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S.R. Gray, Publisher, Bookseller, Stationer
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“The Albany Hand-book: A Stranger’s Guide and Resident’s Manual,” published in 1884, describes the establishment of S.R. Gray, Publisher, Bookseller, Stationer and Blank Book Maker: “Gray’s Book Store, on State st. (Nos. 42 and 44). Almost opposite the new Custom House and Post-office stands the four-story granite building owned by S. R. Gray, and…
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B. Payn’s Son’s Tobacco Company
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I’m not at all sure that this 1886 ad has its apostrophes in all the right places, but I suppose it’s possible that B. Payn had one son, and that this was his tobacco company. This was an age when smoke in the sky was considered a good thing, and perhaps particularly so if…
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St. Marc Ladies and Gents’ Restaurant
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Haven’t previously seen mention of St. Marc Ladies and Gents’ Restaurant (!), which was running around the time of the Albany bicentennial in 1886, at 50 N. Pearl St. Special attention paid to ladies’ lunch, during shopping hours!
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J.F. Seman, Optician
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A very cool ad from J.F. Seman, optician, who in 1886 was at the corner of State and North Pearl. He offered eye glasses and spectacles in gold, silver and steel frames, as well as artificial human eyes. Because in the industrial age, getting your eye poked out was a thing.
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Engineers love canal locks
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Back in the early part of the century (the real century, you noobs), a group of engineers formed the Albany Society of Civil Engineers. In addition to going to meetings and presenting papers (such as “Concrete,” and “A New Type of Highway Bridge Abutment”), the engineers went on field trips. Well, they called them…
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Control your garage door . . . by radio!
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Apparently, in 1964, opening your garage door by remote control was something akin to magic. That’s the only explanation why you’d want to find a creepy wand-waver in a tux and top hat waiting for you when you arrived home. Actually, I guess he’s the reason you’d want to be able to open the…
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The Proposed River Bridge
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Yesterday we had an artist’s rendering from 1886 of the then-new Albany Greenbush bridge. It looks like it was built pretty much according to this plan, which was laid out in the charter of the Albany Greenbush Bridge Company, which gave these specifications: Wrought Iron Bridge. The company contemplates erecting a bridge of wrought…
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The first Greenbush Bridge
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It wasn’t until after years of bickering that a bridge across the Hudson River between Albany and Greenbush (now Rensselaer) was established. The Albany and Greenbush Bridge Company was chartered by the Legislature in 1872, and immediately hit roadblocks. The merchants of Troy were dead set against a bridge, viewing it as an intentional…
