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Albany County

Archibald McIntyre’s Life In Lotteries, Politics & Adirondack Mines

January 8, 2023 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Archibald McIntyre courtesy Project GutenbergArchibald McIntyre was born in Kenmore, Perthshire, Scotland on the June 1, 1772. His parents were Daniel and Anne Walker McIntyre. Daniel McIntyre taught school in Scotland.

In 1774, Daniel and his family immigrated to the colony of New York and settled with four or five other Scottish families in what is now Broadalbin in Fulton County, NY. [Read more…] about Archibald McIntyre’s Life In Lotteries, Politics & Adirondack Mines

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondacks, Albany, Albany County, Albany Rural Cemetery, Archibald McIntyre, Broadalbin, Calamity Pond, Daniel D. Tompkins, Delaware Lackawanna & Western Railroad, Essex County, Fulton County, High Peaks, Hudson River, Industrial History, Iron Industry, Ithaca and Owego Railroad, Lake Placid, Mining, Newcomb, North Elba, Political History, Tahawus, Timbuctoo

The Albany Origins of the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop

December 30, 2022 by Peter Hess 2 Comments

Dudley Observatory first building in Albany ca 1880The Capital District’s Dudley Observatory is considered “the oldest non-academic institution of astronomical research in America.” Originally, it was located north-east of downtown Albany, NY.

Construction there began in 1852 and the facility was dedicated in 1857.  Albany’s Congressman Erastus Corning, the founder and first president of the New York Central Railroad, was instrumental in donating a high quality telescope and time-keeping system at the new Dudley Observatory in Albany. [Read more…] about The Albany Origins of the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Dudley Observatory, Erastus Corning, New York Central RR, New York City, railroads, Schenectady, Schenectady County, Science History, Siena College, Transportation History

A Short History of Christmas for New Yorkers

December 25, 2022 by Peter Hess 9 Comments

Albany children singings hymns to St. Nicholas on the Eve of the Feast of St. NicholasThe tale of St. Nicholas is an old fable from mid-Europe that was popular in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. St. Nicholas was the patron saint of children, merchants and sailors and the patron saint of Amsterdam and was brought by the Dutch to the new world, which for the Dutch was Nieuw Nederlandt (New Netherland).

Many of the American traditions on Santa Claus originated in the Dutch settlement of New Netherland along the Hudson River between New Amsterdam (New York City) and Oranje (Beverwyck-Albany). The other colonies were English. [Read more…] about A Short History of Christmas for New Yorkers

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Christmas, Cultural History, Dutch History, Holidays, Religious History, Rensselaer County, Rensselaerswijck, Troy

America’s First Christmas Card & An Early Albany Department Store

December 24, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

America's First Christmas Card, Designed and printed by Richard H. Pease for his "Pease's Great Variety Store in the Temple of Fancy" c.1851. Image courtesy of Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections.Before F. W. Woolworths’, Whitney’s, or even Myer’s department store, there was Pease’s Great Variety Store, located in the Temple of Fancy at 516 and 518 Broadway in Albany, NY.

As with other fancy goods stores, Pease’s catered to the middle and upper middle class selling highly decorated goods like ceramics, prints, furniture and other decorative household items that progressively thinking people might have wanted to purchase. [Read more…] about America’s First Christmas Card & An Early Albany Department Store

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, New Exhibits Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Albany Institute For History and Art, Art History, Christmas, Cultural History, Holidays, Instagram, Pop Culture History

James Hall: New York’s First State Geologist & Paleontologist

December 12, 2022 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

James Hall at age 85James Hall was born on September 12, 1811, to James and Susanna Hall of Hingham, Massachusetts. His father was a weaver trained in England who was making a comfortable living. One day he opened his newspaper and noticed a “help wanted” ad posted by a textile mill in Massachusetts. The salary was far better than James Hall, Sr. could earn in England.

After some inquiry, Hall heard that land in America was more cheap and plentiful than land in England, which was, in most cases, held by the same families for generations. He also heard that food was plentiful and less expensive than England. Like so many other Europeans looking to improve their lives, Hall packed up his family and they departed for the United States.

In 1826, when son James Jr. was 15, he learned of a new school, the Rensselaer School (later Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, or RPI) just started at Troy, New York by the Patroon of Manor of Rensselaerswyck, Stephen Van Rensselaer III, and under the academic direction of Amos Eaton. This new school was a departure from conventional classical schools that Eaton called “a kind of literary bondage.” Eaton’s new plan was for a scientific school centered on the “useful arts” and “adapted to the native curiosity and ardor of youth.” [Read more…] about James Hall: New York’s First State Geologist & Paleontologist

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Nature Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Albany Rural Cemetery, Dudley Observatory, East Greenbush, Ebenezer Emmons, Fossils, Geology, Joseph Henry, Louis Agassiz, New York State Museum, Paleontology, Rensselaer County, Rensselaerswijck, Roswell P. Flower, RPI

John Isaac DeGraff: Schenectady’s First Elected Mayor

December 11, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

John Isaac DeGraffJohn Isaac De Graff (October 2, 1783 – July 26, 1848) was a U.S. Representative from New York. Born in Schenectady, De Graff attended the common schools and Union College and engaged in mercantile pursuits and the practice of law in that city.

He served in the War of 1812 and was elected as a Jacksonian Democrat to the Twentieth Congress (March 4, 1827 – March 3, 1829). [Read more…] about John Isaac DeGraff: Schenectady’s First Elected Mayor

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Albany County, Erie Canal, Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, Political History, politics, Saratoga & Schenectady Railroad, Schenectady, Schenectady County, Schenectady County Historical Society, Transportation History, War of 1812

George Cooke: Albany Snake Oil Salesman

December 5, 2022 by Peter Hess 1 Comment

Patent Medicines (photo by John Warren)In the June 1841 the Albany Evening Journal ran the following notice:

“Dr. Cooke, No. 3 Norton Street, Albany, NY — In every age of the world, men of superior genius have lived: Homer, Voltaire, Euripides and Virgil. It has, however, remained for the 19th century to produce a man whose attainments, both in letters and science, which justly entitles him to equal rank with the illustrious mentioned above. That man is the world-renowned surgeon and physician, Gen. George Cooke whose fame and knowledge of the healing art have reached every clime. [Read more…] about George Cooke: Albany Snake Oil Salesman

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Advertising, Albany, Albany County, Albany Rural Cemetery, Medical History, Newspapers, Patent Medicine, Science History

The Capitol Region’s Race Course: Island Park

November 24, 2022 by Bill Orzell Leave a Comment

Island Park racing notice published in the Troy Daily TimesThe Hudson River in New York’s Capital Region has always been a vital transportation link, and it also provides a conduit to undertakings of the past. The area presently occupied by Interstate-787 and its connectors to NY-378 were constructed on what had been a cluster of islands in the Hudson River, near Menands, between Albany and Watervliet.

Even in the 1820s, the road here became noted for unofficial, and illegal, horse racing. [Read more…] about The Capitol Region’s Race Course: Island Park

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Erastus Corning, Gambling, Historic Racetracks Series, Horses, Hudson River, Menands, Sports History, Vice, Watervliet

An Albany Gravestone Goes Home

November 22, 2022 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Mary McConnell gravestone being movedOn August 25th, 1823, Mary McConnell, wife of Teunis Vandeveer, died at the age of 28. Her body was laid to rest in the Second Presbyterian Church’s lot at the State Street Burying Grounds in Albany, NY. Laid to rest until 1868, that is.

When the City closed the old Burying Grounds to make way for Washington Park to be developed, her grave was one of 14,000 transferred to the Albany Rural Cemetery, which had been established in 1844.

Her headstone did not make the journey with her coffin until last fall. [Read more…] about An Albany Gravestone Goes Home

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Albany Rural Cemetery, Cemeteries, Roscoe Conkling

Finding Lola: An Albany Great Grandmother Who Passed As White

November 15, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Finding LolaDanielle Romero was born in Albany, NY, where her family was raised believing they were were of Irish and French descent. Through many twists and turns she came to find her hidden heritage in Louisiana. [Read more…] about Finding Lola: An Albany Great Grandmother Who Passed As White

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Black History, Documentary, Genealogy

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