The tourism fostered at Saratoga Springs by the mineral waters and baths spawned the spectacle of thoroughbred racing during the nineteenth century and also a clubhouse which operated as a casino. They were exciting diversions for those visiting to take the “water cure.”
With so many tourists at the numerous hotels and boarding houses by virtue of the convenient rail connections, another attraction of sorts was fostered, Indian Encampments which functioned much like carnivals.
These had amusements of all kinds for young and old, with Indigenous crafts sold cheaply. It was a popular place to have your photo made. Ice cream, lemonade and other cool refreshments were available, and you might visit the abode of the fortune teller; glass blowers who made glass objects while the customer waited and perhaps next contracting with the glass engraver to personalize your souvenir of the Spa.
The shooting galleries were very popular, with rifle, pistol and archery practice offered for a nominal sum, where the targets were sometimes glass balls and birds with large figures marked with a bull’s-eye.
After a ride on a swing the popular puppets, Punch and Judy, would perform at their traditional stage, where the canvas compartment shielded the puppeteer from view, and sometimes it was the famous puppeteer Prof. Stephen Stevens.
Outdoor bowling alleys, with swinging ten-pins were a popular pastime, along with the croquet lawn.
Booths and tents, some with a papoose swinging in a rustic cradle, displayed all types of Native American industry; a shelf sized birch bark canoe, woven baskets, the gaily decorated bow and quiver, whirligigs, embroidered fabrics and other articles of handicraft, with beautiful bead-work their trademark.
At night the flickering flame of campfires created a charm that illuminated the activities with a glow which seemed to make it more exciting.
Indian Encampments, featuring mostly Mohawk and Abenaki people, came to Saratoga Springs every summer and operated at three separate locations, with two running concurrently.
The first was on North Broadway, near the present location of Skidmore College, in a setting known as “Pine Grove,” opposite the colonial home of Reuben Hyde Walworth, New York’s last Chancellor.
Two other locations in Saratoga Springs hosted these seasonal Indian Encampments as well. One block west of Broadway on Ballston Avenue (formerly known as Milton Avenue) where it intersects Hamilton Street, was an odd-shaped piece of property, a portion of which is presently occupied by Pizza Hut, and at that time extended to South Street, the present day Lincoln Avenue.
The Indian Encampment in this part of town boasted a circular railway ride and a gravity railroad or roller coaster, sometimes also called a “summer toboggan run.”
Another Indian Encampment was in an area near the Spring Street – Circular Street intersection, referred to in those days as Temple Hill.
This was immediately east of John Morrissey’s Clubhouse (now Canfield Casino) where the ground was perpetually saturated by the water of numerous springs.
The property was in title to several people, some as the guardians of infant and/or feeble children, and although Morrissey tried for years to buy it, he could not conclude the deal.
Lee’s Guide to Saratoga shows that the Ballston Avenue location, and the Circular Street – Spring Street location (present day Congress Park) were both operational during the 1883 season. Both locations had “Aunt Sally” which was a popular throwing game where you won a prize if your toss could break the clay pipe in a figurine’s mouth.
Not all saw the playgrounds as a virtue to the summer season at the Spa. The 1873 tour guide, Saratoga, and How To See It, by R. F. Dearborn described the purveyors as a French-Canadian “gipsy” band:
“They come here annually with an eye to business, and, like other people, to see and be seen, and open their weird camp to the public simply as a speculation, offering for sale the various trinkets to which their labor is directed.”
Some saw the Encampment as a nuisance and the neighbors complained, citing “sanitation” as a concern.
Harry S. Leech, a summer resident, had built a spectacular mansion, Stoneleigh, across Circular Street was bothered by the noise. Leech also was dealing with all the activity at the Kensington Hotel across Union Avenue, and like some of his neighbors, resented commercial operations in that part of town.
Leech built a tremendous masonry wall around Stoneleigh to keep Indian Encampment patrons from cutting across his property. This impressive wall still surrounds the structure at 2 Union Avenue.
If you scan the 1888 townscape of Saratoga Springs by Lucien Rinaldo Burleigh Jr. (L.R. Burliegh, 1853–1923), you’ll see both Stoneleigh and the Kensington, and also the small buildings and carousel of the Indian Encampment.
Interestingly, Burleigh’s townscape also shows the Ballston Avenue location with its early roller coaster and circular railway, although neither Indian Encampment is labeled.
The circular railway ran on two separate and parallel tracks where self-propelled cars would travel in opposite directions, at a genteel speed, that appealed to nineteenth century sensibilities, which was anything but a thrill ride.
Temple Hill, at Circular Street – Spring Street became the default location of the Indian Encampment, where it operated for several years. This position is labeled “Indian Camp” on the 1895 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, with the Ballston Ave location appearing to have been redeveloped by then.
The “Indian Camp” land was sold in 1901, and immediate changes took place on the property. All evidence of the Indian Encampment was demolished, and the springs linked by drainage through an artificial stream.
It was conjectured at first that the property had been acquired by August Belmont. However the new owner was someone who, because of the nature of his business, needed to be very discreet – “Prince of Gamblers” Richard Canfield (1855-1914).
The following year, in 1902, Canfield made major changes to the Clubhouse John Morrissey had built in the early 1870s, and which Albert Spencer and Charles Reed had operated after Morrissey’s death.
Wanting to create a special atmosphere for his patrons, Canfield hired New York City architect Clarence Luce to design a restaurant and dining wing to be added to the building.
Because Canfield’s operations were at the warmest time of the year, the new addition had a convection-driven air conditioning system, and indirect lighting, with the further provision for serving and dining al fresco.
For this special outdoor feature, he brought in landscape architect Charles W. Leavitt to create an Italian Garden. This setting, the former Indian Encampment, was a showcase of flowering plants and a soothing babbling water course.
It was further enhanced by Carrara marble sculptures Leavitt specified and artist and Troy native Louis Potter created, including the signature art-piece of Saratoga Springs, the “Spit and Spat” Triton Fountain.
During Canfield’s reconstruction project, journalist Julian Ralph (1853-1903) visited what formerly had been the Indian Encampment, and his disdain for the Indian Encampment was published by the August 6, 1902 New York Times:
“The old Indian Encampment! I thought. And so it has vanished and a park is to rise from its ashes. That was good news, for if there ever was an eye-sore and a moral pesthole it used to be that misnamed campground.
“For years it was a jumble of fake shows and leprous booths, the aversion of decent folk and the nightly resort of young Arabs of the streets who, starting badly, went there to be toughened almost out of human likeness.
“And so the great gambler whose name has become like Abou Ben Adhem’s, leading all his clan, had bought and cleaned out this foul bird’s nest! A good job.”
Meanwhile, the anti-gambling reform movement found a champion when Charles Evans Hughes was elected as Governor in 1906. Measures the Governor instituted took a heavy economic toll on Saratoga Springs, and led to a period of two years, 1911 and 1912, where thoroughbred racing did not take place there.
Richard Canfield, who had married the former Genevieve Wren Martin (1869-1957) and started a family, shuttered the Canfield Casino, eventually selling the property to the Village of Saratoga Springs.
Congress Hall Hotel ceased operations during the racing ban and the property was also acquired by the village.
The Canfield property and the Congress Hall Hotel property were both added to a vastly expanded Congress Park, wiping out any remaining traces of the Indian Encampment.
Illustrations, from above: “Pine Grove Indian Camp” in Saratoga, 1876, Harpers New Monthly Magazine; Indian Encampment in Saratoga, late 19th century (private collection); Pine Grove Indian Camp near North Broadway, ca. 1860s; Separate stereo views of the Indian Encampment in Saratoga Y, ca 1870 (combined illustration courtesy Historic Iroquois and Wabanaki Beadwork (visit the site for more images of Indian Encampments around the Northeast); Advertisements in Lee’s Guide to Saratoga, 1883; details from Burleigh’s Saratoga townscape showing the Indian Encampments; and the circular railroad at the Indian Encampment east of the Canfield Casino (courtesy Robert Joki Stereoscopic Collection, Saratoga Springs Public Library).
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