Tuesday, October 7, marked the seventy-fourth anniversary of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second and final trip to the Mechanicville area. Things had changed dramatically since his initial trip here on October 17, 1929. Then, the newly-elected Governor was pre-occupied helping Mechanicville Mayor George O. Slingerland organize ceremonies marking the transfer of Saratoga battlefield properties to the State. Yet, a few days later, the New York Stock Market crashed, ultimately plunging the nation into the Depression and thrusting the young Empire State governor into the White House where he would spend the rest of his career confronting both domestic economic devastation and the rise of fascist dictatorships abroad.

Read the entire article in the October 16th edition of the Express.