By the 1920s, Albany had pretty much filled out to its current extent; the wide open lands of Pine Hills had been built up in the 1890s, and the trolleys made it possible for people to live outside the city and still get to work. The sudden growth of the personal automobile also led expansion into the suburbs, and new housing developments started to spring up. Places like Menands and east Colonie started to grow, and across the river, settlement spread beyond the hamlets that now made up the city of Rensselaer. Up the hill in East Greenbush, Veeder Realty Co. started selling building lots in Hampton Manor. This ad from 1927 promises pure spring water (“think that over, Mr. and Mrs. Albanian!”), a lake stocked with trout, and a new school and church (St. Mary’s) within the gates of the development. There was a fine state road (Columbia Turnpike, now Routes 9 & 20), two trolley stations and the Nassau bus, not to mention a very short drive across the old Greenbush bridge.
“Don’t mind the ‘Detour’ signs. They don’t apply to Hampton Manor.”
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