We return to the details of this block of lost buildings on Washington Avenue, just west of the Capitol. On the east side of the old Hotel Borthwick in 1919 were these two modest storefronts. Closest to the Borthwick, with the key hanging in the doorway, was 72 Washington Ave., which in the years…

For someone who was in business for decades, Edwin Nellegar didn’t leave a lot of information behind. He was born about 1849, and married wife Alida at age 21. We know he advertised for his upholstery business, irregularly. We know that he took a hunting trip in the Catskills in 1898 (from a time…

This charming edifice (a combination of two buildings, if you look closely) is the Hotel Borthwick. Known in a previous life as the Avenue House, it was located just a bit west of the Capitol at 74 Washington Ave. We’re not quite sure when it was built, but as early as 1868 Avenue House…

While Hoxsie clips pictures out of Google books for his own entertainment, Paula Lemire is doing actual research, and has done a tremendous service by identifying the grave of the last documented slave at Schuyler Flatts, a woman named Sibbie. Read all about it here.

After our brief entry on Latham “The” Hatter, an alert reader hepped us to the continued existence of a number of absolutely splendid hats by another Albany hatter by the name of John Mayell. Howell’s “Bi-centennial History of Albany,” which is famously derivative and occasionally unreliable, counts among the pioneers of the Albany hat…

From a guide book to the State of New York, we have this description of Latham “The” Hatter (emphasis always his), who was located at 558 Broadway in the latter part of the 19th century. Prominent among the business enterprises of North Broadway is the hat emporium of Mr. George Latham, who is largely…

Munsell’s Annals of Albany could keep an amateur historian busy until the end of time, running down all the interesting tidbits. For example, without Munsell, we would never have known that Albany once had an ark. Apparently around 1830 or so, the companies that owned tow boats (probably steam boats by this time –…