It was an ominous sound in late March 1907.
“Residents in the vicinity of Crandall Park were surprised last evening to hear the frogs croaking in the pond,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on March 30, 1907.
Perhaps the frogs were excited, or maybe upset, with a new pond resident.
Over the winter, Henry Crandall, “Grand Old Man” of Glens Falls, had hired George Kenworthy to build a motorboat for Henry to use on Crandall Park pond. The boat was powered by a naphtha external combustion engine used for private pleasure craft as an alternative to a steam engine, which required having a licensed engineer on board.
A postcard depicts boating on Crandall Park Pond, circa 1910
“It is large enough to accommodate about a dozen people,” The Morning Star had reported earlier in March. “Mr. Crandall is quite enthusiastic over the launch.”
It was great addition to the park that Crandall, a Glens Falls lumber baron, real estate investor and philanthropist, started in 1883. He purchased an initial parcel of land, which included the pond, for $30,000 – the equivalent of about $765,000 in 2020 dollars, and gradually added adjoining land.
His life and career embodied the great American rags-to-riches dream.
“No boy in this city was in poorer circumstances than I was when I set out on life’s journey,” Crandall said around the time of his 92nd birthday. “But everyone can reach success if he will refrain from bad habits and cultivate the habit of saving money.”
By 1899 he had increased the park land and surrounding property to 70 acres.
Addison B. Colvin, publisher of the Glens Falls Times, wrote in 1931 about when workmen in 1899 were building the monument in Crandall Park, which the lumber baron – who used a five-point star as his log mark – and his wife, and horse, would later be buried underneath.
As the legend goes, one of the workmen quipped, “Mr. Crandall, when you are buried here, after a time you will be forgotten.” So, Henry took off a shoe and stocking and left his footprint in the cement.
Early amenities of the park such as a rudimentary golf course, elaborate fountain, and a Civil War cannon are long gone, and forgotten by many. The fountain and cannon were melted down in 1942 to make armaments for World War II. The golf course disappeared some time in the early 20 th century.
A cannon on the grounds of Crandall Park, circa 1910. Photo courtesy of Chapman Historical Museum.
But Crandall, who died in 1913, has not been forgotten, and some suggest his child-like spirit still inhabits Henry’s playground, a park open for all to enjoy.
“Each succeeding day develops new beauties at Crandall Park, and the increasing number of visitors shows that they are appreciated,” The Morning Star reported in 1900.
The golf course, a five-hole course set up using tomato cans and crude clubs, was constructed in 1901. Croquet also was a popular sport. “A number of ladies who play croquet at Crandall Park gave a luncheon at the golf house Saturday evening in honor of J.R. Duell, to show their appreciation of the excellent condition in which he has kept the grounds,” The Morning Star reported. “Mr. Duell was very pleasantly surprised and wishes to thank the ladies for their kindness.”
By summer of 1901, use of the park had become so great that Glens Falls village trustees hired a special constable, at an annual salary of $5, to patrol the park.
Crandall generously allowed community groups to use the park, such as the Glens Falls Woman’s Club, which moved its Sept. 22, 1909 clambake to Crandall Park a few days before the event, after selling more tickets at $1.50 each – the equivalent of $42.49 in 2020 dollars – than what Harris’ Grove, the original location, could accommodate. “Crandall Park will be the scene of one of the greatest and most enjoyable gatherings ever held there,” The Post-Star reported. “Fun will run rampant, and there will be an abundance of things eatable, the much-coveted clam being agreed to sacrifice his life in honor of the occasion.” Funds raised benefited the Warren County visiting nurses service.
Crandall set aside one acre of the park in 1910 for the newly organized Boy’s Conservation League of Glens Falls, an organization for boys ten and older, to plant 1,200 white pine saplings that the state Department of Forestry was to deliver in Arbor Day. The club planted 2,000 more saplings in 1913.
A postcard depicts the elaborate fountain in Crandall Park, circa 1915.
In 1911, Crandall allowed a group of local horsemen to construct a half-mile trotting horse track at the park. “Local horsemen are enthusiastic over the project of establishing such a track and work will be commenced immediately,” The Post-Star reported.
Ducks, now a common sight on Crandall Pond, were introduced by John Cunnion, an Upper Glen Street resident, in July 1916, a few years after Henry died. “Mr. Cunnion placed ten ducks, each of which is about three weeks old, in the pond. It was the first time they had ever been in the water and they attracted great attention,” reported The Post-Star, calling it the start of a movement. “A man who saw the ducks in the pond stated that night that he would buy a swan and add it to the collection.”
Around 1917, The Crandall Trust, which owned and managed the park after Crandall’s death, hired architect Percival Gallagher of Brookline, Mass., to redesign landscaping of the park. In 1947, the city began maintaining the park, and the city purchased the park from Crandall Trust in 1966. Land behind and adjacent to the current park, where Kensington Road School and the Glens Falls Family Y.M.C.A. are located, used to be park land.
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Sources: The Morning Star July 23, 1900; May 3, Aug. 12,1901; June 18, 1901; March 30, 1907; The Post-Star March 8, 1910; April 29, 1913; Sept. 18, 1919; July 18, 1916; 1931 essay by Addison B. Colvin; Historic property survey Richard C. Youngken prepared in 1981 for City of Glens Falls, City Historian Wayne Wright
MAURY THOMPSON
Maury Thompson was a reporter for The Post-Star for 21 years before he retired in 2017. He now is a freelance writer and documentary film producer specializing in regional history. Thompson is collaborating with Snarky Aardvark Films to produce a documentary about Charles Evans Hughes and the Adirondacks, which is expected to release in September 2020. See the trailer here. Read his full bio here.