Clarkson-Knowles Cottage

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. 10 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1908.

From the record

“Clarkson-Knowles Cottage is a historic home located at Potsdam in St. It was built about 1835 and is a five-bay residence constructed of red Potsdam Sandstone in the slab and binder style.”
Wikipedia article Clarkson-Knowles Cottage, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 83 National Register listings published here for St. Lawrence County · listed in 1995 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Listed as. Clarkson--Knowles Cottage - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. 37 Main St., Potsdam, 13676
When was it listed? December 1995
Category. building
Town. Potsdam town
Architectural style. Federal architecture
National Register reference number. 95001405 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1908 to 1994

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 86 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Clarkson-Knowles Cottage, surveyed 1994

Topographic sheet covering Clarkson-Knowles Cottage, surveyed 1908

Fires near this property

139 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 139 fires within 5 miles of Clarkson-Knowles Cottage between 1997 and 2020, burning about 246 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 16 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	87
Arson/incendiarism	16
Equipment and vehicle use	13
Debris and open burning	12
Natural	6
Smoking	4
Misuse of fire by a minor	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
8 September 2002	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
5 September 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
28 September 2017	Smoking	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A
27 September 2017	Smoking	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	N/A
27 September 2003	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
25 September 2017	Smoking	5.0 acres	Fire Department of New York	N/A
24 September 2008	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
23 September 2008	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named

Every fire recorded in St. Lawrence County

Mines and quarries near this property

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Clarkson-Knowles Cottage: 8 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Clarkson Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer	Surface
Potsdam Red Sandstone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Potsdam Sandstone Co. Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer	Surface
Unnamed Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Bicknell Brothers S & G Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Unnamed Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Unnamed Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Unnamed Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Unnamed Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in St. Lawrence County

Storms near this property

27 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Potsdam, the town this property stands in, in 27 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 21 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 1 funnel cloud, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$100,000	Multiple trees down and snapped and power lines down across Potsdam with structural damage to 4 buildings forcing dozens of evacuations.
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$50,000	A partial torn roof (40%), mainly metal shingles and some membrane was torn off a SUNY Potsdam housing apartment on Main street.
July 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$50,000	Numerous trees and power lines down throughout Potsdam, including State Route 11 and County routes 58 and 24 were impassable.
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$50,000	Numerous trees and power lines reported down in Potsdam as well as neighboring communities. Some isolated structural damage from fallen trees reported as well.
September 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$35,000	Temporary walls of School gymnasium, fences and port-o-potties were damaged or destroyed. Other tree damage was reported in several adjacent neighborhoods.
July 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$25,000	Numerous trees and wires downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$25,000	Several trees down on several roads throughout Potsdam.
June 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$25,000	Numerous reports of trees down through Potsdam.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$25,000	Trees and power lines down throughout Potsdam.
July 2010	Hail	Potsdam	$25,000	Estimated Golf ball size hail reported, as well as numerous reports of large hail ranging from nickel, quarter and half dollar size throughout Potsdam and immediate vicinity.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$25,000	Measured 58 mph wind gust from AWOS. Also numerous reports of fallen trees and power lines.
August 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$25,000	Several reports of trees and power lines down by thunderstorm winds in Potsdam.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$20,000	Numerous trees and utility lines downed by thunderstorm winds.
November 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$20,000	no account filed
July 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$15,000	Numerous trees and wires down throughout Potsdam.
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$15,000	no account filed
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$10,000	Several trees downed by thunderstorm winds in Potsdam.
May 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$10,000	Several power lines and tree branches down across Potsdam.
March 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$5,000	Convective winds downed several trees and power lines.
July 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$2,000	Tree down on power lines in Haggerty road along with other limb and branch damage in the vicinity.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$2,000	Tree, branches and utility lines downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2017	Lightning	Potsdam	$1,000	Lightning started a tree fire in Potsdam.
June 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Potsdam	$1,000	no account filed
July 2019	Hail	Potsdam	-	Quarter size diameter hail was reported.
May 2018	Hail	Potsdam	-	Half dollar sized hail reported.
July 2012	Hail	Potsdam	-	Nickel size hail reported.
July 2004	Funnel Cloud	Potsdam	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in St. Lawrence County

Maps showing this location

10 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1908 USGS Potsdam quadrangle1:62500 - 7 printings
1943 USGS Potsdam quadrangle1:24000
1943 USGS Potsdam quadrangle1:31680
1948 USGS Ogdensburg quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1951 USGS Ogdensburg quadrangle1:250000
1953 USGS Ogdensburg quadrangle1:250000
1961 USGS Ogdensburg quadrangle1:250000
1964 USGS Potsdam quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
1985 USGS Massena quadrangle1:100000
1994 USGS Massena quadrangle1:100000

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Potsdam Civic Center Complex	under 500 feet	2016
US Post Office-Potsdam	0.1 miles	1989
Potsdam State Normal School Campus	0.1 miles	2015
Potsdam State Normal School Campus	0.1 miles	2015
Market Street Historic District	0.2 miles	1979
Trinity Episcopal Church	0.3 miles	2003

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 95001405 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
St. Lawrence County	All 83 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.