John Morrissey, also known as Old Smoke, was an Irish American bare-knuckle boxer in New York City in the 1850s, and later became the leader of the prominent Dead Rabbits gang.

After his retirement from boxing, Morrissey focused his attention on politics, backed by Tammany Hall. In 1866, he ran for Congress and served two terms in the House. As a Congressman, he always looked out for the interests of the Irish, and was known to use strong-arm tactics to accomplish his legislative goals, at one point declaring that he could "lick any man in the House."

After establishing a successful political career, Morrissey moved up to Saratoga Springs, NY. He created the Saratoga Race Course with the help of William R. Travers and Leonard Jerome. He then established "The Clubhouse", a casino that would attract such notable guests as Presidents Chester A. Arthur, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Ulysses S. Grant, as well as Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, and Mark Twain.

In 1883, Richard Albert Canfield took a partnership in the Clubhouse, and bought it outright the following year for $250,000. Canfield invested an estimated $800,000 in enhancing the building and the grounds of Congress Park to bring them up to the standards of the top European establishments. He ordered marble statuary for the Italian gardens in the northeast corner of the park. He added a sumptuous dining room to the back of the Clubhouse fitting it with stained glass windows and an early form of air conditioning.

The elegant atmosphere made the cream of society feel welcome to bet their money on the Clubhouses's many games of chance. Canfield was recognized as the King of the Gamblers; Saratoga Springs was seen as the American Monte Carlo. The clientele during this period included not only members of wealthy families like the Whitneys, Vanderbilts and Morgans, but gambling legends like Diamond Jim Brady and John "Bet-a-Million" Gates, and prominent entertainers like Lillian Russell and impresario Florenz Ziegfeld.

This socially distinctive era, regarded as the city's golden age, ended in 1907 when reformers succeeded in banning gambling in Saratoga. Canfield retired and sold the hotel and grounds to the city four years later, in 1911. In 1913, the city transformed the grounds into Congress Park.

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