Born: July 12, 1863
Died: September 9, 1945
Married: George Potter
Children: Titus Potter
Katherine Brown Potter was a daughter of Calvin Brown, whose farm land included property at the lower end of what became Park Avenue. The 1880 census indicates that she may have been named Mary Katherine, but dropped her first name. A reference to the Potter Block suggests that the entrepreneurial Mrs. Potter may have been known as "Kit."
She also conducted a cure cottage with cure tents on Margaret Street called the Brown Potter Cottages.
In the early 1890s a bank was formed with quarters on the ground floor of the Spaulding Block; the building was owned by Titus N. Spaulding, who was married to Katherine's sister, Abbie Brown Spaulding. The bank was a privately owned concern, known as Potter and Co. Bankers, run by Mr. and Mrs. Potter. It was later sold to the interests which formed the Adirondack National Bank.
Katherine and Abbie donated a lot from the farm to the Village Improvement Society for a park; the lot has never been developed.
Malone Farmer, May 31, 1911
Mrs. Katharine Brown Potter, of Saranac Lake, has given to the Village Improvement Society, composed of enterprising, public-spirited ladies of the place, a plot of land, nicely wooded, between Park Avenue and Highland Park, for a public park. The society will grade the land, lay out grass plots and provide benches for public use and will set cut hydrangeas and other shrub for beautifying the place. The society is also doing much to beautify other park grounds and school grounds in the village.
Malone Farmer, July 9, 1919
Katherine Brown Potter, who is conducting "The Algonquin" [probably The Governor] this season at Saranac Lake, has converted the bar and grill into a tea room where sandwiches, cakes, ice cream and other light refreshments are served.
Ticonderoga Sentinel, March 23, 1922
SARANAC LAKE BOARDING HOUSE KEEPER FAILS
Mary E. Dewey, a boardinghouse keeper of Saranac Lake, filed a petition in bankruptcy in Federal Court at Utica last week with liabilities of $2,948 and assets of $279. Katherine Brown Potter is partly secured for $2,496.
Malone Farmer, February 9, 1927
WOMEN VOTERS OF SARANAC LAKE NAME WOMAN CANDIDATE
Mrs. Katherine Brown Potter, owner of the Potter Block in Broadway and one of Saranac Lake's leading business women, has been selected by a joint committee representing the women's club and the league of women voters as a candidate for nomination as village trustee in the annual municipal election March 15. Mrs. F. B. Cantwell presided at the meeting.
Mrs. Potter is the first woman mentioned for a political office in Saranac Lake by any club or society. She has been actively interested in village affairs for a long time.
Nomination of candidates for village officers must be made in a regularly scheduled caucus and women will go to this prepared to nominate Mrs. Potter in event she is denied indorsement [sic] by the leading political parties.
