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Circus

Dan Rice & Spalding’s North American Circus Steamboats

July 11, 2022 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Spaldings North American Circus advert 1847Dr. Gilbert R. Spalding was a pharmacist who operated a drug store in Albany, NY.  Gilbert’s father, Guy Spalding, had operated the drug store starting about 1810. The Spaldings sold different varieties of chemicals, oils and alcohol that they would blend into medicinal drugs, paint, stains, varnish, cleaning fluids, and popular drinks.

They could make up a cure for almost anything from a headache to piles, consumption to lumbago. Their ability to blend medicines led their Albany neighbors to nickname both Guy Spalding and, later his son Gilbert, “Doc” Spalding. Gilbert Spalding operated the drug store from about 1840 to 1845. [Read more…] about Dan Rice & Spalding’s North American Circus Steamboats

Filed Under: History, Arts, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Circus, comedy, Hudson River, New York City, Performing Arts, Steamboating, Theatre

The Albany Museum: Curiosities, Circus & Performing Arts

July 4, 2022 by Peter Hess 3 Comments

1848 painting of State Street in Albany by John Wilson, the Albany Museum is on the right in the building with the colonnade (courtesy Albany Institute of History and Art)Albany’s first museum was started in 1798 in a building on the corner of Green and Beaver streets. In the summer of 1808, two royal tigers were housed at the Thespian Hotel, a circus pitched its tent, and Ralph Letton started the Albany Museum.

The Albany Museum was located in the Old City Hall (Stadt Huys) on the northeastern corner of South Market Street and Hudson Avenue (today’s Broadway and Hudson Avenue). The Old City Hall was built in 1741 and was the site of the 1754 Albany Congress meeting where Benjamin Franklin first proposed the Albany Plan, a plan of union of the colonies that later was a basis for the U.S. Constitution. On its steps, the Declaration of Independence was first read to Albany on July 19, 1776 by the order of the Provincial Congress. With the construction of the new building on Eagle Street in 1808, the Old City Hall was converted into the Albany Museum. [Read more…] about The Albany Museum: Curiosities, Circus & Performing Arts

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Art History, Circus, Cultural History, Museums, Music, Musical History, Performing Arts, Rensselaer County, Theatre, Troy

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