A remnant of Barney’s
It’s been more than 40 years since Howland S. Barney’s department store closed. Somehow, however, its sidewalk inset still survives. Sometimes our cities are richer for a little benign neglect, […]
It’s been more than 40 years since Howland S. Barney’s department store closed. Somehow, however, its sidewalk inset still survives. Sometimes our cities are richer for a little benign neglect, […]
Someday soon I’ve got to write about H.S. Barney Co., once Schenectady’s premiere department store. It catered to what was called the carriage trade, the higher end customers. It sold […]
Until the early 19th century, the only way to cross the Hudson at Albany was by batteau, rope ferry or the newly invented horse ferry. But as Howell notes in […]
Almost every day of my life, I cross the Hudson River, sometimes several times, sometimes at several points. If I’m feeling devil-may-care, I may throw in a crossing of the […]
A gentle and timely reminder from your friends at Hoxsie: Chapter 81 of the Laws of 1785 was passed to restrict your New Year’s Eve celebration options: “Whereas great dangers […]
Not many businesses from the 1905 Albany Directory are still around. Danker Florist has been around since 1898. Amazingly, they outlived Maiden Lane, once one of Albany’s most important commercial […]
From Arthur Weise’s “The City of Troy and Its Vicinity,” 1886, comes this description of a long-forgotten factory that once employed thousands, the Earl & Wilson Company: “The senior member […]
There’s no point in re-inventing the wheel: Don Rittner has already told the whole story of how the most famous Christmas poem ever, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” was first […]
I’m always delighted when I find that some great old building that’s in the Historic American Buildings Survey still exists on our city streets, so when I ran across this […]
It is claimed that District School No. 1, now called The Little Red Schoolhouse, is the only one-room schoolhouse operating in New York State. Built in 1861, it’s just south […]