The Fires and the Falls: The Entrepreneurial Spirit and Great Men
Sherman! Crandall! Hyde! Pruyn! Lapham! Ordway! And the list goes on… The history of Glens Falls is abound with the names of the great families who helped build the city with their energy, ambition, entrepreneurship, and charitable work. This tradition survives to this day as Glens Falls attracts new generations of entrepreneurs to work and build their lives in this area. The city’s history is rich with powerful families who built their businesses and raised their families and sacrificed for this town. Their work is found in the fabric of the city. It has inspired street names and shaped the city’s culture and history. Often referred to as the “Gateway to the Adirondacks”, Glens Falls’ location has attracted entrepreneurs, inspired industry, and created great wealth and influence.
LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!
The location of Glens Falls has its part to play in why the entrepreneurs came to stay. A seemingly unlimited supply of timber in the Adirondack forest was just waiting to be harvested and shipped to market down the mighty Hudson River. These men transformed natural resources into a thriving economy of marketable goods and services.
One of these men – William McEchron (8/3/1831 – 9/2/1906) – came to Glens Falls in 1863… Previously, he had worked as a tow boy on the Champlain Canal, and he had been a lumberjack in the Adirondack Forest. In Glens Falls, he partnered with an established businessman James Morgan, and operated limestone quarries in South Glens Falls. For a short time, the company was called Morgan & McEchron… However, after Morgan’s untimely death, William McEchron became the head of what became known as Morgan Lumber Company. William McEchron spent the remainder of his life living in Glens Falls, surrounded by his family and dedicating himself to supporting his family and public service. Throughout his life, he lived in different areas of the village – when McEchron was getting established in Glens Falls, he lived in a brick house on Elm Street, and he later moved his family to the area of Ridge Street and Maple Street.
THE FIRES AND THE FATES
McEchron’s dedication to philanthropy was partially based on his experiences in Glens Falls – one of his greatest accomplishments was creating a reliable water supply for the village.
While the McEchrons lived on Elm Street, the new Glens Falls Hotel was built next door… The McEchron children would play on the grounds of the hotel, which were filled with large gardens and trees.
Wait Carpenter, who owned the hotel, was ambitious and wanted to improve the kitchen… He bought large coal stoves that would get very hot. In late May of 1864, Williams’ wife Sarah was sitting near the window of their house while the children played in the yard, when she saw billows of smoke pouring from the kitchen windows of the hotel… Fire trucks quickly arrived, carrying volunteers from the fire department. The flames were stoked along by a spring breeze, and spread quickly in every direction… The buildings on both sides of Glen Street were quickly engulfed in flames, and were soon beyond any help the fire department could provide.
Despite help from neighboring villages, the situation was soon hopeless due to the lack of water supply. This fire became a disaster that would wipe out the center of the village.
McEchron became village president in 1872, and although he only held the position for one year, he managed to establish an adequate and modern water supply for the village… Fire, which destroyed much of Glens Falls on three occasions during McEchron’s lifetime, had impacted McEchron both personally and professionally – a decade after he came to Glens Falls, his business partner James Morgan died; burned to death in his own stables… The mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of James Morgan have never been clear. On the night of his death, Morgan had been alerted to a disturbance in his stables, and went out with a lantern to investigate the problem… The stables burned to the ground, and Morgan’s remains were found the next day.
William McEchron’s legacy of entrepreneurship lives on in the city… Wayne Wright, the City historian, is impressed with how much McEchron did for Glens Falls: “McEchron gave his money without a lot of people knowing about it… He wanted to be in the background. The Glens Falls Home, he paid for that. The YMCA, he contributed more money between himself and his family than anybody else. Christ Church was built because of him… He started from humble beginnings, and ended up a very wealthy man. The same happened with Sherman and Crandall, and the list goes on… McEchron was exceptionally wealthy and exceptionally generous,” he said.
MORGAN & CO.
Today, the generosity of William McEchron is carried on through his contributions to the town and the home that he built for his family… The family home that he built was inspired by the useful modern conveniences in the house he had previously built for his daughter and her husband. The house stayed in the McEchron family until 1921. At that point, the surviving daughters of William and Sarah McEchron transferred the deed to the City of Glens Falls… That home is currently the restaurant Morgan & Co; a sly nod to the interwoven fates of the McEchron and Morgan families. Morgan & Co carries on the entrepreneurial spirit with their creative menu and superb service: “We call it ‘comfort food’ with a Mediterranean-Bohemian flair,” the owners explained through their website.
At Morgan & Co, you have the opportunity to see the inside of the McEchron family home, dine in the rooms where they lived, and feel the history around you… This restaurant was opened by Glens Falls native Rebecca Newell-Butters, and her husband Steve Butters. The house and gardens are now used for the restaurant and special events, and the wrap-around porch and gardens provide unparalleled ambiance for the spectacular chef-prepared cuisine.
For more information about Morgan & Co. and the McEchron House, please visit MorganRestaurant.com
