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It was an exciting day for all Ballstonians when Jack Johnson stopped in the village on October 8, 1910. Johnson was the heavyweight champion of the world when he and his diminutive manager posed for this picture.

Several people in a large open touring car in front of Saratoga Monument in the Town of Saratoga. The Saratoga Monument was first conceived in the middle of the nineteenth century. An Association was formed in 1859 to raise funds to erect an obelisk, but the cornerstone was not laid until the centennial anniversary of the surrender of Burgoyne, October… Read more »

Pictured below is a view of parlor room of the Utopian Club. In the background in another room is group of men playing cards. The Utopian Club was organized in September, 1885 and had rooms in the Sans Souci Block on Front Street, Ballston Spa, NY. It still existed in through 1907, when it was photographed by Jesse Sumner Wooley.

Below is a photo of the monument to Col. Abraham Ten Broeck and Albany County Militia, erected in 1917 by Philip Livingston. This monument can be found at the Saratoga Battlefield.  

Snapshot of Ralph B. Post, a long-time doctor in Ballston Spa. Dr. Ralph B. Post was born on January 23, 1888 and trained at Albany Medical School.  Following service in World War I, he set up his medical practice in Ballston Spa.  In 1919 he purchased 143 Milton Avenue and in 1920 he married Agnes Hayes.  They never had children…. Read more »

Hope everyone had a good labor day! Here is what the Labor Day Parade in Ballston Spa looked like back in 1911. Pictured is the marching band headed through town. Photograph by Jesse Sumner Wooley.

Stereoscope (only one half pictured) of ostrich harnessed to a cart on a Jacksonville, Florida ostrich farm.  One of the more interesting footnotes to Saratoga’s history is the short-lived ostrich farm that graced Ballston Avenue.  This farm was the summer home of the Florida Ostrich Farm.  While little evidence has been uncovered in local sources to document the ostrich farm,… Read more »

In 1899 the American Hide and Leather Company purchased the Ballston Spa tannery from Hall, Haight & Co. At its height, the plant at Ballston Spa could store 125 carloads of hides in cooling plants. During processing they were washed, fleshed, unhaired, and soaked in various chemicals in preparation of tanning. After tanning, the hides still had to be split,… Read more »

Pictured below is the Elmwood Farm House, from the Lucy Stever Collection. Elmwood Farm was located on Middle Line Road. This photo was taken on August 6, 1932.