He donated land for a burial ground and became the first person to be buried there. Putnam laid out Broad Street, today’s Broadway, and tubed Congress Spring in what is now Congress Park. Many vast hotels were built over the years including Putnam’s Congress Hall, The Pavilion, The Columbian, The United States, and the Grand Central. Putnam’s Tavern evolved through the years as Union Hall, The Union Hotel and finally the Grand Union Hotel. Putnam built his three-story tavern in 1802 across the road from Congress Spring.

Gideon Putnam was the visionary who set out to create a spa resort in the midst of wilderness. They believed the naturally carbonated water had been stirred by the God Manitou, endowing it with healing properties. The area known as Serachtague, “place of swift water,” was sacred to the Mohawks and other Native Americans.

These springs are the only naturally carbonated mineral springs east of the Rocky Mountains. Saratoga Springs is known as “the Queen of the Spas.” It has a rich heritage as a health resort and gambling center for much of the 19th and 20th centuries.ĭuring the Paleozoic Era, a series of faults or cracks split the underlying bedrock, creating fissures through which water forced its way to the surface.

Union springs casino