Written by Carol Godette | Photos provided (unless noted)
[From the 2025 Home & Garden Magazine]
Today, the recently transformed SoBro Triangle is a thriving paradise for pollinators. Interestingly, the terms paradise and pleasure grounds were first used to describe this wedge of land when it was home to one of Saratoga's three summer Indian encampments.
In 1886, a Saratogian article noted, "The roller coaster on the pleasure grounds of Ballston Avenue carried about 1,000 passengers yesterday."
Ad from Lee’s Guide to Saratoga Springs 1883
2021 - just before SoBro Conservancy took ownership.
A year later, the Troy Daily Times described the site's enduring appeal: "Everyone who comes to Saratoga visits the 'Injun encampment' [Sic] and it is a special paradise for children and grown people with young hearts."
Former City Historian Evelyn Barrett Britten detailed the area's early history in her 1959 Chronicles of Saratoga:
"A third Indian encampment was in South Broadway in the triangular tract formed at the intersection of Ballston Ave. and South Broadway. In the 1840s, covered with scrub pine and hemlock trees, the site was an ideal spot for the Indians each summer. They built their white tents among the hemlocks and pine and included rustic lodges. Famous Indian warrior squaws, Indian maidens, and Indian boys came to visit there from the Indian Reservations. The slim black-eyed, barefooted Indian boys petitioned the visitors: 'Set up a cent.' For a few coins, they would demonstrate their skill with bow and arrow by shooting a cent fastened to the end of a stick, stuck into the ground 20 feet away. Like their ancestors, they were sure shots, and more often than not hit the cent, to the delight of all."
In 1902, Julius Jackson, president of the Standard Wall Paper Company in Hudson Falls, hired Newton Brezee to build his paradise on this "conspicuous site, in a portion of the village noted for its beautiful residences" (Saratogian, 1902). The grand home, with its wraparound porch, red-shingled exterior, white trim, and bright green roof, became a local showpiece admired by passersby.
Jackson died in 1919, and by 1935, his widow struggled to maintain their costly paradise. The neighborhood's character had changed, and she received only half of the home's estimated value in her attempts to sell it. Her best offer came from an oil company, which proposed that she retain the title to the property, raze the building, and erect an ornamental filling station under a long-term lease to provide her with a steady income.
Jackson's attorney, David Burke, stated, "Gasoline stations are not an economic success, but oil companies feel they pay for themselves because of their advertising value."
Despite vehement opposition and a contentious series of hearings from neighbors, who argued the location was "at the focal point of the densest traffic in the entire city," the rezoning was granted.
Passersby’s view of the second-floor balcony was replaced with a two-story Sinclair Gas HC emblem symbolizing "DINOCARE,” the company's top-tier gasoline.
For the next 60-plus years, this triangle became a stop for pleasure seekers, looking for an easily accessible fill-up. Several filling stations operated here including Bigsbee's, Perry's, Gentile's, Sousa's, and Crown Oil.
Traffic congestion has long been a challenge at this bustling intersection. Its "multi-leg feature” —a traffic engineer's term for an intersection with more than four approaches—has made it a focal point of Saratoga's road network. It was the site of Saratoga's first documented two-car accident in 1912.
This past July, Coneflowers in 209 South Broadway’s ecological garden attracted pollinators such as this Common Eastern Bumblebee (Bombus impatiens), Honey Bee (Apis mellifera), and Clouded Sulphur butterfly. Photo by Johanna Garrison
A photographer captured the incident from all five directions:
• Looking south down Broadway toward Malta
• Southwest down Ballston Avenue toward Ballston Spa
• West down Circular Street toward what is now the
high school complex
• North on Broadway toward downtown Saratoga
• East on Circular Street
With the advent of several nearby competitive gas stations, Crown Oil decided to close the gas station in 1999 and have it torn down. The land, no longer a paradise for anyone, slowly became a neglected eyesore filled with litter.
In 2022 David Eshaghian of Crown Oil donated this parcel of land, in memory of his mother Touran M. Eshaghian, to the newly formed SoBro Conservancy.
Since then, SoBro has been busy, in their own words, “regreening the barren parcel into a demonstration ecological garden, creating a vibrant, biodiverse, native ecosystem that will be a haven for pollinators, birds, and humans in this diverse and underserved neighborhood."
May 11, 2024 - 55 volunteers plant 600 plants. Photo by Susan Powell
SoBro Conservancy’s board has been overwhelmed by our community's support, including monetary donations and volunteer labor to restore this land into a paradise for pollinators. After receiving 501(c)(3) status, SoBro's board developed a detailed transformation plan beginning with a community design workshop, led by Shanti Nagel of Design Wild, one of the go-to firms for urban and ecological garden design in New York City. The final plan features five berms (raised areas of compacted soil), boulders, trees, and pathways.
Munster Enterprises donated and delivered boulders; neighbor Bob Israel helped backhoe the land; WSWHE BOCES students built a storage shed with materials purchased by the Saratoga Springs Rotary; and finally on May 11, 2024, 60 volunteers planted over 600 native species. As the coneflowers, coral bells, and creeping phlox bloomed, butterflies, beetles, and bees created a paradise for neighbors.
Eager to share this paradise and connect with neighbors, SoBro Vice President Kate Maynard reached out to the Saratoga Housing Authority to organize an on-site picnic and barbecue for nearby residents. Stewart's Shop, the across-the-street neighbor, provided picnic fixings and Pitney Community Meadows contributed a variety of fresh, homegrown vegetables.
"It was a great introduction to the site for many residents who had walked by the site but never entered before," Kate reflected. "Providing that connection was incredibly fulfilling."
In December, city residents selected SoBro as the recipient of a $16,000 Saratoga Springs City Participatory Budgeting Grant, ensuring the May 17, 2025, completion of Phase Two of the garden's planting.
May 16, 2024 Ribbon cutting ceremony and celebration by the Hudson Falls BOCES students who constructed the shed.
On June 29, more area residents will be introduced to the pollinator paradise during the Soroptimists’ Annual Garden tour. We invite you to join us that day to step into the SoBro Triangle and witness our newly created paradise.
Author’s note: Part one of this piece appeared in the 2023 Simply Saratoga Home & Garden issue (scan the QR code to read!) Thanks to Bill Orzell for his notes on Indian Encampments.
