Rockledge Company was organized by Walter H. Cluett, George V.W. Duryee and Eddy Whitby to build Saranac Lake's second exclusive subdivision (after Highland Park).
Lake Placid News, June 1, 1923
CLUETT SELLS ROCKLEDGE
Rockledge, on the side of Mt. Baker just outside Saranac Lake, the home for some years of Walter H. Cluett has been sold to Gerald Jackson of New York. Mr. Cluett is a member of the firm of Cluett, Peabodv & Co, of Troy.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, March 17, 1970
History of "Cluett House" Which Survived 60 Years
BY EVELYN OUTCALT
The house which was destroyed by fire yesterday was built in 1910 for Walter H. Cluett of the Cluett Peabody Co., makers of Arrow Shirts, who came to Saranac Lake to "cure." It was the first building built here by J. J. O'Connell, founder of J. J. O'Connell and Sons, Inc. which is still doing business in Saranac Lake.
The house also was the first erected in the 70-acre tract, known as Rockledge Park, which Cluett, Arthur Chalmers — a manufacturer from Amsterdam and New York City — George Duryee and Eddy Whitby, real estate men from Montclair, N. J., had acquired and set about developing.
They formed the Rockledge Co. and engaged the Olmsted brothers of Brookline, Mass., well known landscape architects of that day, to plan for sub-division of the property.
The company sold three acres late that year to Alexis W. Stanley, founder of the Stanley Tool Co., who was the second person to build a home on the site. J. J. O'Connell was his builder also. This house still stands just across the street.
In the years that followed, other prominent and wealthy families built homes in the development which they maintained as a private park. They included the Gadsons (he was a vice president of Swift and Co.); the Kaufmans of the New York City banking family; and Hal Hampstone, vice president of Standard Oil in South America.
Cluetts occupied the house until the 1930s. In the intervening years he became interested in curling end built the first curling club here and later, a larger curling club building which is now the Madden Warehouse. The O'Connell company were the builders for both club houses.
After Cluett's death, his son George, who had his own property in Harrietstown, sold the house to Elmer Newton who was connected with the U.S. State Department. Following her husband's death, Mrs. Newton converted the house to apartments. Miss Kathleen Hammond, now Mrs. Walter Thorne, the present owner, acquired the house from Mrs. Newton.
By 1941, most of the outstanding shares of the Rockledge Park Company stock were owned by Mrs. Newton and her son, Edwin,. In 1963 her shares were purchased by Francis Casier and Emerson Wertz and, in 1965, Casier became the sole owner.
See also: Rockledge, subdivision
