Part ofa series on the |
|---|
| History of Albany, New York |
 |
 New York (state) portal |
Thehistory of Albany, New York, began long before the first interaction of Europeans with the nativeIndian tribes, as they had long inhabited the area. The area was originally inhabited by anAlgonquian Indian tribe, theMohicans, as well as theIroquois, five nations of whom the easternmost, the Mohawk, had the closest relations with traders and settlers inAlbany.
Henry Hudson first claimed this area for theDutch in 1609. Fur traders established the first European settlement in 1614; Albany was officially chartered as a city in 1686. It succeededPoughkeepsie as the capital of New York in 1797. It is one of the oldest surviving settlements from the originalThirteen Colonies, and the longest continuously chartered city in theUnited States. Modern Albany was founded as theDutch trading posts ofFort Nassau in 1614 andFort Orange in 1624; thefur trade brought in a population that settled around Fort Orange and founded a village calledBeverwijck. TheEnglish took over and renamed the town Albany in 1664, in honor of the thenDuke of Albany, the futureJames II of England and James VII of Scotland. The city was officially chartered in 1686 with the issuance of theDongan Charter, the oldest effective city charter in the nation and possibly the longest-running instrument of municipal government in theWestern Hemisphere.[1]
During the late 18th century and throughout of the 19th century, Albany was a center of transportation. It is located on the north end of the navigable Hudson River, was the original eastern terminus of theErie Canal, and was home to some of the earliestrailroad systems in the world. Albany's main exports at the time werebeer,lumber,published works, andironworks. Beginning in1810, Albany was one of the ten most populous cities in the nation, a distinction that it held until the1860 census. In the 20th century, the city opened one of the first commercial airports in the world, the precursor of today'sAlbany International Airport. The 1920s saw the rise of a powerfulpolitical machine controlled by theDemocratic Party. The city's skyline changed in the 1960s with the construction of theEmpire State Plaza and the uptown campus ofSUNY Albany,[Note 1] mainly under the direction ofGovernorNelson Rockefeller. While Albany experienced a decline in its population due tourban sprawl, many of its historic neighborhoods were saved from destruction through the policies ofMayorErastus Corning 2nd, the longest-serving mayor of any city in the United States. More recently, the city has experienced growth in thehigh-tech industry, with great strides in thenanotechnology sector.
Albany has been a center ofhigher education for over a century, with much of the remainder of its economy dependent on state government andhealth care services. The city has experienced a rebound from theurban decline of the 1970s and 1980s, with noticeable development happening in the city'sdowntown and midtown neighborhoods. Albany is known for its extensive history, culture, architecture, and institutions of higher education. The city is home to themother churches of two Christiandioceses as well as the oldest Christian congregation inUpstate New York. Albany has won theAll-America City Award in both 1991 and 2009.[2]
Albany is one of the oldest surviving European settlements from the originalThirteen Colonies[3] and the longest continuously chartered city in the United States.[Note 2] The area was originally inhabited byAlgonquianIndian tribes and was given different names by the various peoples. TheMohican called itPempotowwuthut-Muhhcanneuw, meaning "the fireplace of the Mohican nation",[6] while theIroquois called itSche-negh-ta-da, or "through the pine woods," referring to their trail to the city.[7][Note 3] Albany's first European structure may have been a primitive fort onCastle Island built byFrench traders ca. 1540. It was destroyed by flooding soon after construction.[9]
Permanent European claims began when EnglishmanHenry Hudson, exploring for theDutch East India Company onHalve Maen, reached the area in 1609, claiming it for theUnited Netherlands.[10] In 1614,Hendrick Christiaensen rebuilt the French fort asFort Nassau, the first Dutchfur trading post in present-day Albany.[11][12] Commencement of the fur trade provoked hostility from theFrench colony in Canada and among the natives, all of whom vied to control the trade. In 1618, a flood ruined the fort on Castle Island, but it was rebuilt in 1624 asFort Orange.[13] Both forts were named in honor of the royal DutchHouse of Orange-Nassau.[14] Fort Orange and the surrounding area were incorporated as the village ofBeverwijck (English:Beaver District) in 1652.[15][16]
Over the next several decades, the Mohawk, Mohican and Dutch formed a different relationship "based on a sense of mutual opportunity, of seeing more advantage in cooperation than in conflict."[17] They created a collaborative venture in the fur trade, in which each party gained something, and a measure of stability for the area. As an indicator of that,Beverwijck was never attacked by the Mohican or Mohawk, although it was in an isolated area. Like French traders before them, the Dutch often married or had unions with Mohawk and Mahican women; their descendants later intermarried with English settlers as well, leading to the area's cultural history being expressed in complex bloodlines. Many of themixed-race children born to native women identified as Mohawk or Mahican; as these tribes hadmatrilinealkinship systems, the children were considered born into the mother's clan and derived all status and inheritance from her line. Some also achieved standing in the Dutch communities, becoming important interpreters and negotiators among the differing cultures.
WhenNew Netherland was captured by theEnglish in 1664, they changed the name Beverwijck to Albany, in honor of theDuke of Albany (laterJames II of England and James VII of Scotland).[18][Note 4] Duke of Albany was aScottish title given since 1398, generally to the second son of theKing of Scots.[19] The name is ultimately derived fromAlba, theGaelic name forScotland.[20]
The Dutch briefly regained Albany in August 1673 and renamed the city Willemstadt; the English took permanent possession with theTreaty of Westminster (1674).[21] On November 1, 1683, theProvince of New York was split into counties, withAlbany County being the largest. At that time the county included all of present New York State north ofDutchess andUlster Counties in addition to present-dayBennington County,Vermont, theoretically stretching west to thePacific Ocean;[22][23] the city of Albany became thecounty seat.[24] Albany was formally chartered as a municipality byprovincial GovernorThomas Dongan on July 22, 1686. TheDongan Charter was virtually identical in content to the charter awarded to the city of New York three months earlier.[25]Dongan created Albany as a strip of land 1 mile (1.6 km) wide and 16 miles (26 km) long.[26] Over the years Albany would lose much of the land to the west and annex land to the north and south. At this point, Albany had a population of about 500 people.[27]
In 1754, representatives of sevenBritish North American colonies met in theStadt Huys, Albany's city hall, for theAlbany Congress;Benjamin Franklin ofPennsylvania presented theAlbany Plan of Union there, which was the first formal proposal to unite the colonies.[28] Although it was never adopted byParliament, it was an important precursor to theUnited States Constitution.[29][Note 5] The same year, theFrench and Indian War began; it was the North American front of theSeven Years' War in Europe and the fourth in aseries of North American wars between the colonial powers dating back to 1689, began. It ended in 1763 withFrench defeat by the British, resolving a situation that had been a constant threat to Albany and held back its growth.[30] In 1775, with the colonies in the midst of theRevolutionary War, theStadt Huys became home to the AlbanyCommittee of Correspondence (the political arm of the local revolutionary movement), which took over operation of Albany's government and eventually expanded its power to control all ofAlbany County.Tories and prisoners of war were often jailed in theStadt Huys alongside common criminals.[31] In 1776, Albany nativePhilip Livingston signed theDeclaration of Independence atIndependence Hall inPhiladelphia.[32]
During and after the Revolutionary War, there was a great increase in real estate transactions in Albany County. AfterHoratio Gates' win overJohn Burgoyne atSaratoga in 1777, the upperHudson Valley was generally at peace as the war raged on elsewhere.Upstate New York began to prosper as migrants from Vermont and Connecticut began flowing in, noting the advantages of living on the Hudson and trading at Albany, while being only a few days' sail from New York City.[33] Albany reported a population of 3,498 in thefirst national census in 1790, an increase of almost 700% since its chartering about a century before.[27]
On November 17, 1793, a large fire broke out, destroying 26 homes on Broadway, Maiden Lane, James Street, and State Street. The fire originated at a stable belonging toLeonard Gansevoort and was suspected to bearson set by disgruntled slaves. The onset of theslave rebellion in Haiti in 1791 created a paranoid atmosphere for slave owners.[34][35] Three slaves were arrested and charged with arson: a male slave named Pompey, owned by Matthew Visscher; a 14-year old slave girl named Dinah, owned byVolkert P. Douw; and a 12-year old slave girl named Bet, owned byPhilip S. Van Rensselaer. On January 6, 1794, the three were tried and sentenced to death. For reasons unknown,Governor George Clinton issued a temporary stay of execution, but the slave girls were executed by hanging on March 14, and Pompey on April 11, 1794.[36]
In 1797, thestate capital of New York was moved permanently to Albany. Fromstatehood to this date, theLegislature had frequently moved the state capital betweenthe city of New York,Kingston,Hurley,Poughkeepsie and Albany.[37] Albany is the second oldest state capital in the United States.[38] (The oldest isAnnapolis, Maryland.)
As the state capital, Albany drew many visitors in the 1780s. As historianJohn Bach McMaster has explained, they did not enjoy their visit:
Albany has been a center of transportation for much of its history. In the late 18th century and early 19th century, Albany saw development of the turnpike and by 1815, Albany was the turnpike center of the state. The development ofSimeon De Witt's gridded block system in 1794, which gave Albany its originalbird and mammal street names,[Note 6] was intersected by these important arterials coming out of Albany, cutting through the city at unexpected angles.[42][43] The advent of the turnpike, in conjunction with canal and railroad systems, made Albany the hub of transportation for pioneers going toBuffalo and theMichigan Territory in the early and mid-19th century.[42][44]
In 1807,Robert Fulton initiated asteamboat line from New York City to Albany, the first successful enterprise of its kind.[45] By1810, with 10,763 people, Albany was the 10th largest urban place in the nation.[46] The town and village known as "the Colonie"[Note 7] to the north of Albany was annexed in 1815.[47] In 1825 theErie Canal was completed between Albany and Lake Erie. By connecting the Hudson River to the Great Lakes, it formed a continuous water route from the Midwest to New York City, enabling the shipment of lumber and other resource commodities through the Great Lakes and to New York, strengthening trade and business at both ends, as well as along the canal. Unlike the currentBarge Canal, which ends at nearbyWaterford, the original Erie Canal ended at Albany; Lock 1 was located north of Colonie Street.[49] The Canal emptied into a 32-acre (13 ha) man-made lagoon called theAlbany Basin, which was Albany's main port from 1825 until thePort of Albany-Rensselaer opened in 1932.[50][51]
In 1829, while working as a professor at theAlbany Academy,Joseph Henry, widely regarded as "the foremost American scientist of the 19th century",[52] built the firstelectric motor. Three years later, he discoveredelectromagnetic self-induction (theSI unit for which is now thehenry). He was appointed as the firstSecretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, which supported a variety of scientific, ethnographic and historic research.[53] In the1830 and1840 censuses, Albany moved up to 9th largest urban place in the nation,[54][55] then back to 10th in1850.[56] This was the last time the city ranked as one of the top ten largest urban places in the nation.[57]
Albany also has significant history withrail transport,[58] as the location of two major regional railroad headquarters. TheDelaware and Hudson Railway was headquartered in Albany at what is now used as theSUNY System Administration Building.[59] In 1853,Erastus Corning, a noted industrialist and Albany's mayor from 1834 to 1837, consolidated ten railroads stretching from Albany to Buffalo into theNew York Central Railroad (NYCRR). It was headquartered in Albany untilCornelius Vanderbilt moved it to New York City in 1867.[60][61] One of the ten companies that formed the NYCRR was theMohawk and Hudson Railroad, which was the first railroad in the state and the first successful steam railroad running regularly scheduled service in the country.[62][63]
While the key to Albany's economic prosperity in the 19th century was transportation, industry and business also played a role. Dutch and German immigrants had established a thriving beer industry, and much was exported to other markets.Beverwyck Brewery, originally known as Quinn and Nolan (Nolan being mayor of Albany 1878–1883),[65] operated from that period to 1972, when it was the last remaining brewer from that time. The city's location at the east end of the Erie Canal gave it unparalleled access to both raw products and acaptive customer base in the west.[66] Albany was known for its publishing houses, and to some extent, still is. Albany was second only toBoston in the number of books produced for most of the 19th century.[67] Jobs in the iron foundries in both the north and south ends of the city attracted thousands of immigrants to the city. Intricatewrought-iron details still enhance many historic buildings in Albany. The iron industry waned by the 1890s, falling victim to the costs associated with a newlyunionized workforce and competition from the opening of mines in theMesabi Range inMinnesota.[68]
Albany's other major exports during the 18th and 19th centuries were furs, wheat, meat and lumber;[69] by 1865, there were almost 4,000 saw mills in the Albany area[69] and theAlbany Lumber District was the largest lumber market in the nation.[64] Later in the century, much lumber was harvested and processed in the Midwest, particularly Detroit and Chicago.
The city was also home to a number of banks. The Bank of Albany (1792–1861) was the second chartered bank in the state of New York.[70] The city was the original home of the Albank (founded in 1820 as the Albany Savings Bank),[71]KeyBank (founded in 1825 as the Commercial Bank of Albany),[72] and Norstar Bank (founded as the State Bank of Albany in 1803).[73]American Express was founded in Albany in 1850 as anexpress mail business.[74] In 1871, the northwestern portion of Albany—west from Magazine Street—was annexed to the neighboring town of Guilderland[75] after the town ofWatervliet refused annexation of said territory.[76][77] In return for this loss, portions of Bethlehem and Watervliet were added to Albany. Part of the land annexed to Guilderland was ceded back to Albany in 1910, setting up the current western border.[78]
In 1908 Albany opened one of the first commercial airports in the world, and the first municipal airport in the United States. Originally located on a polo field on Loudon Road, it moved toWesterlo Island in 1909 and operated there until 1928. The Albany Municipal Airport—jointly owned by the city and county—was moved to its current location inColonie in 1928. In 1960, the mayor sold the city's stake in the airport to the county, citing budget issues. It was known from then on as Albany County Airport until a massive upgrade and modernization project between 1996 and 1998, when it was rechristenedAlbany International Airport.[79] By 1916 Albany's northern and southern borders reached their modern courses;[78]Westerlo Island, to the south, became the second-to-last annexation, which occurred in 1926.[80]
African American migrants started arriving during World War I during theGreat Migration. Another wave arrivedduring and after World War II. They found crowded living conditions and limited employment opportunities, but also higher wages and better schools and social services. Local organizations such as the Albany Inter-Racial Council and churches, helped them, but de facto segregation and discrimination remained well into the late 20th century.[81][82]
Erastus Corning 2nd, arguably Albany's most notable mayor (and great-grandson of the former mayor of the same name), was elected in 1941.[83] Although he was the longest-serving mayor of any city in United States history (1942 until his death in 1983), one historian describes Corning's tenure as "long on years, short on accomplishments."[84] Grondahl said that Corning preferred to maintain the status quo, which held back potential progress during his tenure.[85] While Corning brought stability to the office of mayor, even his admirers cannot come up with a sizable list of "major concrete Corning achievements."[86] Because there was limited new development in this period, much of Albany's historic architecture survived and has been newly appreciated since the late 20th century.[Note 8]
During the 1950s and 1960s, a time when federal aid for urban renewal was plentiful,[85] Albany did not see much progress in either commerce or infrastructure. It lost more than 20 percent of its population during the Corning years, and most of the downtown businessesmoved to the suburbs, following residents who had gone to newer housing.[87] While many cities across the country struggled with similar issues, the problems were magnified in Albany: interference from the Democratic political machine hindered progress considerably.[85] GovernorNelson Rockefeller (1959–1973) (R) wanted to improve the capital and state university and envisioned a monumental city; he was the driving force behind the construction of theEmpire State Plaza,SUNY Albany's uptown campus, and much of theW. Averell Harriman State Office Building Campus.[88] Albany CountyRepublican Chairman Joseph C. Frangella once quipped, "Governor Rockefeller was the best mayor Albany ever had."[89] Though opposed to the project, Mayor Corning negotiated the payment plan for the Empire State Plaza. Rockefeller did not want to be limited by the Legislature'spower of the purse, so Corning devised a plan to have the county pay for the construction and have the state sign a lease-ownership agreement. The state would pay off the bonds until 2004. It was Rockefeller's only viable option, and he agreed. Due to the clout Corning gained from the situation, he gained agreement for construction of the State Museum, a convention center, and a restaurant, as part of these plans; these were projects which Rockefeller had originally vetoed. The county gained $35 million in fees and the city received $13 million for lost tax revenue.[90]
Another major project of the 1960s and 1970s wasInterstate 787 and theSouth Mall Arterial, part of massive highway building across the country in this period.[Note 9] Construction began in the early 1960s. As happened in other places, the highway project had the adverse effect of cutting off the city from the Hudson River, which was the basis of its settlement. Corning has been called shortsighted for his failure to use the waterfront as an attraction for the city. He could have used his influence to change the location of I-787, which cuts the city off from "its wholeraison d'être".[91]
Much of the original highway plan was never constructed, however: Rockefeller had wanted the South Mall Arterial to pass through the Empire State Plaza. The project would have required an undergroundtrumpet interchange belowWashington Park, connecting to the (eventually cancelled) Mid-Crosstown Arterial.[92] To this day, evidence of the original plan is still visible.[Note 10] In 1967 the hamlet of Karlsfeld became the last annexation to be added to the city limits, having come from Bethlehem.[78]
After Corning died in 1983,Thomas Whalen assumed the mayorship and was reelected twice. He gained federal dollars earmarked for restoring historic structures. What Corning had saved from destruction, Whalen refurbished.[93] In addition, the Mayor's Office of Special Events was created in an effort to increase the number of festivals and artistic events in the city, including a year-longDongan Charter tricentennial celebration in 1986.[94] Whalen is credited for an "unparalleled cycle of commercial investment and development" in Albany due to his "aggressive business development programs".[95]
Prior to therecession of the 1990s, Albany was home to twoFortune 500 companies: KeyBank and Fleet Bank; both have since moved or merged with other banks.[96] After the death of Corning and the retirement of CongressmanSam Stratton, the political climate changed in Albany. There was more pressure on officeholders and voters regularly changed allegiances in the 1980s. Local media began following the drama surrounding county politics (specifically that of the newly created county executive position); the loss of Corning (and eventually the political machine) led to a lack of interest in city politics.[97]Gerald Jennings surprised many by his victory in the mayoral election in 1994, and his tenure since then. His tenure has essentially ended the Democratic Party political machine that had been in place since the 1920s.[98]
During the 1990s, the State Legislature approved the $234 million "Albany Plan", "a building and renovation project [that] was the most ambitious building project to effect the area since the Rockefeller era." Under the Albany Plan a number of renovation and new building projects were undertaken in the downtown area; many state workers were moved from the Harriman State Office Campus to downtown to add to its density of workers and support city life.[99] Late in the first decade of the 21st century support grew for construction of a long-discussed and controversialAlbany Convention Center; as of August 2010, the Albany Convention Center Authority had already purchased 75% of the land needed to build the downtown project.[100]
.jpg){kind=link}
