West Stockholm Historic District

West Stockholm, once called Bicknellsville, is a hamlet on the West Branch of the St. Regis River about six miles east of Potsdam. Amos Bicknell of Vermont settled the site in 1811 and built a house and a combined grist and saw mill. Water power from the falls drew a woolen mill, foundry, tub factories, a starch factory, carriage shops and general stores. Their sites lie within the district, and a dam survives. The 28 buildings include a Greek Revival Methodist church built in 1840, a school built in 1876, two stores, a former blacksmith shop and many houses. The two oldest houses are of locally quarried Potsdam sandstone, built by the Bicknell family before 1815. Later dwellings in frame and brick reflect the tradesmen and entrepreneurs who worked in the village. Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate and Second Empire styles appear in vernacular forms. The district was listed because the hamlet's center remains remarkably intact, with one modern house as the only non-contributing building.