Glens Falls, New York is located in Warren County at 43.3° north and 73.7° west. It is home to about 15000 people. It is nearly the halfway point between New York City and Montreal.
Glens Falls is a somewhat sleepy down sitting at the foot of the Adirondacks. The town considers itself to be "typical" of the rest of the nation, and has a lot of support on that opinion. In 1944, Look Magazine called Glens Falls "Hometown U.S.A." US News and World Report consistently puts the city on it's list of best places to live in the United States. Reader's Digest recently put it at number three on their list of places to raise a family.
The original settlement was started by Abraham Wing, who was sent by the government of New York to survey the land around Queensbury for settlement. He built a saw mill and a tavern near the falls and rapids of the Hudson River, and invited people to come join him. Wing was the head of a chapter of the "Society of Friends and Quakers", and many members bought up the land grants that Wing had surveyed. The settlers referred to the town as "Wing's Falls" until Wing himself lost the rights to the land in a card game to Colonel Johannes Glen, who promptly renamed it "Glen's Falls".
The town found itself right in the middle of the American Revolution, being right on the main road between
Fort Ticonderoga and the city of
Albany.
George Washington and
Ethan Allen are known to have stayed in the village during their New York campaigns. The British army under Burgoyne burned the village to the ground 1n 1781 during the Northern Invasion. The settlers rebuilt the village, this time putting more thought into the layout of streets and the construction of water-powered mills. It reemerged as a center of
commerce and a conduit for resources from the
Adirondacks to be sent down the
Hudson Valley.
Glens Falls grew from a small village of 1200 in the 1830's to over 18000 in the 1930's. The growth of "suburbs" such as Queensbury (which nearly surrounds the city) has kept the population of the city relatively level. Glens Falls has a diverse economy, providing nearly 35000 jobs in manufacturing, service, and retail. The city also thrives on it's tourism, providing 5000 rental units to summertime visitors to the Adirondacks.
Other Misc. Facts:
One of the first paper mills, built in 1864, was the home of the Glens Falls Paper Company. Using cheaply available lumber from the surrounding mountains, they quickly expanded into a large company. Today, they are known as the International Paper Corporation.
Glens Falls is home to a former farm team for the Detroit Red Wings, the Adirondack Red Wings of the AHL. They consistently compete for the Calder Cup.
Resources:
http://www.cityofglensfalls.com
http://www.adirondackregion.org
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