5th,

has been so

filled

with

smoke, arising from the

fires in

every direction, that even

in this village, for three or four days the first of the pres-

ent week,
tinguish a

it

would be

difficult

in

the

morning

to dis-

man

at the distance of fifty rods."

5,

On

the 3d day of March, 181

an act was passed by

48

PLATTSBURGII

VILLAGE.

the Legislature, Incorporating the village of Plattsburgh.

The bounds
past the
"

of the village, as prescribed

to

by

this act, ex-

tended north

the highway, running east

and west

residence of

Samuel Lowell

"

(now Capt. John

Boynton's),
first

and west

to the east line of the school lot.

The
of

election of village officers

was held on the 2d day

May

of that year, at the hotel at the foot of River Street,

known as " The Ark," and then kept by David Douglass. At this election, William Bailey, Jonathan Griffin, John Palmer, Reuben H. Walworth, Levi Piatt, Samuel Moore,
and Eleazer
Sperry, clerk.
Miller,

were chosen

trustees,

and Giliad

[The bounds

of the village

were materially

reduced by an act passed in April, 1831.]

One
scales.

of the first acts of

our

"

village fathers,"

was

to

provide for the building of a market-house and public

The market-house was

erected on the east side

of the square or " Park," in front of the

Court-House.

It

was used for several years the

;

stalls,

four in number, being

annually leased at auction.

The

scales stood about four

all

rods south of the market, and here

hay sold within one by ordinance,

re-

half of a mile of the Court-House, was,

quired to be weighed.

These

scales

were an old-fashioned,

clumsy

affair,

provided with beam and chains, pullies and

cog-wheels, used for the purpose of raising the wagons off

the

ground.

Between the market-house and the hay

road was constructed along the south
all

scales, a turnpike

side of the square, while

north of this road was a quag-

mire, in which innumerable bull-frogs, of

enormous growth,

held nightly concerts for the

amusement of our forefathers.

Nothinc: unusual occurred to

mark the

deliberations ui

PLATTSBURGIi

VILLAGE.

49

the Board of Village Trustees, until the

summer
of the

of 1817,

when

it

was announced that the President

Monroe, proposed visiting the
of inspection

United
while

States, Mr.

village,

on a tour

through the Northern States.

officers in

This announcement excited the corporation

unusual degree.

an

A meeting

of the trustees

was

called, a

committee
a

of reception appointed,

an orator chosen, and

purchase of a
fire-

sum

of

money, raised by tax

for the

engine, and then in the hands of the Treasurer, appropri-

ated to defray the expenses of the reception.

On

Sunday, the 27th day of July,

at noon, the Presi-

dent arrived by steamboat, and was escorted to the hotel

kept by Israel Green, by a company of U.
der
S. Infantry, un-

command

of

Captain

Newman

S.

Clark,

Captain

Sperry's

company of horse and

the hotel he was received

At by Reuben H. Walworth, who

the Plattsburgh Rifles.

delivered an address in behalf of the corporation, to which

the President replied.

As he

passed into the house the

young

ladies of

Miss Cook's and Miss Forrence's schools

In the evening the Presi-

strewed his path with flowers.

dent attended a party at the house of Captain Sidney

Smith, of the Navy

on Sunday he attended services

at

the Presbyterian Church, and passed the evening at Judge

De Lords.
All this
is

related in glowing language in the

columns

of the Repiiblican.

But the crowning act

of the reception

was reserved for Monday.

Capt. Sperry's company.

At

ten o'clock in the forenoon,

the President started for Sackett's Harbor, under escort of

At two

o'clock he reached a

point on the road, thirteen miles distant, where a bower

50

PLATTSBURGH
erected,

VILLAGE.
for his party

had been

and a repast provided

"

by

the citizens of the village.

The

site

chosen," says the

to the oc-

Republican,
casion,

"

was romantic and well adapted

of a

on the margin
its

brook which crossed the road,

stillness of

gently breaking, by

murmurs, the

the sur-

rounding
" In

forest,"
elo-

such a moment," adds the writer, becoming

of the scene,
"

quent over the recollections

to convivial gayety,

so congenial
;

form and ceremony have no place

itself
is

age looses

its

caution, philosophy

taken

off

its

guard, and the flow of soul alone triumphs."

the
"

Evidently

Clinton County Moral Society

"

had taken a recess

for the occasion.

After partaking of this collation, the

his

President resumed

journey towards the west, the

citizens returned to their

homes, and the trustees watched

over the village for another year without a fire-engine.

The
"

President and his escort had eaten

"

it

up, in

that

shaded bower," by the

murmuring

brook."

Speaking
says
:

of his reception in this village,

Mr. Waldo

" In

no place through his extensive tour was the

re-

President received with more undissembled tokens of

spect than at Plattsburgh."

[President's Tour, p. 250.]

in

Mr. Waldo refers to the collation

the following words
:

the woods in
route towards

"

Prosecuting his

Ogdensburgh through the majestic

attention was
fitted

forests, the President's

suddenly arrested by an elegant collation,

up

in a superior style

by the

ofiBcers of the

army and
it

the citizens of the County.

He

partook of

with

heart beating in unison with those of his patriotic coun-

trymen by

whom

he was surrounded

and acknowledged

PLATTSBURGH
this

VILLAGE.
civility

unexpected and romantic

with unaffected and

dignified complacence [p 251].

In 1823, the village contained three hundred houses, a

church, a bank, a court-house, an

academy,

three
fulling-

printing-offices, a flouring-mill,

two saw-mills, a
oil-mill,
retail

mill

and clothing works, an

tanneries, fifteen

two carding maand a

distil-

chines, three
lery.

stores,

Of the buildings here

referred

to,

none are now

standing except the court-house and the flouring-mill.

The

distillery

belonged to James Kennedy, and stood on

the south shore of the river, near the outlet of the o-risto mill race. Kennedy advertises to give " five quarts of

whiskey
his

for a bushel of rye or

"

merchantable corn,"
in

or,

if

customers desired, he

would take wood

payment."

Piatt

&

Belcher had three carding machines in the brick

building at the west end of the dam, and Piatt

& Hyde
the

conducted the business of cloth dressing

building.

in

same
Noble David

The

tanneries

were conducted by Stephen

JMr

Avcrill, Daniel Noble,

and Lansing Parsons.

fall

discontinued business in the

of

this year.

Kennon
engaged

advertises " soal

and upper leather"

for sale.

James Trowbridge and Shelden Lockwood were each

in

the manufacture and sale of hats.

Samuel
Green

Emery and

Charles Haynes carried on the business of

I.

chair making, painting and gilding, and Joseph

had a shop where he manufactured saddles and harnesses.

Among
Cady

the

merchants were Bailey

L.

&

Brinkerhoff, Mat-

thew M. Standish,

&
4

H.

Piatt,

D.

&

J.

Backus,

&

Anderson, James Bailey, Anselm Parsons,

Wm.

52

PLATTSBURGII

VILLAGE.

H. Morgan,

J.

G. Frelcigh, John Walworth, N. C. Piatt,

Samuel
R. C.

Hull,

Samuel Lowell, and Alexander McCotter.

and shoes, and
"

Hoar

sold boots

Dave

"

Langdon

was the

village cartman.

Judge John Lynde was Postit,

Master, and had an easy time of

if

we might judge

from the following notice

of April

in the

Plattsburgk Republican

26th

"

We

have received no mail from the

south for several days.

future
it

We

understand that for the

will come but once a week'.'

And when

it

did

come

the postage was twenty-five cents on a single letter.

Reference has already been made to the manufacturing establishments in the village in 1835.

At

that time

Ephraim Buck was President of the village, William F. Haile, Heman Cady, Samuel Emery and F. L. C. Sailly
were Trustees, and George M. Beckwith was Clerk.

The

principal merchants were

Hicks,

Andrew Moore, Sailly & Samuel Hinman and D. L. Fouquet, who occu-

pied the stone row at the head of Bridge Street.

Heman

and Cyrus Cady. who occupied the south

store in the
;

brick block between Bridge Street and the public square

Lawrence Myers,

in the old

wooden building on the

;

cor-

ner of River and Bridge Streets

James Bailey and Coron the corner

nelius Halsey, on the north side of Bridge Street, between

River and Margaret Streets; Moss Kent

of Bridge

Piatt,

and Margaret Street

Thomas Goldsmith on
;

the corner of

Oak and Broad

Street

William H. Morgan, \X

Hugh McMurry, and Samuel

the river
shall
;

Lowell, on the east side of

Ephraim Buck, on Margaret, and Paul MarStreet.

on River

Smaller establishments were also

kept by Joseph Durkee, John Archy, Asa Saunders, and

PLATTSBURGII

VILLAGE.

53
a cabinet

Michael Kearney.
store, with

Ransom Richardson had

machinery, in the old brick building at the

west end of the dam. William G. Brown, Leonard Crane,

and D. L. Fouquet were

were three hotels at

also cabinetmakers.

There
kept by
;

this time, the Village Hotel,

John

Nichols, where the

Witherell

House now stands

the Phoenix, kept by John the

McKee, on

the present site of

Cumberland House, and Fouquet's Stage House. Amos A. Prescott was the village jeweller and bookseller,

and kept an establishment on the west side

half

of

Margaret Street about

kerhoff.

way between Bridge and

Brin-

Daniel Tenney had a hat store on River Street.

in

In addition to these establishments, there were,

village, six tailor shops,

the

two bake shops, one marble shop,

two butcher shops,

boot and shoe stores,

six milliners

and dressmakers,

five

five blacksmiths, four

wheelwrights,

three tanners and curriers, four saddle and harness makers, four

head carpenters and

joiners, six

head masons,

three painters, two butchers, two landscape and portrait

painters,

two

tin shops,

and two barber shops, one by

his customers the " Bos-

Doct. Thomas,

who always gave

ton touch. Sir," and the other by George Haynes, whose

name, as appears from the town records,

to

which we

have before

referred,

was

"

Sir

George Provost."

Of the learned

professions there were four clergymen,

three physicians, and fourteen lawyers.

of the village at this time

The

population

was about

2,500.

Nearly

all

the buildings occupied as business estab-

lishments in 1835 have since then been burned, or have

been removed to make place for larger structures.

54

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

The

loss

by

fire

alone, in the village, has exceeded

one million
In the

of dollars.

summer
hours,

of 1813, the British force,

of the

under comvillage for

mand

of

Col. Murray, held possession

twenty-four

during which time they burned a

block-house, the arsenal on

buildings on the bank

Broad

Street, the hospital

of the lake,

two store-houses beof

longing to Peter
Z. Piatt.

Sailly,

and the store-house

Major N.

In the

month

of

September, 1814, while the British

of the

under Sir George Provost, occupied the north side

Saranac, a number of buildings which afforded protection

to the British troops

were burned by hot shot

fired

from

the
fire

American works.

The

buildings thus destroyed by

were the Court-House, Mr. Savage's, Mr. Buck's and

Mr, Goldsmith's dwelling-houses, the store and dwelling-

house
of

of

Jonathan

Griffin, the store

and dwelling-house

Roswell Wait, and those of Mrs. Beaumont, a dwellingof

house and store owned by Charles Backus, two stores

Joseph Thomas, and Mr. Power's store
in
all.

fifteen buildings

The

dwelling-house of

John L. Fouquet, on the

burned
this year.

east side of the river,

was

also

The

first fire

within

my

recollection occurred

on the

afternoon of the i6th day of May, 1822,

when

the

home-

stead of Judge William Bailey was burned to the ground.

One month

later,

on the night

of the

i6th of June, the

stone grist-mill was destroyed by

fire.

This was sup-

posed to be the work of an incendiary, for whose detection rewards to

the

amount
owner

of ^1,000 of the mill,

were offered by

Judge Levi

Piatt, the

and by

citizens

PLATTSBURGH
of the
villao^c.

VILLAGE.
rebuilt,

55

The

mill

was imniediatelv
of

and

was

in operation in the

month

November

following.
I.

The

next was the burning of the hotel of Joseph

Green, on the corner of Margaret and Court Streets.

The main
sumed.
fire.
I

portion, fronting

on Margaret

Street,

was con-

am

not able to state the precise date of this

About
dy,

the year 1832, the hotel of Jeremiah McCreeat the foot of River Street,

which stood

was destroyed.

This was an old-fashioned wooden

the
"

buildino^,

known

as

Ark," which had long been one of the principal

of the
village.

hotels

The

fire

extended

to

and con-

sumed

a small dwelling-house on the east, and a large

of the hotel.

shed and horse barn on the west side

Dur-

ing the same year, a wooden building on the south side

of Bridge Street, about

midway between

the bridge and

Mill Alley,

was burned.

In the spring of 1833, a cotton factory, built by John

Palmer and then occupied by Cole

also an old

&

Richardson, and

wooden

building, formerly used by

at the

John Malwest end

lory as an oil-mill,
of the

and the old saw-mill

dam, were destroyed.

road or causeway of the

old slabs, extending from the saw-mill to the bridge, was

also

burned

at this time.

The

fire

extended to the westfilled

ern abutment of the bridge, which had been

with logs and pine stumps.

in

These, having caught

fire,

continued to burn for several weeks.

On

the

17th of

May, 1836, the Court-House was

for the second time destroyed.

The
in the

fire

caught

in

the

shed adjoining, about 3 o'clock

afternoon.

The

56

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

walls of the building were not injured.

rebuilt,

The

inside

was

and a stone

jail

erected at a total cost of about

$8,000.

The

store

of

Hugh McMurry

on the corner of

Bridge and Charlotte Streets, and the store of G.

W.

Webster, adjoining on Bridge Street, were totally destroyed by

fire

on the

ith

day

of July, 1841.
fire

The

grist mill

was again destroyed by

on Friday,

September

2d, 1842.

On

Friday evening, January 30, 1846, the Methodist

Church on Court Street was burned.

from a stove pipe
built,

This

fire

caught
re-

in the

basement.

The church was

of

and dedicated on Thursday, the 12th day

No-

vember, of the same year.

But these were

the destruction 1849, which

trifling losses

when compared with

fire of

made by

the memorable

August

10,

in four

hours reduced to ashes the entire

business portion of the village.

first

When

the

alarm was
in

sounded the

fire

had made considerable progress

Street), the

a small wooden building, on the corner of Bridge Street

and Mill Alley (now Water

ground

floor of

which was occupied by one Thornton, as a low groggery.

There was but

supposed

little

wind

at the time,

and although the

destruction of this building seemed inevitable, no one

it

was the commencement

of a conflagration

which would consume property

$300,000.

to the value of nearly

fire

From

this

building the

extended to one

adjoining, on Bridge Street,

and also

to a small

wooden

building adjoining on Mill Alley, both of which were soon

consumed.

few

feet south,

on Mill Alley, was a long,

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.
P.

57

low wooden building, owned by N. by him as a storehouse,

tity of

Gregory, and used

in

which was stored a large quan-

wool,

llie roof and sides of this building were

in pails

kept wet with water, brought

from the

mill ix)nd,

and the building saved.

the
fire

At about

half-past

12 o'clock,

crossed Mill Alley, and caught in an old wooden

building on the opposite corner, occupied by Godso and

Shinville, as a grocery

and harness shop.

The whole

of

the east side of this building was instantly in flames.

From
trill's

this the fire

rapidly passed to the rear of R. Cot-

store

and

J.

H. Mooers, drug
it

store.

No

water

could be procured, and

tensive
(^

now became

evident that an ex-

and destructive conflagration had commenced.

Piatt's

Moss K.
Margaret

drug

store,

on the corner

of

Bridge and

streets,

and an old wooden building adjoining

on Margaret street, owned and occupied by Terance Conway, as a grocery and dwelling-house, were soon
flames.
in

By

this

time a strong wind from the south was

blowing, which drove the heat and flames across Bridge

Street, melting the tin
stores,

on the roof
Bailey,

of a

block of brick

owned by James

and setting the roof on

on the west side
side of

fire in several places.

From

this block the fire divided,

one

line following the buildings

of

River

Street,

and the other those on the east

Margaret

Street, while at the

same time the burning sparks and

bounded by

cinders set

fire to

the buildings on the south side of the

Park.

At two

o'clock the whole square,

Bridge, River and Margaret Streets and the Park, was in

flames, burning furiously.

The

loss

on

this

square was as follows

on Bridge

5^
Street,

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.
Averill
;

James
Fitch

Bailey, dry

goods

&

Sprague, dry

goods
goods.
seller
tailor;

&

Cook, hardware

WilHam K. Dana, dry

A. Prescott, bookdraper and merchant
;

On

Margaret Street,
;

Amos

and jeweller

Guy Dunham,

William H. Morgan
;

&

Son, dry goods

William
;

H. Hedges, dry goods

Benedict

William H. Myers, dry goods

;

&

Buck, dry goods and boots and shoes

L.

Myers, dry goods.

On

the

Park, Firemen's Hall, with

;

the public library, containing about 2500 volumes

Mrs.

Green

dwelling-house, and Mrs. Winans' dwelling-house,

occupied by tenants.
dwelling
;

On

River Street, Mrs. Winans'

;

James Conway's dwelling

Andrew

Bird's

grocery and dwelling, and Lemuel F. W^alker's joiner

shop.

While
rapidly
side of

this

destruction was progressing, the

its

fire

was

making

way

against the wind, along the east

Margaret Street, south of Conway's.

here was Alfred Hartwell's clothing store,

The loss John J. Drown 's

;

shoe store and dwelling

ley's

H. Hewitt, dry goods

L. Coo-

hat store

Nichols

&
;

Lynde, wholesale grocers

;

Benjamin Ketchum, dry goods

sale dry

Vilas

&

Crosby, whole-

goods and tinware

Francis McCadden, clothing

for stores, only

and dwelling, and two buildings intended

partly completed.

Several store-houses and small tenethe rear

ment buildings
burned.

in

on

Mill

Alley

were also

The
Street,

fire

crossed
in

Margaret Street, north

of

Bridge

and caught

an old building, occupied by

Ami
time

Beauchamp,
it

as a tailor's shop.

At about

the

same

also crossed south of Bridge Street,

working both ways

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

59
for

from these points, and extending up Cliurch Alley

some
side of

distance.

The

buildings destroyed on the west

Margaret

Street,

were Samuel F. Vilas's dwelling

of Brinkerhoff Street
; ;

and outhouses, on the corner

L. &: G. N.

A.

Webb's

store

and dwelling
;

William Reed's

jewelry shop and dwelling

Cromwell's barber shop and

;

dwelling

J.

Ricard's store and dwelling

Goslin's barber

shop, bath rooms and dwelling, and Bernard Young's

store

and dwelling.

These were

all

wooden

buildings.

William Palmer
"

&

Co., mill store in the

south end of the

;

stone row

"
;

Charles H. Cady, dry goods

;

William

Douglass, dry goods

Charles C.
;

Moore, dry goods

justice
ofifice
;

Caleb Nichols, dwelling

George Moore's

D. Hoag's grocery

Beauchamp's

tailor shop,

and

Dill's

Phoenix hotel and barns.

dwelling-house on Court

Street, west of the hotel, then

occupied by George

W.

Pahner, was burned, as was also a small buildi'ng on the

corner of Brinkerhoff and Margaret Street, opposite Vilas's
dwelling-house, then occupied as the Post
Ofifice.

On Church
;

Alley, south side, a dwelling-house of B.

Young Ransom
blacksmith shop
bly's
;

N. Richardson's

wagon shop

Tierney's

Roberts' blacksmith shop, and Trom-

blacksmith shop, were burned, and a small wooden

building, occupied

by Felix Tero was torn down.

On

the north side the loss was Baker's

wagon

shop, the old

Durand

house, occupied by tenants, and several other

small buildino^s and barns.

The

ofifices

of the Plattsburt;h
lV/n<^,

Republican and of the Clinton County

were de-

stroyed, besides several offices and shops in the second

story of the buildings consumed.

The

progress of the

60
fire

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.
of stone stores,

was

arrested,

on the south, by a row

Alley

and on
house.

Cluirch

by
it

pulling

down
to

the

Tero
itself.

In other directions

seemed

exhaust

of
1

The fine brick residence of M. K. Piatt, on the corner Macdonough and Macomb Street, was burned on the
In August,
856, a fire destroyed a block of four stores,

8th of March, 1854.

1

on Margaret
D.
S.

street,

opposite Brinkerhoff, one

owned by

Mc Masters,
the
all
1

one by Harvey Hewitt, and two by

Francis McCadden.

On

6th December, 1861, a

fire

occurred, which

consumed

the buildings on Bridge and River Streets,

to the

from the Bridge

John Wells brick building,

lately

owned by O. A. Keyes, except

nick, as a furniture store.
3 o'clock
in the

the old Parsons store, on

the corner of those streets, then occupied by G.

W.

Hor-

The

fire

was discovered about

of the store

morning,

in the

basement

then occupied by George N. Webb, and burned three

buildings

owned by

J.

D. Warren, Mrs. Ricord's block of

two
ings

stores,

Paul Marshall's block of four stores, and build-

owned by Charles Barnard, John Duval, Andrew

Griflfin,

Borde, James

and Francis Senecal.

On
other

Friday, the 29th day of May, 1863, there

was anat

fire

which consumed the old Cady homestead,

the corner of Margaret and Broad Streets, then occupied

by Mr. Wolcott

the old Standish store, on the corner of

Oak and Broad

Streets, then occupied

by George

W. Day

as a carpenter's shop,

and a dwelling house on Broad Street,

between these two, owned by Doct. Edward Kane.

1 ;

PLATTSBURGII

VILLAGE.

6
of

June

6th, 1864, Fouquet's Hotel,

on the east side

the river, was entirely destroyed by

fire.

The Gas Works were burned Saturday morning, December

^6000.
23d,

1865, together with

the lumber sheds of

loss

Baker Brothers, adjoining.

The

was estimated at

On Wednesda}^
which again reduced

the

21st day

of

August,

1867,

another large and destructive conflagration

occurred,

to ashes the greater portion of the

business part of the village.

The

fire

king passed over

1849.

almost the same territory destroyed in August,

The

fire

was

first

discovered in the horse shed of the

Presbyterian Church, and spread with great rapidity to the

Church and the adjoining

and the communion

buildings.
of
its

The

Presbyterian

Church was consumed, with most

service.

valuable furniture

From

there, the fire extend;

ed west, consuming 3 houses owned by John Wilson

B.

D. Clapp's dwelling on

Oak

Street,

and N. Nusbaum's
of

two houses

of

Wm.

H. Morgan, on the corner

;

Oak
on

Street and Church Alley

that alley
;

also the following property

;

L.

M. Cooley's house

Henry H.
Piatt's,

Story's

house

a large tenement house of

;

M. K.

occupied

by

five families

Peter Malloy, Robert Turner and Wil;

liam Dixon's houses

a house occupied by Felix Tero, and

houses occupied by Mr. Marvin, Paul Carroll, and Paul

Montville, and two houses belonging to Caleb Nichol's
estate
;

Joseph

Tero's carriage shop

the blacksmith

shops of Cramer, Ryan and Gonya

&

Roberts

Major

Dolan's saloon and residence, owned by E. M. Crosby,

Learment

&

Stave's livery stables,

and Dennis Tormcy's

62

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

shoe shop.

On

Brinckerhoff Street

two

buildings in

process of construction, east of the Presbyterian Church,

owned by David Hooey and Francis McCadden, and

also

Wm.

Bell's

marble shop.

On

the west side of Margaret

Street

Blake's block,

near the corner of

Brinkerhoff
store,
J.

Stieet, occupied

by M. Holcomb's hat and cap

E.

Morrison, drug store, and Sowles

store
;

&

Edw^ards, hardware
Shiff's

William D. Morgan's

store,

Joseph

market,

C. A. Cook's hardware store, Bernard

Young's store and

residence, E.
store, Breed's

Hathaway 's clothing store, Edwards

same room, Balch's drug
store.

&

Co.'s

boot and shoe store and W'm. Reed's jewelLevy's

resi-

ry store in the

boot and shoe store, and James Griffin's saloon and

dence.

Here George Moore's

office

was partly torn down

in this direction ar-

and the further progress

rested.

of the fire

The

fire

crossed Margaret Street, south of Bridge Street,

side of

and burned on the east

ber's grocery store,

Margaret

Street, R. O. Barstore, S. F. Vilas's

John Percy's grocery

wholesale dry goods store, F. Palmer

feed store, Nichols,

&

Co.,

grocery and

Lynde

&

Co., wholesale
J.

grocery store,
clothing

Weaver
store,

&

Hall's

grocery store,

H.

Cottrill's

J. J.

Drown's boot and shoe

store, Tilley's

bookstore,
Co.,

Rothschild

& Co., dry goods store, and

On
W.

H.

W. Cady &

drug

store.

south side Bridge Street

Noel Bessett's
also their store-

harness shop, H.

Guibord's grocery store, Mrs. Mc-

Cann's hotel, John P. Smith's and Archers' market and

residence, S.

W. Gregory &

Co., office

house on Water Street.

Noel's tavern on

Water

Street

was

also

consumed.

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

63
the

The names
ground
Bridge Streets.
offices,

above, are of those

who occupied

floor of the buildings destroyed

on Margaret and

In the upper stories there were

I

many

among which

will

name The

the law offices of BeckR. Jones,

offices of

with

&

Dobie, Geo. L. Clark,

Dickinson.

Wm.

M. Desmond,
Doct. E. M.
of C.

and

Weed &

Lyon, Doct. Wolff, and Doct. Nichols, and

Halsey:

Howard's and
Bixby
s

Averill's photographic galleries,

Doctor
Young
and

and Doctor Howard's dental rooms,

all its

the Masonic

Hall, with

furniture,

the

Library of the

Men's Association,

J.

W.
"

Tuttle's job printing office

A, G. Carver's printing

office.

The
of

editor of the

Plattsburgh Sentinel'^ prepared

of the loss of
:

and published an estimate

which the following
;

each individual,
^1,550

is

the aggregate
offices,
;

Jylarkets,
;

hardware, $59,000 printing

$7,300 dentists, $954

;

law

offices, libraries, &c.,

;

$5,200 physicians, $5,639

;

boots

and shoes, $16,500

photograph

saloons, $7,600

druggists, $10,000;
;

galleries,

$10,000

clothing, $10,250

harness

makers, $800; dry goods, groceries, &c., $102,750: miscellaneous,

$28,912:

real estate,
theft, $1 1,01 3

$192,893; loss by
;

re-

moval, exposure, and

grand

total,

$469,861.

The amount of insurance is stated at among 24 companies, in very unequal

ever.

$241,625, divided
proportions, how-

The
day
of

next

fire

occurred on Sunday evening, the 27th

December, 1868, when the United States Hotel was totally consumed. This was followed, one month and later, January 26, 1869, by the burning of Scheier's
Meron's brick
stores,

on Margaret Street.

Three weeks

64
after this
fire,

PLATTSBURGH
on the i6th day

VILLAGE.
of February,

two stores

in

Bailey's brick block,

on Bridge
This

Street,
fire

were burned, with

nearly

all

their contents.

was discovered about

Monash's
cloth-

half past three o'clock in the morning, in

ing store.
L. Cooley

The

adjoining store in the block, occupied by

&

Son, as a hat and cap store, and by

store,

Wm.
the

Reed, temporarily, as a jeweller's

was flooded with

water and the building considerably damaged.

2 2d

On

day of May, following, another

fire

destroyed the
St., direct-

store

owned by Nichols

&

Lynde, on Margaret

ly opposite the buildings of Scheier

and Meron, destroyed

the

December

previous.

This store was occupied by

Hymen
At

Brothers.
II

o'clock of the night of

in the

March
end

2,

1870, a fire

was discovered

basement

of a building

on the north

side of Bridge Street, near the west

of the Bridge,

owned by D.
same
J. J.

S.

Holcomb and occupied by Burdo

&

Lan-

more, as a saloon, which, with a store adjoining in the

block,

owned by Bernard Young, and occupied by

as a boot

Drown,

and shoe
March,

store,

were burned.
fire

On Monday
covered

night,

28, 1870, a

was

dis-

in the rear of Shiff's

meat market,

in the stone

row on Margaret

Street, opposite the post office,

which
con-

caused considerable damage to the building and

tents.

its

fire,

on Thursday night, March Park House, corner

23, 1871,

caught

in the garret of the

of

Park and River

Streets, occupied

by Joseph

W.

Daller, as a saloon

and

dwelling,

consuming a portion

of the roof

and upper rooms.

5

On Wednesday

morning, March

29,

about

o'clock, an-

PLATTSBURGH
other
fire

VILLAGE.

65

broke out

in the

same

building, burning out the

entire inside of the buildins:.

On Thursday
one o'clock, a
fire

afternoon,

August

22,

871, at half-past

caught

in

Baker Brothers' lumber yard,

on Jay Street, destroying the entire stock of lumber and the lumber sheds. The Gas Works, Frank Palmer's barn, and also five small dwelling-houses, between old and new
Bridge Streets, east of Fouquet's barn.
^20,000, principally in lumber.

Loss about

Insurance $15,450.

About

o'clock Friday morning,

fire

Aug.

25, 187

1,

an

attempt was made to

Morrill's

Billiard

Room, on
store.
It

Bridge Street, next east of Hornick's furniture

was fortunately discovered before any damage had been

done.
If

successful, probably

number

of

buildings

would have been consumed.

On

the evening of Friday, Nov. 10,

fire.

871, the

Academy

was destroyed by

The

fire is

supposed to have been

the work of an incendiary.

On

the 15th October, 1872, the saw mill on the north

side of the river, at the upper

dam was

burned.

The

cov-

ered bridge was also burned at this time, and was replaced
the next year by an iron bridge.

On

the 15th of April, 1818, an act was passed, grant-

ing to John Mallory and his assignees, "the sole and exclusive right" to furnish the inhabitants of the village of

Plattsburgh with water,

ducts."

"

by means

of conduits or aqueIMr.

The

legislature

were careful that

Mallory

should never, under this grant to furnish water, go into

liquidation as a banker, for the last section of the act ex-

pressly provided, " that nothing in this act contained,

66

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.
any banking powers or
water was
fur-

shall be so construed as to grant

privileges whatsoever."

Under

this act,

nished to the inhabitants residing on the west side of the

river, in limited

and uncertain quantities

until the fall of

the year 1871.

On

the 31st of January, 1868, a public meeting of the

citizens of the village

was held

at the

Court House,
supplying

to

take into

consideration the subject

of

the

village with pure

and wholesome water.

At

this meeting,

a committee was appointed to draft a law, to be submitted

to

an adjourned meeting of the

citizens.

This committee

reported at the appointed time, and the terms of an act

to be submitted to the Legislature

was adopted.

The

act

was passed by the Legislature on the 17th

of April,

1868.

[Laws

1868,

p.

502.]

By

this act, the

trustees of the village

of
it

were author-

ized to appoint a

Board

Commissioners, consisting of

three persons, whose duty

was made

to prepare a plan,

to be submitted to the taxable electors of the village,

who

were to express, by

vote, their assent

If

or refusal to the

prosecution of the work.

a majority of the electors,

voting, should be in favor of the plan submitted, the trustees

were authorized

to ratify

such conditional contracts

for the

as the commissioners
of land
raise

may have made

of of the village, a

purchase

and the purchase

the old water works, and to

upon the bonds

sum

necessary to

complete the works according to the plan adopted, but

not to exceed
five

thousand dollars over the estimated

cost as reported by the commissioners.

in the

The

act vested
of

commissioners the sole and exclusive control

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

67

the construction of the works, and they were to hold office

until the

works were so

far

completed as

to be in

opera-

tion, when

the control and

management were

to be trans-

ferred to a superintendent, to be appointed by the Board

of Trustees.

On
W.
I

the 15th of June, 1868, James H. Totman, Silas

Gregory, and Benjamin M. Beckwith, were appointed

Water Commissioners.
ith day of August,
electors of the village,

They

reported a plan, on the

which was adopted by a vote of the and the commissioners were

di-

rected to enter into contracts for the construction of the

works.

The commissioners estimated

the work at $94,965.56, as follows:

the probable cost of

Scribner pond and water right,

$2,500 00

Bulkhead

at

dam, with stop

gate,

200 00
16,000 00

Pipe from pond to reservoir,

Reservoir and
site,

6,500 00

44,732 feet cement pipe,

40.633 31
16,132 25

64,529 feet trenching and backfilling,

40 hydrants, freight and

Stop gates,
Freight on
"pipe,

setting,

2,200 00
1

,400

00

2,000 00

Purchase of old water works,

Engineering,

6,400 00

1,00000

^.965

56

As
some

the

work progressed,

it

was found that many items

in

of expense
of the

had been omitted

the estimate, and that

estimates were below the necessary cost of

5

68
the

PLATTSBURGH

VILI.AGE.

work

required.

It

was

also

deemed advisable

to

change the

details of the plan in several particulars.

A
of
in

double reservoir was built on the

of a

Hammond

hill,

instead
size laid

single

one, as at

first

contemplated.

The

some

of the

mains were increased, and mains

first

streets,

not at

intended to be supplied.

Distributing

pipe had also to be laid from the mains to the line of

lots,

and a well house and waste drain constructed which no estimate had been made.

at the

reservoir, for

The

number
village.

of hydrants

was increased from 40

fire

to 60, in order

to afford

more complete

protection throughout the

These changes and additions were made by the Commissioners, after consulting with

the Board of Trustees,

and were considered necessary

in order to carrying

out

the original intention of the citizens to provide for the

whole
for

village an

abundant and unfailing supply

fires.

of water

domestic use and for protection from

To meet
is-

the increased expense, the Trustees were authorized to

sue additional bonds to the amount of $80,000.

ter 326, laws of 1870,

[Chap-

and chapter

60, laws of 1871.]

The mains having been completed,

ber, 1870,

the office of
of

Water

Commissioner was abolished, on the 27th day

and
Silas

Decem-

W. Gregory was
of

appointed Superin-

tendent of Water Works.

In

the construction

the works
1

there

was

laid

62,404 lineal feet of cement pipe, and

tile

1,702 lineal feet of

pipe

in

all

fourteen miles and one hundred and

eighty-six feet.

Of the cement

pipe,

^0
of the outlay.

PLATTSBURGH
It will

VILLAGE.

be returned by a decreased expense

of insurance, the additional protection

from

fires,

and the

great convenience and comfort to be derived from an

abundant supply

of water at

all

times for domestic use.

The two

distributing Reservoirs are located at

Ham-

mond's, about two and one-half miles west from the Court

House, and 214

feet

above the surface of Margaret Street.

is

The
deep.

north Reservoir
feet

156 feet by 160 feet at the top,

bottom, and
is

and 104
the top,
voir
is

by 108

feet at the
filled to

13 feet

Its capacity,
is

when

a point two feet from

1,391,130 standard gallons.

The south
and 108

Reser-

160 feet by 162 feet

bottom, and
it

at the top,
is

feet

by

no

feet at the

also

13 feet deep.

With
filled

II feet of

water

holds 1,487,906 gallons.

capacity of both
is

When

to the top the united

lons.

3.596,000 gali

The

outside

embankments have a

slope of 2 to
at the top.
all

both inside and outside, and are 13 feet wide

The supply
wants

of

water must for years be equal to

the

of the inhabitants of the village.

With

three mil-

lions of gallons of water held in deposit at

Hammond's,

and ready
the Fire

to

be poured out at any part of the village

of ninety-five

under a pressure

pounds

to the square inch,

King

will

not again hold a saturnalia in our

streets, as

he did

in

1849 and 1867.

CHURCHES.
Presbyterian.

On the

loth day of November, 1792,

at

a public meeting was held

purpose
of

the

Block House, for the

in

"choosing trustees to take

charge the tem-

poralities of the congregation of the town,

and

to

form a

1 s

PLATTSBURGH
corporation by the

VILLAGE.

name and

style of the Trustees of the

Presbyterian Church or Congregation, of the town of

Plattsburgh, and to call a minister."

At

this

meeting,

John Addams, Charles

L. Woolsey, John

Piatt,

Nathaniel

Piatt,

Melancton
were

Ransom, and Nathan

[Record
at

Averill,

chosen

trustees.

of Deeds, Liber
this

A., p. 285.]

Nothing further was done

time, but

two years

afterwards, the Rev. Frederick Halsey, then a licenciate

of the Presbytery of

Long

Island, visited this place,

and
set-

for a short time preached

tled here

from house to house.

He

permanently

in the fall of that year (1794),

was

installed as

pastor in February, 1796, and in the

month

of October, following, organized the first church in this

section of the country.

The church

then consisted of

eighteen persons, to
the
first

whom

the Lord's Supper was for

ist

time administered on the

of these

dav

of October,
tlie

1797.

The names

eighteen,

who formed

pioneer church of Northern

New

York, were, Ezekiel

Hubbard, John

Stratton,

Abner Pomroy, William and

Mrs. Badlam, Moses Corbin, Elizabeth Addams, Catherine

Hageman, Catherine Marsh, Lucretia Miller, Phebe Piatt, Esther Stratton, Mary Addams, Stephen and Mrs. Mix,
Martha Coe, William
bie's Discourses.]

Pitt Piatt,

and John Culver.

[Do-

A
at the

public meeting was again held in October, 1803,

Court

House, "where

the

Rev.

Mr.

Halsey

congregation statedly met for public worship," and the

society was there reorganized under the statute.

At

this

meeting, Deacons Ezekiel Hubbard and William Pitt

Piatt, presided.

The

trustees elected were

John Addams,

72

PLATTSBUKGII

VILLAGE.

Melancton L. Woolsey, Benjamin Mooers, John Howe,

Thomas
Liber
B.,

Miller,

and Benjamin Barber. [Record

of

Deeds,

518.]

Owing
of

to

some informality

in the pro-

ceedings, a third organization of the society was effected

on the 19th day

March, 1810, when Melancton Smith,

John G. Freleigh, Elias Woodruff, Sebe Thompson, Jonathan Grifhn, William Pitt Piatt, and Benjamin Mooers,
were elected
this year the

trustees.

[Record

of

Deeds, D., 99.]

In

Rev. Mr. Halsey resigned his charge over

the church, which had

bers.

now

increased to eighty-five

mem-

The church remained without a pastor until P"ebruary 6th, 181 2, when the Rev. William R. Weeks was
installed.

[Dobie, 200.]
first

It

was about

this time that ef-

forts

were

In June,

made for the erection of a church building. 181 2, Abraham Brinkerhoff, Jr., conveyed

to the society a lot of land fronting on Brinkerhoff street

[Record
dation

of

Deeds, D., 386], and the work upon the founthe

of

building was

immediately commenced.

Owing, however, to the interruptions occasioned by the

military operations

on

this frontier

during that and the

two succeeding years, the building was not completed until

the

fall

of

81 6.

Its

total

cost

was about $10,000.

It is

[Plattsburgh Republicait, Dec, 181 6.]

said that the

success of the undertaking w-as owing to the unwearied

labors and self-denial of Elder William Pitt Piatt. [Dobie,
206.]
1

The pews were

under
the

sold on the
of

19th of December,

81 6,

supervision

Benjamin

Mooers,

Melancton L. Woolsey, and Levi

Piatt, a

committee ap-

pointed for that purpose, and brought at auction about

$12,000.

On

the 25th of the

same month, the church

PLATTSBURGII

VILLAGE,

73
in July,

was dedicated; the Rev. Nathaniel Hewitt, who,

1815, had succeeded Mr.

Weeks, preaching the sermon,

of the

and the Rev. Dr. Austin, President

University of

Vermont, offering the dedicatory prayer. [Dobie, 206.

Plattsburgh Republican, Dec. 14 and 28, 18 16.]

At
the

the time of the completion of this building, there

edifice in this county,

was no other church

counties

and none

in
It

n
of Essex,
of

Franklin\ or St. Lawrence.

in

was the mother

churches

Northern

New

York, and

stood a witness to the liberality and christian faith of our

forefathers, until destroyed

by

fire,

on the morning

of the

2ist of August, 1867.'

Mr. Hewitt was dismissed

Rev.
S.

in

October, 181

7,

and the
i

W. Whelpley

installed in his place,

on the

ith

day

of

March, 18 18, dismissed

in July, 1822,

and

re-in-

stalled in February, 1823.

Mr. Whelpley was succeeded

in-

by the Rev. Moses Chase, who was ordained and

stalled

on the

2d day of February, 1826.

He continued
his place being

as pastor over this church until

May, 1835,

supplied during an absence of about one year, in 1833-34,

by the Rev. Abraham D. Brinkerhoff.

The Rev.

H. B.

and remained three years. He was succeeded by the Rev. L. Reed, who was installed in February, 1840, 2Ci\d.deposed\\\ November, 1843.

Newton was

installed in July, 1836,

On
1

the 28th day of February, 1844, the Rev. David

of this church,

Dobie became pastor

and remained

Other religious societies had however, been organized within this territory. The First Presbyterian Church of Champlain was organized on the 8th of September. 1804 (Record of Deeds, Liber C, p. 27); t'l-i' of Cliazy, on the 22d March, 1805 (Liber C. 81); and that of Mooers on the ist of August, 1807 (Liber C. 257). The first Baptist Society of I'lattsburgh, was
organized on the 23d day of October, 181
1.

74

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.
ill

charge until compelled, by reason of

his dismissal, in October, 1855.

health, to ask for

Mr. Dobie was succeeded

by the Rev. Edward

June
16, 1858.

B. Chamberlin,

who remained

until

On

the 23d day of February, 1859, the

installed

Rev. John B.
January, 1863.

Young was

and was dismissed,

in

He was

succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Edwin

A. Bulkley, who was

installed

November

15, 1864.

Dur-

ing a portion of the year 1863 and 1864, the pulpit was

temporarily
the

supplied by the Rev. Francis B. Hall.

of 1864, a

In

autumn

new society, composed

of a portion

of the

congregation of the First Presbyterian Church,

of the Peristrome

was organized, under the name

of

Church
in-

Plattsburgh, over which the

Rev. Mr. Hall was

stalled as pastor.

In the

summer The

of

865 the interior of the church

building was remoddled throughout at a cost of nearly

$10,000.

building was totally destroyed by

fire

in

August, 1867.
rebuild,

Preparations were immediately

made

to

and on the 17th June, 1868, the corner stone was

appropriate ceremonies and the building was
of July, 1873.

laid with

completed and dedicated on the 8th

entire cost of the building
bell

The

and

its

furniture, including

and organ, was about $56,000.

The
in

chapel rooms

in the

basement had been completed

for public

October, 1869,

and were immediately used

worship, the con-

gregation having until that time worshipped in the old

Academy.

The

building

is

constructed of blue and grey

limestone, extreme length i2ofeet, extreme width 66 feet,

height of tower and spire 200 feet above street grade.

Methodist.

The

first

Methodist preacher known to

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

75

have visited the country 'bordering on the west side of

Lake Champlain, was

in

the Rev. Richard Jacobs,

who was

Clinton County in 1796, where he remained several

weeks, preaching to the few inhabitants scattered along

the borders of the lake.
I

cannot ascertain whether he

came
to his

as far north as Plattsburgh.

He was drowned
river,

while attempting to ford the Schroon

on

his return

home

at Clifton Park.

[Park's Troy Conference

miscellany, 35.]
In 1779, a circuit
Circuit,"

was formed,

called the " Plattsburgh

of the

which was placed under the sole charge

Rev. Alexander

McLane

as "itinerant."

It

included the
year the Rev.

whole territory west

Elijah

of the lake.

The next

Hedding was

licensed to preach, and was sent to

circuit, at this

this circuit.

He

remained on the
is

time,
first

about six weeks, and

said to have preached his

of

sermon

in a cabin

on the west side

Cumberland Head.

[lb., 43-]

Mr. Hedding returned in 1801, and with the Rev.

Elijah

Chichester, remained one year,

"

travelling

300

miles every month, from

Ticonderoga into Canada, and

preaching every day."

year by the Rev. Daniel
Clark, and the circuit
to year,

They were succeeded

the next

Brumley and the Rev. Laben

was under the

was afterwards supplied, from year

1,

by

others.

In 181

this

district

charge of the Rev. Jacob Beeman and the Rev.

Garlick.
It

Heman
\'cr-

was

in

this

year that

Bishop Ashbury

preached

in this village, while

on his tour through

mont and Northern New York. [Park's

miscellany, 59.]

In the spring of the year 18 13, a Methodist Episcopal

76

PLATTSBURGH
in the

VILLAGE.

Church was organized

town

of Peru, of

which Ed-

mund

Clark, John

Morehouse, Nathan

Ferris,

Solomon

Clark, Joel Clark and John Sheppard, were the trustees.

[Record of Deed, Liber

D., 490.]

Methodist society

was organized
Scott,

in

Chaz3% in Oct., 18 18, with

Churchill,

Alexander
Fisk,

Thomas Cooper, William

Solomon

David Hatch, Willard Hyde, Stillman Buckman, Thomas

Dickinson and James Boudett, as
F., 165.]

trustees.
1

[lb.,

Liber.
7,

But

it

was not

until

about the year

to

8 16 or 181

that any efforts were

village.

made

form a society

in this

About

this time,

Shelden Durkee,

Ann

Durkee^

Mary Bacon, Maria Haynes,

ler,

Polly Averill, Patience Mil-

John Wells and Michael

McDermott, joined the

church, but no class was organized until

1

November
At

19,

819,

when David Brock was appointed

of

leader.

this

time the society had been increased, by the addition to

its

members

John Addams and

Green.
Still

his wife,

David Brock,

Philena Brock, Phebe Edgerton,

Ann

Smith, and Mr.

and Mrs. Joseph

I.

[Manuscript notes of Rev.

Stephen D. Brown.]
ized in

no regular station was organ-

the village until the year 1826,

here.

when

the Rev.

James Quinlan was located

was

He remained two
who

years and was succeeded by the

followed, in 1829, by the Rev.

Rev. Orrin Pier,

Bartholomew Creagh,
in 1831.

and by the Rev. Truman Seymour

Until 1831,

the public services of the church had been held in the

Court House, but during the charge

society

of

Mr. Seymour, the

street.

removed

to the

church building, on Court

fire

[This building was destroyed by

in

January, 1846,

and was

rebuilt the next season.]

Mr. Seymour remained

here until 1833.

PLATTSBURGII

VILLAGE.

77

Since that time the following clergymen have been

stationed in this village:

jamin Marvin, 1834-6

cer Mattison, 1837-8;

Ephraim Goss, 1833-4; benJames Caughey, 1836-7 Spen;

Lyman Prindle, 1838-40; Hiram Meeker, 1840-42; Andrew Witherspoon, 1842-4 and
1858-60;

Stephen Parks, 1844-6; Stephen D. Brown,

S. P. Williams,
i

1846-8; Ensign Stover, 1848-50;

1850-

R- H. Robin52; John E. Bowen, 1852-4 and 1S64-5 son, 1854-6; Halsey W. Ransom, 1856-8; Joseph K.

Cheeseman,
1862-4;

1860-62

and

1868-9;

Elisha
E)avid
S.

Watson,
P.

Frederick Widmer, 1865-7;

;

Hurl-

burd, 1867

S. R. Bailey,

1870 and

'71.

W.

Merrill suc-

ceeded Mr. Widmer, but was suspended

a few weeks.
C. R.
;

after
'73,

being here
B.

Hawley, 1872 and

J.

M.

Mead,

1874 and
1876.

'75

and A.

Ingalls, the present

incumbent, in

Episcopal.

An Episcopal Society was

informally or-

ganized in this village on the 30th September, 1821, but

there were no regular continued services of the
until

Church

March, 1822, when the Rev. Joel Clapp was called

Mr. Clapp was succeeded
in

to the rectorship of the parish.

by the Rev. William Shelton,

August, 1823, who was

in

succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Davis,

December, 1826,
without a

who remained
this time the

a short time.
after

The Church was

Mr. Davis
left,

Rector for several years

and during

members

usually attended the services of

the Methodist Church.

in the year,

church building was erected

of

1830 and on the 6th day of September,

year, Trinity

of the

same

church was incorporated, with

C. Sailly as wardens,

James Bailey and Frederick L.

and

78
St.

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

John

B. L.

Skinner, Samuel

Beaumont, William F.

Samuel Emery, George Marsh, John Palmer and John Lyndeas vestrymen. [Record of
Haile, William F. Halsey,

Deeds, Liber
In

2,

227.]

May,

831, the Rev.

Anson Hard was

called to the

rectorship.

The church was consecrated on

the 27th day

of July of that year.

Prior to their removal to this build-

ing the Society had met for worship at the

at the

Academy
Coit,

or

Court House.

Mr. Hard was succeeded in the

J.

spring of

1832 by the Rev.

Howland

mained

in

charge of the parish until

who reAugust, 1844, when

he removed to Harrisburg, Penn.

of Dr. Coit the pulpit

After the departure

was not permanently supplied until

November, 1845, when the Rev. Thomas Mallaby accepted the rectorship. He remained here until December,
1849, and in

March following was succeeded by the Rev.

Joseph Ransom,
until

who continued

in

charge of the parish

In April, of that

the

first

day

of January, 1852.

year. Dr. Coit returned

from Pennsylvania and renewed

his connection with the parish, over

until his

which he remained

death, on

the ist day of October, 1866.

For

more than

twent3'-six years

he watched

faithfully over his

people in this vicinage.

The Rev. William M. Ogden,

who had

officiated as assistant minister since the spring of

that year, was called to the rectorate on the 27th of October, 1866.

He

resigned his charge over the parish in

May, 1869, and was succeeded by the Rev. Henry McClory,

who

resigned in December, 1870.

The

pulpit

was

temporarily supplied by the Rev. Charles Fay, of Grand

Isle,

Vermont,

until the

Rev. John H. Hopkins, S.T.D.,

the present incumbent, was called to the rectorate.

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

79

Roman

Catholic

CJmrch.

This
in

Churcli

was

first

organized in this village about the year 1827, when the

Rev. Patrick McGilligan was placed

to that time

charge

but prior

occasional services had been held here by

Rev. Father Mignault, of Chambly, and by Fathers Don-

gan and O'Callaghan. The

then resided on Broad

first

Mass

is

said to have been

celebrated at the private residence of

street.

Hugh McGuire, who

During
in the
fit-

Father McGilligan died

his residence here,

in

November, 1828.
worship

and

until St. John's

church was com-

pleted, the congregation

"

met

for public

red store,"

on Cumberland avenue, which had been

ted up as a chapel.

Father McGilligan was succeeded

by the

Rev. Father
only,

Mannigan, who remained a few

After him

months
Rogers,

and was succeeded by the Rev. Father

1834-5.
a short time,

who was here in the winter of came Father Raf terry, who was here
parish.

when

the Rev. Father Rafferty was placed in charge of the

He was

succeeded by the Rev. Father Burns,

who

died in April, 1836.

In April, 1834, the congregation purchased of Judge

John Palmer a
streets,

lot

on the corner

of

Cornelia and River

on which to erect a church building. The convey-

ance was made to

Hugh Mc Murray and Edward

1

Kelley.

On

the

held at

May, 836, a meeting of the congregation was the regular place of public worship, at which time
st of

the church
" First

was incorporated under the name

of

the

Roman Catholic Church of the town of

Plattsburgh,"

and Patrick Foy, William Eagan, Richard Cullen, Michael Kearney, James Trowlan, John Hogan, Barney McWil-

8o
liams, Michael

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.
elected

Ryan and Christopher Sherlock

the next day
lot

as trustees.

On

Mc Murray and
of

Kelley con-

veyed to the trustees the

purchased

Judge Palmer,
after

and the erection

menced.

of St. John's

church was soon

com-

The Rev. George Drummond was

parish at this time.

in

charge of the
fall

He

died in Canada in the

of the

year 1839, while on a tour

among

the parishes collecting

funds for the building.

Father

Drummond was
who remained

succeed-

ed by the Rev. Father Rooney,

the
fall

here until

of

1854.

The church

building was completed

under his administration, and was dedicated by the Right

Rev. Bishop Hughes, on Sunday, September 25th, 1842.

Father Rooney was

much

beloved, not only by his

own
in-

parishioners, but by the citizens of the village of the other

religious denominations.

Under

his care the

Church

creased rapidly.

The

records

show the number

of bapto

tisms between October, 1839, and June, 1847,

have

been

1,013.

Father Rooney was succeeded by the

Kinney,

Rev. Father
of

who remained

here until the

fall

1856,

when

the Rev. Father Cahill was placed in charge.

He was

succeeded on the 25th

J.

of

May, i860, by the Rev. Richard

Maloney, the present incumbent.

On
name

the 27th day of May, 1869, the

Church was

re-in-

corporated under the act of 1863 [Chapter 45], by the

John the Baptist's Church of Plattsburgh," with the Right Rev. John J. Conroy, Bishop of the Diocese of Albany, the Very Reverend Edgar P. Wadof " St.

hams, Vicar General

of the

Diocese, and Richard

J.

PLATTSBURGII

VILLAGE.

8
trus-

Maloney, Pastor of the Church, and two laymen, as

tees.

The laymen

first

appointed as trustees were Ber-

nard McKeever and Patrick K. Delaney.

In the spring of 1867, several village
lots,

fronting on

Margaret, Broad

and Oak

streets,

were conveyed to
to the

Bishop Conroy, and by him conveyed

poration in May, 1870.

new

cor-

Upon

these lots the corporation

commenced
nies by the

the erection of a

new church
first

building, the

corner stone of which was laid with appropriate ceremo-

Bishop

of

Albany, on the

day

of July,

1868.

This building was occupied by the Congregation

of 1874-5,

during the winter

17th,

and was dedicated August

of

1875, by

Bishop

Wadhams

the

Diocese of
of the Dioin the

Ogdensburgh,
cese of

assisted

by Bishop Grosbriand

Vermont, Bishop

Wadhams

preaching

morning and Bishop Grosbriand in the evening. The slating of the roof was put on in the fall

of 1871.

The
84

building
;

is

cruciform

length, 201 feet

feet.

the transept,
spire will

feet

height inside, 90

The tower and

be 250 feet

in height, built of

masonry and surmounted by

prosecuted from the

a stone cross.

The work has been

beginning under the watchful eye

of

Father Maloney, to
shall, in a

whose untiring energy and devotion we

church

great

measure, be indebted for the largest and most imposing

edifice in

Northern

New

York.
until
this

In 1853 the

French Canadians, who

time

had attended the services

at the St. John's

Church, were

formed into a separate congregation, under the immediate

charge of the Oblate Fathers, the Rev. John

P. Ber-

nard and Claude F. M. Sallaz, and soon after commenced

82
the erection of

PLATTSBURGH

VILLAGE.

a church building on CorneHa street.

" St.

This Church was incorporated under the name of

Peter's Church, of Plattsburgh,"

on the i6th day

of

De-

cember, 1855, with Joseph Fountain, Isaac Jourdarmais,

Damien LaForcc, Lewis Chaurain and Lewis St. Michell as trustees. On Sunday, November 19th, 1865, the church
was dedicated by Bishop Conroy,
priests.

assisted

by seventeen
E.,

Father G. Thibault of Longaeil, C.

having

preached the dedicatory sermon.

Father Bernard was

succeeded by the Rev. Father Garin, and soon afterwards

Father Sallaz was appointed the sole presiding priest of

the church and parish, and retained that position until
the

summer
who,

of 1870,

when he was

transferred to Buffalo,

He

was succeeded by the Rev. Father Charles Bourniin

galle,

October, 1873, was succeeded

by Father

Trudeau, the present incumbent.

1869, the

On

the 17th of October,

Church was

re-organized, under the act of 1863,

with Peter St. Louis and

trustees.

Damien LaForce

as

the lay

In November, 1869, the trustees of the old

corporation conveyed the church property held by them

to the trustees of the
is

new corporation.
edifice.

St Peter's church
the west and
to the "

a large and
it is

imposing

To

ad-

joining

the Mission

House belonging

Oblate

Missionaries of the Immacculate Conception," a corporation

for

created in April, 1871

its

[Laws, Chap. 418], having

the people,

object the religious instruction of

the formation and direction of parishes, the education

of clergyman, the

work

of missions in this State,

and the
chil-

moral and religious education of poor and orphan

dren.

In this mission house the Presiding Priest of the

PLATTSBURGII
parish and his assistants reside.
of St. Peter's church,
is

VILLAGE.

83
the opposite side

Upon

the Convent

D'Youville beloncr.
"

ing to the sisterhood of the Grey Nuns.

Tlie Sister1871.

hood of Grey Nuns" was incorporated April members of the Society devote themselves
tion of the young, visiting

6,

The
of

to the educa-

and alleviating the wants

the poor and sick, and general missionary and benevolent

work.

One

of the expressed objects of their charter

is

the foundation of an industrial school for girls out of em-

ployment.

Jewish Sy7iagogtic.
1

On
of

the

first

day

of

September,

86 1, a society was incorporated under the name of the

Plattsburgh,"

"Jewish Congregation

with
;

William
A. Pey-

Cane
ser,

as President
;

Levi Gold, Vice President

Secretary

Solomon Monash, Treasurer, and Hyman

trustees.

Monash, Cssar Peck and Seleg Levi,

services were
first

Regular

held by Rabbi Jacob Ehrich,

1862,

who came

here in September,

and who was succeeded by

Mr. Weil was
re-

Rabbi Julius Weil

in

September, 1864.

succeeded by Rabbi

S.

Bernheim,

in

May, 1867, who

mained here one

year,

when Rabbi Jacob

L. Myer, the

present incumbent, was placed in charge of the congregation.

On
trustees

the 4th April, 1866, the Society purchased of the

of the First

Universalist Church, their lot and

street,

church building on
for public worship.

Oak

and

fitted

it

up

as a place

^
'JO