Author: Carl Johnson

Be assured, Albany’s Bicentennial Loan Exhibition of 1886 wasn’t all Native American relics. For instance, there were also Civil War relics! Rebel bullets, rebel flags, and cannon-balls, among hundreds of other odd souvenirs such as “Book, cut in twain by shell.” There was a large collection of “Oriental Ware” loaned by the American Art…

The catalog of the Bicentennial Loan Exhibition explained that the purpose of the Exhibition, held in the Albany Academy building in July of 1886, was to demonstrate the growth, development, and historic past of Albany, but it quickly allowed that “it includes any thing of interest in connection with the colonial or State governments…

Back in 1886, Albany celebrated its bicentennial (dating back to its charter as a city, not its founding) with a grand exhibition held at the Albany Academy. That building, where Joseph Henry figured out inductance while teaching schoolboys, still stands in Academy Park. This exhibition, unfortunately, had little or nothing to do with Albany…

The Albany Hand-book of 1884 saw fit to mention that in 1880, Albany County was home to 3,325 farms, ranging in size from 2 acres to 1,000 acres, “there being only one of a thousand acres; average size, 92 acres.” As a county, we were big on oats and potatoes, apparently.

This is an advertising card that appeared in Easton, Pennsylvania, sometime around 1870. It was printed for a local retailer, which may be how it actually gets the name of Thomas Fearey & Sons entirely wrong, calling the firm instead “Joseph Frarey & Son.” Well, if you can’t get the manufacturer’s name right, is…

Today, let’s just enjoy this delightful Fairy “children’s vehicle,” available from Albany Hardware and Iron Company, the successor to Maurice Viele’s hardware store.

I’m not sure why 19th century Albany hated the cottonwood so much that planting one was an offense punishable by three months in the Albany penitentiary. If the goal was to prevent this weed of a tree from spreading everywhere, our forebears definitely did not succeed, as is easy to see in the spring…

The Albany Hand-book of 1884 saw fit to give us a few words on, as far as I can see, only these two of the various ethnic communities that made up the capital city in those days. Here are the descriptions: Italians.–The Italian colony in Albany consists of some twenty-five families. They are a…

Here’s an 1884 view of Child’s Hospital, from Hawk Street, where it sat at the corner of Elk. (Now, of course, it’s a scenic parking lot.)  At that time, Child’s, which opened March 26, 1875, was in the charge of the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, an Episcopal order associated with the Cathedral…