In 1888, the city of Albany had about 95,000 people living within its borders (already having dropped to 29th place among cities). So what were the newspaper options for those people? “The Empire State: Its Industries and Wealth” took the time in 1888 to list Albany’s press:
- Albany Argus, daily, Sunday, semi-weekly, and weekly, Argus Company, publishers, Beaver Street, corner Broadway
- Albany Evening Journal, daily, semi-weekly, and weekly, The Journal Company, 61 State Street
- Albany Evening Post, daily, M. and E. Griffin, 7 Hudson Avenue;
- Albany Evening Union, daily, 28 Beaver Street;
- Albany Daily Herald, Jacob Heinmiller, Westerlo Street;
- Albany Law Journal, weekly, Weed, Parsons & Co., 39 and 41 Columbia Street;
- Albany Morning Express, daily and Sunday, Albany Morning Express Co., Green Street, corner Beaver;
- Albany Times, daily and weekly, T.C. Callicott, 401 Broadway;
- Daily Press and Knickerbocker, The Press Co., 18 Beaver Street;
- Criterion, weekly, Burdick & Taylor, 481 Broadway;
- Cultivator and Country Gentleman, weekly, L. Tucker & Son;
- Freie Blaetter, daily. A. Miggael, 44 Beaver Street;
- Medical Annals, monthly, Burdick & Taylor, 481 Broadway;
- Our Work at Home, monthly, Albany City Tract and Missionary Society, 9 North Pearl Street;
- Outing, monthly, Outing Publishing and Printing Co., 59 North Pearl Street;
- Sunday Press, weekly, The Press Co., 18 Beaver Street;
- Catholic Telegraph, weekly, Catholic Telegraph Publishing Co., 51 Hudson Avenue;
- The Poultry Monthly, The Ferris Publishing Co., 481 Broadway;
- The Voice, monthly, E.S. Werner, 59 Lancaster Street;
- Weekly Press and Legislative Journal, weekly, 18 Beaver Street.
Astute readers of 2012, when Albany’s population is just about 98,000 (though the metro area, of course, is vastly larger), will note that the only survivors from that list are the combined Times and Evening Union. I’m not sure what else we would include in a current list of Albany based newspapers and periodicals, beyond the weekly Metroland and Legislative Gazette.
Pictured: The Albany Evening Journal building, adjacent to the D&H headquarters now known as the SUNY Administration Building.