Because of Albany's historical and political significance, the city has numerous museums, historical buildings, and historic districts. Albany is home to the New York State Museum, the New York State Library and the New York State Archives; all three facilities are in the Cultural Education Center at the south end of Empire State Plaza and are free to the public. The USS "Slater" (DE-766), a decommissioned World War II destroyer escort that was restored in 1998, is a museum ship docked in the Hudson River at Quay Street. It is the only ship of its kind still afloat. The Albany Heritage Area Visitors Center, at the corner of Clinton Avenue and Broadway at Quackenbush Square, hosts a museum, gift shop, and the Henry Hudson Planetarium.
Museums and historic sites
Albany, New York
Albany, New York | Museums and historic sites
The Ten Broeck Mansion, USS "Slater" (DE-766) museum ship. Albany is home to the New York State Museum, the New York State Library and the New York State Archives; The USS "Slater" (DE-766), a decommissioned World War II destroyer escort that was restored in 1998, is a museum ship docked in the Hudson River at Quay Street. New York State Museum, the New York State Library and the New York State Archives, to name a few. The New York State Museum, the New York State Library and the New York State Archives, among others.
google what is the capital of new york
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Albany
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is it a place of immigrants?
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Yes, it has Dutch, Germans, English,  Italians and Poles, to name a few.
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can you name some of its historical sites?
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Because of Albany's historical and political significance, the city has numerous museums, historical buildings, and historic districts. Albany is home to the New York State Museum, the New York State Library and the New York State Archives; all three facilities are in the Cultural Education Center at the south end of Empire State Plaza and are free to the public. The USS "Slater" (DE-766), a decommissioned World War II destroyer escort that was restored in 1998, is a museum ship docked in the Hudson River at Quay Street. It is the only ship of its kind still afloat. The Albany Heritage Area Visitors Center, at the corner of Clinton Avenue and Broadway at Quackenbush Square, hosts a museum, gift shop, and the Henry Hudson Planetarium.
Albany, New York | Museums and historic sites
In early 2012, the Irish American Heritage Museum opened in downtown Albany. The museum is home to exhibits highlighting the contributions of the Irish people in America. The Albany Institute of History and Art, on Washington Avenue near the Center Square Neighborhood and State Capitol, is "dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting and promoting interest in the history, art, culture of Albany and the Upper Hudson Valley region." The museum's most notable permanent exhibits include an extensive collection of paintings by the Hudson River School and an exhibit on Ancient Egypt featuring the Institute's "Albany Mummies." Albany is home to 57 listings on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and five National Historic Landmarks.
Albany, New York | Museums and historic sites
The Ten Broeck Mansion, a 1797 Federal-style mansion (later renovated in the Greek-Revival style) built for Abraham Ten Broeck (mayor of Albany 1779–1783 and 1796–1798) is a historic house museum and the headquarters of the Albany County Historical Association; it was added to the NRHP in 1971. Later known as "Arbor Hill", it gave the current neighborhood its name.
Albany, New York | Museums and historic sites
There are 68 properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Albany, New York, United States. Six are additionally designated as National Historic Landmarks (NHLs), the most of any city in the state after New York City. Another 14 are historic districts, for which 20 of the listings are also contributing properties. Two properties, both buildings, that had been listed in the past but have since been demolished have been delisted; one building that is also no longer extant remains listed. The listed properties represent approximately 250 years of the city's history, from its 17th-century Dutch colonial origins to its suburban expansion in the mid-20th century.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Introduction
The Capital District has many historical sites and museums covering a wide range of topics and time periods. The Albany Institute of History and Art founded in 1791 is one of the oldest museums in the nation, and the New York State Museum is the oldest and largest state museum in the nation. Many of the museums are historical sites themselves, such as Cherry Hill, the Ten Broeck Mansion, and the Schuyler Mansion in Albany, the Pruyn House in Colonie, Old Fort Johnson in Fort Johnson, and the Hart-Cluett Mansion in Troy. The Crailo State Historic Site in the city of Rensselaer was built in the early 18th century and is a museum of colonial New Netherland history.
Culture in New York's Capital District | Museums
Albany County has many historical sites and museums covering a wide range of topics and time periods. The Albany Institute of History and Art founded in 1791 is one of the oldest museums in the United States, and the New York State Museum is the oldest and largest state museum in the country. Many of the museums are historical sites themselves, such as Cherry Hill, the Ten Broeck Mansion, and the Schuyler Mansion in the city of Albany and the Pruyn House in Colonie. The Quackenbush House is the second oldest house in the city of Albany and is part of the Albany Heritage Area Visitors Center, which includes a planetarium.
Albany County, New York | Museums
Lastly, the Washington Avenue Armory is now used for some concerts. Contributing properties to the historic districts with cultural functions include the John A. Howe Branch library in the South End. Three properties also commemorate scientific discoveries and technological accomplishments. As a professor at the Albany Academy, Joseph Henry discovered electrical inductance, which would later lead to the development of the telegraph and all subsequent information technology. The building has since been renamed in his memory. James Hall made many of his paleontological and geological breakthroughs from the research in his office and laboratory.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Education, arts and sciences
Until the late 19th century, downtown and its neighboring areas "was" the entire developed city.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Geographical distribution
Of the remaining 43 extant listings, all but three are buildings or complexes of buildings. Those other three include one structure (the Whipple Cast and Wrought Iron Bowstring Truss Bridge), one maritime site (the USS "Slater") and one archeological site (Fort Orange). The historic districts include some other structures, such as the parks that give two of them their names, and objects like the statues near the state capitol and one of the city's remaining trolley poles, among their contributing properties. Five listed buildings are vacant and one, the Abrams Building, remains listed despite its demolition in 1987.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Property types and use
Reflecting Albany's position as New York's state capital are the main buildings of all three branches of state government. City Hall, the main offices of the city's school district, and the diocesan cathedrals of both the Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches are also included. Some properties are recognized at least in part for unique attributes, such as the possible grave of the only British peer buried in the United States, the only destroyer escort still afloat and the only fireplace in that style remaining in the country. Others recognize historic firsts such as the discovery of electrical inductance, the first state government building in the country to house an educational agency and the first basketball game played outside Massachusetts, where the sport was invented.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Introduction
Two of the listed churches helped pioneer the development of the Pine Hills neighborhood; the city built Hook and Ladder No. 4, the only fire station listed, to serve another new enclave. After World War II, another suburban building boom and new technologies combined to create the Lustron Houses of Jermain Street Historic District, the most recently constructed of the city's Register listings.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Historical context
The south end of the Albany Felt Company Complex in the city's northeast corner is its easternmost listing. Near the city's southern boundary, overlooking Interstate 787, is Nut Grove, the southernmost entry. The Rapp Road Community Historic District, in an area rural for much of its existence until the development of Crossgates Mall nearby, is at the western and northern extreme. The downtown historic district takes those boundaries from the stockade built by the Dutch as part of Fort Orange in 1624. The mostly buried remnants of the fort are one of the city's NHLs, and the oldest of its Register listings.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Geographical distribution
Prior to European settlement Albany was a forested location along the Hudson River with five "kills" (kill being early Dutch for creek, a name still used by Albanians today). These kills carved out steep ravines that separated the hills of Albany from each other. Further inland was the Pine Bush, an inland pine barrens that stretched from Albany to Schenectady. As settlement grew the Pine Bush was gradually cut down further and further inland. The kills, such as the Rutten, Vosen (Foxes), and Beaver kills, were diverted into pipes and covered over. Patroon Creek and the Normans Kill are the two that remain.
History of Albany, New York (prehistory–1664) | Pre-history and geography
Other historical sites and museums chronicle historic events of national importance from the Revolutionary War such as the Saratoga National Historical Park in Saratoga County and the Bennington Battlefield State Historic Site in Rensselaer. The Children's Museum of Science and Technology (The Junior Museum) in North Greenbush, the Burden Iron Works in Troy, and the Schenectady Museum in Schenectady are three museums that are focused on the technological and scientific history of the region. The Schenectady Museum also has a planetarium, as does the Albany Heritage Area Visitors Center in Albany. Though the Dudley Observatory, in Schenectady, is no longer a working observatory it still remains the oldest independent organization in the United States supporting astronomy research and has one of the finest astronomy libraries in world.
Culture in New York's Capital District | Museums
Combined, the historic districts equal , about 4% of Albany's total land area. They have over 2,000 buildings, structures, objects or sites within their boundaries. Over 90% of those are considered contributing properties to their districts' historic character.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Historic districts
Two former public school buildings are included as contributing properties in the South End district, and the former St. Joseph's Academy is a contributing property to Arbor Hill. The Harmanus Bleecker Library, originally built by the city as its first library but now redeveloped privately as office space, is one of eight properties with a past or present cultural function. Of the other seven only two, the Albany Institute of History & Art and the Palace Theatre, are purpose-built for their continuing role. The Institute, the city's major museum, is joined by three historic house museums and the "Slater" in that function.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Education, arts and sciences
Early expansion, fueled by the 1825 completion of the Erie Canal and the immigrant populations it attracted, largely went to the north and south of the original settlement, absorbing large earlier estates in the latter direction such as the Schuyler Mansion, Cherry Hill and Nut Grove leading to the development of the Arbor Hill, Mansion, Pastures and South End historic districts. West of that historic core, the first city hall and state capitol buildings around what later became Lafayette Park spurred some development around them early in the 19th century. Near the end of the century, the completion of the current capitol and Washington Park gave a new impetus to the city's growth in that direction, opening up the Center Square neighborhood.Brown and Spencer-Ralph, 11 By the 1920s streetcar lines were running out to newer, more suburban neighborhoods to the west and southwest.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Historical context
Most of the listed properties date from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries, the period of the city's greatest prosperity and growth. As such the architectural styles most prevalent are from that era. From outside there are more from older periods than newer. Despite the city's founding by the Dutch, only one listed property, the Van Ostrande–Radliff House, the city's oldest building, is a genuine example of Dutch Colonial architecture. Even then its Dutch features that do survive are more structural and internal, most notably its jambless fireplace, the only one in that style remaining in the country. English colonial styles are more visibly represented by the Georgian Schuyler Mansion.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Architects and architecture
The history of Albany, New York prior to 1664 begins with the native inhabitants of the area and ends in 1664, with the English takeover of New Netherland. The area was originally inhabited by Algonquian Indian tribes and was given different names by the various peoples. The Mohican called it "Pempotowwuthut-Muhhcanneuw", meaning "the fireplace of the Mohican nation", while the Iroquois called it "Sche-negh-ta-da", or "through the pine woods". Albany's first European structure was a primitive fort on Castle Island built by French traders in 1540. It was destroyed by flooding soon after construction. Permanent European claims began when Englishman Henry Hudson, exploring for the Dutch East India Company on the "Half Moon" (), reached the area in 1609, claiming it for the United Netherlands.
History of Albany, New York (prehistory–1664) | Introduction
Albany is one of the oldest surviving European settlements from the original thirteen colonies and the longest continuously chartered city in the United States. The area was originally inhabited by Algonquian Indian tribes and was given different names by the various peoples. The Mohican called it "Pempotowwuthut-Muhhcanneuw", meaning "the fireplace of the Mohican nation", while the Iroquois called it "Sche-negh-ta-da", or "through the pine woods," referring to their trail to the city. Albany's first European structure may have been a primitive fort on Castle Island built by French traders ca. 1540. It was destroyed by flooding soon after construction. Permanent European claims began when Englishman Henry Hudson, exploring for the Dutch East India Company on "Halve Maen", reached the area in 1609, claiming it for the United Netherlands.
History of Albany, New York | Colonial times to 1800
Albany is the oldest surviving European settlement from the original thirteen colonies. In 1540 French traders became the first Europeans to visit the area of the present-day city and built a primitive fort on Castle Island. This fort was built on a flood plain and was soon abandoned as a result of damage due to the annual freshet (flooding associated with spring thaw). Permanent European claims began when Englishman Henry Hudson, exploring for the Dutch East India Company on his ship the "Halve Maen" ("Half Moon"), reached the area in 1609. In 1614, the Dutch explorer Hendrick Christiaensen rebuilt the earlier French fort (referred to as a French chateau at the time) as Fort Nassau, the first Dutch fur trading post in the area.
History of Albany, New York (prehistory–1664) | Initial European settlement
Eleven of the listed buildings have either been built or adapted for commercial purposes. The former group accounts for six buildings. All but one remains in commercial use—the former headquarters of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad, now in government and educational reuse as the system administration building for the State University of New York. Commercially repurposed buildings were primarily houses, with four of those listed as such now serving as office space. One former government building, the city's Quackenbush Pumping Station, is now the Albany Pump Station brewpub. Among the contributing properties to the downtown historic district are five of the listed commercial buildings, three purpose-built and two adapted, as well as the SUNY system administration building.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Commercial
Prominent architects represented include nationally prominent figures such as Henry Hobson Richardson, Richard Morris Hunt, Richard Upjohn and Stanford White, as well as local ones like Marcus T. Reynolds. In addition to the architects and many state politicians, historic personages associated with the listed properties include George Washington, John McCloskey and Legs Diamond.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Introduction
A useful list of the above sites, with street addresses and other information, is available at National Register of Historic Places.Com, a private site serving up public domain information on NRHPs.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany County, New York | External links
In New York State, for example, owners of commercial properties or owner-occupied residential properties listed on the National Register that are located in eligible census tracts have the potential to capture 20% after-tax credits for qualified rehabilitative expenses related to their property's redevelopment. Andrew Cuomo, New York state governor designated the site eligible for historical status in 2017 along with 20 others, announcing “The Empire State proudly celebrates its diverse culture and rich heritage, and with the addition of these significant sites to the Registers of Historic Places, we will continue to honor all of the great things that make New York, New York,” The statement had designated 21 sites around New York state.
Spear and Company Factory | Present
All of the nine present or former residential properties listed are purpose-built single-family houses. Of them, only the governor's mansion is still used that way. Four of the others have been converted into office space or other commercial use and three old mansions—Cherry Hill and the Schuyler and Ten Broeck mansions—have been converted into historic house museums. The Stephen and Harriet Myers Residence, a former stop on the Underground Railroad, is vacant but being converted into one. Nut Grove, as noted above, is now part of a substance-abuse treatment center. By contrast, the historic districts are overwhelmingly residential. The smallest ones—Jermain Street, Knox Street and Rapp Road—are composed entirely of houses.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Residential
When the city switched from using the nearby Hudson River to Alcove Reservoir as its primary water source in 1937, it was taken out of service. After several decades of neglect it has been revived as a brewpub. There are two significant transportation-related resources among the contributing properties to the historic districts. Most prominent is the former railroad bridge in the Broadway–Livingston Avenue Historic District, a Warren truss dating to 1900. In Center Square there is also one of the two surviving overhead wire poles from the city's trolley system.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Transportation and infrastructure
Reflecting Albany's status as New York's capital, 17 of the 41 extant buildings listed individually, more than one-third of that total, have been used for governmental purposes at some point. The city government is responsible for three of those, its school district for two and the federal government one (the Old Post Office), with the rest accounted for by state government. Among the latter are the main buildings of all three branches of state government: the governor's mansion (executive), Court of Appeals Building (judicial) and the state capitol (legislative). In only three other states is this so. Among the contributing properties to the historic districts are two buildings representing the federal and county governments, both courthouses.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Government and military
The National Register of Historic Places, the U.S. national heritage register, was established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. It is administered by the National Park Service (NPS). Properties to be listed are usually first approved by the state historic preservation offices for listing on their state-level heritage register and then nominated to the National Register. Sometimes they are nominated directly to the National Register. In New York the board is under the auspices of the state's Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. A separate NPS program has jurisdiction over properties nominated for National Historic Landmark status, which must be formally granted by the Secretary of the Interior.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Overview
Historic districts are groupings of properties, usually under different ownership, that share a common historical background. They are sometimes recognized by local zoning codes. Not all are actually called historic districts—in Albany, the small "Broadway Row" of four townhouses is officially listed as Buildings at 744–750 Broadway. There are 14 historic districts listed on the Register in the city. All but two of them districts are clustered, contiguously in some areas, in this same section of the city along the river. The districts range in size from Washington Park to Broadway Row, Knox Street and the Lustron Houses of Jermain Street, all less than an acre (4,000 m).
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Historic districts
The one purpose-built synagogue among the contributing properties, Wilborn Temple in Center Square, has since been converted into a church.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Religion and institutional
Some of the ravines were filled in over time. Sheridan Hollow, carved by the now covered Foxen Kill, and Tivoli Hollow, carved by Patroon Creek, are two ravines that are still extant. The Empire State Plaza would in the 1970s fill the hollow created by the already-covered Rutten Kill. Lincoln Park is located in the hollow formed by the now covered Beaver Kill. Washington Park Lake is the result of damming up the only remaining part of the Rutten Kill that is above ground. The native inhabitants of Albany at the time of the arrival of the Dutch called the Normans Kill the "Tawawsantha".
History of Albany, New York (prehistory–1664) | Pre-history and geography
In 1628 the Mohawks defeated the Mohegans and pushed them to Connecticut. In 1642 a ferry was established to the east bank of the Hudson, at the native settlement of Tuscameatic. The Dutch would latter call this site "Het Green Bosch" ("the Green Woods"). This site is now the city of Rensselaer but the name lives on in the towns of North Greenbush and East Greenbush. The Director-General of New Amsterdam, Pieter Stuyvesant, came to Fort Orange in April 1652 and incorporated the areas surrounding the fort as Dorpe Beverwyck (the Village of Beverwyck). He established the first court at Albany around the same time.
History of Albany, New York (prehistory–1664) | Initial European settlement
The large concentrations of pipe stone and platform pipe artifacts in the area suggests that the site was an important "pipe manufacturing center." Evidence of waning culture corresponded to around 350 CE, and the mounds were left deserted until excavations and preservation efforts began in the nineteenth century.
Albany Mounds State Historic Site | Archaeological significance
Outside the city, Albany County has another 148 listings. The city's 68 are 31 percent of the 214 total, the largest portion of any community in the county. One listing, the Albany Felt Company Complex, is shared with the neighboring town of Menands. Two of the listings, the USS "Slater" and Whipple Cast and Wrought Iron Bowstring Truss Bridge, were moved to Albany from other locations. Most of the listed properties are located in central Albany, close to the Hudson River and the original boundaries of the city, an area today largely coterminous with one listing, the Downtown Albany Historic District.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Geographical distribution
The Albany Institute of History & Art (AIHA) is a museum in Albany, New York, United States, "dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting and promoting interest in the history, art, and culture of Albany and the Upper Hudson Valley region". It is located on Washington Avenue (New York State Route 5) in downtown Albany. Founded in 1791, it is among the oldest museums in the United States. Several other institutions have merged over time to become today's Albany Institute. The earliest were learned societies devoted to the natural sciences, and for a time it was the state legislature's informal advisory body on agriculture.
Albany Institute of History &amp; Art | Introduction
By 1914 the few trees that were there were in poor shape and the square was a grassy area with a single diagonal path.
Clinton Avenue Historic District (Albany, New York) | Colonial and Revolutionary periods
The history of Albany, New York, begins with the first interaction of Europeans with the native Indian tribes who had long inhabited the area. The area was originally inhabited by an Algonquian Indian tribe, the Mohican, as well as the Iroquois, five nations of whom the easternmost, the Mohawk, had the closest relations with traders and settlers in Albany. Henry Hudson first claimed this area for the Dutch in 1609. Fur traders established the first European settlement in 1614; Albany was officially chartered as a city in 1686. It succeeded Poughkeepsie as the capital of New York in 1797. It is one of the oldest surviving settlements from the original thirteen colonies, and the longest continuously chartered city in the United States.
History of Albany, New York | Introduction
The first building known to have been constructed on the city's present location was a 1540 French fort. This was destroyed by the annual Hudson River freshet and was rebuilt as Fort Nassau by the Dutch in 1614. It too was destroyed and eventually Fort Orange was built in 1624. Albany's initial architecture incorporated many Dutch influences, followed soon after by those of the English. The Quackenbush House, a Dutch Colonial brick mansion, was built c. 1736. Schuyler Mansion, a 1765 Georgian mansion, was built for Philip Schuyler, an American general during the Revolutionary War and later a United States Senator from New York; it became a National Historic Landmark in 1979.
Architecture of Albany, New York | History
Government entities also control the four buildings used for educational purposes. Three are used for administrative purposes—the Old Albany Academy Building, originally a private school, is the City School District of Albany's main offices, the former headquarters of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad is now the main administration building for the State University of New York (SUNY) system and the State Department of Education Building is home to that agency, which oversees public education in the state. The James Hall Office building has been annexed to one of the city's elementary schools, later used for a Montessori school. The former Philip Livingston Magnet Academy, now converted into senior apartments, is the only purpose-built public school building listed so far in Albany.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Education, arts and sciences
A court was needed to try a dispute between Stuyvesant and the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck over jurisdiction of the land surrounding the fort.
History of Albany, New York (prehistory–1664) | Initial European settlement
Free African Americans also worked for wages at his estates. This house was designated as a member site of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area in January 2009 because of 1) the architectural and historical significance of its buildings; 2) as significant parkland it illustrates the role of the Hudson River Valley in the modern environmental movement; 3) the site is associated with great Americans and social issues, particularly the examination of the abolition of slavery; and 4) because of its once notable formal gardens and landscape. Governor Andrew Cuomo added the site to New York State's "Path Through History" in 2013 for its ongoing relevance to the historic interpretation of Civil Rights in New York.
Boston Post Road Historic District (Rye, New York) | <a href="1838%20Peter%20Augustus%20Jay%20House">Jay Estate</a> (1745 and earlier)
New York State NHLs include ten prehistoric or other archeological sites, 12 historical Dutch farmhouses, manors, and historic districts, and 21 architecturally and/or historically important churches or houses of worship. Fully 26 NHLs are primarily military, including 13 fort sites (five standing forts, three fortified houses, and five ruins), five other battlegrounds, seven military headquarters, training facilities, arsenals and armories, and one military shipwreck site. One of these NHLs is associated with the American Civil War, while all the rest of these forts and other military places are associated with the French and Indian War and/or the American Revolutionary War.
List of National Historic Landmarks in New York | Overview
All 10 of the listed buildings used for religious purposes are or were Christian churches. Two are Catholic and six are used by various Protestant denominations (the Episcopal Church accounts for three). Church of the Holy Innocents, which is vacant, was built for an Episcopal congregation and later used for Russian Orthodox worship. Three of the listed churches—the First Reformed Church St. Peter's Episcopal Church and St. Mary's Church—are home to Albany's oldest congregations in their denominations. The First Reformed Church, dating to 1634, is also the city's oldest church building and the oldest Christian congregation in upstate New York.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Religion and institutional
This is a list of New York (state) historic sites. It includes 40 state-designated historic sites and parks managed by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Twenty-two sites also are National Historic Landmarks (NHLs) of the United States and are described further in List of National Historic Landmarks in New York. The 18 SHS that are not NHLs may be of national importance and be NHL-eligible but, as state-owned and -administered sites, may have less need for additional protection; or may be of state, but not national, importance.
List of New York (state) historic sites | Introduction
Three—the state capitol, St. Peter's Episcopal Church and the mansion of Revolutionary War officer and early U.S. Senator Philip Schuyler—are further recognized as National Historic Landmarks in part for their architectural achievement.
Architecture of Albany, New York | Introduction
The following is listed on the National Register of Historic Places:
Augusta, New York | Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany County, New York exclusive of the City of Albany: This is intended to be a complete list of properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Albany County, New York, besides those in the City of Albany, itself (which are listed here). The locations of National Register properties and districts (at least for all showing latitude and longitude coordinates below) may be seen in a map by clicking on "Map of all coordinates".
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany County, New York | Introduction
One of the premiere historic sites in Warren County is the Fredella, Joseph J., House and Garage, which was constructed in 1900, and is significant for its architectural detail. It is on the list of National Register of Historic Places. Another popular historic site is the Wreck of the 1758 radeau LAND TORTOISE, a shipwreck site which occurred in 1758 of European-American origin. Other historic sites include:
Warren County, New York | Historic sites
From its beginnings as a learned society that advised the state legislature on how to improve agricultural production, the Institute has evolved into a regional art museum. Twice in the 19th century it went into serious decline, revived by a change in direction. In the later 20th century it finally found a permanent direction and its own home.
Albany Institute of History &amp; Art | History
The archaeological record at the Hiscock Site, in Byron, New York goes back 10,000 to 12,000 years to the Ice Age. Researchers have found a variety of manmade tools, ceramics, metal, and leather, along with a mastodon jaw, tusks, and teeth, and assorted animal bones, indicating long occupation of the site. This site is among North America’s most important for archaeological artifacts from the Ice Age. Varying cultures of indigenous peoples lived in the area for thousands of years. Hundreds of years before European exploration, the Iroquoian-speaking Seneca Nation developed in the central part of present-day New York; it became one of the first Five Nations of the "Haudenosaunee" (Iroquois Confederacy).
Genesee County, New York | Pre-Columbian era
By the end of the 20th century, it became demographically predominantly African-American.
Arbor Hill, Albany, New York | History
The Ten Broeck Mansion, built near the end of the 18th century, is the earliest listing postdating American independence. Like Schuyler's a gabled brick estate house, its early use of the similarly classically-inspired Federal style shows the transition from colonial architecture to the modes of the new nation and century. Philip Hooker's First Reformed Church, another Federal structure completed shortly after Ten Broeck's mansion, was his first major building. With the Old Albany Academy Building in 1815 Hooker would further develop the Federal style in the city. The style persisted in vernacular forms as late as 1838, when the brick house of strawberry-farming pioneer James Wilson, the oldest contributing property to the Knox Street Historic District, was built.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Architects and architecture
St. Mary's, established near the end of the 18th century, is likewise the oldest Catholic congregation in the city and upstate. All Saints and Immaculate Conception are, respectively, the cathedrals of the Episcopal and Catholic dioceses of Albany. Immaculate Conception is further distinguished as the second-oldest Catholic cathedral in the state after St. Patrick's in New York City. In the historic districts, fourteen churches are contributing properties. They include some prominent local churches, like St. Joseph's, the city's third Catholic church, in the Ten Broeck Triangle section of the Arbor Hill district. Others are historically important, like Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in the South End, the only remaining wood frame church in the city.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Religion and institutional
The area of Albany had been given different names by the various native tribes of the area. The Mohegans called it "Pem-po-tu-wuth-ut", which means "place of the council fire", and the Iroquois called it "Sche-negh-ta-da", meaning "through the pine woods". The five kills were initially called First Kill, Second Kill, and so on. Normans Kill received its name from Albert Bradt, a Norwegian (Dutch: "Noorman") and one of the earliest settlers, and the Rutten Kill was named for Rutgers Bleecker, an early land owner along its banks.
History of Albany, New York (prehistory–1664) | Pre-history and geography
Albany has been a center of higher education for over a century, with much of the remainder of its economy dependent on state government and health care services. The city has experienced a rebound from the urban decline of the 1970s and 1980s, with noticeable development happening in the city's downtown and midtown neighborhoods. Albany is known for its extensive history, culture, architecture, and institutions of higher education. The city is home to the mother churches of two Christian dioceses as well as the oldest Christian congregation in Upstate New York. Albany has won the All-America City Award in both 1991 and 2009.
History of Albany, New York | Introduction
The following are the historic sites in Alexandria Bay of such significance as to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Alexandria Bay, New York | Historic Sites
As part of the Albany city bi-centennial celebrations a commemorative plaque was placed on the west side of the intersection of State and Eagle streets between the curb stones and the sidewalk in front of the New York State Capitol building. In 1940 the New York State Education Department placed a state historical marker commemorating the fort as the "Goal of Burgoyne's Drive to Split the Colonies – 1777". This marker is also in front of the Capitol building. Another marker for Fort Frederick sits across the street from the other two. This marker is in a median in the middle of State Street at the base of a pole mounted clock.
Fort Frederick (Albany) | Historical markers
Four parks in the city are included in its listings. Lincoln Park is listed individually, and Swinburne Park is listed along with neighboring Bleecker Stadium. Lafayette and Washington parks are contributing properties to the historic districts that bear their names.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Open space
The Downtown Albany Historic District is a 19-block, area of Albany, New York, United States, centered on the junction of State (New York State Route 5) and North and South Pearl streets (New York State Route 32). It is the oldest settled area of the city, originally planned and settled in the 17th century, and the nucleus of its later development and expansion. In 1980 it was designated a historic district by the city and then listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its 160 buildings are a mix of tall commercial buildings on the main streets and small houses on the side.
Downtown Albany Historic District | Introduction
This is a complete list of New York State Historic Markers in Albany County, New York.
List of New York State Historic Markers in Albany County, New York | Introduction
As an indicator of that, Beverwijck was never attacked by the Mohican or Mohawk, although it was in an isolated area. Like French traders before them, the Dutch often married or had unions with Mohawk and Mahican women; their descendants later intermarried with English settlers as well, leading to the area's cultural history being expressed in complex bloodlines. Many of the mixed-race children born to native women identified as Mohawk or Mahican; as these tribes had matrilineal kinship systems, the children were considered born into the mother's clan and derived all status and inheritance from her line. Some also achieved standing in the Dutch communities, becoming important interpreters and negotiators among the differing cultures.
History of Albany, New York | Colonial times to 1800
The inland blocks were residential. Albany was a point of contention during both the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars, and the New York State Legislature met there in 1780 after British occupation ended. In 1797 it was designated the state capital.
Downtown Albany Historic District | Colonial and Revolutionary period
Historically, Albany's population has been mixed. First dominated by Dutch and Germans, it was overtaken by the English in the early 19th century. Irish immigrants soon outnumbered most other ethnicities by the mid-19th century, and were followed by Italians and Poles. In the mid-to-late 20th century, the African-American population increased with thousands of people from the rural South, as part of the Great Migration. As historian (and Albany Assemblyman) John McEneny puts it, Until after the Revolution, Albany's population consisted mostly of ethnic Dutch descendants. Settlers migrating from New England tipped the balance toward British ethnicity in the early 19th century.
Albany, New York | City of immigrants
There are 38 State Historic Sites; 23 of these are also NHLs. All the NHLs (and some of the others) are also NRHP-listed. The state historic sites are:
Historic preservation in New York | State Historic Sites
Its population rose during the late 19th century, when many Ashkenazi Jews immigrated from eastern Europe. In that period, there was also an influx of Chinese and east Asian immigrants, who settled in the downtown section of the city. Many of their descendants have since moved to suburban areas. Immigration plummeted after the Immigration Act of 1924. Albany was also a destination of internal migration, as many African Americans moved north in their Great Migration from the rural South before and after World War I to fill industrial positions and find new opportunities. In the early years, they lived together with Italians, Jews and other immigrants in the South End, where housing was older and less expensive.
Albany, New York | City of immigrants
The institute occupies the 1⅔-acre () parcel of Dove Street between Washington and Elk Street. It is surrounded by buildings mostly of a similar scale and vintage, some of which are also listed on the National Register. Facing it across Dove Street is the University Club of Albany, itself a complex of brick buildings dominated by a Colonial Revival main building by local architect Albert Fuller that complements the institute's. Across Washington are some smaller commercial buildings. On the southwest corner of the intersection is another Fuller brick Classical Revival building, the former Harmanus Bleecker Library. A block to the east is the large New York State Department of Education Building, and the park behind the New York State Capitol, a National Historic Landmark that also contributes to the Lafayette Park Historic District.
Albany Institute of History &amp; Art | Buildings and grounds
The historic site's significance lies in the amount of information one can gather about the peoples that inhabited the area millennia ago. Nineteenth and twentieth century excavations of the mounds revealed interesting burial practices on the part of the Hopewell peoples. Stone and wood crypts contained artifacts such as intricate bead jewelry, pottery and mica plates. These native peoples preferred to build their villages near rivers, accounting for the site's location on the eastern side of the Mississippi river. The drainage that when the river would flood provided the Hopewell with resources that allowed the settlements to prosper for centuries.
Albany Mounds State Historic Site | Archaeological significance
Most were built between 1880 and 1930, the district's period of significance, with some dating to the 1810s. All major streets have a major building as their focal point. Several contributing properties have been listed on the Register in their own right, and one designated a National Historic Landmark. Albany's earliest skyscrapers were built here, including one that was the city's tallest at the time of its completion. The current mix of buildings reflects the city's peak of industrial prosperity in the Gilded Age, with many built by banks, as well as the city's status as New York's state capital.
Downtown Albany Historic District | Introduction
Upon Christiaensen's death Jacob Eelkens took charge of the fort. Commencement of the fur trade provoked hostility from the French colony in Canada and amongst the native tribes, who vied for control. The fort was again abandoned due to the freshet and a replacement was built in 1624 as Fort Orange, slightly to the north. Both forts were named in honor of the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau. In 1626 the Mohawk nation to the west of Albany and the Mohegan nation from the east bank of the Hudson River renewed their ongoing tribal conflict. The fledgling Fort Orange sided with the Mohegans and as a result lost six soldiers in an ambush in what is now Lincoln Park on Delaware Avenue.
History of Albany, New York (prehistory–1664) | Initial European settlement
For most of the colonial era, Albany had been confined by a defensive wooden stockade to its present downtown. It had come down after British victory in the French and Indian War ended any threat from the French, but the tensions that led to the Revolutionary War a decade later, and its aftermath, had limited the city's growth. The land where the district would later stand was known as Pinkster Hill, since the annual spring festival held by the area's African Americans, both slave and free, was held there until 1822. Even when the city began to grow again significantly after becoming the eastern terminus of the Erie Canal in 1825, its expansion was primarily north and south along the Hudson River, where the land was level.
Center Square/Hudson–Park Historic District | 1664–1845: Pre-development
During the 1830s, many of the dilapidated colonial-era houses around the square were demolished and the first rowhouses, their decoration reflecting the contemporary Greek Revival style, built on Clinton Place overlooking the park, along with a church. Only two houses, 3 and 5 Clinton Place, survive. Herman Melville lived in the former during 1843. The Clinton Place rowhouses set that form as the standard for the rest of the district as the century progressed. It was a convergence of the building traditions of the city's early Dutch settlers, where a long and narrow lot was almost completely covered by the house, with the more English-influenced buildings preferred by the Albanians of the early 19th century, many of whom had emigrated west from New England.
Clinton Avenue Historic District (Albany, New York) | Early 19th century
The history of Albany, New York from 1784 to 1860 begins with the ratification of the "Treaty of Paris" by the Congress of the Confederation in 1784 and ends in 1860, prior to the American Civil War. After the Revolutionary War, Albany County saw a great increase in real estate transactions. After Horatio Gates' win over John Burgoyne at Saratoga in 1777, the upper Hudson Valley was generally at peace as the war raged on elsewhere. Prosperity was soon seen all over Upstate New York. Migrants from Vermont and Connecticut began flowing in, noting the advantages of living on the Hudson and trading at Albany, while being only a few days' sail from New York City.
History of Albany, New York (1784–1860) | Introduction
Only 22 buildings are more modern, non-contributing properties. While 80% of its buildings are attached rowhouses, giving it a predominantly residential character even today, it also includes churches, two small parks and the Alfred E. Smith State Office Building. Among those are the city's oldest black church and the firehouse that housed its last volunteer fire department. One of Albany's legendary figures, longtime mayor Erastus Corning 2nd, was born in a house on Chestnut Street; another, gangster Legs Diamond, was murdered in one on Dove Street. Development of the neighborhood began in the 1840s, when the Ruttenkill Creek ravine was filled in.
Center Square/Hudson–Park Historic District | Introduction
The survey was a requirement of New York's State Historic Preservation Office in order for the school to construct a new residential complex in a expansion to its campus; it was funded by the CIA and conducted by Landmark Archaeology, a company based in Altamont, New York. The surveyors focused on a site between the Hudson River and Route 9. The site contained two house structures, a dam, a mill, retaining walls, and outbuildings and barns, and was found to be eligible as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. Excavations unearthed foundation walls, a well, cistern, and post molds, and about 40,000 artifacts.
The Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park | Prehistory and early inhabitance
These are the sites of buildings owned by the state that are significant to the history, architecture, archaeology or culture of the Adirondacks, those on the National Register of Historic Places or carrying or recommended for a similar state-level designation.
Forest Preserve (New York) | Historic area
The Library Park Historic District, Judge John Fine House, Acker and Evans Law Office, New York State Armory, Ogdensburg Harbor Light, Oswegatchie Pumping Station, Ogdensburg Armory, Robert C. McEwen United States Custom House, United States Post Office, and Fort de La Présentation Site are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Ogdensburg, New York | Historic resources
The area within the district was the same as that originally settled by the Dutch in the 17th century north of Fort Orange, a high area between two ravines that have since been filled in. It became British in 1664 and was renamed Albany, in honor of King James II, Duke of Albany prior to his coronation. The grid plan of the area's streets was laid out at this time, although it was mostly unbuilt as the city was within a stockade. Most commercial buildings at the time, primarily warehouses, were located on what is now Broadway. The 1815 Coulson Building at 420 Broadway, the oldest building in the district, is typical of that kind of construction.
Downtown Albany Historic District | Colonial and Revolutionary period
During the late 18th century and throughout of the 19th century, Albany was a center of transportation. It is located on the north end of the navigable Hudson River, was the original eastern terminus of the Erie Canal, and was home to some of the earliest railroad systems in the world. Albany's main exports at the time were beer, lumber, published works, and ironworks. Beginning in 1810, Albany was one of the ten most populous cities in the nation, a distinction that it held until the 1860 census. In the 20th century, the city opened one of the first commercial airports in the world, the precursor of today's Albany International Airport.
History of Albany, New York | Introduction
Quasi-governmental organizations, such as the New York State Thruway Authority and Thousand Islands Bridge Authority (which have historic sites on their property), play a role as well. Private endeavors, such as investment and other choices made by private landowners to conserve historical features of their properties, are significant but less visible and include groups such as the Historic Districts Council, The New York Landmarks Conservancy and the Preservation League of New York State. During the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site in July 2010, a team of archaeologists discovered a 32-foot-long boat. The craft was at least 200 years old, dating from a time when the Hudson River was partly filled with trash and debris because of a rapidly expanding lower Manhattan.
Historic preservation in New York | Introduction
The following are listed on the National Register of Historic Places:
Utica, New York | Historic places
Today 92% of its nearly 600 buildings are 19th-century rowhouses in different architectural styles, predominantly Italianate, many built as speculative housing for the city's middle class. This is the greatest concentration of such houses in the city of Albany. All but 20 buildings are contributing properties. Many remain intact both outside and in, and in 1981 it was recognized as a historic district by the city, and seven years later, in 1988, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Urban decay still affects the district, and the city has spent federal grant money on revitalization and stabilization efforts.
Clinton Avenue Historic District (Albany, New York) | Introduction
A number of sites in Colonie are included on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, including -
Colonie, New York | Historic sites
History museums may be independent of other entities or operated by historical societies, municipalities, or the state. For an example of the independent type, the Erie Canal Museum "is a private, nonprofit corporation founded in 1962. It is housed in the 1850 Weighlock Building, where canal boats were weighed during the days when they traveled through the center of Syracuse on the Erie Canal." The Weighlock building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There is a museum operated by a town inside a covered bridge in Washington County, New York.
Historic preservation in New York | History museums
A number of sites in Guilderland are included on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, including - Beyond the U.S. National Register sites, Guilderland was also home to the New York Power Pool and its control center after the Power Pool's formation in 1966 in response to the 1965 blackout. Most of its operations were transferred over to the NYISO after the NYISO's formation in 1999. The NYISO built a new control center in 2014 in Rensselaer, New York.
Guilderland, New York | Historic sites
1840 census shows the breakdown of the population of Albany as 15,729 white males, 17,021 white females, 378 black males, and 499 black females. Teunis Van Vechten (Whig) defeats Gerrit Lansing by 110 votes in 1841. The first synagogue in Albany is built in 1841, for Congregation Beth Jacob, located at 8 Rose Street (later Mosher Street). Barent Staats (Democrat) defeats John Townsend (Whig) by 336 votes in 1842, the next year he doesn't run for reelection, and Friend Humphrey (Whig) defeats Peter Gansevoort by 226 votes. Mayor Humphrey defeats the Democratic candidate George Stanton by 630 votes in 1844.
History of Albany, New York (1784–1860) | 1830-1860
It was replaced by nearby Fort Orange in 1623. The British conquered New Netherland in 1664; Lenient terms of surrender most likely kept local resistance to a minimum. The colony and city were both renamed New York (and "Beverwijck" was renamed Albany) after its new proprietor, James II later King of England, Ireland and Scotland, who was at the time Duke of York and Duke of Albany The population of New Netherland at the time of English takeover was 7,000–8,000.
History of New York (state) | Dutch and British colonial period
The history of Albany, New York from 1664 to 1784 begins with the English takeover of New Netherland and ends with the ratification of the "Treaty of Paris" by the Congress of the Confederation in 1784, ending the Revolutionary War. When New Netherland was captured by the English in 1664, the name Beverwijck was changed to Albany, in honor of the Duke of Albany (later James II of England and James VII of Scotland). Duke of Albany was a Scottish title given since 1398, generally to a younger son of the King of Scots. The name is ultimately derived from "Alba", the Gaelic name for Scotland.
History of Albany, New York (1664–1784) | Introduction
The following are historic sites in Tonawanda of such significance as to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places:
Tonawanda (city), New York | Historic sites
Historic preservation in New York is activity undertaken to conserve forests, buildings, ships, sacred Indian burial grounds, water purity and other objects of cultural importance in New York in ways that allow them to communicate meaningfully about past practices, events, and people. Governmental programs for historic preservation range from Federal ownership and active operation of sites (such as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York Harbor) to grants and subsidies provided by state government, municipal support of museums and interpretative displays (such as roadside plaques and town-history websites). Nonprofit programs include activities of statewide and local historical associations and museums, and activities of historical societies and museums at the national level.
Historic preservation in New York | Introduction
Albany is one of the oldest surviving European settlements from the original thirteen colonies and the longest continuously chartered city in the United States. The Hudson River area was originally inhabited by Algonquian-speaking Mohican (Mahican), who called it "Pempotowwuthut-Muhhcanneuw", meaning "the fireplace of the Mohican nation." Based to the west along the Mohawk River, the Iroquoian-speaking Mohawk referred to it as "Sche-negh-ta-da", or "through the pine woods," referring to the path they took there. The Mohawk were one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, or "Haudenosaunee," and became strong trading partners with the Dutch and English. It is likely the Albany area was visited by European fur traders, perhaps as early as 1540, but the extent and duration of those visits has not been determined.
Albany, New York | Colonial times to 1800
The Smith Tavern, a historical site and landmark of the Revolutionary War, is located in Armonk and is the home of the North Castle Historical Society. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with the Bedford Road Historic District. The Witthoefft House was added to the National Register in 2011. Near current day Elide plaza was once a small airport, at which Charles Lindbergh landed.
Armonk, New York | Historic sites
The State Historic Marker Program was started in 1926 by the New York State Education Department to acknowledge the Sesquicentennial of the American Revolution. During this time over 2,800 small blue cast iron site markers with yellow lettering were placed all over the state of New York during the time of the program (1926-1939). While the program lost public funding during this time period, the movement to locate and publicize local historic sites continues to be a vital resource for local historic preservation efforts continuing today. During the 1960s public funding was granted once again for placement at rest stops along the State's interstate highways and thruway.
New York State Historic Markers | History
The 1934 Art Deco James T. Foley United States Courthouse, in the downtown district, houses the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York as well as the local office of some other federal law enforcement agencies. When built it also replaced the Old Post Office. It is the only building used by the federal government among the Register listings in Albany. In 2020 it was listed on the Register individually. Albany County government does not account for any individually listed properties. However, in the Lafayette Park district, the county courthouse is a contributing property. At that time it was used for all county governmental functions, but since then most non-judicial departments have moved to a 1920s 13-story office building on State Street that contributes to the downtown historic district.
National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York | Government and military
One of the theaters in The Egg, a notable Mid-century modern structure at Albany, New York's Empire State Plaza, was also named in her honor. In recognition of this legacy, the Historic Districts Council bestowed its Landmarks Lion award upon her in 2003.
Kitty Carlisle | Historic preservation
List of places on the State Register of Heritage Places in the City of Albany
Camfield House | See also
In 1614, Hendrick Christiaensen rebuilt the French fort as Fort Nassau, the first Dutch fur trading post in present-day Albany. Commencement of the fur trade provoked hostility from the French colony in Canada and amongst the natives, all of whom vied to control the trade. In 1618, a flood ruined the fort on Castle Island, but it was rebuilt in 1624 as Fort Orange. Both forts were named in honor of the royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau. Fort Orange and the surrounding area were incorporated as the village of Beverwijck () in 1652. New Netherland was captured by the English in 1664 and the name Beverwijck was changed to Albany, in honor of the Duke of Albany (later James II of England and James VII of Scotland).
History of Albany, New York (prehistory–1664) | Introduction
The Jan Mabee and Anna Borsboom House, Brick building, and Inn, on the of property in Rotterdam Junction, NY were given to the Schenectady County Historical Society by George E. Franchere in 1993, 11 years before he died. In 1996, the Historical Society applied for a matching-funds grant to restore the house, but the grant was denied; the members instead planned a private fundraising campaign. In addition to the west part of the House, which dendrochronology done at Cornell University dates to approximately 1705, making it the oldest known unaltered structure standing in the Mohawk Valley, the site now contains the 1760s Nilsen Dutch Barn, a smaller English barn, and several small outbuildings.
Mabee House | Operation as a Historic Site
Considered to be one of the most important archaeological sites in the state of Illinois, the site aims to exist as "an interpretive center for the history of the Hopewellian culture of more than 2000 years ago." It is the largest Hopewell Native American site in the state, and contains evidence of human activity that stretches over 10,000 years in length from the present day. Historically comprising ninety-six mounds, the site today consists of a remaining forty-seven mounds, eight of which are in poor condition as a result of natural and human processes. The mounds are up to twelve feet high, and were constructed as burial sites for the dead.
Albany Mounds State Historic Site | Background
Commercial accomplishments include 11 historic skyscrapers, five of which were once the tallest in the world, seven stock exchanges and other buildings important in commercial history, two bank buildings, five industrial facilities, and three water-based civil engineering works. Two are architectural oddities. Political and social accomplishments are represented by four former mental care institutions (a legacy of the state's leading role in mental health care), 14 sites associated with suffragettes or other women leaders, five Underground Railroad or other sites associated with abolitionists, six sites associated with African-American leaders, three sites associated with labor rights, and four sites associated with other social activism.
List of National Historic Landmarks in New York | Overview