Crossing State (And Building a New Union Station)
When Schenectady was a sleepy backwater, having numerous trains go across the main business street, just feet from the Erie Canal, was probably not much more than a nuisance. But […]
How Well Do You Know Schenectady?
On Dec. 30, 1911, the Schenectady Gazette asked on its front page, “Do You Know Your Own City?” It then posed questions about Schenectady that “will be answered by the […]
The Hotel Vendome (and any number of other names)
For those of us who grew up around Schenectady in the 1950s or 1960s, the northeast corner of State and Broadway seemed long settled as the home of the Woolworth’s […]
Death and Debauchery
We’ve been fascinated by this one for some time, for reasons not entirely clear even to us. We don’t usually publish true crime and the like, but now and then […]
Dr. Jones’ Beaver Oil: No Beaver, No Dr. Jones
In talking about Lebbeus Burton of Troy, the druggist whose fortune founded an orphans’ home that is still in use today, we touched on the seemingly unlikely cure of Dr. […]
Beaver Oil, Root Beer, and Orphans
Looking up these old local stories is nearly always a venture down a rabbit hole, and it’s usually a question of where to stop. One little detail catches the eye, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]