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Death and Debauchery
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We’ve been fascinated by this one for some time, for reasons not entirely clear even to us. We don’t usually publish true crime and the like, but now and then there’s a story that reminds us that over the centuries, people are fundamentally the same, though perhaps our treatment of them makes some halting…
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Dr. Jones’ Beaver Oil: No Beaver, No Dr. Jones
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In talking about Lebbeus Burton of Troy, the druggist whose fortune founded an orphans’ home that is still in use today, we touched on the seemingly unlikely cure of Dr. Jones’ Beaver Oil (also sold as Beaver And Oil Compound, “for the treatment of Rheumatism, Neuralgia, Sore Throat and Quinsy, Headache, Toothache, Backache, Bruises.”…
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Beaver Oil, Root Beer, and Orphans
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Looking up these old local stories is nearly always a venture down a rabbit hole, and it’s usually a question of where to stop. One little detail catches the eye, and I start to find out more about that, and it leads to another detail, which leads to a huge revelation, which leads to…
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The Albany Police Bill
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There was a time when the organization of the Albany police department was a very hot political issue. That time was 1896. Back in the days when there were two parties in Albany government, the police were often needed in order to keep the minority party from generating too many votes at the polls.…
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The Moses Fountain
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This was originally published on AllOverAlbany several years ago. Anyone in Albany knows the Moses fountain in Washington Park. But few know how this biblical tableau came to be one of the most striking features of the park, or why it is called the King Memorial Fountain. So, why is this splendid fountain there…
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A.L. Stevens, Schenectady’s Rooming House Keeper and Armless Driver
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Paging through an old Schenectady Directory, an oddly worded series of advertisements led us to an interesting story – the story of the armless man who owned a group of rooming houses in Schenectady and once, quite famously, drove across country. Looking through the 1920 directory, searching for some other bit of history, we…
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Man, Beast or Devil?
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Okay, this one isn’t really history, and it’s barely Schenectady-related . . . but it’s fun. Readers who opened their copy of the Schenectady Gazette on January 31, 1921, were faced with the question of “What Is It? Man, Beast or Devil?” “What Would Happen in Schenectady If a Powerful Ape With the Brain…
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Van Curler Opera House
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Last time, we wrote about The Miles Theatre, a flash in the burlesque/vaudeville pan that existed pretty much within the confines of 1920 in Schenectady. Before that, it was a much grander house known as the Van Curler Opera House. It opened in 1893 at the corner of Jay and Franklin, and lasted in…
