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Bones, Fire and a Weathercock
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Last time we wrote about the Albany Bicentennial Tablet commemorating the first church in Albany, and we noted that in addition to the two successive church structures that sat in the middle of State Street at Broadway, there had been a burial ground around (and perhaps within) the church. At the time we said…
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What Happened to the Burdett-Coutts Marker?
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Two notes: One: throughout this article there are variable spellings of Burdett-Coutts, and when quoting, I’ve reflected the spelling used in the source I’m quoting at the time. Two: of course the source materials use racial terms that are no longer acceptable, but as they were not intended as directly offensive, I have copied…
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Thomas H. Sands Pennington, Black Pharmacist
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I started out to write a little bit about Dr. Thomas Elkins, one of the most remarkable and accomplished African American residents of Albany. I was challenged by two things: there is so much to say about Dr. Elkins, and much has already been written elsewhere. I may well come back to him, but…
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William H. Johnson Talks Emancipation
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In honor of the sudden interest in Juneteenth, commemorating the day the belated word of emancipation reached slaves in Texas, I went off in search of whether there had been any sort of acknowledgements of that day or similar milestones in the Albany, Schenectady and Troy area. Not too surprisingly, that particular celebration, which…
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G.W. Van Slyke & Horton – Peter Schuyler Cigars
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Scrolling through some old newspapers, this ad caught our eye — not only for its odd syntax (I mean, I guess I wouldn’t want to get in front of a cigar), but for its note that Peter Schuyler cigars had been made for 40 years right in Albany by G.W. Van Slyke & Horton.…
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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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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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The Fire Record, 1887
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Fire was recently in the news for taking a terrible toll on a city with the unthinkable destruction of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. But it was a loss of property and history only, not of life. Fire was once a much, much more pressing concern for cities. We’ve written briefly before on…