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Trouble on the Tracks
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In the late summer of 1890, the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad fired 78 members of the Knights of Labor “for cause,” the cause primarily being that they were union agitators. This action caused 3000 (or 5000, depending on the source) trainmen to go on strike. The trains, of course, continued to…
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Frank Jagger, the literate lumberman
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It’s Friday, so let’s look at a pretty picture. From the Albany Institute’s collection, this is a shot of the Frank A. Jagger, a lumber barge, somewhere in the the canals of the lumber district, which started about where Albany’s north boat launch is today. North of Ferry Street was a network of slips;…
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The Albany Egg Auction
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The Altamont Enterprise in 1935 had high praise for Egg Auction, Inc. of Albany (praise inspired by the company’s advertising in the newspaper’s special section – common practice then and now). “In North Albany at 10 Learned Street is one of the reliable institutions of this section and doing an extensive business throughout this…
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If it quacks like a duck
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Again from an 1872 edition of the Troy Daily Whig, we have an advertisement for the “Old Established Hospital” at 5 Beaver Street, quite near Broadway, in Albany. “Hospital” didn’t necessarily mean then what it means today, and in fact this was the practice of a single physician, or maybe not even that. “Young…
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The “New Woman” Denounced
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William Croswell Doane: first Episcopal Bishop of Albany. Driving force behind the Cathedral of All Saints, the little church tucked underneath the State Education Building. Dead ringer for “The Princess Bride’s” Vizzini. His thoughts on women’s suffrage? “Inconceivable!” As this 1895 article indicates, the Right Reverend Doane was not such a fan of the…
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State Normal School, 1909
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We’ll wrap up what turned into “School Fortnight” with this 1909 view of the State Normal School. These are the three buildings, Administration, Science, and Auditorium, that started the school’s first true campus, after a long history of moving from one Albany building to another. Today, these are Draper Hall, Husted Hall, and Hawley…
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Albany institutions: where are they now?
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In addition to the numerous public and private schools listed in the Albany Chamber of Commerce’s guide to “Education in Albany” in 1922, the guide included a number of institutional schools, private schools, a fairly broad definition of colleges, and many places to learn nursing. Many of these remain; many are forgotten. Institutional Schools…
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Albany Parochial Schools, 1922
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Our exhaustive review of the buildings that housed Albany’s schools in 1922 only included the public schools. Parochial schools (as far as I can see, all Catholic) abounded throughout the city. The Cathedral Academy, 105 Elm Street. This Sisters of St. Joseph school had an enrollment of 175 in 1922; it would appear the…
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Schools of Albany, 1922: Where are they now?
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By 1922, the “new” Albany High School on Lake Avenue, which had only opened in September 1913 at a cost of a million dollars, was already “taxed beyond its capacity so that ‘double sessions’ are necessary,” according to the Chamber of Commerce’s helpful report on “Education in Albany.” At that time, four new elementary…
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This is why we can’t have nice high schools
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Click on this picture from the Library of Congress’s Detroit Publishing collection and, for just a few minutes, soak in the elegance of this magnificent structure that was the first Albany High School. So beautiful. Sadly, gone for almost a century now.