Snuggled within the city of Saratoga Springs, the Beekman Street area has undergone a lot of change.

In the early 1900s, Irish and Italian immigrants settled the neighborhood, and restaurants and multi-family homes emerged. But by the end of the century, the neighborhood needed revitalization.

Two decades ago, a tight-knit group of artists got to work to create the now vibrant Beekman Street Arts District.

“You can see there are no trees on the street and the sidewalks were falling apart," said Amejo Amyot, founder of the Beekman Street Arts District, as she looked at news clippings from 2000. "You couldn’t walk on the sidewalks. There were no street lights. So here we are in the middle of the city, and there are no street lights.”

Amyot opened an artist co-op gallery in 2001, and with a small group of other artists, started renovating residential homes on the street for artisan-business use.

One of the earliest shops to open was the Textile Studio, still in business today.

Cecilia Frittelli settled there with her husband after working in New York City’s garment district.

“Right away, we started looking for the arts community, and responded to an advertisement that Amejo had put in a local paper about an arts group. And that’s how we started with the whole Beekman Street Arts District,” said Frittelli.

Two decades later, Beekman Street is hailed as a dynamic arts and restaurant community with about two dozen businesses, run predominantly by women.

There's Eden Compton’s eclectic, elegant studio at 79 Beekman St.

“It’s such a beautiful street and everybody works together. It’s a really nice community,” said Compton.

Across the street, the latest shop to open is Collective 131. Cassie Fiorenza runs a gallery with a focus on displaying work of women artists. 

Down the street from Fiorenza sits 70 Beekman Street Gallery, run by Living Resources, an organization that provides services for people with disabilities.

“We wanted to be an inclusive space in the community where our students work would be seen side by side with community artists and established artists,” said Marcus Anderson, the galleries manager.

In reflecting, Amyot and Frittelli are in awe of the art district’s evolution.

“I think that it’s a miracle and wonderful that we are still in existence 20 years after after we started. I think that’s a record for most arts districts, because they come in, they renovate, rents are cheap, and then as soon as everything is nice, somebody moves out and somebody charges higher rent,” said Amyot.

Beekman Street has come a long way from its roots and still, the women hope for more in the future.

“We are running out of space. We have artists inquiring about studio space, gallery space, shop space, probably on a weekly basis...We’re hoping at some point, the city will let us expand,” said Frittelli.

The district invites the community for a celebration this weekend with pop-up sales and gallery openings. Check its Facebook page for more information.