This non-contributing c.1959, 1-story, L-shaped residence does not meet the fifty-year criterion for consideration as a contributing resource in the district. The former house as shown in the picture above was the Hart Joseph house.
Isaac Hart Joseph was born in Germany in 1852. He came to America with his parents in 1856 and they settled in Columbus, Georgia. In 1891 Mr. Joseph started his employment with the Empire Shirt Factory as a traveling salesman. Three years later he married Theresa M. Weinman, daughter of Louis Weinman, an owner of the Empire Shirt Company. They had a son, Louis W. In 1899 he became a partner in the company. When the Empire Shirt Factory was reorganized as a stock company in 1903, Hart Joseph became secretary, a position he held for ten years. His house at 46 Elm Street, built in 1901-1902 by H. H. (Hod) Hill, was a large Queen Anne shingle-style building. In 1914 they moved to New York City. Hart Joseph died in 1926. The home, later owned by Frank W. Smith, burned in 1931.
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Frank W. Smith , businessman and three-term Democratic town supervisor from 1925 until his death in 1931, was highly regarded by his fellow towns-people. As supervisor, his accomplishments include the widening of Main Street and the installation of street lamps. The son of Thomas J. Smith, he became partner in his family's general store and worked as bookkeeper in the family-owned gristmill and grain store on the Schroon River. Within five years, he was a partner and soon became its director. Eventually he purchased the interests of all his siblings and became sole owner of this enterprise. He was an admired leader of the town when his premature death in a tragic house fire in 1931 threw the town into shock. His funeral cortege was among the largest seen. New York Governor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Mrs. Roosevelt sent a telegram of condolence to the bereaved family. Mourners came from all over New York State to pay their respects. He was survived by his wife, Bertha, his daughter, Hilda and their dog, Bubbles. The only dog to have his own gravestone in the Warrensburg Cemetery.
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Bubbles, a pedigreed Boston Bulldog, became a very important member of the Frank Smith family on Christmas Day 1918. Supervisor Smith wanted to give his young daughter Hilda "something different" that year and decided on a puppy. Christmas morning, when Mr. Smith walked into the living room, Hilda noticed a bundle in his jacket pocket. Reaching in with her hand she discovered a puppy's wet little nose and it was love at first sight. As Bubbles grew older she developed an interest in the town's affairs and was happiest when she had a regular seat at town meetings presided over by Mr. Smith. However, when she had to wait outside in his auto, she became impatient. Standing on her hind legs, she placed a paw on the automobile's horn producing a continuous honking drone. One day in 1937, on an amble across the street, Bubble's failing eyesight prevented her from seeing the oncoming auto, which struck her dead. As a final tribute, a gravestone, "Bubbles – a Good Dog," marks her spot in the family plot in the Warrensburg cemetery.
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