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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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Collins Park
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One last postcard view of the somewhat idyllic village of Scotia, NY. Or at least of its picnic pavilions. We noted a little bit of the history of Collins Park when we looked at the lovely village library. Growing up, Freedom Park and Maalwyck Park didn’t yet exist, and they’re both special-purpose parks. Collins…
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Mohawk Avenue, Scotia = Main Street, U.S.A.
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Another great postcard of Scotia, N.Y., from the Boston Public Library collection. This depicts Mohawk Avenue (State Route 5) looking west on one of the main commercial blocks of the village, sometime in the 1950s. On the left is Swire’s Department Store, one of the greatest little catch-all department stores of all time. I…
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The Scotia Public Library
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So, while we’re postcarding through beautiful downtown Scotia, New York, we have to visit everyone’s favorite library. Part of the Schenectady County library system, it’s in the Abraham Glen House, which dates to the 1730s and is as charming as can be. Abraham Glen was a grandson of Alexander Lindsay (the family later took…
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The Scotia Post Office
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Scotia’s post office building dates to 1940 and looks to me like a village post office is supposed to look. Auto enthusiasts could probably give a good idea of the date of this postcard, but not much has changed on this corner in the last half-century. The free-standing signs out front, which used to…
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Entering Scotia
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Another view, this time from the topside, of the Western Gateway Bridge and its approach into Scotia. I always loved the concrete lattice details, which on the “new” bridge were replaced by steel guiderails and chain link fence, which I’m sure is lovely to someone (perhaps a junkyard dog), but not to me. (The…
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When Bridges Were Bridges
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Not sure just when this undated postcard of the original Western Gateway Bridge was made, but the bridge itself, a graceful concrete arch structure, opened in December 1925. Previously, Schenectady and Scotia were connected by a trolley bridge between Schonowe Avenue and Washington Avenue. Four men died in an accident during the Western Gateway’s…
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Scotia High School
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This is a postcard of what was my 7th grade building, but before that was Scotia’s first high school, on First Street in the village. Gone now, a parking lot for St. Joseph’s Church; the church hadn’t yet been built at the time of this photo. The building was unchanged through the years, and…
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Another view of the Burr Bridge
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Last year the Grems-Doolittle Library of the Schenectady County Historical Society featured the photographs of early Schenectady photographer Henry Tripp. Since yesterday we heard the story of cows falling through the old Burr bridge that connected Schenectady to Scotia, today we’ll take a look at Tripp’s great photo of the Washington Avenue approach to…
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The Old Mohawk School
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Here’s a pretty picture of another old school, Scotia’s original Mohawk School, on Mohawk Avenue. It was built in 1870, and served as the school until 1917 when the “new” school was built on Ten Broeck Avenue, deeper in the village. The building then served as the Colonial Ice Cream factory, until it was…