The Charm House
In 1938, a builder named Primomo was advertising the “Charm House” in the Times-Union. Built in a newly developed section off New Scotland Avenue, these homes featured six rooms (!), […]
Month: June 2012
Plus ça change
Around the turn of the century (no, the other century), there was some discussion of the City of Albany setting up a municipal insurance scheme. Similar to other public utilities, […]
Boardman, Gray Pianos
Wow, has it really been two years since I wrote about Albany’s claim to being the Piano City? I guess it has. This ad is from 1858, when Boardman and […]
Columbia Safety Bicycles
This has nothing whatsoever to do with Albany, Schenectady or Troy history. However, my first two bicycles were Columbia bicycles, and so I was delighted to find this ad for […]
Guns and automobiles
From the Schenectady Gazette, December 31, 1923, comes this handy little fact about the driving and shooting inhabitants of Rensselaer County. 5,000 permits to carry revolvers had been issued throughout […]
The battle of the porch
Newspaper used as insulation has been able to tell me what no civic records ever could: exactly when my house was built. For the most part, it was put together […]
Let your vital force flow
1923: Patent medicines were still going strong, and the practice of chiropractic, often tinged with quackery, claims that nerve pressure prevents the all-important Vital Force from reaching your organs. It […]
Bureaucracy, 1844
Back in 1844, the Mayor of Albany was Friend Humphrey, a leather merchant whose home in Colonie still exists. The City Council was made up of two aldermen per ward. […]