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The State of the Parks, 1884
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The Albany Hand-book of 1884 has this less than flattering description of the city’s parks: Albany has one spacious and beautiful park (see Washington Park); but most of the others are simply better than no parks. Academy Park. – Consists of about two acres, bounded by Elk and Eagle sts., Washington ave. and Park…
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When West Albany Was Where the Beeves Were
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In 1881, the stockyards at West Albany were among the largest in the country, as noted in these paragraphs from “The Albany Hand-book”: Cattle Market. – The stock yards at West Albany are reached in 45 minutes from Broadway by the State st. horse cars, which leave on the half hour; or in ten…
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No Shinney Playing, You Kids!
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In 1881 (and really, perhaps today, because I haven’t checked the city code lately), ball playing and “shinney” playing in the public streets were punishable by a fine of $1 for every person thus offending. Shinney was a form of street hockey, really, and it’s hard to imagine how that would have worked on…
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Albany Auction Houses
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The Albany Hand-book of 1881 reported that not only was State Street then a crowded market, but it was home to all sorts of auctions. “The principal auction houses are on State st., and many sales are conducted in the middle of that accommodating thoroughfare, the city ordinances providing that bulky articles may be…
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River travel before steam: wind, white-ash breeze, and kedging
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In “The History of the Seventeen Towns of Rensselaer County,” Arthur Weise described river travel before the age of steam. In periods of calm winds, the tides of the river could be, a little bit, the traveller’s friend, but then sometimes they had to resort to kedging: “Anyone taking passage in a sloop…
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The Western Gateway Bridge, again
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I don’t think I’ve ever seen this view before (another one from the Boston Public Library collection), but it’s a fantastic picture of the Western Gateway Bridge. Sure, my unreasonable love for this bridge may be because it was the first bridge I really knew, and because I was pushed across it in a…
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The Photography Stylings of Zeph Magill
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A couple of weeks back we ran across the photograph of Hugh McCusker, dealer in carpets, who did his carpet-dealing from River Street in Troy. We said at the time we didn’t know much about the photographer, Zeph Magill, other than that he worked out of the Keenan Building. There was also a milliner…
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Keep Your Topsoil Where It Belongs
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Hmm. I’ve seen bank ads about a lot of things, but I can’t recall seeing one anytime recently that encouraged me to keep my topsoil where it belongs. But that’s just what The National Commercial Bank and Trust Company of Albany did back in 1948, when this ad appeared in the Altamont Enterprise. They…
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