This undated and uncaptioned photo from Times files shows Joseph Marrian’s American Horse Exchange in Watertown. Mr. Marrian’s 1912 obituary indicates that he was a popular and well-known businessman who was involved in a variety of ventures. A butcher by his early training, he owned a meat market and later a wholesale meat business. He then bought a saloon and after that a liquor store on Arsenal Street. As of 1896 he owned the Horse Exchange, a sale and exchange stable at 23 Stone St. A 1906 listing names Mr. Marrian as the proprietor of the American Hotel at the corner of Arsenal and Arcade streets. A lover of horse racing, he opened Wild Rose Stock Farm on outer Washington Street, approximately where North Country Orthopaedic Group stands now. The Wild Rose was the nucleaus of the Washington Heights addition, possibly a residential tract, that Mr. Marrian was developing. According to his obituary, worry over the ‘dreaded failure of this enterprise is thought to have been the cause of Mr. Marrian’s mental trouble.’ He died on July 16, 1912, at age 62 at the St. Lawrence state hospital in Ogdensburg, where he had resided for four years.

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