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According to historical accounts, Sir William Johnson, was brought to what would become the city
by native friends in 1767 to treat war wounds at a spring thought to have medicinal properties.
The spring is now known as High Rock Spring, and may be visited today.
The first permanent settler arrived around 1776, and a tourist trade swiftly grew, with
hotels being constructed by such Revolutionary War luminaries as Gideon Putnam.
Saratoga Springs was established as a town in 1819 from a western portion of the Town of Saratoga.
Its principal community was incorporated as a village in 1826 and the entire region became a city in 1915.
In the 19th Century, the community became famous as a spa that saw many hotels built, including the colossal
Grand Union Hotel that was in its day, the largest hotel in the world.
The famous Battle of Saratoga, the turning point of the Revolutionary War, did not take place in Saratoga Springs.
Rather, the battlefield is 15 miles to the southeast in the town of Stillwater.
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