The doomed Cobblestone House holding up urban renewal progress here will have to gain a lot of friends and influence a lot of people quickly if it is to survive. It is understood from reliable sources that an arbitrary demolition death sentence has been passed for July 15.
Urban Renewal Agency officials on a local level admit that the Hudson River Valley Commission has contacted them on the fate of the Old Stone Home situated at Hill and North Main St. It is apparently for this reason that this portion of the demolition contract, let to Palmer, Forino and Donovan, has been delayed.
U.R. needs the land for widening the Hill Street entrance under the federally accepted master plan. The Methodist Church gets the land on which the /Fort Stone House sits, but portions of it and the area where the old Fort Store is now located must give way to a new roadway necessary at this point.
U.R. officials have indicated that only a proposition which makes some sense will be considered by the agency which would amend its redevelopment plans to permit the building to remain.
Up to the present time no historical units which have shown an interest have given any intentions of moving the structure to a new site location. The Knickerbocker Historical Society of Schaghticoke, now engaged in restoration of the Old Knickerbocker Mansion, has indicated that it has room for the historic building on its land in Old Schaghticoke.
Faced with no other alternative but to demolish the stone building, the local agency must comply with Federal rulings which strress that where property is acquired for urban development, all structures must be demolished. Certified historical societies may request moving of historic buildings under a new law which permit the government to assist in costs of moving.
According to Mrs. Mary M. Hart, corresponding secretary of the Knickerbocker Historical Society, the cobblestone structures began about 1825 and lasted until the end of the Civil War. The builders gathered the stone from nearby fields as a rule, and it is thought that stone taken from the early Champlain Canal digging may have gone into the Fort Stone House construction. The village had three such buildings. One stood at the head of Hill St., one at its foot and a tis still standing is located at Burke St. All are within each reach of the original canal bed.
The Fort Stone House has been tabled by architectural interests studying “buildings worth saving in Saratoga County” as worthy of being preserved because of its early architecture.
On the other hand, local officials have pointed out that the building has been tabbed for eventual demolition since 1959 and no steps have been taken to preserve it until the last minute after a contract has been let for its demolition. They pointed out that this had been sufficiently publicized and it would appear that sufficient efforts to have it sold have come long before the final steps for its demise had been taken.
Unless present plans are drastically changed, it appears that the bulldozers will shortly move in and level the controversial structure. Richard Palmer blog.