Statement of Significance (as of designation - February 27, 1987):
These two important sites, at the center of the community, established the international fame of Saratoga Springs--"the Queen of the Spas"--as a health resort and gambling center for much of the 19th century. Congress Park was intimately associated with Dr. John Clarke, the popularizer of Saratoga water. The Casino recalls the careers of John Morrissey and Richard Canfield, the two gambling impresarios who turned Saratoga Springs into America's Monte Carlo.