-
Government paperwork
•
As I’ve said before, back in the late ’50s my grandfather owned a small restaurant in Aqueduct. Here’s the receipt from his application to the Town of Niskayuna for a restaurant license. Nowadays, everything is printed out on laserprinters and official letterhead seems like a thing of the past, but in the 1950s it…
-
C’mon, you know the words!
•
I’ve posted this before at the other blog, but it’s been a while and it’s a natural for Hoxsie.The things you run into when you’re cleaning up your hard drive. I’ve been holding on to this for a long, long time, torn between the campy excitement of a piece of 1904 sheet music that…
-
The Hudson? A river too far.
•
In 1935, Niagara Hudson was only about 6 years old, having consolidated 59 little utilities into an electric and gas behemoth that reached across the state. In this area it still carried the brand of New York Power and Light, as well as the Niagara Hudson name. Just two years later, the company would…
-
A city in a city
•
Once was the time when buildings like Albany’s National Savings Bank building held more business than all of downtown holds today. (More than any of your suburban office parks, either.) So let’s take a look at all the businesses that were housed in one of Albany’s landmark buildings, 90 State Street, in 1939.
-
The oldest business in Albany
•
This article originally appeared at All Over Albany. It came to a great conclusion that happened to be wrong; shortly after publication, I learned that in fact the oldest business in Albany is Woodward & Hill; the full story can be found here. I recently unearthed a 1905 ad for Danker Florist, which is…
-
How to kill a ghost sign
•
This brilliant ghost sign from Pressman’s Army & Navy Store on Third Street in Troy was visible for many years from the parking lot for Troy Savings Bank. Unfortunately, recent structural repairs to the building took out most of the old sign, as well as its door to nowhere.
-
Media, mass
•
In 1888, the city of Albany had about 95,000 people living within its borders (already having dropped to 29th place among cities). So what were the newspaper options for those people? “The Empire State: Its Industries and Wealth” took the time in 1888 to list Albany’s press: Albany Argus, daily, Sunday, semi-weekly, and weekly,…
-
Boston One Price Clothing House
•
According to “The Empire State: Its Industries and Wealth,” published in 1888, the One Price Clothing House was originally established at Rochester, N.Y. by W.H. Spafford, who in 1887 “transferred his sphere of usefulness from that populous trade centre to the flourishing and enterprising city of Schenectady. This house has since enjoyed a well-merited…
Recent Posts
- Polo Player Nabbed As Game Violator
- Amsterdam Heiress: Prisoner of the Nazis
- The Stockade’s Antique Phone Booth
