James Haight, manufacturer and inventor

In 1869, steam power was the height of modernity. And in order to power something with steam, you needed a steam engine or boiler. James O. Haight of Albany was one of a number of area makers of engines and boilers; he even held a patent for a steam piston and a packing spring, which sealed the moving from non-moving parts of the turbine. His location on Church Street is now lost to the tangle of I-787.