142 M. ALBANY, Pop. 113,344. (Train 51 passes 11:32a; No, 3, 12:05p; No.
41, 4:15p; No. 25, 5:46p; No. 19, 8:55p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 5:58a;
No. 26,6:30a; No. 16, 12:25p; No. 22, 2:05p.)
Across the river from Rensselaer on sharply mounting hills is the city
of Albany. We cross the river by a suspension bridge, passing over
Rensselaer Island and seeing ahead of us the handsome new freight houses
of the D. & H.R.R., and to right and left the boats of the Hudson River
Steamship lines lying against the wharves. Once over the bridge the
tracks swerve to the right, and soon lead into the Union Station.
Almost under the shadow of the present Capitol, on a meadow to the
north, Ft. Orange was built in 1624, when 18 families of Dutch Walloons
selected this site for a permanent settlement in the New World. The
history of Albany, however is usually dated from ten years earlier when
Dutch traders built Ft. Nassau on Castle Island, the present Rensselaer
Island.
According to some writers a temporary trading post was
established here by the French as early as 1540--80 years before
the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. But it is on the date 1614 that
Albany lays claim to being the second oldest settlement in the
colonies, Jamestown, founded in 1607 by Capt. John Smith and
Christopher Newport, being the first. It is interesting to note
that the Pilgrim Fathers narrowly missed making a settlement
somewhere along the Hudson River. William Bradford, second
governor of the Plymouth colony, tells in his history, how, at
one point in the _Mayflower's_ voyage, they determined "to find
some place about Hudson's river for their habitation." But, after
sailing half a day, "they fell amongst dangerous shoulds and
roving breakers," and so decided to bear up again for Cape Cod.
During the early days Albany held high rank among American settlements.
As a center of trade and civilization it rivalled Jamestown, Manhattan
and Quebec. In 1618 the Dutch negotiated here the first treaty with the
Iroquois, which tended to preserve friendly relations with the Indians
for more than a century to come.
The territory of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, the most
celebrated of Indian confederations, extended from Albany to
Buffalo, that is, over just the country through which the New
York Central runs. The name is that given to them by the French
and is said to be formed of two ceremonial words constantly used
by the tribesmen meaning "real adders." The league was originally
composed of five tribes or nations--the Mohawks, Oneidas,
Onondagas, Senecas and Cayugas. The confederation probably took
place about 1580. In 1722 the Tuscaroras were admitted, the
league then being called that of the Six Nations. Without
realizing the far-reaching effect of his action, Samuel D.
Champlain (1567-1635), the French explorer, probably changed the
entire course of history by joining the Algonquins and Hurons in
an attack in 1608 on the Iroquois near the present town of
Ticonderoga. The Iroquois never forgave the French for the part
they played in this battle and naturally turned first to the
Dutch and then to the English for allies. "Thus did New France,"
says Parkman, "rush into collision with the redoubted warriors of
the Five Nations. Here was the beginning, and in some measure
doubtless the cause, of a long series of murderous conflicts,
bearing havoc and flame to generations yet unborn." Parkman
estimates that in the period after the Tuscaroras joined the
Iroquois, the Six Nations had a population of about 12,000 with
not more than 2,150 fighting men. It is a matter of some surprise
that so small a fighting force could wield so great a power in
the early days. But Theodore Roosevelt, in speaking of the
Indians as warriors, says: "On their own ground they were far
more formidable than the best European troops. It is to this day
doubtful whether the superb British regulars at Braddock's battle
or the Highlanders at Grant's defeat a few years later, were able
to so much as kill one Indian for every hundred of their own men
who fell." Although up to that time they had been loyal friends
of the colonists, in the War of Independence the Iroquois fought
on the English side, and by repeated battles their power was
nearly destroyed. From very early times a silver "covenant chain"
was used as a symbol of their treaties with the Whites, and each
time a new treaty was signed the covenant chain was renewed or
reburnished. There are perhaps 17,000 descendants of the Iroquois
now living in reservations in New York State, Oklahoma, Wisconsin
and Canada.
[Illustration: Stephen Van Rensselaer
Stephen Van Rensselaer was the eighth patroon and fifth in
descent from Killiaen, the first lord of the Manor. He was
lieutenant governor of N.Y., an ardent promoter of the Erie
Canal, a major general in the War of 1812 (during which he was
defeated in the Battle of Queenstown Heights), and represented
N.Y. in Congress from 1822 to 1829. In 1824 he founded a school
in Troy, which was incorporated two years later as the Rensselaer
Polytechnic institute.]
In 1629 the Dutch government granted to Killiaen van Rensselaer, an
Amsterdam diamond merchant, a tract of land, 24 Sq. M., centering at
Ft. Orange, over which he was given the feudal powers of a patroon.
The patroons, under the Dutch r['e]gime, were members of the Dutch
West India Co., who received large grants of land, called Manors,
in New Netherlands. These grants carried with them semifeudal
rights, and the patroon could exercise practically autocratic
powers in his domain. The first of the patroons, Killiaen van
Rensselaer (1580-1645), never came to this country, but he sent
over numerous settlers as tenants. The Manor was called
Rensselaerswyck, and comprised all of the present counties of
Albany and Rensselaer, and part of Columbia.
This was the first manorial grant in New Netherlands and was destined to
endure the longest. The colonists sent to this country by van Rensselaer
were industrious and the town prospered, although in 1644, it was
described by Father Jogues, a Jesuit priest, as "a miserable little fort
called Fort Orange, built of logs, with four or five pieces of Breteuil
cannon and as many swivels; and some 25 or 30 houses built of boards,
and having thatched roofs." On account of its favorable commercial and
strategic position at the head of navigation on the Hudson and at the
gateway of the Iroquois country and the far west, it maintained its
importance among colonial settlements for a century and a half. Its
early name, Beverwyck, was changed to Albany--one of the titles of the
Duke of York, afterwards James II.--when New Netherlands was transferred
to the English (1644). Albany was granted a charter in 1686, and the
first mayor (appointed by Gov. Dongan) was Peter Schuyler, who was
likewise chairman of the Board of Indian Commissioners.
Peter Schuyler (1657-1724) was a son of Philip Pieterse Schuyler
(d. 1683), who migrated from Amsterdam in 1650. The family was
one of the wealthiest and most influential in the colony, and it
was closely related by marriage to the van Rensselaers, the van
Cortlandts and other representatives of the old Dutch
aristocracy.
Representatives of Mass., R.I., N.H., Conn., N.Y., Pa., and Md., met in
Albany in June, 1754, for the purpose of confirming and establishing a
close league of friendship with the Iroquois and of arranging for a
permanent union of the colonies. This was the first important effort to
bring about a Colonial confederation.
The Indian affairs having been satisfactorily adjusted, the
convention, after considerable debate, in which Benjamin
Franklin, Stephen Hopkins and Thomas Hutchinson took a leading
part, adopted a plan for a union of the colonies on the basis of
a scheme submitted by Franklin. This plan provided for a
representative governing body to be known as the Grand Council,
to which each colony should elect delegates for a term of three
years. Neither the British government nor the growing party in
the Colonies which was clamoring for colonial rights received
the plan with favor--the former holding that it gave the colonies
too much independence and the latter that it gave them too
little.
At about this time a Swedish naturalist, Peter Kalm, visiting Albany,
reported that "there is not a place in all the British colonies, the
Hudson Bay settlement excepted, where such quantities of furs and skins
are bought of the Indians as at Albany." Most of the houses at this time
were built of brick and stood with gable ends to the street; each house
had a garden and a _stoep_, where the family were accustomed to sit
summer evenings, the burgher with his pipe and his "vrouw" with her
knitting. Well-to-do families owned slaves, but according to Mrs. Anne
Grant, an English writer of the day who spent part of her childhood in
Albany, "it was slavery softened into a smile."
[Illustration: North Pearl St., Albany (About 1780) Looking
North from State St. to Maiden Lane
(_From an old French print in the N.Y. Public Library_)
In the left foreground is the south end of the Livingston house.
Just beyond, with two high gables facing the street, is the
Vanderheyden Palace, erected 1725. The square building at the
rear, corner of Maiden Lane, is the residence of Dr. Hunloke
Woodruff. In the right foreground (on the corner) is the Lydius
House, erected in 1657.]
It was here that the English from all the colonies, before and during
the French and Indian wars met to consult with the Indians and make
treaties with them. It was the gathering place of armies where troops
from all the colonies assembled and the objective of hostile French
forces and their Indian allies on several occasions, yet was never taken
by an enemy and never saw an armed foe. Even during the Revolutionary
War, when its strategic importance was fully recognized by both armies,
it remained immune, though at one time the objective against which
Burgoyne's unsuccessful expedition was directed.
In 1777 the English general, John Burgoyne (1722-1792), was
placed at the head of British and Hessian forces gathered for the
invasion of the Colonies from Canada and the cutting off of New
England from the rest of the Colonies. He gained possession of
Ticonderoga and Ft. Edward; but pushing on, was cut off from his
communications with Canada and hemmed in by a superior force at
Saratoga Springs, 30 M. north of Albany. On the 17th of Oct. his
troops, about 3,500 in number, laid down their arms, surrendering
to Gen. Horatio Gates. This success was the greatest the
colonists had yet achieved and proved the turning-point in the war.
In 1797 Albany became the permanent state capital. The election of
Martin Van Buren as governor in 1828 marked the beginning of the long
ascendancy in the state of the "Albany Regency," a political coterie of
Democrats in which Van Buren, W.L. Marcy, Benjamin Franklin Butler and
Silas Wright were among the leaders.
Thurlow Weed (1797-1882), the bitterest enemy of this coterie,
and the man who gave them their name, declared of them that he
"had never known a body of men who possessed so much power and
used it so well." Until the election of William H. Seward (the
Whig candidate) as governor in 1838, New York had usually been
Democratic, largely through the predominating influence of Van
Buren and the "Regency." Weed had an important share in bringing
about their defeat. He owed his early political advancement to
the introduction into state politics of the Anti-Masonic issue;
for a time he edited the _Anti-Masonic Enquirer_. In 1830 he
established and became editor of the Albany _Evening Journal_,
which he controlled for thirty-five years.
The anti-rent war, precipitated by the death of Stephen van Rensselaer
(1764-1839), the "last of the patroons," centered about Albany. The
final settlement of this outbreak, which began with rioting and murder,
and ended with the election of a governor favorable to the tenants
(1846), disposed of feudal privilege in New York State which had
flourished here until well into the 19th century, though it had
disappeared elsewhere.
The anti-rent agitation began in the Hudson River counties during
the first administration of Gov. Seward (1839). The greater part
of the land in this section was comprised in vast estates such as
the Rensselaerswyck, Livingston, Scarsdale, Philipse, Pelham and
Van Cortlandt manors, and on these the leasehold system, with
perpetual leases, and leases for 99 years (or the equivalent),
had become general. Besides rents, many of the tenants were
required to render certain services to the proprietor, and in
case a tenant sold his interest in a farm to some one else he was
required to pay the proprietor one-tenth to one-third of the
amount received, as an alienation fee.
Stephen van Rensselaer had permitted his rents, especially those
from poorer tenants, to fall much in arrears, and the effort of
his heirs to collect them--they amounted to about $200,000--was
met with armed opposition. In Rensselaer county a man was
murdered, and Gov. Seward was forced to call out the militia. The
tenants, however, formed anti-rent associations in all the
affected counties, and in 1844 began a reign of terror, in which,
disguised as Indians, they resorted to flogging, tarring and
feathering, and boycotting, as weapons against all who dealt with
the landlords. This culminated in the murder of a deputy sheriff
in Delaware county. In 1846 the anti-rent associations secured
the election of Gov. John Young as well as several legislators
favorable to their cause, and promoted the adoption of a new
constitution abolishing feudal tenures and limiting future
agricultural leases to twelve years. Under the pressure of public
opinion the great landlords rapidly sold their farms.
Stephen van Rensselaer was the 8th patroon and 5th in descent
from Killiaen, the first lord of the manor. He was
lieutenant-governor of New York, an ardent promoter of the Erie
canal, a major-general in the War of 1812 (during which he was
defeated at the battle of Queenstown Heights) and represented New
York in congress from 1822 to 1829. In 1824 he founded a school
in Troy which was incorporated two years later as the Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute.
[Illustration: Ancient Dutch Church, Albany (1714)
(_From an old print in the N.Y. Public Library_)
This church, built of bricks brought from Holland, stood for about
92 years in the open area formed by the angle of State, Market and
Court streets. It was erected in less than four weeks. The early
Dutch felt that without the church they could not hope to prosper.
The old church was of Gothic style, one story high, and the glass
of its antique windows was richly ornamented with coats of arms.
In 1806 the church was taken down and its brick employed in the
erection of the South Dutch Church, between Hudson and Beaver
streets, which in turn was later replaced by a newer structure.]
Comparatively few ancient landmarks remain in Albany, though there are
some fine specimens of the Dutch and later colonial architecture still
standing. Of these the best known is the Schuyler mansion,* built by
Gen. Philip Schuyler, in 1760, which, after serving for many years as an
orphan asylum, was recently purchased by the state and converted into a
museum.
Having served in the French and Indian wars, Philip Schuyler
(1733-1804) was chosen one of the four major-generals in the
Continental service at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War and
was placed in command of the northern department of New York with
headquarters at Albany. The necessary withdrawal of the army from
Crown Point in 1776 and the evacuation of Ticonderoga in 1777
were magnified by his enemies into a disgraceful retreat, and he
was tried by court martial but acquitted on every charge. He was
a delegate from N.Y. to the Continental Congress in 1779, and
later joined his son-in-law, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and
others in the movement for the ratification by New York of the
Federal constitution. In 1790 he was elected to the U.S. senate.
"For bravery and generosity" says John Fiske, "he was like the
paladin of some mediaeval romance."
The Van Rensselaer manor-house, built in 1765, was pulled down in 1893
and reconstructed on the campus of Williams College, Williamstown,
Mass., where it forms the Sigma Phi fraternity house. In the Albany
Academy, built in 1813 by Philip Hooker, architect of the old State
Capitol, Prof. Joseph Henry demonstrated (1831) the theory of the
magnetic telegraph by ringing an electric bell at the end of a mile of
wire strung around the room. Bret Harte, the writer, was born in 1839 in
Albany, where his father was teacher of Greek in the Albany College, a
small seminary.
Bret Harte lived in Albany until his 17th year. In 1896, lured by
the gold rush, he left for California with his mother, then a
widow. Once there, the rough but fascinating chaos engulfed him,
and from it, at first hand, he drew the stage
properties--Spaniards, Greasers, gambling houses--the humor, sin
and chivalry of the '49--which color all his stories. After some
little journalism and clerking, he was made secretary to the
Supt. of the Mint, a position which was not too exacting to allow
a great deal of leisure for writing. Later he returned to the
East with his family, made his home in N.Y.C. and gave all his
time to authorship. Apparently his success somewhat turned his
head. He lived beyond his means, passing his summers at Newport,
Lenox and other expensive places, until his unbusinesslike habits
and chronic indebtedness became notorious. In 1878 he accepted a
consulate at Crefeld, Prussia. He spent the rest of his life
abroad and died in England in 1902.
Modern buildings of interest include the City Hall,* a beautiful French
Gothic building; the State Educational Building, with its valuable
library; the Albany Institute, with its art galleries; the Cathedral of
the Immaculate Conception, built of brownstone, with spires 210 ft.
high; the Cathedral of All Saints, a fine specimen of Gothic
architecture, said to be the first regularly organized Protestant
Episcopal cathedral erected in the United States (1883), St. Peter's
Church, and, most important, the State Capitol.*
[Illustration: The First Passenger Train in N.Y. State
Leaving Schenectady for Albany, July 30, 1831
On its first trip this train, now preserved on the right balcony
of the Grand Central Terminal, attained a speed of nine miles an
hour. The route between Albany and Schenectady was practically
identical with that of the present New York Central lines.]
The Capitol occupies a commanding position in Capitol Square. It
is built of white Maine granite, and cost about $25,000,000.
Millions were spent in alteration and reconstruction, due to the
use of inferior materials and to mistakes in engineering design.
The cornerstone was laid 1871, and the building was completed,
with the exception of the central tower, in 1904. The legislature
first met here in 1879. The original designs were by Thomas
Fuller, who also designed the parliamentary building at Ottawa,
but they were considerably altered. The beautiful Western
staircase of red sandstone (from plans by Isaac Gale Perry) and
the senate chamber (designed by H. H. Richardson) are the most
striking features of the building. The present capitol suffered a
heavy loss in the burning of its library in 1911, by which many
unreplaceable books and original documents were destroyed.
The city has 11 parks, comprising 402 acres; the most notable is
Washington Park, which contains two well known statues--one of Robert
Burns, by Charles Caverley, and the bronze and rock fountain, "Moses at
the Rock of Horeb," by J. Massey Rhind. The city's filtration system is
of special interest to engineers; it occupies 20 acres, has eight filter
beds, and filters 15,000,000 gallons of water daily.
Albany's key position with respect to New York, Boston and Buffalo
ensured its commercial development. The first passenger railroad in
America was operated between Albany and Schenectady.
The first train in the state, consisting of the locomotive "De
Witt Clinton," named for the seventh governor, and three coaches
(resembling early stage coaches), was built for the Mohawk and
Hudson Railroad Co., the original unit of the present New York
Central Lines, and was chartered in 1826 to run from Albany to
Schenectady--a distance of 16 M. The locomotive was constructed
at the West Point foundry and taken to Albany by boat. It had its
first trial on rails, July 30, 1831, burning anthracite coal and
attaining a speed of 7 M. an hour. After remodeling, it made the
trip from Albany to Schenectady in one hour and 45 minutes, using
pine wood for fuel. On Aug. 9, 1831, two trips were made, during
which a speed of 30 M. an hour was reached. The train ran on iron
"straps" nailed to wooden "stringers." As originally built the
locomotive weighed 6,758 pounds, which, in remodeling, was
increased to 9,420 pounds--less than the weight of one pair of
wheels of a modern locomotive. At a banquet on the occasion of
the formal opening of the line (Aug. 13, 1831), President
Camberling of the railroad gave the following toast: "The Buffalo
Railroad! May we soon breakfast at Utica, dine at Rochester, and
sup with our friends on Lake Erie." The original train is still
preserved and may be seen in the right balcony of the Grand
Central Station, N.Y.C.
The first steamboat in the United States made its initial trips between
N.Y. and Albany, and the first canal connected Albany with Buffalo.
The original Erie Canal was one of the greatest of early
engineering projects in America, and its importance in the
development of N.Y. State, and of the country to the west, can
hardly be overestimated. Construction was begun in 1817, under a
commission including Gouverneur Morris, De Witt Clinton, Robert
Fulton, and Robert R. Livingston, and in 1825 the main channel,
363 miles in length, was opened between Albany and Buffalo, the
total cost being $7,143,790. Three branches were added later. At
the close of 1882, when tolls were abolished, the total revenues
derived from the canal had been $121,461,871, while expenditures
had amounted to $78,862,154. Various factors, including the
competition of the railroads, caused a considerable decline in
canal traffic in the last quarter of a century. The old canal was
a ditch following the line of the Mohawk and other rivers and
creeks. The new barge canal system has four branches, the Erie,
from Albany to Buffalo; the Champlain, from Albany to Lake
Champlain the Oswego, which starts north midway on the line of
the Erie Canal and reaches Lake Ontario, and the Cayuga and
Seneca, which leaves the Erie canal a little to the west of the
Oswego junction and extends south, first to Cayuga Lake and then
to Seneca Lake. The new canal system was first intended for 1,000
ton barges, but its capacity has been made much larger. Various
sections of the improved canal were completed between 1916 and
1918, and the total cost has been about $150,000,000.
Within 35 years Albany has increased fivefold in size, and is today the
intersecting point of the principal water routes of the Eastern States,
for besides being near the head of navigation for large steamers on the
Hudson, it is virtually the terminus of the N.Y. State barge canal. It
is also the key point in the transportation system of the state, for
here the B. & A. and the D. & H. railroads meet the New York Central, so
that one can take train for Buffalo and Chicago, the Thousand Islands,
the Adirondacks, Saratoga, Lakes George and Champlain, Montreal, Vermont
and the Green Mts., the Berkshires, and Boston. It is the second largest
express and third largest mail transfer point in the United States. The
forests of the Adirondacks and of Canada have made it a great lumber
post. Its manufactures have an annual value of $30,000,000 or more; they
include iron goods, stoves, wood and brass products, carriages and
wagons, brick and tile, shirts, collars and cuffs, clothing and knit
goods, shoes, flour, tobacco, cigars, billiard balls, dominoes and
checkers.
Leaving Albany, we follow closely the path of the old Iroquois Trail,
which was in early days, as now, the chief highway to the Great Lakes.
The Indian trail began at Albany and led directly across the
country to Schenectady; from this point to Rome there were two
trails, one on either side of the Mohawk. That on the south side
had the most travel as it led through three Mohawk "castles" or
villages, one at the mouth of the Schoharie Creek, one at
Canajoharie, and the third at the town of Danube, opposite the
mouth of East Canada Creek. Farther on, the trail passed through
the present towns of Fort Plain, Utica and Whitesboro. The trail
on the north bank led through Tribes Hill, Johnstown, Fonda and
Little Falls, where it united with the main traveled route.
At West Albany are extensive shops of the New York Central Lines.
When working full capacity about 1,400 men are employed here. The
machines are all of modern design and electrically driven. There
are large freight yards having a trackage of nearly 100 M. The
passenger car shops include two great buildings which are used
for making general repairs and one for construction of steel
equipment. One of the repair buildings is 42 ft. by 200 ft. and
has a track capacity of 100 cars, and the other, 400 ft. by 80
ft., a capacity of 180 cars. There are two enormous paint shops,
a blacksmith shop, where numerous forgings are made for other
departments, a woodmill, a machine-shop with a floor space of
13,000 sq. ft., and cabinet, upholstering, brass and plating
shops. The truck shop covers 1,800 sq. ft., and is used for
building and general repairs of trucks of wood, built-up steel,
and cast-iron. From the tin and pipe shop is supplied all the
light metal ware needed by the railroad.
[Illustration: 1831-1921
Showing the dimensions of the first equipment of the present New
York Central Lines--the DeWitt Clinton and three coaches--in
comparison with the modern locomotive used to draw the Twentieth
Century and other fast trains.]
159 M. SCHENECTADY, Pop. 88,723. (Train 51 passes 11:57a; No. 3, 12:47p;
No. 41, 4:57p; No. 25, 6:12p; No. 19, 9:32p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
5:24a; No. 26, 5:56a; No. 16, 11:35a; No. 22, 1:24p.)
At this point we first enter the historic Mohawk Valley, and on this
site, according to tradition, once stood the chief village of the Mohawk
Indians.
The Mohawk River rises in Lewis County (northwestern N.Y.), flows
south to Rome, then east to the Hudson River which it enters at
Cohoes. It is 160 miles long. There are rapids and falls at
Little Falls and Oriskany which have been utilized to develop
electric power. The Mohawk valley is noted for its beauty and the
fertility of its soil. The name Mohawk is probably derived from
an Indian word meaning "man-eaters"; but the Mohawks' own name
for their tribe was Kaniengehaga, "people of the flint." They
lived in the region bounded on the north by the Lake of Corlear,
on the east by the Falls of Cohoes, on the south by the sources
of the Susquehanna, and on the west by the country of the
Oneidas. The dividing line between the Mohawk and Oneida tribes
passed through the present town of Utica. The Mohawks had the
reputation of being the bravest of the Iroquois; they furnished
the war chief for the Six Nations and exercised the right to
collect tribute in the form of wampum from the Long Island tribes
and to extend their conquests along the sea coast. The tribes,
along both banks of the Hudson River, it is said, shrank before
their war cry. In the War of Independence they fought with the
English, and finally took refuge in Canada, where most of them
have remained.
The first settlement at Schenectady was made in 1642 by Arendt Van
Corlear and a band of immigrants who had become dissatisfied with
conditions on the Manor of Rennselaerwyck where Corlear was manager of
the estates of his cousin, Killiaen van Rennselaer.
Van Corlear had emigrated to America about 1630 and while manager
of Rennselaerwyck he earned the confidence of the Indians, among
whom "Corlear" became a generic term for the English governors
and especially the governors of N.Y. The name Kora, derived from
the same source, is said to be used even today by surviving
Iroquois in Canada to designate the English king.
To each of the 15 original proprietors, except Van Corlear who was to
receive a double portion, was assigned a village lot of 200 sq. ft., a
tract of bottom land for farming purposes, a strip of woodland, and
common pasture rights. Many of the early settlers were well-to-do and
brought their slaves with them, and for many years the settlement,
originally known as Dorp, was reputed the richest in the colony.
Schenectady was spelled in a great variety of ways in the early records.
Its Indian equivalent signified "Back Door" of the Long House--the
territory occupied by the Six Nations.
In an early map (1655) the name appears as Scanacthade. As late
as 1700 the spelling was still uncertain, as the following
minutes from the record of the common council of September 3, of
that year show: "The Church wardens of Shinnechtady doe make
application that two persons be appointed to go around among the
inhabitants of the City to see if they can obtain any
Contributions to make up ye Sellary due their minister." Other
ways of spelling the name were Schanechtade and Schoneghterdie.
In 1690 the young village received a setback which very nearly brought
its early history to an end; on Feb. 9 of that year, the French and
Indians surprised and burned the village, massacred 60 of the
inhabitants and carried 30 into captivity.
An old tradition says that an Indian squaw had been sent to warn
the inhabitants, under cover of selling brooms. In the afternoon
of Feb. 8, 1690, Dominic Tassomacher was being entertained with
chocolate at the home of a charming widow of his parish when the
squaw entered to deliver her message. The widow became indignant
at the sight of snow on her newly scrubbed floor, and rebuked her
unexpected guest. The Indian woman replied angrily, "It shall be
soiled enough before to-morrow," and left the house. The massacre
occurred that night.
Schenectady was rebuilt in the following years, but an outlying
settlement was again the scene of a murderous French and Indian attack
in 1748. In the land along the river, the old part of the town, Indian
skulls and arrow heads are still found.
English settlers arrived in considerable numbers about 1700. About 1774
a number of Shaker settlements were made in the lower Mohawk valley.
The Shakers, a celibate and communistic sect--officially the
United Society of Believers in Christ's Second
Appearance--received their common name from the fact that
originally they writhed and trembled in seeking to free "the soul
from the power of sin and a worldly life." They had trances and
visions, and there was much jumping and dancing. The founder of
the sect was Mother Ann Lee (1736-1784) of Manchester, England,
who came to N.Y. with a number of relatives in 1774 and bought
land in the lower Mohawk Valley. The first Shaker settlement was
at Watervliet, not far from Troy. The settlers established a
communistic organization with branches in Mass., and Conn. As a
matter of practice they do not forbid marriage, but refuse to
recognize it; they consider there are four virtues: virgin
purity, Christian communism, confession of sin, and separation
from the world. The women wear uniform costumes and the men have
long hair. The sect is diminishing. There are now less than 1,000
members in 17 societies in Mass., N.H., Maine, Conn., and Ohio,
though at its most flourishing period it had nearly 5,000.
Schenectady was chartered as a borough in 1765 and as a city in 1798,
and from that period date many quaint examples of colonial architecture.
In Scotia, a suburb to the northwest of the city, still stands the
Glen-Sanders mansion (built 1713) described as "a veritable museum of
antiquity, furnished from cellar to garret with strongly built, elegant
furniture, two centuries old." Descendants of the original owners are
still living there. A fine specimen of Dutch architecture is the
so-called Abraham Yates house (1710) at No. 109 Union Street. The
Christopher Yates house at No. 26 Front Street was the birth place of
Joseph C. Yates, first mayor of Utica (1788) and governor of the state
in 1823. Governor Yates afterwards lived, until his death, in the large
colonial house at No. 17 Front Street. The old "depot" of the Mohawk &
Hudson Railroad, the first steam passenger railway in America now
incorporated with the New York Central, is still standing in Crane
Street.
Schenectady is the seat of Union College, which grew out of the
Schenectady Academy (established in 1784) and many of the buildings
dating back to the early 19th century are still in excellent
preservation. They were designed by a French architect, Jacques Ram['e],
and the original plans are still in the Louvre, in Paris. At one of the
entrances to the college on Union Street is the Payne Gate, built as a
memorial to John Howard Payne (1791-1852), author of "Home, Sweet
Home," who was at one time a student at Union College The college
comprises the academic and engineering departments of Union University.
The other departments of the university--medicine, law, and pharmacy, as
well as the Dudley observatory--are at Albany.
Up to the time of the building of the Erie Canal, Schenectady had been
an important depot of the Mohawk River boat trade to the westward, but
after the completion of the canal it suffered a decline. The modern
manufacturing era, beginning about 1880, brought Schenectady growth and
prosperity. To-day the city can boast that its products "light and haul
the world." As we enter the town we pass on the left the main
establishment of the General Electric Co., the largest electrical
manufacturing plant in the world, with 200 buildings and 26,000
employees.
In the years before 1886 Schenectady had been suffering from a
long period of stagnation. In that year an official of the Edison
Machine Works of N.Y.C. happened to pass through Schenectady and
noticed two empty factories, the former Jones Car Works. The
Edison Company had been established in N.Y.C. about 1882 by
Thomas A. Edison, and it was now looking for an opportunity to
remove elsewhere. Accordingly Schenectady was chosen, and in 1892
the Edison Co.--which had been renamed the Edison General
Electric Co.--and the Thompson Houston Electric Co. of Lynn,
Mass., were consolidated and formed the General Electric Co. The
main plant was at Schenectady, but other plants were retained at
Lynn, Mass., and Harrison, N.J. The early electrical apparatus
was crude and the output of the factory was small, but this
consolidation marked the beginning of a world-wide business. In
1893, the book value of the General Electric Co. factory was less
than $4,000,000. Since then the company has spent more than
$150,000,000 improving and enlarging its plant. Branch factories
are now maintained at Lynn, Pittsville, and East Boston, Mass.;
Harrison and Newark, N.J.; Erie, Pa.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Toledo
and Cleveland, Ohio. At Schenectady one may see the latest
development in practically every variety of electrical apparatus.
There are in the General Electric plant individual factories
devoted to generators, motors, turbines, transformers,
switchboards, rheostats, wire and cable, and searchlights, as
well as pattern shops, machine shops, brass and iron foundries,
and testing, shipping and power stations. The company pays
considerable attention to welfare work among its employees and
free instruction in electrical engineering is given on a large
scale.
The American Locomotive Co., which likewise has a factory here, with
5,000 employees, turns out some of the largest and fastest locomotives
produced in America or abroad. During the last 35 years Schenectady has
become one of the greatest industrial centers in the United States; its
total annual output has a value of nearly $100,000,000, the output of
the General Electric Co, alone being about $75,000,000.
[Illustration: "Dr. Watson's Electrical Machine"
In 1768, when this picture, reproduced here from the First Edition
of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, was published, only the most
elementary principles of electricity had been discovered. Benjamin
Franklin's discovery, made with the aid of a kite, that lightning
is an electrical phenomenon, was the greatest advance in
electrical science up to that time. "Electrical machines," such as
that shown, were, designed to produce frictional or "static"
electricity, of which the quantity is usually small, and is
therefore now produced chiefly for laboratory experiments. When
the wheel at the left was turned sufficient electricity was
generated to cause a spark to jump between the two hands at the
right. This machine paved the way for the invention of the dynamo
electric machines for which Schenectady is world famous.]
We now cross the Mohawk River, and Erie Canal, and our route ascends the
valley of the Mohawk as far as Rome. To the south the Catskill Mts. are
visible in the distance, and the outline of the Adirondack Mts. can be
faintly seen to the north.
This beautiful group of mountains was once covered, all but the
highest peaks, by the Laurentian glacier, whose erosion, while
perhaps having little effect on the large features of the region,
has greatly modified it in detail, producing lakes and ponds to
the number of more than 1,300 and causing many falls and rapids
in the streams. In the Adirondacks are some of the best hunting
and fishing grounds in the United States, which are so carefully
preserved that there are quantities of deer and small game in the
woods, and black bass and trout in the lakes. Some 3,000,000
acres are preserved. The scenery is wonderfully fine and the air
so clear that many sanatoriums have been established for
tuberculosis patients.
175 M. AMSTERDAM, Pop. 33,524. (Train 51 passes 12:15p; No. 3, 1:12p;
No. 41, 5:20p; No. 25, 6:30p; No. 19, 9:52p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
5:07a; No. 26, 5:39a; No. 16, 11:10a; No. 22, 1:03p.)
[Illustration: Sir William Johnson (1715-1774)
Sir William was a remarkable figure in early N.Y. history. He is
said to have been the father of 100 children, chiefly by native
mothers, either young squaws or wives of Indians who thought it an
honor to surrender them to the king's agent. According to an early
historian, the Indians of the Six Nations "carried their
hospitality so far as to allow distinguished strangers the choice
of a young squaw from among the prettiest of the neighborhood, as
a companion during his sojourn with them."]
Amsterdam was settled about 1775 and was called Veedersburg until 1804
when its present name was adopted. It was for some time the home of
Elisha Arnold, father of Benedict Arnold, but the latter was born in
Norwich, Conn. (Jan. 14, 1741.) The so-called Guy Park Mansion built in
1763, by Guy Johnson, nephew of Sir William Johnson is still used as a
private residence. Today Amsterdam ranks as the first city in the United
States in the manufacture of carpets and second in the manufacturing of
hosiery and knit goods. It has one of the largest pearl button factories
in the country; other products are brushes, brooms, silk gloves, paper
boxes, electrical supplies, dyeing machines, cigars, wagon and
automobile springs; the total value of the output being about
$30,000,000 annually.
178 M. FORT JOHNSON, Pop. 680. (Train 51 passes 12:18p; No. 3, 1:15p;
No. 41, 5:23p; No. 25, 6:33p; No. 19, 9:56p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
5:03a; No. 26, 5:36a; No. 16, 11:03a; No. 22, 12:59p.)
This village is named for the house* and fort erected here in 1742, by
Sir William Johnson, one of the most remarkable of the early pioneers.
Sir William Johnson (1715-1774) distinguished himself not only
for the prosperous settlements which he built up along the valley
of the Mohawk, but also for his military ability and his
remarkable influence with the Iroquois Indians. Born in Ireland,
he came to America in 1738 for the purpose of managing a tract of
land in this valley belonging to his uncle, Admiral Sir Peter
Warren. The fort which he built on the site of the present
village bearing his name soon became the center of trade with the
Indians, and likewise a strategic point for Johnson's military
ventures. The Mohawks adopted him and elected him a sachem. He
was at various times superintendent of the affairs of the Six
Nations, commissary of the province for Indian affairs, and
major-general in the British army. As a commanding officer he
directed the expedition against Crown Point (1755) and in
September of that year defeated the French and Indians, at the
battle of Lake George. For his success he received the thanks of
parliament and was created a baronet. He took part in a number of
other expeditions against the French and Indians, and as a reward
for his services the king granted him a tract of 100,000 acres of
land north of the Mohawk River. It was in a great measure due to
his influence that the Iroquois remained faithful to the cause of
the colonies up to the time of the Revolutionary War. In 1739
Johnson married Catherine Wisenberg, by whom he had three
children. After her death he had various mistresses, including a
niece of the Indian chief Hendrick, and Molly Brant, a sister of
the famous chief, Joseph Brant. It is said that he was the father
of 100 children in all. After the French and Indian War he
retired to the present Johnstown.
[Illustration: Joseph Brant, "Thayendanegea" (1742-1807)
(_From original painting by Romney in collection of Earl of
Warwick_)
Chief Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant) of the Mohawk tribe was an
unusual character, combining the savage traits of an Indian
Warrior and the more civilized qualities of a politician and
diplomat. Born on the banks of the Ohio River, he was sent to an
Indian charity school (now Dartmouth College) at Lebanon, Conn.,
by Sir William Johnson. He fought with the English in the French
and Indian War and with the Iroquois against Pontiac in 1763.
Subsequently he became a devout churchman and settled at
Canajoharie or Upper Mohawk castle, where he devoted himself to
missionary work and translated the Prayer Book and St. Mark's
Gospel into the Mohawk tongue. In the Revolutionary War he led the
Mohawks and other Indians friendly to the British against the
settlements on the N.Y. frontier, even taking part, despite his
religion, in the Cherry Valley Massacre. After the war he aided
the U.S. in securing treaties of peace with the Miamis and other
western tribes. Subsequently he went to Canada as a missionary,
and in 1786 visited England, where he raised funds with which was
erected the first Episcopal Church in Upper Canada. Brant sat for
his picture several times in England, once in 1776, at the request
of Boswell (the author of the "Life of Johnson"), and during the
same visit for the Romney portrait, at Warwick's request. In 1786
he was painted for the Duke of Northumberland and for a miniature
to present to his daughter.]
After 1763 the fort was occupied by his son Sir John, who, during the
War of Independence organized a loyalist regiment known as the "Queen's
Royal Greens," which he led at the battle of Oriskany, and in raids on
Cherry Valley (1778-1780) and on the Mohawk Valley. The house, once used
as a fort, is described by an early writer thus: "Col. Johnson's mansion
is situated on the border of the north bank of the River Moack. It is
three stories high (two with an attic) built of stone, with port-holes
and a parapet, and flanked with four bastions on which are some small
guns. In the yard, on both sides of the mansion, are two small houses;
that on the right of the entrance is a store, and that on the left is
designed for workmen, negroes and other domestics. The yard gate is a
heavy swing-gate, well ironed; it is on the Moack River side; from this
gate to the river is about two hundred paces of level ground. The high
road passes there." The place, now somewhat remodeled, is owned by the
Montgomery County Historical Society and many curious historic relics
are on exhibition here. It is open to the public daily.
181 M. TRIBES HILL, Pop. 900. (Train 51 passes 12:21p; No. 3, 1:18p; No.
41, 5:27p; No. 25, 6:36p; No. 19, 10:00p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 5:00a;
No. 26, 5:33a; No. 16, 11:00a; No. 22, 12:56p.)
Tribes Hill received its name from the fact that it was an old meeting
place of the Indians. Across the river, in the estuary at the junction
of Schoharie Creek with the Mohawk, once stood Ft. Hunter, which was the
lower Mohawk castle, the upper castle being at Canajoharie.
A contemporary description says: "Ft. Hunter, known by the
Indians as Ticonderoga, is one of the same form as that of
Canajoharie except that it is twice as large. It likewise has a
house at each corner. The cannon at each bastion are seven and
nine pounders. The pickets of this fort are higher than those at
Canajoharie There is a church or temple in the middle of the
fort, while in its inclosure are also some thirty cabins of
Mohawk Indians, which is their most considerable village. This
fort, like that of Canajoharie, has no ditch and has a large
swing-gate at the entrance. There are some houses outside, though
under the protection of the fort, in which the country people
seek shelter when an Indian or French war party is looked for."
About two miles farther at the little village of Auriesville on the left
side of the Mohawk, where the river is joined by Auries Creek, there is
a shrine (visible on the left from the train) marking the spot where
Father Jogues, a Jesuit Priest, was killed in 1646.
[Illustration: Father Isaac Jogues
Isaac Jogues (1607-1646), a French missionary, came to this
country to preach among the Hurons and Algonquins. In 1642 he was
captured by the Mohawks, who tortured him and kept him as a slave
until the following summer, when he escaped. Father Jogues
returned in 1646 to establish a mission among his former
tormentors. About this time a contagious disease broke out amongst
the Indians, and to make matters worse their crops failed. For
these misfortunes they blamed the French priest, tortured him as a
sorcerer and finally put him to death.]
186 M. FONDA, Pop. 747. (Train 51 passes 12:27p; No. 3, 1:25p; No. 41,
5:39p; No. 25, 6:42p; No. 19, 10:05p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 4:55a; No.
26, 5.28; No. 16, 10:55a; No. 22, 12:51p.)
The town of Fonda was named for Jelles Fonda, said to have been the
first merchant west of Schenectady. Fonda established a prosperous store
here about 1760, and his old accounts (still preserved) disclose that he
had among his customers "Young Baron of the Hill," "Wide Mouth Jacob,"
"Young Moses," "Snuffers David," and the "Squinty Cayuga."
Following is a bill from Jelles Fonda's accounts:
Young Moses, Dr.
Sept. 20, 1762 L s. d.
To one French blanket 0 16 0
" one small blanket 0 12 0
" 4 Ells White linnen 0 8 0
" 1 pair Indian stockings 0 6 0
" 1 hat 0 8 0
" 1 pt. of rum and one dram 0 1 4
" 1 qt. rum 0 2 0