NEB&W Guide to Plattsburgh, NY - Not Modeled

Last Update: 2008-11-16

Plattsburgh Table of Contents
Chateaugay Table of Contents
Photo Gallery Table of Contents

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• The Saranac River was dammed and provided water power for early industries.
  • [Postcard of the dam.]
  • [Franklin Mill c. 1859.]

• C. 1911, Plattsburgh had a motor car factory, Lozler Motor Works.
  • [Postcard.]
  • [Another postcard.]

Fouquet House

• John Louis Fouquet opened a small boarding house in Plattsburgh in 1798, which burned during the battle of Plattsburgh in 1814 (from falling hot artillary shells) and the next year, a new house was built. This burned in 1864 and probably the next one was built shortly thereafter. (Sometimes you see this spelled without the first "U", i.e., "Foquet".) The Fouquet House was right across the street from the depot.
  • [Engraving c. 1899.]
  • [Postcard view. (Note the use of white stones to spell out the name on the grassy bank.)]
  • [Larger postcard view.]
  • [Postcard view of the front and west side.]

North Plattsburgh

• Photos from our D&H collection taken in 1944, concerning an accident on Lorraine Street.
  • [Photo.]
  • [Photo looking west.]
  • [Photo looking east.]
  • [Photo.]
  • [Photo.]
  • [Photo looking east, taken 50 feet west of the crossing.]
  • [Bigger.]
  • [Photo looking southeast, taken 50 feet west of the crossing.]
  • [Bigger.]
  • [Photo looking east, taken 100 feet west of the crossing.]
  • [Bigger.]
  • [Photo from the intersection of Miller and Lorraine, looking east.]
  • [Bigger.]
  • [Photo taken 75 feet from crossing looking south.]
  • [Bigger.]
  • [Photo taken 20 feet west of crossing looking southerly.]
  • [Bigger.]
  • [Photo looking north from near the overpass.]
  • [Bigger.]

Bridge Street

• Bridge Street connected the depot and engine terminal area with the downtown across the Saranac River.
  • [Postcard looking west showing the earlier bow arch truss bridges.]
  • [Postcard of the new concrete arch bridge built around 1930.]
  • [Postcard looking east, I think.]
  • [Postcard.]
  • [Postcard.]
  • [Postcard looking east from the junction of Margaret.]

Witherill Hotel

• The Witherill Hotel was located on Margaret Street near St. John's. It probably was built in the 1870's with Italianate hoods over the windows and a three story porch in the front.
  • [Engraving c. 1899 of lower Margaret. The Witherill is no. 15, in green. (The post office is to the right, in purple.)]
  • [Postcard view of the original post office with the Witherill Hotel to the left (and I think St. John's in the background).]
  • [Photo view from the south.]
  • [Postcard view from the south. The porch is heavy overgrown with ivy.]
  • [Postcard view from the south.]
  • [Postcard view from the north.]
      By the 1930's, the porch was rebuilt to a single story one with a 1920's style entrance added with a two story addition.
  • [Postcard view c. 1930's, from the north.]
  • [And another postcard view, c. 1930's, same angle. Note St. John's steeple in the background.]
  • [Probably a duplicate postcard. C. 1930's with rebuilt porch, original front.]
  • [Yet another postcard view, same angle. ]
      Toward the end, most of the hoods over the windows in the front were taken off and a few windows rebuilt bigger.
  • [Another postcard view from the north. The hoods are gone, the cornice gone and one pair of windows on the top floor replaced by a single wider window.]
  • [Another postcard view from the north and slightly higher.]
  • [Photo of the entrance, probably last version.]
  • [Postcard view of the interior of the dining room.]
  • [Postcard view of the interior of the bar area.]
      It was destroyed by fire, unknown date. However, according to Mrs. Light's 7th grade class (2006), the structure was razed in the 1960's after having stood empty for a year, so the owners could get a reduction in their property taxes.

YMCA

• The YMCA was located one block west of the post office on the corner of Brinkerhoff and Oak Street.
  • [Postcard view of the YMCA.]

Post Office

• The post office. The first version was also functioned as the custom house and probably the second one did, too.
  • [Engraving c. 1899 of lower Margaret. The post office is no. 12, in purple. (The Witherwill is no. 15, on the roof, in green.)]
  • [Postcard view of the original post office with the Witherill Hotel to the left (and St. John's in the backbackground).]
  • [Another postcard view of the original post office.]
  • [Another photo view of the original post office and the Presbyterian Church to the right. (In the engraving above, it is rendered in red.)]
  • [Postcard view of the post office. (This looks like city hall, minus the dome, at least at first glance.)]
  • [Another, later, postcard view of the post office.]

High School

• The original high school was a mansard-roofed building, probably dating from the 1870's on Oak Street. By 1914, it had been replaced by a Beaux Arts structure.
  • [Engraving c. 1899 of lower Margaret and Oak. The high school is in blue, the Presbyterian church, red, the post office, purple and the Witherill Hotel, in green.]
  • [Original mansard-roofed building.]
  • [Another view.]
  • [Postcard.]
  • [Another postcard.]
  • [Postcard of the new school c. WWI.]
      According to Mrs. Light's 7th grade class (2006), the 1914 school was built on Broad Street. It was torn down in the 1970's to make way for a new middle school.

Houses

• Residential section.
  • [Postcard, unknown location.]

• Single story house.
  • [Photo c. 1980's.]

Military Reservation

• There was a military reservation located south of town. At some later point (c. 1954), it became an airforce base.
  • [Army Barracks.]
  • [Another view.]
  • [Another view.]
  • [Postcard of "Officers' Row".]
  • [Army tents in 1916, building up to WWI.]
  • [Soldiers arriving by train on the eve of WWI.]

Plattsburgh Traction Co.

• I believe the traction company (trolleys) operated between 1895 and 1929. It was originally under the D&H. According to Mrs. Light's 7th grade class (2006), the car line did cease in '29, after having finished in the red a touch over $1,000. One of the main sources of riders was students to the "Normal" school which burned that January, as well as private auto use increasing. The city was begged by its citizens to take over the trolley line or otherwise help subsidized it, but they refushed. They even forced the company to repave Broad Street, a cost of $5,000.

Normal School

• I believe this was the name for a school for teach teachers. According to Mrs. Light's 7th grade class (2006), after the original building burned in 1929, the city allowed the Normal School to hold classes in City Hall while the their new School was rebuilt. They said the building is now known as Hawkins Hall on the Plattsburgh State Campus.

Peru Street

• Peru Street headed south southwest toward Peru, NY. (At one time, there was a rash of town names after exotic foreign places.) It was mainly residential.
  • [Photo c. 1920's.]
  • [Photo.]
  • [Photo.]

Hotel Champlain

• This was one of those enormous edifices built by a railroad to generate passenger traffic, in this case, the D&H in 1890. It was located south of town on a cliff called Bluff Point. (Sometimes it is called the Champlain Hotel.) President McKinley actually used the hotel as the "summer White House" in 1897. In May 1910, it burned and was replaced by a Tudor style building a year later. (After it went out of business, it became a community college.)
  • [Postcard c. 1904 of the original mansard roofed building. Actually, I guess this is a Chateausque type building.]
  • [Postcard of the newer version.]
  • [Another postcard of the newer version.]
  • [And another, pretty much another version of the same image.]
  • [Postcard of the lake side. Notice how high it is.]
  • [Postcard of the boat landing.]
  • [Postcard of Bluff Point from the north. Can't even see the hotel, buried in the trees.]

Shoremont Cottages

• This was located (I believe) south of Plattsburgh.
  • [Photo c. 1940's.]
  • [Photo c. 1950's.]
  • [Photo c. mid-'50's.]

See our Layout Guide for Chateaugay

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