Saratoga Springs celebrates 100 years

By the first months of 1915, change was afoot in the village and town of Saratoga Springs.

The prosperity of the mineral springs and the Saratoga Race Course had created an unwieldy government rife with duplication. Several futile attempts to change the charter reached a head, when the Business Men’s Association took it upon itself to draft a charter and push for the urban village and outlying rural town to incorporate into a city — a stance that proved popular with residents.

“It was time for a change,” said city historian Mary Ann Fitzgerald.

The association drafted a charter outlining the city’s form of government in February 1915 and, despite an attempt by the village’s trustees to derail the process, the document was ultimately adopted by voters the following month by a more than 2-to-1 ratio. And in April, Saratoga Springs officially became a city.

“This is what the people of Saratoga Springs wanted,” Fitzgerald said. “They wanted to become a city.”

City leaders are now planning a full slate of activities in the coming months to commemorate the centennial anniversary of Saratoga Springs’ incorporation. Events include the unveiling of Centennial Park at the terminus of Union Avenue, the rededication of the city’s iconic Spirit of Life statue in nearby Congress Park and a $20,000 overhaul of High Rock Spring.

Saratoga Shakespeare Company will commemorate the city’s incorporation with performances of the romantic comedy “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” set in 1915 with a score of ragtime music. Local historian Field Horne will release the book “History of Saratoga Centennial” with contributions from 25 area authors. Also planned are a re-enactment of the first City Council meeting of June 1915, an exhibit at the Saratoga Springs History Museum featuring 200 years of maps from the city’s past and a growing list of other events being put together by the Saratoga Springs Centennial Committee.

“It’s going to be a citywide festival of events,” said Eleanor Mullaney, the committee’s co-chairwoman. “And we’re going to try to tie it all together.”

Now under construction, Centennial Park is set to be dedicated with fountains and a statue of Native Dancer. The pocket park was a $500,000 gift from socialite Marylou Whitney and John Hendrickson and replaces a flower bed and rock formation commissioned by the Pillar Society.

In adjacent Congress Park, work on a half-million-dollar overhaul of Daniel Chester French’s Spirit of Life statue is expected to wrap up sometime this spring. The statue will be rededicated on June 26 — around the same time Walter P. Butler dedicated the gift from Katrina Trask as his first official act as the city’s first mayor.

The city is also attempting to rejuvenate High Rock Spring, an area thought to be where the Mohawks first settled centuries ago. With a gift from the Alfred Solomon Foundation, work is underway to install new piping that will allow the mineral waters to again bubble from the ground.

In conjunction with the celebration, Sustainable Saratoga is launching a project to bring 100 large-species trees to highly visible areas around the city. The trees include oaks, tulip poplars, American elms and maples that will be planted with help from the organization’s Urban Forestry Project over the next few years.

“We really want the entire community to feel involved,” said Mayor Joanne Yepsen of the celebration. “This is a work in progress.”

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