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1880: When Capitols Kill!
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In the very back pages of the endlessly fascinating “Albany Hand-Book” for 1881 (“A Strangers’ Guide and Residents’ Manual”) is an appendix chronicling local events for 1880. So let’s see what was going on at the Capitol that year, when it was under the supervision of its second architect, Leopold Eidlitz, and had only…
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Hiram Ferguson: Designer, Photographer, Engraver in Wood
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It would appear that I have never before taken in the florid advertising stylings of Hiram Ferguson, designer, photographer, and engraver in wood, who worked out of the “Bank Building” at 448 Broadway. This is from the 1881 “Albany Hand-book.”
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Beware the Street Canary Vendor
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While we’re on the subject of the 1881 “Albany Hand-book,” let’s note its peculiar entry regarding birds: “The bird-stores of a city are always interesting places to visit, especially to those who are fond of the feathered songsters. There are usually some curious foreign birds on exhibition, and always good singers to be heard.…
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Lots of meat in this!
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I really have no idea what Henry L. Smith & Bro. meant when they said there’s “Lots of Meat in this!” They were referring, in 1891, to their sale on boys’ skating coats or reefers, knee pants, and short-pants suits. “This will be a week for the boys.” Smith’s place had previously been known…
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Finding Ethelda Bleibtrey
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More from the 1952 Knickerbocker News article on Waterford native and Olympic swimming medalist Ethelda Bleibtrey, which we started yesterday: Although the younger generation may not have heard of Ethelda Bleibtrey, the preceding generation knew of the young lady’s remarkable swimming exploits, though it may have forgotten about her down through the years .…
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More on Ethelda Bleibtrey
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The Knickerbocker News of July 30, 1952, had an article by Julius J. Heller reminding readers of the important career of championship swimmer and Olympic gold medalist Ethelda Bleibtrey, who was born in and grew up in Waterford. When a slim, 16-year-old [sic: she was 18] girl plunged into the water at Antwerp, Belgium,…
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Waterford’s Own Ethelda Bleibtrey
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I couldn’t count how many times I must have biked past this historical marker in the park at the end of the Troy-Waterford bridge without ever noticing it until a few weeks ago. Maybe a construction detour that forced me onto the sidewalk made the difference. In any event, it was the very first…
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Neat and Intelligent Plumbers
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1900: Horace F. Westcott of 27 Howard St. in Albany. Neat and intelligent plumbers. Up to date! And, apparently, quite dapper. And I’m reminded of this wonderful image that used to hang in the window of Farrell Bros. Plumbing on Delaware Avenue. The plumber protects the health of the nation!
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The Elevated Highway That Would Ruin Albany
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Discussions about the tangle of aerial concrete that serves as downtown Albany’s highway system inevitably center on the blindness of the planners and urban “renewal” advocates who saved our cities by making it much easier to commute to them and much harder to live in them. And so we curse the visionaries of the…