Hoxsie will have more next week on the Old Elm Tree Corner, where the Livingstons lived it up. Meanwhile, on the opposite corner of State and Pearl streets was the Staats house, which  was built from 1659 to 1667 and survived until 1887. It was originally home to generations of the Schuyler family, and…

Long-time Albany residents and readers of this page are probably familiar with some of the old newspaper names of Albany: Times, Knickerbocker News, Albany Gazette, Albany Argus. The Post, the Herald, the Evening Journal. But the very first newspaper in Albany? The Post-Boy. Yes, that was an unusual name even then, and it’s not…

Image via Wikipedia As noted yesterday, Noah Webster was a cousin to prominent Albany publisher Charles Webster, who set up shop on the Old Elm Tree Corner at State and Pearl Streets. Although he was a Connecticut native and Yale graduate who taught in Glastonbury, West Hartford, and Hartford, Connecticut, Noah was a frequent…

More about Albany’s Old Elm Tree Corner, the northwest corner of State and Pearl streets, where the Livingstons had their family home for decades. The two houses immediately north of the Livingston home belonged to the Webster brothers, Charles and George. Charles Webster and Solomon Balantine set up a printing office on Middle Lane,…

The corner of State and Pearl streets in Albany is nearly as old as the city itself, and has long been an important historic intersection. The northwest corner was home to generations of the Livingston family. Robert Livingston was a Lord of the Manor from Scotland who came to Albany and gained wealth in…

George Gabriel was a common sense boot and shoe maker located at 98 North Pearl Street. “Any person suffering from a deformity, such as is caused by CORNS, BUNIONS, INJURIES, &c., may by calling, see how the LASTS are fitted up to imitate the feet, thereby removing all pressure from tender parts, or filling…

Or, The Spring Talks For Itself!   I haven’t previously run across the Lovell Manufacturing Company of 673 Broadway, but in 1886 they provided us with the startling (but true!) fact that “One third our lives we spend in bed (Chestnut).” Chestnut? In addition to roll-up spring beds whose springs talked for themselves, Lovell…