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Frear’s, before it became Bazaar
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Any sharp-eyed fan of the Collar City will recognize the landmark edifice of Frear’s Cash Bazaar, whose lovely marble facade still graces Third Street . . . except of course that this billhead shows the just-as-landmarky Cannon Building in Monument Square. Yes, for a long while, Frear’s was not where Frear’s is. This billhead…
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Where ya gonna get satinet warps?
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From an 1863 Albany directory, an ad for the previously mentioned R.M. Van Sickler & Forby. They dealt in the raw materials of fabric manufacture, and sold oil, belting, warps, spool tapes and the other things that Albany’s busy tailors, upholsterers, etc. would need.
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Van Sickler & Forby
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I don’t find much about R.M. Van Sickler & Forby, other than that they were succeeded in the business by G.P. Morse. This lovely cut from the Biggert Collection shows not only Van Sickler & Forby but Albany’s legendary Delevan House, one of the premiere hotels of its day, a temperance hotel that ran…
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Amsterdam is Broom Country
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We’ve already looked at the letterheads of Amsterdam’s Pioneer Broom Company, (also here) but as was usual in the 19th century, there was almost always a rival company, and it was often just a block or two away. Here is a receipt, again from the Biggert Collection, from T. Peck & Co., manufacturers of…
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Salamander and Albany Fire Brick Works
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Palmer, Newton & Company’s Salamander and Albany Fire Brick Works provided the specialized brick needed for stove linings, furnaces, and various manufacturing processes. That they were located on Rathbone St. (now no more than an alley footpath, and appropriately named for any one of a number of the stove-building Rathbones) is no surprise; they…
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S.H. Ransom – again with the stoves
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Somewhere along the line one of the partners in the Rathbone family stove business was S.H. Ransom. John Rathbone and Samuel Ransom were only partnered from 1841 until 1844, when they split into separate firms. Ransom made stoves and hollow ware in their foundry on the south end of Broadway. The business remained until…
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Rathbone, Sard & Co. – The Acorn Line
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The first Rathbone in the stove business in Albany, Joel, was highly sucessful; his country estate, Kenwood, later became a Catholic convent and girls’ academy. His nephew John also went into the stove business, and with Grange Sard manufactured the Acorn line of stoves and ranges. Not only can you find their advertising ephemera…
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R.C. Reynolds Furniture
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R.C. Reynolds was once a major furniture store in both Albany and Troy, selling carpets, stoves, upholstery, china, glass, etc. When Mr. I.H. Vrooman of 294 Hamilton St. in Albany picked up 5-1/3 yards of linoleum remnant in 1914, Reynolds had stores at 36-38 N. Pearl Street in Albany and in the landmark McCarthy…
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