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Albany’s Airports
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One of the landmark events in aviation, Glenn Curtiss’s record-setting long distance flight to New York City, started from Albany – specifically Westerlo Island (sometimes also called Van Rensselaer Island, but it was one of several by that name). But contrary to many reports since that flight, what he took off from was not…
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Ruth Nichols and A Tragic Plane Crash in Troy
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Back in the early days of aviation, our area saw its fair share of famous flyers. After all, Glenn Curtiss launched a record-setting flight from the island that is now home to the Port of Albany; Amelia Earhart gave a lecture tour here and flew for Canajoharie’s Beech-Nut Gum; Lindbergh visited, as did A.F.…
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Schenectady’s Prize-Winning Student Photographer
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Having devoted so much energy over the last few years to presenting something like History with a capital H, we’re getting back to presenting whatever catches my fancy. And after giving so much attention to Albany, it’s time to feature a wider swath of the Capital District. While browsing old comic books on the…
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Peloubet’s Balloon
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While researching the Albany Bicentennial tablets, we tripped on the most curious little snippet in Joel Munsell’s Annals of Albany, in an article dated April 26, 1819: “A Mr. Peloubet gave notice that he would ascend in a balloon from the Capitol. The expenses he would attempt to raise by collection from the audience…
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Summing Up The Albany Bicentennial Tablets
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Well, that’s it. A project that I expected to complete within a few months ended up dragging out over the course of just about three years. In that time, I’ve written about little else here on Hoxsie – it’s been Albany in 1886 for quite some time. When information was sparse, when the stories…
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Albany Bicentennial Tablet No. 47 – Old Capitol
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Here is the last of the several bicentennial tablets that were not recorded by the official Bicentennial Committee in 1886. Placed on the grounds of the new east Capitol Park not many years after the building it celebrates was demolished in 1883, our final tablet somehow survived all these years. No. 47, “Old Capitol”…
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Albany Bicentennial Tablet No. 46 – Jewish Congregations
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We’re glad that the Bi-centennial Committee saw fit to recognize several Jewish congregations, having given considerable attention to various individual Christian churches, but we’re sorry to say that the marker failed to note that Albany was, for a critical time, the home of one of the most important figures in American Judaism, Rabbi Isaac…
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Albany Bicentennial Tablet No. 45 – Bicentennial Loan Exhibition
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Another tablet not listed in the official publication of the Albany Bi-Centennial Committee, and another one we’re not sure survives. In 1914, the Albany Argus said this had been placed on the east wall of the Albany Academy – it doesn’t appear to be there today. If anyone knows of its whereabouts, we’d be happy…
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Albany Bicentennial Tablet No. 44 – Joseph Henry
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In 1914, The Albany Argus noted a number of bicentennial markers that for some reason were not included in the Albany Bi-centennial Committee’s official list published in 1886. This one, though is unfamiliar to us – the Argus reported it was on the south wall of the Albany Academy. Thanks to intrepid correspondent Paula…
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Albany Bicentennial Tablet No. 43 – Madison Avenue
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The official book on the Albany Bicentennial – Anthony Bleecker Banks’s “Albany Bi-centennial: historical memoirs” – provides a very detailed recitation of the events that celebrated the bicentennial of the city’s charter in 1886, including all the speeches and a description of the fireworks, as well as the textual account of the many historical…