Bloodville

Bloodville is a hamlet of Ballston Spa, Saratoga County, New York State. It is named after Isaiah Blood, who established the Ballston Axe & Scythe Works in 1824.

The factories were located on the Kayaderosseras Creek just north of Ballston Spa, and consisted of the lower mill, for the manufacture of axes, and the upper mill, for the manufacture of scythes. Several fires destroyed the two enterprises, but they were rebuilt at a much greater capacity in the 1860s. [Lost Industries of the Kaydeross Valley]

From Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester's "History of Saratoga County, New York," 1878:

"The edge tool property remained in the hands of its founders until Blood's death in November, 1870; it then passed into the hands of his son-in-law, Henry Knickerbocker, a banker and broker in New York. The business requires from 200 to 250 hands. The quantity of goods sold yearly is simply immense - twelve thousand dozen of scythes, eight thousand dozen of axes, and ten thousand dozen of other tools." [Sylvester's History of Saratoga County]

Bloodville also contained the lumber-yard, planing-mill, and sash factory of Benjamin Barber, who was the inventor and manufacturer of a popular and nationally renowned water wheel. [Invented in Ballston Spa]

During its peak in the 1890s, the hamlet contained several stores, churches, a schoolhouse, and a trolley railroad called The Ballston Terminal Railroad. The tool factories were purchased by the American Axe & Tool Company in 1890, but ten years later, both enterprises were completely destroyed in two separate fires. Today the hamlet is a popular residential area.

Sources

1. "Lost Industries of the Kaydeross Valley: A History of Manufacturing in Ballston Spa, New York", 2007.

2. [http://saratoganygenweb.com/Sylvester/chap48.html History of Saratoga County, New York: Town of Milton, 1878.]

3. "Invented in Ballston Spa", Starr, Timothy, 2008 (see Ballston Spa Public Library).

External Links

[http://saratoganygenweb.com/Sylvester/contents.html History of Saratoga County, 1878]

[http://www.ballstonhistory.com Saratoga County History: Industry, Railroads, and Inventions]

[http://www.ballstonspany.org/ The Village of Ballston Spa]