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Albany: Chloroform Capital
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Albany was once America’s leading city for an awful lot of things. We moved the most lumber. We led the country in the manufacture of stoves and pianos. And it turns out that Albany was once the chloroform capital of the country. The Albany Chemical Company was listed in 1888’s “The Empire State: Its…
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Fred Happel’s Contribution
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Franklin D. Roosevelt, who spent a little bit of time in Albany himself, signed the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935. Social Security Cards were first issued in November, 1936. They may not look like much, but think of it: someone had to design the Social Security Card. That someone was…
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Crisis in the Armory!
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Speaking, as we were, of the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company (which veered off into paper more of the toilet variety), Hoxsie has previously guessed that not only did old A.P.W. invent roll toilet paper, but probably, and of necessity, the roll toilet paper holder. This 1899 letter to the A.P.W. company, written by…
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From Toilet Paper to Terminal Warehouse
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I’ve spent some time trying to sort out the history of this ancient looking remnant of the lumber district, and finally sorted it out in the oddest way. On the “Albany: The Way It Was” Facebook group yesterday, we were discussing the various locations of the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company. You know, the…
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The Justice Bell
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Some months ago I promised myself to get all the way over to Valley Forge National Park, a distance of nearly three miles from my current domicile, and finally get a picture of the Justice Bell, which was cast by the Meneely Bell Foundry in Troy (not the other one in West Troy). And…
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Gold Beaters of 1863
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I’m not sure where I’d go today if I had some gold I needed beaten. But in Albany in 1863, I’d have had three choices.
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Fine Corn Husk Mattresses
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In 1863, downtown Albany was home to a mattress and feather depot run by Antrim White, whose store was at 36 Green Street, and whose home was at 3 Ten Broeck St. He was also listed as an upholsterer, naturally. Imagine the comfort of a husk and palm leaf mattress, “by the ton or…
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The Scholars of Grafton
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At some point, Marcia O. Dunham, born in Grafton but decamped to Washington, D.C., received an envelope. In that envelope was a set of certificates noting the school accomplishments of her mother and other family members, and her mother’s teaching certificate. It’s impossible to know what she felt, receiving the mementos of a mother…
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Fannie Hayner: License to Teach
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Amazing what you can find at the Library of Congress. For instance, a whole envelope of certificates marking the accomplishments of Fannie Hayner, from her own school days to when she became a school teacher. Fannie Orintha Hayner appears to have been born around 1850, and lived in the Town of Grafton in 1860.…
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A last bit of Rooseveltiana
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Had to share one last picture of FDR in Albany. (He spent more time getting his picture taken in the capital city than his cousin did.) This one from the National Archives and Records Administration, features Franklin, Eleanor, and unnamed Democratic Party workers. Safe to assume this is from the vicinity of 1929 or…