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Olendorf’s Tourist Home, Cohoes
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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…
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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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The Port of Albany
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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…
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St. Peter’s and Bishop Cusack Memorial
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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…
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St. Bernardine of Siena College. You’ve heard of it.
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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…
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R.P. Thorn Watches, Clocks & Jewelry
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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…
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The Hatch Flexible Shoe
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We’d be remiss if we didn’t show this trade card for the Hatch Flexible Shoe, which as we’ve previously noted was manufactured by Thomas Fearey & Sons of Albany. The art is certainly of its time, and that was a time when a flexible shoe was something that amazed both onlookers and stray dogs.
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E.J. Larrabee Biscuits
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This trade postcard from the Boston Public Library collection is a grand advertisement for E.J. Larrabee & Co., manufacturers of biscuits. We’ve shown one of their elegant billheads before. The front is just a gorgeous script; the back is a listing of their extensive offerings. Howell’s “Bi-Centennial History of Albany,” part of our normal…
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State Street, Schenectady, Then and Then
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Again from the Boston Public Library collection, a wonderful postcard view looking east up State Street from the railroad overpass. Some genius of car-bonnet dating could probably narrow the age down for us, but the trolleys were still running. On the left was Jay Jewelry, and just across Broadway was Woolworth’s. You can’t really…