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The Capitol Flag Room – or, War Room
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This postcard, also from the Tichnor Collection at Digitalcommonwealth.org, depicts what was then called the Flag Room of the New York State Capitol in Albany. Even when this postcard was made, it doesn’t appear that battle flags were on display here … they may have already been moved out into the eastern entry hall …
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Looking Up State Street
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We’re not sure of the date of this postcard, probably somewhere in the 1930s, but what’s interesting is how little has changed. The Plaza in the immediate foreground no longer extends State Street around the area where buses and trolleys congregated, and the Hotel Ten Eyck, the tall building halfway up the hill on…
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The Dunn Memorial Bridge
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Hoxsie’s going to show you some pretty pictures for a little while. We came across a huge trove of local picture postcards from the Tichnor Collection at Digitalcommonwealth.org, a Bay State resource that knows no borders, apparently. This is a lovely print of the “new” Dunn Memorial Bridge connecting Albany and Rensselaer, in its…
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What You Need for Your Fourth of July Celebrations, 1876
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How did Albany celebrate the nation’s centennial in 1876? With firemen’s shirts, white cotton military gloves, and blue flannel regatta shirts. With three-foot long flags. With centennial illuminators – perfectly safe to use, and beautiful in effect.
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The Great Celebration
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In the centennial year of the United States, there was some celebrating in Albany. By the time July 3rd, 1876, rolled around, the Albany Evening Times had this to say about the great celebration to come: The arrangements for the grandest celebration that has ever taken place in Albany are about complete. It now…
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The New State Museum and Veterans Memorial Building
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The plans of 1925 that would have created an entire complex of buildings around the State Capitol didn’t move forward at that time, although the long-awaited state office building that was the original reason for the clearing of the buildings from what became West Capitol Park finally came to fruition. The Alfred E. Smith…
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The New State Capitol Complex
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Before we were interrupted by the things that life puts in our way, we were focusing on the plans that led to tearing down an entire block of buildings just west of the State Capitol in order that a new state office building could be constructed there. After several years of dithering, plans started…
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Lost Something Over the Week-end?
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Hoxsie’s just gonna leave this relic of the pre-Craiglist days here.
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Hey, You’re Blocking My View
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As we mentioned when talking about the plans to build an office building in what is now Albany’s West Capitol Park, there was a little bit of controversy over blocking the view of the Capitol and the State Education Building, which ultimately resulted in the decision to place the Alfred E. Smith State Office…
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Say, had you noticed there’s a beautiful building over there?
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As we noted (see the previous several entries), a whole bunch of buildings with some very venerable businesses were pushed out of the block of Washington Avenue just west of the Capitol in 1919. In their place was to be a small park and a new state office building. An article in “The American…