-
The Albany Police Bill
•
There was a time when the organization of the Albany police department was a very hot political issue. That time was 1896. Back in the days when there were two parties in Albany government, the police were often needed in order to keep the minority party from generating too many votes at the polls.…
-
The Moses Fountain
•
This was originally published on AllOverAlbany several years ago. Anyone in Albany knows the Moses fountain in Washington Park. But few know how this biblical tableau came to be one of the most striking features of the park, or why it is called the King Memorial Fountain. So, why is this splendid fountain there…
-
A.L. Stevens, Schenectady’s Rooming House Keeper and Armless Driver
•
Paging through an old Schenectady Directory, an oddly worded series of advertisements led us to an interesting story – the story of the armless man who owned a group of rooming houses in Schenectady and once, quite famously, drove across country. Looking through the 1920 directory, searching for some other bit of history, we…
-
Man, Beast or Devil?
•
Okay, this one isn’t really history, and it’s barely Schenectady-related . . . but it’s fun. Readers who opened their copy of the Schenectady Gazette on January 31, 1921, were faced with the question of “What Is It? Man, Beast or Devil?” “What Would Happen in Schenectady If a Powerful Ape With the Brain…
-
Van Curler Opera House
•
Last time, we wrote about The Miles Theatre, a flash in the burlesque/vaudeville pan that existed pretty much within the confines of 1920 in Schenectady. Before that, it was a much grander house known as the Van Curler Opera House. It opened in 1893 at the corner of Jay and Franklin, and lasted in…
-
The Miles Theatre Apologizes
•
It’s not often that a theater takes out an ad apologizing for a show it has booked. But apparently Arthur Ungar, manager of The Miles Theater in Schenectady, felt the need to do so at the end of 1920. “‘Oh Girlie Girlie,’ the musical Revue with Harry Jolson playing the stellar role, which had…
-
The Fire Record, 1887
•
Fire was recently in the news for taking a terrible toll on a city with the unthinkable destruction of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. But it was a loss of property and history only, not of life. Fire was once a much, much more pressing concern for cities. We’ve written briefly before on…
-
The Lorraine Block and a little more Stanford history
•
Once upon a time, the construction of a new office building really meant something – it was a point of pride for a community to know that a modern structure with all the modern amenities was being constructed to serve the premiere business of the city. The Lorraine Block was just such a building.…
-
The ‘Other’ Max Shinburn, Jail House Dog
•
Max Shinburn’s legend lived on in Albany, or at least in the Albany jail – in the form of a jailhouse dog, owned by Jake Fulder, which went by the name of “Max Shinburn.” On July 3, 1896, the Albany Morning Express hailed “The Name of Max Shinburn / Again Appears Upon the Records…
-
‘Count’ Max Shinburn, King of the Bank Burglars
•
We’ve written before about some of the prisoners of the Albany County Penitentiary, a rather legendary lockup. But the old city jail, on Maiden Lane just behind City Hall, “hosted” one of the most notorious bank robbers of his age, Maximilian Shinburn. It’s a tale of safe-cracking, safe-blowing-up, and possibly of love with a…