Author: Carl Johnson

In 1884, Blasie’s Imperial Porcelain Baths were, we are told, the only establishment in Albany where porcelain bath tubs were in use. If the most fastidious did, in fact, concede that for beauty, comfort and cleanliness these baths had no equal, it’s then a fair assumption that patrons visited them prior to the application…

More from Albany correspondent “Chic’s” regular letter to The American Stationer magazine, an 1889 celebration of personal printing in the capital city, which we started yesterday: In my last Albany letter I failed to mention H.A. Goffe, for which I hasten to apologize. As Mr. Goffe makes a big push on engraving I can…

Last week we mentioned S.R. Gray, noted printer and stationer. He was notable, sure, but in his day (specifically, in 1889), Albany was crawling with stationers. Witness this, the start of a  rather lengthy account from a “regular correspondent” known only as “Chic,” posted November 15, 1889, to The American Stationer magazine. I was…

“The Albany Hand-book: A Stranger’s Guide and Resident’s Manual,” published in 1884, describes the establishment of S.R. Gray, Publisher, Bookseller, Stationer and Blank Book Maker: “Gray’s Book Store, on State st. (Nos. 42 and 44). Almost opposite the new Custom House and Post-office stands the four-story granite building owned by S. R. Gray, and…

I’m not at all sure that this 1886 ad has its apostrophes in all the right places, but I suppose it’s possible that B. Payn had one son, and that this was his tobacco company. This was an age when smoke in the sky was considered a good thing, and perhaps particularly so if…

Haven’t previously seen mention of St. Marc Ladies and Gents’ Restaurant (!), which was running around the time of the Albany bicentennial in 1886, at 50 N. Pearl St. Special attention paid to ladies’ lunch, during shopping hours!

A very cool ad from J.F. Seman, optician, who in 1886 was at the corner of State and North Pearl. He offered eye glasses and spectacles in gold, silver and steel frames, as well as artificial human eyes. Because in the industrial age, getting your eye poked out was a thing.

Back in the early part of the century (the real century, you noobs), a group of engineers formed the Albany Society of Civil Engineers. In addition to going to meetings and presenting papers (such as “Concrete,” and “A New Type of Highway Bridge Abutment”), the engineers went on field trips. Well, they called them…