Category: Albany

I don’t know much about 4 Hisgen Brothers, other than there were at least four of them, and they manufactured axle grease right here in Albany. This ad from 1898 represents that their axle grease was the best in the world for wagons, buggies, and all kinds of journals. That usage of journal (“the…

In 1912, the journal “Educational Foundations” carried this account of the dedication of New York’s grand new State Education Building: “Without Scandal” We dedicate a building which has been carried to an admirable and complete fruition, without scandal, and within the first appropriation that was provided for it.” These words were uttered by Dr.…

Chancellor Whitelaw Reid, at the State Education Building’s dedication ceremonies in 1912, said, “We are proud that the great structure comes to us absolutely free. There is no debt on it. They issued no bonds for it and anticipated no income. The people of New York have equipped their Board of Regents and Department…

If you were an academic, from pretty much anywhere, Albany was apparently the place to be one hundred years ago as the State Education Building was dedicated. Across the three days, there were six formal sessions, a major reception, open house at the Governor’s Mansion, attended by representatives from 120 higher education institutions throughout…

The State Education Building, an indispensable and unforgettable part of the Albany streetscape, one of the most distinctive pieces of classical architecture in the country and purportedly the longest Corinthian colonnade, was dedicated precisely one hundred years ago. In the century that has passed, the State Museum that once drew throngs of schoolchildren into…

From 1898, an advertisement for John Harrigan’s Sons (whose names, it would appear were Harvey, Daniel and Joseph), undertakers. This lovely building was at the corner of Chapel and Canal streets; Canal is now known as Sheridan Avenue. I can’t tell which corner this was on, but the only surviving building from that era…

Among the delights and pleasures of the worldwide web, Google Books, and public domain is the ability to discover, dissect, and disseminate tomes from yesteryear that were otherwise moldering in the locked “local history” room of the public library, available only to those willing to submit to the suspicions of the collections librarian and…

In 1898, Cluett & Sons was one of the major piano dealers in a town that could fairly have been called “The Piano City.” (Or so I keep trying to convince people.) But in this ad you can see the onward march of technology, as the piano company was also headquarters for “the wonderful…

English: New York State Library–Facilities–1880-1900. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The New York State Legislature is somewhat famous for setting forth laws regarding its own conduct that are sometimes a bit more yielding than laws applied to the rest of the public. But no one is above the law of the librarian. The 1855 “Catalogue of…

The natural progression of the Dutch Church in Albany, as we think of it today, was from the old church at the foot of State Street to the building on North Pearl known as First Church in Albany. But there was a second Dutch Reformed congregation as Albany grew, and it built this edifice…