The Saratoga Springs History Museum is in the former Canfield Casino and the casino history was very interesting. I especially like the biographies of the famous (and infamous) gamblers. Many were wealthy summer residents.
I wish my patience permitted me to describe all the gamblers, politicians, and hotel owners pictured and described on the second floor. I found those biographies fascinating.
By way of introduction to the Casino, here’s signage from the museum:
The Saratoga Club House: The Ultimate Club for the Gentleman Gambler
In 1870 John Morrissey opened this casino as a private, illegal gambling establishment for the robber barons of gilded age America. He planned to call e gaming house the Saratoga Casino, but this met with opposition and chanced the name to the Saratoga Clubhouse, He succeeded in keeping local law enforcement out by adhering to three rules: gambling was strictly for men, no gambling on Sunday, and no resident of Saratoga could gamble. The first two were to fit the socially accepted rules of the period, but the last was political. If locals lost money here, then the clubhouse would become a public nuisance. He was very successful, attracting only the wealthiest gamblers from across the country. Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, JP Morgan, John “Bet A Million” Gates and other wealthy men spent their summer evenings gambling millions of dollars in these rooms. To meet the expectations of his clientele, Morrissey hired the interior design firm of Herter Brothers to design and furnish the Clubhouse. This building is the only intact commercial interior designed by Herter Brothers.
All was well until Morrissey suddenly died from pneumonia in 1878. The Clubhouse operated under Albert Spencer and Charles Reed until they sold to Richard Canfield in 1894. The Clubhouse was then known as Canfield’s Casino by locals. Canfield faced a rocky road of opposition from gambling reformers and eventually closed in 1906. In 1911 the City of Saratoga Springs purchased the building and subsequent park, and this museum moved into the Casino’s second and third floors in 1912