Bea Sweeney
City Historian, Museum Director & Trustee, Historic Preservationist, Scholar, Author
Beatrice “Bea” Swartfigure was born in our city in 1915 and graduated from Saratoga Springs High School. In 1937 she graduated from Skidmore College with a Bachelor of Art in History. The following year she returned and completed a second degree in Business. She married lawyer (later judge) Michael Sweeney in 1942 and raised her family here.
In 1968 Bea successfully led opposition to plans to build a hotel in Congress Park, incorporating the Canfield Casino. She applied for and got the city a New York State Historic Trust grant to restore the casino. Recognizing her achievements and her personal interest in local history, Mayor James Murphy in 1969 appointed Bea as the City Historian. That same year she volunteered to be the director of both the Historical Society of Saratoga Springs Museum and the Walworth Museum, where she served as Trustee.
Bea Sweeney not only saved the Casino from becoming part of a hotel, she also placed over 70 buildings in the Franklin Square area of Saratoga Spirings on the National Register of Historic Places, and established the City Archives. She retired as City Historian in 1986 after nearly 20 years. She passed away in 2020 just shy of 105 years of age.