Silver Bay in 1896

“Choice pigeons and doves” were among the casualties when Silas Paine’s chicken hatchery at Silver Bay burned in 1896.

“Soon after midnight Friday a noise like distant thunder was heard, to which no especial attention was paid till the whole hatchery, 150 feet long, was seen to be all ablaze,” the Essex County Republican reported on May 7, 1896. “The hatchery was a valuable one, containing four large incubators of the best patterns, and about 100 fowls, besides many choice pigeons and doves.”

The fire reportedly started when one of the naphtha lamps that heated the incubators exploded.

The next year Paine purchased from J.J. Wilson the Silver Bay Hotel, which later became the main campus of Silver Bay Association.

Paine was a long-time supporter of Silver Bay Association.

In late July 1896, Wilson had about 30 guests at the hotel, the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on July 30, 1896.

Among the season guests were Mr. and Mrs. Charles Barnet, who stayed through late October and then went to a hotel in Chestertown for the winter, the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on Oct. 29, 1896.

The Rev. George B. Spaulding, “a personal friend” of the late Ulysses S. Grant, was also a guest.

Spaulding was pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Syracuse.

“Dr. Spaulding is one of the intellectual heavy weights of the church in this state,” The Lake George Mirror reported on Aug. 1, 1896.

Click here to read my most recent previous Silver Bay history post.

Click here to read a previous post about J.J. Wilson.