Civic Center, 2 Park Street
Potsdam, NY 13676
(315) 265-6910

Potsdam People

POTSDAM: PURCHASE AND SETTLEMENT

The St. Lawrence River Valley, including the area that is now Potsdam, was originally the hunting grounds of Native Americans, specifically the Iroquois. In 1787, in an effort to fortify the NY-Canada border and provide safe passage for travelers, Potsdam and nine other towns in St. Lawrence County were deeded for sale and settlement by the New York State Legislature.

Named for the capital of Prussia, Potsdam passed through the hands of several owners before David Clarkson and associates of New York City purchased it in 1802. By 1803, Benjamin Raymond, a surveyor and agent for the purchasers, had begun a settlement on the banks of the Racquette River.

“Potsdam is at once typical of a northeastern college town and unique in its history and character. We who live in it and love it walk or drive the village’s streets as if they have always been there, as if Potsdam has always been as it is and somehow always will be. Why should we care what happened here a century or two ago? And yet care we must because the past is part of who we are as a community and as individuals. We are, in part, who we were.”

SUNY Potsdam Professor Arthur L. Johnson
Quoted from Images of America, POTSDAM
Arcadia Publishing Company 2004

BUILDERS

Benjamin F. Raymond

Potsdam citizens who recognized the value of the river, the land and native sandstone deposits, envisioned the possibilities for their community. Some had the means to create businesses and to provide opportunities for others in the areas of farming, manufacturing and public service.

Potsdam was first settled in 1803 by Benjamin Raymond, a surveyor and agent for the Clarksons and associates.

“We have now about 35 families in Town and more are coming in daily. Our settlement is at present… increasing faster than any in the County and I have no hesitation in saying it must in a short time become the most respectable on every account in the county.”

(Letter from Benjamin Raymond to Messrs. Van Horne & Clarkson – March 5, 1807)

Liberty Washington Knowles

Liberty Knowles (1784-1859) was Potsdam’s first lawyer. He can be credited with helping to found the St. Lawrence Academy, building the first two-story house in Potsdam, and setting out many of the elm trees which lined the village streets. He moved to Potsdam from Connecticut in 1809, and married Melinda Raymond, sister of Benjamin Raymond. In 1821, Liberty Knowles, Sewall Raymond and Charles Partridge built Potsdam’s first sandstone building. It was on the corner of Market and Elm Streets and was considered to be an experiment to determine if sandstone was suitable for public buildings. The building still stands today.

Thomas Streatfield Clarkson III

Thomas S. Clarkson (1837-1894) was educated locally, attending St. Lawrence Academy and finishing his education with tutors. Though the Clarkson family had accumulated wealth in stocks and property in New York City, all the Clarkson men learned a trade. Thomas and his brother Levinus (1835-1876) ran the Clarkson Farm of over a thousand acres until the death of Levinus. At this time, Thomas S. gave up farming and began to devote more of his energies to various business ventures in Potsdam, including the development of the first electrical power plants in the area and the installation of the first village sewer system. His most important business involvement was with the sandstone quarries. Along with  valuing hard work, Thomas S. Clarkson also recognized the importance of culture in daily life. He and a cousin organized the Potsdam Public Library and Reading Room, and also operated a tuition-free night school to teach the rudiments of mechanical drawing. On August 14, 1894, Thomas S. Clarkson was the victim of an accident at his sandstone quarry. He died five days later.

“Sunday, August 19, 1894 – Everybody’s best friend is gone… Mr. Clarkson has shown how much good a man can do who has a little money. He employed many men. His men never struck. He never had any trouble… He did not do business so much to enrich himself but to help others. He sometimes continued business at a loss in order to give his men work… We may endeavor in our limited capacity to do as Mr. Clarkson has done, not live entirely for ourselves, but to try to help others.”

(From the diary of Potsdam resident Josiah Brown – 1894)




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Riley & O’Brien Marble Works, c.1868 

This business, at 6 and 8 Maple Street, was established about 1850.

It specialized in monuments, head stones and tablets.




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Edward Joy's Harness Shop, c.1900

Located at 9 Main Street, this shop opened in 1876, and was in operation for over 45 years.





Thomas Woods Groceries, c.1910

Thomas Woods (standing, third from right) established this grocery in 1897. It was located at 13 Main Street, remained in business into the 1940s, and was a source of supplies for local hunters.


Dr. Hervey Dexter Thatcher

Dr. Hervey Dexter Thatcher (1835-1925) was known primarily as a druggist and inventor. He operated his drug store, H.D. Thatcher & Co., at 19 Market Street, from 1860-1895. His numerous inventions included a glass milk bottle, Sugar of Milk Baking Powder, orange butter coloring, a paper bottle cap, several board games, and a paper milk carton. Thatcher took out over 20 patents and received awards for his products at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago.

Thatcher’s milk bottle led to the founding of the Thatcher Manufacturing Company on Depot Street. The company was eventually sold to businessmen in Elmira, NY, where it became the world’s largest producer of glass milk bottles.




Father Bernard Marron

Father Bernard Marron came to St. Mary’s, Potsdam, in 1879, to a congregation of about 1,350. Over the next thirteen years that number increased to 2,300, and the small wooden church, built in 1859, was no longer adequate for their needs. Father Marron organized a parish building committee and planned for a new church “to be not less than adequate for 1,000 persons.” During his forty-eight years at St. Mary’s, Father Marron earned the love and respect of his parish and the community.

The “new” church was built next to the old wooden church on Lawrence Avenue. In the memoir “A Random Scoot” by Mary B. Burke, she notes, “That congregation was poor…The entire town shook skeptical heads at the size of the church rising to house it. But rise it did…” St. Mary’s was dedicated in December 1900. The “old” church was sold and dismantled in 1901.


George Wing Sisson and Family

Perhaps no extended family became so thoroughly integrated into the life of Potsdam as the Sissons. George Wing Sisson and his wife Sarah Hamilton Sisson moved from Glens Falls to Potsdam in 1867. After being involved in the lumber business, he and others founded the Racquette River Paper Company in 1892. By 1901, he and his sons owned all the stock and ran the entire company. Eventually, four generations of Sissons were active in the paper and lumber business, in addition to owning thousands of acres in the Adirondacks. Most of George and Sarah’s eight children remained in the area and played major roles in the business, civic, educational, religious and social life of Potsdam.


Sarah Hamilton Sisson (1834-1916) and George Wing Sisson (1829-1913) were married for 59 years and raised 8 children.

 

The Racquette River Paper Company. George Wing Sisson was one of the founders of the Racquette River Paper Company in 1892. At first the paper mill made mostly newsprint, but later it produced butcher paper, embossed paper, printed wrapping paper, and a variety of specialty papers. This company was one of the few 19th century industries to have survived in Potsdam.

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Gatherings such as this were held at Hillview Farm, the home of George Wing Sisson, Jr. This son, who succeeded his father as president of the Racquette River Paper Company, raised Jersey cows. His was considered one of the outstanding thoroughbred herds in the country. The Sissons were known for their Thanksgiving celebrations featuring printed menus, music performances, recitations and group singing. 



Frank, son of George Wing Sisson, was known as “Potsdam’s favorite tenor.” He studied voice in Potsdam and New York City and sang professionally before eventually becoming general manager of the Racquette River Paper Company. The Sisson brothers were very musical. A trio composed of Charles, Fred and Frank often serenaded the bride at family weddings. It was Charles Hamilton Sisson who married Daisy Crane, a pianist and sister of Julia Crane, founder of the Crane Normal Institute of Music.