Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
Not just any buckboard; a Joubert & White made in Warren St. building Hoffmans redeveloped.
By Gordon Woodworth, Chronicle News Editor
After years of searching, Peter Hoffman has purchased an original Joubert & White buckboard surrey that was made in the Warren Street complex he and his wife Suzanne bought and renovated as Warren Square.
“I’m delighted. This is the first one I’ve ever been able to buy,” he said.
“I’m not a collector, but I do love to bring things home. The woodwork is amazing. The ironwork is original and complete. The wheels are original and complete. The fact that it has a back seat and a cover makes this really special.
“I just wanted it because every piece was made in the factory here on Warren Street.”
In 1880, Edward Joubert and James White patented a suspension design that smoothed out what had always been a bumpy ride. It made Joubert & White buckboards the new standard of excellence.
They were prized by the elite of the day: John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John Jacob Astor, J. Pierpont Morgan, Louis Tiffany and Andrew Carnegie, according to a 1890s company catalog.
Joubert & White operated from 1865 to the early 1900s in the Warren Street building just east of the former Post Office, which Mr. Hoffman also owns.
The Chapman Historical Museum in Glens Falls has a Joubert & White buckboard, as does the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake. The Shelburne Museum in Vermont has several of them.
Mr. Hoffman wouldn’t say how much he paid for the carriage, just that it was “more than you would typically pay, but I just don’t know. You never see them come up for sale.”
An Internet search showed an 1893 Joubert & White buckboard “in pristine condition” listed for sale in 2011 for $115,000.
Mr. Hoffman said his buckboard was in the estate of John W. Hawkinson of Saranac Lake, who passed away this past July.
An Adirondack Daily Enterprise story described Mr. Hawkinson as “the biggest antique car dealer in northern New York. He sold antique cars, sleighs, carriages and old boats.”
Mr. Hoffman said he will scrutinize the buckboard to see what he and his employees can restore in-house.
“And I’ve talked to the Glens Falls Home [his first-floor tenant in the Joubert & White building] about putting it on display in their storefront space when we’re done restoring it.”
Mr. Hoffman and his wife Suzanne’s dozen downtown buildings also include the Rogers building at Bay and Maple Streets, and the Smith Flats building, which they are renovating for apartments.
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