A friend of mine who loves Adirondack history and is a collector of all things early Tupper Lake, telephoned me recently, asking if I knew of Southworth’s Mountain View House. It seems that after some spirited bidding, he had acquired a postcard on eBay. The postcard, dated 1899, had a one-cent stamp and a color photo labeled Southworth’s Mountain View House, Tupper Lake, NY. The card was postmarked Tupper Lake and the sender had written, in a strong legible handwriting a short message to his brother in the Midwest that all was well, and he expected to be in Tupper Lake only a few more days.
My friend went on to say, “You know, Bill, a bigger mystery than where that hotel was located was how a postcard mailed to a destination thousands of miles away ended up on eBay in perfect condition 108 years later.” Good question, n’est pas?
I had never heard of Southworth’s but it was located on the corner of Park Street and Wawbeek Avenue (today Tom LaMere’s convenience store). I found the answer in a souvenir booklet prepared by then town historian and bank president James Jacobs. The booklet was in observance of the Tupper Lake Bank’s silver birthday anniversary, which occurred on June 18, 1931. In the booklet, historian Jacobs describes the first stirrings of both the bank and the town in its dual march toward growth and prosperity.
The Odd Order Changeth
This past August 2006, the bank produced another anniversary booklet,
this one celebrating 100 years of service to this community, chronicling
challenges, growth and prosperity. I like one quote that Muriel Ginsberg
(her father, Mose, was bank director for 15 years) offered: “A bank
that gets to be 100 years old must be doing well.” I am compelled,
for history’s sake, to quote one other statement in the booklet: “The
banking business can be unpredictable, but the board in 2006 is committed
to maintaining TLNB status as an independently local-owned bank.”
Thus it was that the announcement this month that Community Bank Systems Incorporated has entered into an agreement to acquire TLNB Financial Corporation, parent company of TLNB, came as a shock and saddened many in this community.
Local bank officials have made a difficult decision and assure us that “it’s an excellent relationship and perfect partnership for us.” Yes, nostalgia has no place in the world of hard business decisions, but 100 years of success and service is a long time. It’s a piece of local history that is one of its highlights in importance, and it is like losing an old friend, even as you know that friend has gone on to better things.
Back to the Postcard
Let’s get back to our postcard. Mr. Jacobs wrote in that fascinating
1931 booklet that the first hotel to open for guests was the Mountain
View Hotel, built in the 1890s by W.P. Southworth, on the corner of
Wawbeek Avenue and Park Street. He goes on to say, “Several hotels
then under construction were built soon after, among them the Altamont
Hotel, built by J.H. and T.L. Weir, Racquette Pond House (later the
American House on Lake Street) and a hotel run by J.D. Alexander (on
the site which later became the Iroquois Hotel, now Stewart’s convenience
store).
The Mountain View House must have commanded a sweeping, unobstructed view across Racquette Pond to the mountains beyond such as Arab, Matumbia, Floodwood and Iron. It was a good location as well. Wawbeek Road was then the only road in and out of this village. It ran directly from Racquette Pond, where steamboat service (costing $1.25) was available to transport tourists to hotels located on Tupper Lake to the Wawbeek Hotel (a portion of that road was later renamed Stetson). The hotel had a large livery that provided stagecoach travel between Upper Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake.
Historian Jacobs, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, came to Tupper Lake as a youth, taking over as manager the Dodge Meigs Company in 1891 (later, the Santa Clara Company).
He was one of the founders of the TLNB, and he also helped to organize the Tupper Lake Water Company in 1899. This was a highly important venture. Not having adequate fire protection (no water system was available) provided such a hazard that insurance rates were prohibitive, and there was the grave question that the village would rebuild after the 1899 fire, which destroyed the central part of the village. Mr. Jacobs and his partners in the water company gave assurance that protection would be available. Confidence was restored and village plans to rebuild went forward.
Cranberry Pond Purchased
A further word about the water company: True to their promise to provide
a water supply, the company hired local surveyors Will LaFountain and
James McBride to locate a suitable source of water. They investigated
McBride, Little Simond and Cranberry ponds. Their recommendation was
to use Little Simond Pond, pointing out its purity, size and depth,
which would guarantee a continued source as Tupper’s population grew.
However, the cost of a pipeline to transport the water was prohibitive,
and the water company investors elected to go with Cranberry Pond.
Mr. Jacobs, one of those investors, notes, “Land on the slopes of Mt. Morris, embracing Little Cranberry Pond and the fine springs that embrace it, was purchased from the A. Sherman Lumber Company. A modern gravity water system was installed under a 200-foot head, which provides ample pressure for fire protection.”
Eventually, the water company passed into the hands of Col. William Barbour, who substantially upgraded the system and later sold it to the village on Nov. 23, 1920. Mr. Jacobs died in Middlebury, Vt., on June 27, 1962.
I’ve mined a few other nuggets from that 1931 bank booklet, which I hope you will find interesting, and I will share them with you in a future Transitions.