MECHANICVILLE - Controversy over the old Stone House at the foot of Hill Street is not new. Almost a hundred years ago tempers flared: the press joined in, and public sentiment reached a point where the citizens by popular subscription raised $500 to help purchase the property in order to clear out what was then known as "Saloon Corners."
While actual construction of the Stone House itself is somewhat vague, it is possible that it was built very early in the 1800s by Dr. Croyden, also spelled Creudon, a Tory who served at the Battle of Saratoga as a surgeon to General Burgoyne. The land area was known as the Croyden Farm, and Dr. Croyden did have a wooden building on the spot at one time and a place known as a tavern. A well or drinking fountain of some type actually stood near the front of his tavern along what was then known as the King's Highway.
The fact that the tavern was a popular stopping off place for "drinks" gave rise to some stories that, when Washington was making is inspections north, following the Revolution, he did stop off at the tavern to water is horses. Croyden is credited with saying that "If the General wished to take a drink, he should take it from the drain gutter, that bette men than he had drunk from it."
Croyden built the Saratoga House on South Main Street, then also the King's Highway. Apparently a young man at the close of the war, he found taverns and real estate mod to his liking than the medical profession. In 1812 the Saratoga House was used to house British officers captured on Lake Champlain and to the north. The doctor eventually sold the Saratoga House to William C. Tallmage, then an enterprising young man who remodeled it into a fine hotel. The hotel eventually burned to the ground in a spectacular fire.
It could be that following tis Croyden built the stone house addition to part of his original structure, for while his whereabouts seem to have become lost, records indicate the some of Mechanicville's pioneers lived in the "old stone house."
Among these were W. F. Terry, one of the village's earliest newspaper publishers and a prominent lawyer, whose paper was the forerunner of the Mechanicville Saturday Mercury. Job V. Viall, who settled "West Mechanicville," the Saratoga Avenue-Viall Avenue area, and was connected with the American Linen Thread Co. and operated his own mills in Willow Glen, lived there when he first came to the "borough." A Dr. Ingraham had an office in the stone house.
According to the obituary of Cornelius M. Fort, one of Mechanicville's best known and highly respected citizens, he lived there when he was first married before build his home on Park Avenue. He was later to become owner of the property.
In 1884 Thomas J. Sweeney came in possession of the stone house. He built the present wooden addition adjacent to the north and operated what was then becoming known as a "saloon," the word tavern having disappeared. The upstairs was laid out into rooms for travelers and the downstairs was one of the plush saloons of the era. There was a wide veranda which Ean across the front of the wooden addition on which the politicians of the day would gather for their nightly discussions, all of which didn't hurt the proprietor's business in the least.
Across the street Bryan Sweeney conducted another saloon on what is now the Collins property. It was smaller but adequate. Where Pender's Store is located Patrick McCall had a rival saloon to the Sweeney's and thus the term "Saloon Corners" became popular.
The three drink shops dispensed nearly all the liquor sold in town at that time. One set of records shows that Sweeney acquired the property in 1875 rather than 1884 which is more likely to be the actual fact. He as at that time overseer of the poor in the Town of Half-moon and for a number of years was a member of the Board of Education. His saloon was the headquarters for politicians of both parties and caucuses were frequently held there.
The growing Methodist congregation and a hard core of businessmen became quite disturbed in 1906 over "Saloon Corners." They pointed out that it split the Main Street business section in half. Men customers coming down Main St. never made it any farther down the street than the front door of Sweeney's. Those going up the street found the same situation.
When Thomas Sweeney died, William dryer took over the operation of the saloon and the stone house Wass still being rented out as living quarters. Apparently, Dwyer an into some financial difficulties, for William H. Allen, a prominent businessman and citizen, finding that the property could be purchased, raised $500 from business associates and members of the church. An additional $8,000 was available and the property purchased with the avowed intention of tearing down the saloon and forcing the others out of business.
The records are not clear as to whom actually made the purchase, but the Mercury of June 26, 1906 said: "Mechanicville raised $500 on short notice last week and thereby made possible the purchase of the largest and most prominent saloon on North Main Street. The saloon property formerly owned by the late Thomas J. Sweeney at the corner of North Main and Hill Streets was purchased from Mrs. Dwyer by William Allen for $6,500. The purchase was made for the Methodist Church members who contributed toward the price. It is understood that the property will now be turned over to C.M. Fort, who will turn the cobblestone house over to his son, Sidney Fort, Jr."
The brewers and wholesale liquor dealers were considerably wrought up over the purchase of the property, which was turned into mercantile use. Saloon property was becoming hard to get. Homes adjoining prospective plots balked. Dobler Brewing threatened to contest the sale, but Attorney J.F. Terry, once resident of the stone house, drew up an air-tight transfer and the deal was made.
Dwyer had the property on the market for some time. The brewers were accused of marking time until there would be foreclosure and there would be foreclosure proceedings and they could pick up at a fraction of its value.
Coming to the hamlet of Vischers Ferry in 1859 when Mechanicville was a community only 800 people, Cornelius Fort accepted a clerkship in a general store owned by J.S. Warner on the site now occupied by the State Bank of Albany. Five years later he branched out for himself in the Mead Building at the corker of Park Avenue and North Main, where he conducted a store for 36 yeas, getting much of his freight by canal boat.
He handled groceries, hardware and dry goods and was credited with bringing grapefruit to the village. He retired after 36 years of activity, closed out his general store but in less than two years he went into business on the now controversial site. He remained active in the business up the time of his death in 1926.
The wooden addition is the original Sweeney Saloon although some modifications were made. It was covered on the upper floors at tone time for the Austin Studio, and it is reputed that Sweeney also ran a bakery in the back at one time. Richard Palmer blog.