Pottersville was founded on March 25, 1799, as a part of the Town of Chester, Warren County. The town was mainly agricultural; most families owned livestock, such as sheep, for access to clothing material. Carding mills and tanneries were eventually built as the first forms of manufacturing outside of the home. In 1805, roads connecting Town of Chester were opened and are in the same spots today.
Production in the Town of Chester in the year 1845 included 50,036 pounds of butter, 11,990 pounds of cheese, 31,176 bushels of potatoes and 20,372 yards of cloth. These statistics prove the Town of Chester to be a mostly-agricultural society in the 19th century.
Travelers would often stop in at the Wells House (built in 1845 by Joseph Hotchkiss) which offered memorable hospitality as a hotel. The Wells House offered fish dinners caught on Schroon Lake and venison from the surrounding forests. The hotel was frequented by “Summer Folks” from areas such as Albany, New York, and Glens Falls, New York.
An old Pottersville event was the “Pottersville Fair” which was started in 1877 by a family by the name of Faxton. The fair went bankrupt after a few years due to gambling and drinking issues, but was held once again in 1910 by the “Pottersville Fair Association”. Some of the festivities of the 1913 Pottersville Fair included watching 400 automobiles parade through the streets, along with an Ox race, music, a dog and pony show, and a contortionist, with an audience of about 7,000 people.