The Forge House: Owners, Proprietors & Managers, Part X

The Old Forge Company Years: 1896-1915, cont’d

As mentioned earlier, the Schencks left the Forge House at the end of 1900. The Company hired John Gilbert Hoffman, captain of the steamer C. L. Stowell, to manage the Forge House beginning January 1, 1901.

He had just married Pearl Wakely, the daughter of John Wakely who owned the Wakely House in Fulton Chain, afterwards moved across the street from today’s Van Auken’s Inn.

However, Hoffman’s stint as manager was brief; he would be replaced in March and returned to his pilot duties.Hoffman was born in Martinsburg on June 27, 1875 and died in May 1926.

He was a pioneer lumberman, working for George Deis & Son and Pullman Brothers as well as for the Old Forge Hardware Company.

Retiring from the hardware company in 1925, the Hoffmans became proprietors of the Moosehead Hotel.

In March 1901, the Company rehired Alexander and Nellie Briggs, who continued as proprietors of the Eagle Bay Hotel.

In a 1950 interview, Moses Cohen described opening his mercantile operations upon arrival in Old Forge in two rooms rented from the Briggses before moving to the hotel’s barn.

He recalled that the site of the Old Forge Hardware Store was a pasture with grazing cows.

The bank building site was the vegetable garden of the hotel.

In 1902, Cohen began building his first hardware store building.

In August 1902, the laundry and boiler room of the Forge House was destroyed by fire.

The Briggs’ only son Charles died in the Forge House in October 1902 from typhoid fever.

Charles was helping with hotel operations.

At the end of the year, the Company hired a new proprietor.

Still leasing the Eagle Bay Hotel, the Briggs also became proprietors for the Arrowhead Hotel in Inlet, running both hotels for the 1903 tourist season.

In December 1903, the Briggs left the Fulton Chain to become the proprietors of the Globe Hotel in Syracuse.

The Briggs vacated the Globe Hotel when suffering financial difficulties in August 1906 and leased the Baltzel Hotel in Lyons in February 1907.

In December 1902, Philo Wood signed a five year lease to run the Forge House and took possession on January 1, 1903.

Philo C. Wood was born September 1, 1862 at Turin, Lewis County.

He lived later in Constable-ville.

According to Cutter’s 1910 biography, Wood began his career as painter and merchant and his first job on the Fulton Chain was clerk for Fred Hess’s Hess Camp in 1898.

In January 1900, Wood and brother-in-law George Conant became the first proprietors for the new Glennmore Hotel at Big Moose Lake built by Dwight B. Sperry.

They operated this hotel until the end of 1902.

In 1904, Wood constructed a $3,000 cottage by the pond north of the hotel for guests.

He leased a room in the basement for M. E. deGraff to sell souvenirs, among them Forge House postcards.

The deGraff family also provided music for the guests.

Also in 1904, Charles West settled with the Company for commissions outstanding from his 1896 improvements to the Forge House plus 8 years interest.

During his lease, PhiloWood arranged for the purchase of the Hess Camp from Henry Covey in 1906, hiring Robert Cookman to manage that hotel for 1906 and 1907.

In 1908, Philo Wood moved to the Hess Camp, enlarged it and renamed it The Wood.

Wood ran the hotel until its sale in 1946 to the Dunay family.