View source for Paul Smith's Park Map



'''Paul Smith's Park Map'''

An undated map titled "Paul Smith's Adirondack Park" was drawn to show the hotel property on [[Lower%20St.%20Regis%20Lake|Lower St. Regis Lake]]. <span style="">A copy that was hand-dated c. 1905 was used in the <span style="">nomination to the National Register of Historic Places,'' ''but this date and a few other points in the nomination have been shown to be erroneous.

Pat Willis, a local Brighton historian, wrote a correction on 5/26/1999. On Section 8, page 11 of the nomination, she referenced [[Geraldine%20Collins|Geraldine Collins]]' assertion in ''''[[The%20Brighton%20Story|The Brighton Story]], North Country Books, 1977, that the New York State Board of Regents granted [[Paul%20Smith's%20College|Paul Smith's College]] of Arts and Sciences a charter as a Junior College on October 15. 1937, not 1930, as stated. Willis went on to correct the statement that the tower of the library building (in 1999, in the building on the lakeshore) remained from the original hotel, writing "Main hotel burned Sept 1930. Construction on tower began in 1931 per Collins, page 112." The nomination states that "the small bridge built for [[Paul%20Smith's%20electric%20railroad|Paul Smith's electric railroad]]" also remained from the original hotel. Willis writes: "According to [[Michael%20Kudish|Michael Kudish]], Paul Smith's College Professor and author of ''Railroads of the Adirondacks / A History'', the electric railroad bridge was removed either in the late 1930's or during World War II--the tracks probably needed for scrap metal. The bridge that is very near to the RR bed is one built for the old highway [built about 1892], is still there and used as a footbridge today."

On a copy of the map, Willis noted that the stable near the proposed [[New%20York%20Route%2030|new road to Tupper Lake]] was built in 1914 per Collins, page 110, 111; that the Paul Smith's R.R. Terminal was built 1906/7 per Kudish; and an addition (label illegible on the map) on the rear of the main hotel block was made in 1916/17 per Collins page 111.

Corey L. Laxson, Paul Smith's College, wrote a paper dated <span style="">March 6, 2018, titled "Evidence towards the Accurate Dating of the <span style="">Paul Smith's Park Map." Laxson presents six pieces of evidence that this map was made after 1915, and likely in the mid to late 1920's, based on physical features shown on the map and comparison with a detailed survey map of the hotel grounds produced for an unnamed insurance company (Sanborn?) on May 27, 1914. His six points are:

1. Presence of the garage, which was not built until after 1914.

2. <span style="">Presence of a designated auto shed. This building was still a woodshed in 1914.

3. Description of proposed road to Tupper Lake, which was not actually built until 1929.

4. <span style="">Presence of golf course # 3, which most certainly did not exist in 1905.

5. Absence of the large stable complex, which would have still been essential in 1905.

6. Paul Smith's Electric Railway Terminal, which opened for business in 1906. 

In the full paper, each of these points is supported by text, maps and photos.
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See [[Paul%20Smith's%20Cottages|Paul Smith's Cottages]] for complete nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.