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D. Powers and Sons, Lansingburgh
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Before linoleum, ceramic tile, and hardwood veneers, there were two ways to cover the floors in your home: paint, and oil cloth. The first manufacturer of oil cloth in the United States was William Powers of Lansingburgh. Weise, in his “The City of Troy and its Vicinity,” writes: “The first oil-cloth was made in…
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Hoxsie!
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Hoxsie is the namesake of this site, primarily because of a magnificent ad that featured a rooster, the name “Hoxsie,” and nothing else. Hoxsie was a bottler of beer, root beer, sarsaparilla, soda and cider. An antique bottle auction site recently listed this fine example of a George W. Hoxsie Premium Beer bottle. Norman…
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The Jackson Corps
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English: Andrew Jackson – 7 th President of the United States (1829-1837) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) In the mid-19th century, there was a proliferation of military organizations, usually politically affiliated militias. They owned armories and guns, they marched in parades and were called on during unrest. One of those was Albany’s Jackson Corps, which was…
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Nurse!
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From Munsell’s Albany Directory for 1853, the very first entry after the index is this listing of nurses. “The above are all that have been found.”
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Fire!
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As we noted yesterday, there used to be a Second Dutch Church down on Beaver Street, along with a once-sizable burying ground. The graves were mostly moved, and the church was remodeled into a printing office after 1881, which was home to J.B. Lyons, then the official state printer, and the then-small shop of…
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The Second Dutch Church
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The natural progression of the Dutch Church in Albany, as we think of it today, was from the old church at the foot of State Street to the building on North Pearl known as First Church in Albany. But there was a second Dutch Reformed congregation as Albany grew, and it built this edifice…
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George Washington Slept Here
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In fact, he did. This historic marker from Schenectady’s Stockade tells you just where, too: the northeast bedroom, on the second floor. The “History of the County of Schenectady, N.Y.” tells us that: The ‘Father of Our Country’ visited Schenectady at three different times. The first occasion was soon after the revolutionary war, in…
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Humble beginnings
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Albany’s first Erastus Corning was only mayor for four years, not the 40-odd years his namesake great grandson would serve. He could be forgiven, one supposes, since he was busy founding and running the Albany State Bank, The Rensselaer Iron Works, the Utica and Schenectady Railroad, the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, some other banks…
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