-
Mohawk Avenue, Scotia = Main Street, U.S.A.
•
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…
-
The Scotia Public Library
•
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…
-
The Scotia Post Office
•
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…
-
Olendorf’s Tourist Home, Cohoes
•
Another pair of postcards from the Boston Public Library collection. These depict Olendorf’s Tourist Home on Route 9 in Cohoes (but really, Latham). The tourist home was a standard fixture of the major routes in those days, and back before the highways came through Route 9 was the only road north to the Adirondacks…
-
Entering Scotia
•
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…
-
When Bridges Were Bridges
•
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…
-
The Port of Albany
•
Again from the Boston Public Library collection, an undated postcard of the Port of Albany in simpler, and busier, times. This view is from the Rensselaer side of the port. I’m not sure what the tank barge Iroquois of Philadelphiapa [sic] was carrying during its visit, but I can note that in 1942, out…
-
St. Peter’s and Bishop Cusack Memorial
•
Like most old northeastern hospitals, St. Peter’s has grown all over the place, connecting one building to another in ways that are often incomprehensible and hide the buildings that they grew from. But despite all the changes, these two original elements of St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany are still noticeable today. On the left…
-
St. Bernardine of Siena College. You’ve heard of it.
•
I’ve lived in the Capital District for something like 40 years. In all that time, I’ve never heard of Siena College referred to as anything but Siena College. I was even tangentially involved in Syracuse’s big “Beat Siena Week,” but was unaware the college had once sported a grander moniker. But here’s this undated…
-
R.P. Thorn Watches, Clocks & Jewelry
•
Don’t recall having run across the name R.P. Thorn before, though a number of the watches and clocks they sold are still in the hands of collectors. This postcard was for the Dueber watch case – it was something like the iPhone case of its day, everyone had to have one. R.P. Thorn had…