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No pernicious discharges tonight!
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As an annual public service, Hoxsie would once again like to remind you: no pernicious discharges! Chapter 81 of the Laws of 1785 was passed to restrict your New Year’s Eve celebration options: “Whereas great dangers have arisen, and mischief been done, by the pernicious practice of firing guns, pistols, rockets, squibs, and other…
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Babbitt & Co.
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In 1909, Albany’s Babbitt & Co. advertised correct dress for women: In wearing our garments ladies can feel assured of being cleverly and properly dressed. We give our patrons the very best garments the world produces and at the lowest possible prices.We have a most complete line of Street Costumes in Panne Velvets, Chiffon…
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Gram Smith
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I’m absolutely terrible at remembering birthdays, anniversaries, anything of that sort. And yet, I almost never forget that December 27 was the birthday of my great grandmother, Hazel Grace Smith, neé Cath. She was born on this day in 1894, the third child of Teunis H. Cath and Nellie Seaman, who lived in West…
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What Albany owed, 1883
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In 1883, the City of Albany reported that it had $3,191,000 in bonded debt. This covered a variety of purposes. There was $3,000 for the relief of drafted men in 1864. There was $150,000 for the purchase of the Congress Hall block, which was torn down to make room for the new State Capitol.…
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Merry Christmas!
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What would Hoxsie like for Christmas? Perhaps the first commercial Christmas card in the U.S. Printed right here in Albany, of course. Learn about it from All Over Albany. Then read about how the legendary poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” was first published right here in Troy. Then think about what it would…
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‘Tis the night before Christmas…
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…and there’s no better time to remind folks that the legendary poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” penned by Rev. Clement Moore of New York City on Christmas Eve, 1822, was first published right here in Troy, in the pages of the Troy Sentinel. A family friend obtained a copy and passed it to…
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There’s something you don’t see every day
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A stereoscopic view of a very unfinished New York State Capitol building. I’m sure I could date this with some accuracy, but for now let’s say it’s somewhere between 1870 and 1880. I don’t recall if the design of Thomas Fuller, the first architect, extended to the second floor, or if that was the…
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Cohoes, in living color
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From one of the Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopes, here’s an unusual view of Cohoes. It’s unusual in part because it’s in color, and in part because it’s not of the Cohoes Falls, but instead features the Harmony Mills complex (lower left, and I believe not fully built) and the railroad bridge to…
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