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Survey of
Historic Sites and Buildings

	JOHNSON HALL New York
Location: Hall Street, one-quarter mile north of intersection with N.Y. 29, Johnstown, Fulton County. Johnson Hall State Historic Site

Ownership and Administration (1961). Department of Education, State of New York, Albany.

Significance. Johnson Hall was the home for the last 11 years of his life of Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern Colonies and the foremost frontier leader of pre-Revolutionary New York. Johnson's powerful influence on the Iroquois was of decisive importance in defeating the French in North America and in advancing the English colonial frontier. He played a major role in opening the Mohawk Valley to white settlement and proved an able military leader in the closing years of the war that ended in the fall of New France. At the close of the conflict Johnson made a notable contribution to the transition from French to English rule. (See pp. 212, 213.)

Johnson Hall was built in 1763 and became the center of British authority on the New York frontier. It was one of the most elaborate estates in the northern Colonies. Here most of the important Indian treaties of the latter colonial period were negotiated, and here Johnson entertained important officials from the Colonies and from abroad. In 1774, during a conference with the Iroquois, Johnson died at his home. His enlightened handling of Indian affairs, his wide range of intellectual interests, and his generally successful efforts in furthering peaceful white settlement of the region north of the Ohio River attest to Johnson's remarkable talents and energy. His role as an outstanding personage in America's colonial history is fittingly commemorated by the imposing dwelling where he spent the last years of his life.

Johnson Hall was the home for the last 11 years of his life of Sir William Johnson, foremost frontier leader of pre-Revolutionary New York. The stone blockhouse at left, a rare example of its type, is one of two which originally flanked the house. (National Park Service)

Present Appearance (1961). Johnson Hall has undergone extensive repair and is in excellent condition. It is a rectangular frame building in Georgian style, with two stories, basement, and attic. The white rusticated siding and the ornamented cornices under eaves and over windows give the house a dignified appearance in keeping with its owner's character and position. The interior, arranged with two rooms on either side of the wide, central hallway, upstairs and down, has been restored faithfully with furnishings that include a room of pieces belonging to the Johnson family. An inventory of the furnishings taken 3 weeks after Sir William's death made possible a highly authentic interior restoration. The stone blockhouse adjacent to Johnson Hall on the west is an original structure, one of two that guarded the home; it is the only survivor in New York of this type of structure. Dioramas and other exhibits interpreting the life of the Johnsons are housed in the basement of the home, and a scale model of the original estate is displayed in the block house. [41]