I have a running joke whenever my wife points out an unexplained noise around the house.
”It must be the ghost of Dr. Birdsall. He followed us from Glens Falls to Ticonderoga,” I quip.
For more than a decade before moving north in 2018, we rented an apartment in the Victorian structure at the corner of Ridge and William streets in Glens Falls that once was the single-family home of Dr. Stephen Birdsall, who, with his son, also a physician, brought the first X-ray machine to Glens Falls in 1904.
I used to tell people in Glens Falls, “I have one-ninth of a mansion, and if I could afford the property taxes, I would take over the other eight-ninths.”
If Dr. Birdsall’s ghost does inhabit the structure, or any other location, I am certain it is a kind spirit, as Birdsall, a Quaker who played golf, was president of the Glens Falls Y.M.C.A. and a founding trustee of Glens Falls Home for Aged Women.
Early 20th century photo of the Birdsall mansion at corner of Ridge and William streets in Glens Falls. From "Glens Falls: The Empire City," courtesy The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library.
The Queen Anne-style structure, constructed in 1885 and 1886, and the framework of the historic barn behind it, still stands.
Stone mason Maurice Nason and his crew completed the lower portion of the house on July 29, 1885.
Carpenter William Sheehan of Albany, “a young man scarcely twenty-five years of age, who, notwithstanding his youth, is reported to be a thoroughly competent mechanic,” was preparing to begin the next phase of construction.
The test of time verifies the confidence in his skills.
By today’s standards, it has ample lawns surrounding it, but far less than the three acres of lawn and gardens of the late 19th century.
Birdsall paid $5,500 – the equivalent of $148,320 in 2020 dollars -- to buy the plot, that stretched over to Grand Street, from John Herlihy.
The windmill that once supplied water for drinking, bathing, cleaning, fire protection and watering the garden and animals is long gone.
Birdsall, the son-in-law of Daniel S. Haviland, a Queensbury farmer who was influential in politics, moved with his family to Glens Falls from Brooklyn, where the physician had a “large and lucrative” gynecology specialty practice,” in March 1885 because the physician, himself was in poor health.
“The doctor proposes to take a rest for one year, during which time he will erect his residence on Ridge Street,” The Morning Star reported.
Courtesy of The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library
In 1888, Dr. Birdsall built a hotel at Glen Lake, where many of his former Brooklyn patients came to vacation.
Early 20th century Post-Star history writer Howard Mason divided Glens Falls physicians into two categories: those who drove their own horses and those who had a driver.
Birdsall was of the latter category – having a driver who chauffeured him around Glens Falls in a Victorian carriage, with the top down on days the weather was favorable.
Birdsall apparently had farm animals on his property, because in 1886 the doctor won second place at the Warren County Fair for a six-month-old sow.
Birdsall owned a St. Bernard dog, which, in 1894, wandered down Ridge Street and “quickly took possession” of a ham that was part of a merchandise display in front of the I. N. Scott & Sons grocery store.
“Mr. Scott started in pursuit, but was unable to overtake the thief. He followed the dog, however, to Dr. Birdsall’s residence, and there found the animal enjoying a hearty meal, a good portion of the ham having already been devoured,” The Morning Star reported. “A number who witnessed the incident were heartily amused.”
No doubt, Dr. Birdsall paid for the ham.
To get an idea of the expanse of the mansion when it was a single-family home, nearly 200 people attended the wedding of Birdsall’s daughter in the parlor and dining room.
“The stately mansion of Dr. and Mrs. Stephen T. Birdsall was transformed into a bower of floral beauty last evening, when their daughter, Miss Lillian Eloise Birdsall and Charles Blanchard Price, of Newark, N.J., were married amid a proliferation of Easter lilies, azaleas, roses and palms,” The Morning Star reported on April 23, 1908. “It was one of the prettiest weddings seen in Glens Falls in many a day and the most brilliant society event of the season.”
Phil Rose Apartments owned the mansion for many years, dating back to around World War II until a few years ago.
Grand Ridge Apartments owns it now.
The Birdsall Mansion today
Sources: The Morning Star Jan. 20, May 8, July 30, 1885; March 15, 1894; Sept. 4, 1886; April 23, 1908; The Post-Star, April 24, 1939; Glens Falls Times, July 5, 1964; “Hospital by the Falls,” Joseph Cutshall King, 1987, Glens Falls Hospital; “Backward Glances,” Howard Mason, 2014, Warren County Historical Society; Glens Falls City Historian Wayne Wright
