Charlie Kuenzel

HISTORY

WRITTEN BY CHARLIE KUENZEL PHOTOS PROVIDED BY THE GEORGE BOLSTER COLLECTION

ADELPHI HOTEL 1800s The Adelphi Hotel was built in 1877 on its present Broadway site. The famous builder and operator of the Saratoga Race Course and Canfield Casino, John Morrissey, passed away on the second floor of the hotel on May 1, 1878.

the grand hotels The Social Epicenter of Saratoga Springs

WRITTEN BY CHARLIE KUENZEL IMAGES FROM THE GEORGE S. BOLSTER COLLECTION

The history of Saratoga Springs contains many stories and accounts of the size, grandeur, and social importance of the Grand Hotels that defined the city of Saratoga Springs in the 19th century. The Saratoga Springs History Museum, located in the Canfield Casino, in Congress Park is pleased to announce a new exhibit of the Grand Hotels will open when recommendations on social distancing because of COVID-19 are relaxed. The Grand Hotels of the 1800s in Saratoga were the Grand Union, Congress Hall, United States and for a short time the Grand Central. Each of these “great ladies” had a large footprint as well as a comfortable and elegantly designed interior. These hotels also

were set-up to operate with the American Plan that provided over-night guests with three meals a day. This plan worked well to provide guests with an all-inclusive setting for food but eventually led the hotels to provide most of the needs of the guests in the area of leisure and entertainment. Although they were not in water, these hotels operated very much like the cruise ships of today. Each grand hotel began to define itself with unique offerings of different forms of music, performers, orators, dances and balls. Therefore, different groups of society began to favor staying at one hotel over another for a variety of reasons, but mostly social engagement.

ACCOMMODATIONS

The majority of the rooms in the grand hotels were rather small in size with about 150 square feet of living space, that contained a bed, dresser, double door wardrobe with a rocker and chair. The rooms were designed for sleeping and the changing of clothes. Social entertainment was found in the large public areas of the hotel. These hotels offered some rooms with private baths as well as many rooms with shared water closets. The Grand Union was the largest of them all and had about 1,000 rooms including the private cottages in the courtyard that rented at a very high daily rate. The United States Hotel had 768 rooms all plumbed with cold running water, Grand Central had about 500 rooms and a few suites while Congress Hall advertised about 600 rooms for guests. Each hotel had an elegant dining room in addition to a spacious ballroom for the many weekly social events and entertainment. The price per night for a stay in these grand hotels including three meals varied during the 19th century from a low in the early years at about $2.50/day to a more consistent $5.00-$8.00 in the post-Civil War years.

FOOD

The menus from these hotels provide a glimpse into the amount, elegance and variety of food served daily in these dining rooms. The large meal of the day was served during the majority of the 1800s at about 2:00 PM in the afternoon. Some hotels had only black waiters and others favored white men as servers, but all were dressed in formal attire. All dining rooms served numerous courses during each meal with military precision. The pageantry of the wait staff was as wonderful as the food. A newspaper account of August 1892 listed the amounts of food served in the United States Hotel that year. The partial list of food for one day’s consumptions was listed at: 700 quarts of milk, 400 dozen eggs, 500 pounds of butter, 340 chickens, 300 pounds of salmon,160 pounds of turtle for soup, 100 pounds of bluefish, 10 barrels of potatoes, 2000 ears of corn, 220 quarts of ice cream and unstated amounts of beef, pork and lamb. Dining was a daily social event at these hotels that was followed by walks, carriage rides, naps or cigars and drinks at the bar. It was the perfect place for America’s wealthy to congregate and discuss the problems of the day.

SOCIAL EVENTS

The grand hotels were the epicenter for many social events every week during the summers of the 1800s. It can be said that the social events began each day on the porches of these hotels. As an example, the Grand Union Hotel’s front porch held 500 rocking chairs that provided places for guests to rock away the heat of the day. The main “sport” on the porches was to view famous people walking by while rocking and gossiping about those members of high society. Music was an integral part of the hotel environment. To have the very best available for guests the Grand Union Hotel hired Victor Herbert as music director and the United States, not to be outdone, hired John Phillip Sousa as their director. Daily concerts in the morning and evening were the usual offering with large balls or galas offered weekly. The ballrooms were elegantly decorated with lavish carpeting, chandeliers, and artwork. Most dances began after 10:00 PM and were offered at an additional price of $1.50-$2.00 per person. The additional price helped to filter the participants to be mostly the wealthy. The dance card usually contained 12-15 songs that were played by top musicians. These dances allowed the freedom for young men and young ladies to mingle with the upper crust of society. As a result of these social events, many marriages could be traced back to an initial meeting of the couple at these events. Saratoga began to be the destination to marry-off your children to members of respectable society.

MUSEUM EXHIBIT

The Saratoga Springs History Museum is adding a fantastic new exhibit on the Grand Hotels. This exhibit tells the story of the role played by the hotels in the city’s history. Designed by Museum Curator Michael Levinson, it is a wonderful collection of original furniture, china, clothing and essential items displayed with wall-size photos from some hotels to help you feel like you are “stepping back” into time. Through the generosity of the Adelphi Hotel, the exhibit also contains the rare and recently procured elevator from the hotel, removed during renovation.

S S The exhibit’s opening date will be announced in the future and determined by the requirements of social distancing due to the COVID-19 outbreak. When the outbreak is over come visit us at the Saratoga Springs History Museum to learn about the city’s history as well as to see the great new exhibit, “The Grand Hotels.”

Rarely Seen Photos of OLD SARATOGA Springs

WRITTEN BY CHARLIE KUENZEL IMAGES FROM THE GEORGE S. BOLSTER COLLECTION

ADELPHI LOBBY 1939 This image shows the lobby as it was in 1939. The newly renovated Adelphi is a gem and harkens back to the glory of the grand hotels that were a big part of the landscape in the city during the 19th century.

CONGRESS HALL PORCH The Congress Hall was located on the southeast corner of Spring Street and Broadway. This image shows the enormous social aspects of the porches on these large hotels. The porches provided space to rock away the hottest parts of the day.

COMMERCIAL DINER This diner was located on the site of the present Stewart’s Shop on the corner of Church Street and Woodlawn Avenue. Urban renewal removed many of the buildings to the east to make room for the parking garage and the County Building, which was once a dress manufacturer.