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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.

This photo of the interior of the Sylvester C. Shaeffer meat market was taken in August 1916. S.C. Shaeffer began in business in 1896 and his sons, John S. and Warren P., were active participants in the business. The store was located on Front St. next to the Opera House until the market was sold in 1947. This photo is… Read more »

This black and white photograph was simply titled “Broadway,” This is what a portion of downtown Saratoga Springs, NY once looked like in 1898. Owners of the photograph originally wrote “this one of the hotels near Spring Street,” but it is actually a photo of Congress Hall.

Family photo albums can be fascinating sources of information about the past. These images of Samuel W. Cooke riding a bicycle are from the Booth Family album and were taken in July of 1897. 

Ballston Spa lost one of its famous hotels on July 8, 1932, when the Eagle Hotel burned to the ground. The U.S. Post Office is now located on the site which is on the south side of Front St. at Milton Ave. The first building on this location was a blacksmith shop built in 1812 (Warren Shaeffer Collection). Ballston Spa,… Read more »

On the evening of Sunday, July 31, 1910, a passenger train derailed on the Delaware and Hudson line in Ballston Lake. This photo postcard shows the aftermath. A week later, eight trackmen were arrested for removing spikes from the track near a curve in the line.  The sabotage was part of a labor strike and the arrested men said they… Read more »