Third in the series
exploring moments in Saratoga Springs when national history, human folly, curiosity, and chance collided
in our small city.
Written by Carol Godette | Photos provided (Unless Noted)
No Israelites Need Apply
This summer, thousands will visit our city and stay at one of the 17 hotels within our city limits to enjoy our health, history, horses, and culture.
Picture yourself a bit weary, arriving after a long journey with your family, ready to check into the same room you have loved for the past ten years.
The desk clerk looks uneasy and says, "I’m sorry, but I have strict orders not to let you stay at this hotel. Last season, business was slow, and we had many guests similar to you. Our owner decided our customers didn’t like the people we had. This year, we’re following a different policy, and I’ve been told not to let you in."
As unlikely as this sounds, in 1877, this actually happened in Saratoga. Often referred to as “The Seligman Affair,” it’s a classic case of America in a fight between its myth of universal belonging and the practice of selective belonging.
For those unfamiliar with The New York Times front page story of June 1877, Joseph Seligman was denied entrance to the Grand Union Hotel by Henry Hilton, the newly appointed manager. On the surface, the story appears to be a shocking display of antisemitism. But underneath the incident is a deeper story of greed, loss of humanity, betrayal, revenge, and retribution.
The Grand Union Hotel, Joseph Seligman and Henry Hilton were all “influencers” of their time, dominating headlines and society pages across the country.
At center stage was the Grand Union Hotel, the largest hotel in the world during the Gilded Age. No expenses were spared at this favorite hotel of the wealthy. In the 1870s, it accommodated 2,000 guests who enjoyed morning concerts on a three-story-high, 1,250-foot-long signature porch, an elaborate white-and-gold ballroom, elevators, indoor plumbing, and private cottages lining the 4-acre interior garden.
Photos:
Exterior and interior
of the Grand Union Hotel.
Courtesy of the
Beatrice Sweeney
Postcard Collection
Enter regular customer Joseph Seligman, a well-known financier who helped fund the Union during the Civil War and was a personal friend of Ulysses Grant. He was a man of grit who overcame obstacles and achieved success. Seligman arrived in America with $100 in his pocket and quickly rose from peddler to store owner and to prominence as a Wall St. banker.
Behind the scenes, in June of 1877, Henry Hilton (not related to the Hiltons of hotel fame) was newly appointed manager. He was a lawyer, judge, and trusted friend of the recently deceased hotel owner A.T. Stewart. When visionary Stewart, one of the richest men in America, died in 1872, Stewart’s widow, Cornelia, inherited his properties. Perhaps out of devastating grief or undeserved trust in her husband’s lawyer, Cornelia had turned over her husband’s business enterprises to Hilton for one million dollars. They were actually worth 40 million dollars.
Joseph Seligman
This is the first of many articles the New York Times ran featuring
Seligman’s exclusion from the Grand Union Hotel
On June 13, 1877, Seligman and his family entered the hotel, ready to check in for the summer. The hotel manager stated, "Mr. Hilton has given instructions that no Israelites shall be permitted in the future to stop at this hotel."
An astonished Seligman hesitated and asked, “Are they dirty, do they misbehave themselves, or have they refused to pay their bills?”
The manager responded,” Oh no, the reason is simply this: business at the hotel was not good last season, and we had a large number of Jews here. Mr. Hilton came to the conclusion that Christians did not like their company, and for that reason, he resolved to run the Grand Union on a different principle, this season, and gave us instructions to admit no Jew.”
In reality, there was more to Seligman’s rejection. Hilton felt slighted by Seligman when he was not invited to a dinner he hosted for Grant when he was elected United States President.
Seligman’s rejection was the next day’s front-page headline in The New York Times. It began a deep-seated discussion of antisemitism that still endures.
This debate played out on the pages of newspapers across America. The New York Times featured Hilton’s justifications in a June 19, 1877, article. Hilton explained that Seligman was the “wrong kind of Jew.” Hilton felt that Hebrews were acceptable, but Ashkenazi Jews were not.
Seligman had the sympathy of fellow Jewish merchants, who quickly withdrew their accounts from Stewart’s department store, which was then under Hilton's oversight. Shortly after, the once successful New York department store was forced to sell and became Wannamaker's.
By 1883, Stewart’s properties, under Hilton's management, declared bankruptcy. I wonder if Joseph Seligman, who died in 1880, felt that Hilton got what he deserved. Personally, I believe Seligman did not share Hilton’s pettiness and would not have wanted someone to experience the same pain he had. He expressed his displeasure in a letter to Hilton saying, “The civilized world is beginning to be more tolerant in the matters of faith or creed or birth then you believe, or would have them. They despise intolerance, low cunning, and vulgarity, and will not patronize a man who seeks to make money by pandering to the prejudice of the vulgar.” Rather than giving Hilton the satisfaction of banning him from Saratoga, Seligman continued vacationing here a few blocks further south on Broadway at the Clarendon Hotel.
Despite Hilton’s demise, Jewish people in Saratoga were banned from many popular hotels until the 1950s. A powerful reminder is the historical marker on Putnam Street that explains the area known as the Gut. The blue and yellow marker defines it as “a lively Jewish enclave of stores, markets, hotels, and boarding houses” where Jews were compelled to build a community within a community.
Courtyard of the Grand Union Hotel.
Courtesy of the Beatrice Sweeney Postcard Collection
The ripple effect of this event extended far beyond Saratoga.
Jewish travelers needed to know where they were welcome, prompting the publication of a Jewish travel guide called “The Jewish Vacation Guide.” In the 1920s, Victor Green was inspired by this example and created the “Negro Travelers Green Book.”
Drawing a parallel to Seligman’s experience, I recently got a glimpse into the world of racial discrimination when I visited Miami’s Historic Hampton House Museum, the only standing Green Book Hotel from the Jim Crow era.
Executive Director Curb Gardner’s tour helped me feel Muhammad Ali’s need to remind himself that he belonged. Ali was banned from the white hotels in Miami Beach and could only stay at the Hampton House, a Green Book hotel for blacks. The room he regularly stayed in is preserved, complete with his boxing bell on the nightstand. Curb had me ring the bell and exclaim, “The Champ is here!” just as Ali did every time he entered his room.
Both Ali and Seligman, men of extraordinary achievement, needed to remind the world, and maybe even themselves, that they belonged.
Author’s Note: If you’d like to hear more about this event, please visit the newest exhibit “ The Scandals of Saratoga: The Downfall of the Gilded Age Glories” at the Saratoga Springs History Museum. Thank you to Michelle Isopo of The Saratoga Room at the Saratoga Springs Public Library.
Hilton’s exclusion eventually led to the creation of a Jewish Vacation Guide, detailing establishments where Jewish people were welcomed.