The Greatest Highway in the World / Historical, Industrial and Descriptive Information of the Towns, Cities and Country Passed Through Between New York and Chicago Via the New York Central Lines. Based on the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

by New York Central Railroad Company

142 M. ALBANY, Pop. 113,344.

(Train 51 passes 11:32; No, 3, 12:05; No. 41, 4:15; No. 25, 5:46; No. 19, 8:55. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 5:58; No. 26,6:30; No. 16, 12:25; No. 22, 2:05.)

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.

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 régime, 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."

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.

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 mediæval 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.*

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.

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.