HISTORIC NOTES ON WATERTOWN, JEFFERSON CO. NY

from WATERTOWN RE-UNION NEWSPAPER


Part 1, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12


February 27, 1873, p. 3: Part 11:

The first store in Watertown was opened in 1805 by JOHN PADDOCK and WILLIAM SMITH. They kept a general assortment of everything needed for the country trade, and received in exchange everything and anything the farms had to sell. Their first location was in the corner room of the old hotel building on the Washington Hall corner. That same year Mr. Smith put up the first brick building in the place, designed for and for many years occupied by him as a store, where he did a large business. Mr. Smith, although not a mason by trade, yet had the rare faculty of being able at any time to use any tool or implement pertaining to any mechanical trade or other calling. In the erection of the store, Mr. Smith took his trowel and laid every brick himself, if not as rapidly as a professional bricklayer, yet with as much precision and accuracy. This store was built on the lot now occupied by the express office.

The second brick building put up in the village was the Arsenal, built and owned by the State in 1809, and was filled with muskets and other military apparatus for the use of the militia when called out for active service. In 1872 the building was taken down even to its foundation, and the materials all taken away, after having stood 64 years. The street on which it was built was at the first called Columbia Street, but after the erection of the then quite imposing structure, with a fickle-mindedness that has often been indulged in since, the name was changed to "Arsenal Street". The third brick building erected in the bounds of the present city was built by HART MASSEY as a residence for his family and where he spent the remaining years of his life.

When built it was away out in the fields. Stone and Clinton Streets, and Massey Avenue, have been opened since. This house was built in 1812. JOSEPH KIMBALL was the architect and ANDREW NEWELL the builder, and now after standing 61 years, with a few slight alterations it will compare favorably with modern structures.



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