USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The annals of Albany, Vol. I > Part 36
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It was thirty years after this was published, that the Erie Canal was commenced, and more than forty before the opening of the Ohio Canal. In 1807, the Vision of Columbus was metamorphosed into The Colum- biad. In the mean time Philip Schuyler and his coadjutors had suc- ceeded in connecting the Hudson with the lakes, by short canals and locks around the falls of the Mohawk, and into Wood creek, which is thus alluded to by the poet :
"From Mohawk's mouth, far westing with the sun, Thro all the midlands recent channels run, Tap the redundant lakes, the broad hills brave, And Hudson marry with Missouri's wave. From dim Superior, whose uncounted sails Shade his full seas and bosom all his gales, New paths unfolding seek Mackensie's tide, And owns and empires rise along their side."
THE OVERSLAUGH.
The legislature passed an act, in April, 1790, for the improvement of the navigation at the Overslaugh, by allowing the proprietors of Mills and Papskni islands to erect a dam to prevent the passage of the water between them, and throw it into the main channel. This, it was thought, would more effectually benefit the navigation, than the employ- ment of " an unwieldy machine, which at best only affords a temporary relief."
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Albany in 1823
DESCRIPTION OF ALBANY IN 1823.
BY HORATIO GATES SPATFORD, LL. D.
Albany City, the capital of the state of New York, and of the county of Albany, is situated on the west bank of Hudson river, near the head of tide water, 144 miles north of the city of New York, 30 miles north of Hudson, 6 miles south of Troy, and 15 about southeast from Schenectady. In wealth, population, trade, and resources, it is next in rank to the city of New York, in this state, and takes about the sixth or seventh rank among the principal towns in the United States. The city of Albany, agreeably to the charter, is one mile wide on the river, and extends due northwest to the north line of the manor of Rens. selaer, holding its width of one mile, and is about 134 miles long, the right of soil of which is the absolute property of the corporation in perpetuity. It is bounded northerly by the township of Watervliet, and by the county of Schenectady; southerly by Guilderland and Bethlehem; easterly by the Hudson or the county of Rensselaer : and, with the small exception noticed below, the boundaries have never been altered from the original charter, granted in 1686. The area is about 7160 acres, which also constitutes a township, for all the purposes of civil government. Of this extent, only a small proportion is under populous improvement, or any kind of cultivation, the western part having a sterile clay or sandy soil, principally in wood, while the compact popu- lation is immediately on the magin of the Hudson. To the stranger, the situation of Albany is seldom thought pleasing; for the ground is singularly uneven, and there is a peculiar dissonance of taste in the plan of the city, as well as in the style of its architecture. A low alluvial flat extends along the river, and in the rear of this rises the river-hill, ab- ruptly, to near the heig t of the plain which extends to Schenectady. This flat is from 15 to 100 rods wide; and the hill, which is composed of alternate strata of fine blue clay and silicious sand, though deeply gullied by some small water-courses, rises, within half a mile of the river in the direction of State street, till it gains an elevation of 153 feet ; thence, for another half mile, the ascent is about 60; making about 220 feet above the level of the river, in the distance of one mile.
The principal streets of Albany are parallel with the river, except State street, a spacious and central one that extends from the Hudson to the Capitol, being nearly east and west, with several others, less consi- derable, intersecting the main streets nearly at right angles. South Market, formerly Court street, extends from the Ferry, at the southern extremity of the compact part and near the south bounds of the city to State street, and has a large share of population and business. North Market street opens opposite this, and extends from state street to the northern bounds of the city, and to near the Mansion House of Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer. These streets thus extend through the city nearly parallel with the Hudson, between which there are several other streets, less extensive, as Dock street, Quay street, &c., populous, principally occupied with store. houses, shops, &c. State street, extends from the river in a narrow avenue to the open area at
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Albany in 1823.
the meeting of North and South Market streets, where it opens to the liberal width of 150 to 170 feet, and extends 1900 feet to the Capitol, with an average ascent of 64 feet in 100. The Public Square, an open space of liberal extent, spreads a handsome area on the east side of the Capitol ; and from the centre of this, Washington street, spacious and level, extends westward in a right line on a commanding plain, to the junction of the Great Western turnpikes. These streets have been laid out in a style which may be characterized as modern in Albany, being straight and spacious. North Pearl street extends north from State street to the northern extremity of the city, just on the brow of the river-hill, and next west of North Market street : and South Pearl, formerly Washington street, opens on the south side of State street, opposite North Pearl street, extending south to the south bounds of the city, ranging just at the foot of the river.hill. Between this and South Market street, there are several other streets, and a compact population, crowded, on the north towards State street, but thin in the southern part where South Pearl street diverges westward from the river, between which lie the grounds formerly denominated the Pasture, from their being appropriated to grazing. The flats here were originally subject to an- nual inundation, and though recently raised some feet, are now hardly above high-water mark. North and South Market streets, are the most populous and rich, and do by far the most business. But, through the compact population on each side of State street, other streets extend from the hill to the river, parallel 10 State street, which are closely built, and contain many very valuable brick houses and stores; these are intersected by others also in opposite directions, a bare enumeration of which would be useless and uninteresting, while it would swell this article far beyond the limits assigned to it.
The position of Albany was first chosen by a commercial people, for a military post, that should extend the trade with the Indians, and give to that trade a better security and character. Here seemed the head of the tide, and sloop navigation ; and here the adventurers found a good ship-channel so close in with the shore as to save docking,-and a fertile intervale of low and rich alluvion, where they erected a stockade to guard against surprise by the Indians. This was about 1614.
This establishment was on the bank of the river, in what has since been called the Pasture, immediately above the Steam Boat Dock. About 1623 it was enlarged, better stockaded, and called Fort Orange, according to the best accounts. A later work was erected on the river. hill, in a more commanding position, but retained the same name, except in a very limited circle, where it was called Williamstadt, till 1664, when the whole country passed into the hands of the English, who gave the present name in compliment to the Duke of York and Albany, then lord proprietor.
The charter of Albany, incorporating " the ancient settlement there as a city," was granted in 1686, a few months previous to that of New York, and Albany has now the oldest charter of any city in the United States.
The plan of this city, the style of its public and private works, with the whole character of' its police and municipal regulations, are much improved within the last twenty years. Originally, the inhabitants had to consult present convenience, rather than taste and future elegance,
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Albany in 1823.
more congenial too with the Dutch character; though if Yankee, or Anglo- American ostentation, enjoying the ease and luxury of opulence and progressive improvement, reproach with parsimony the ancient character of the inhabitants of Albany, a just discrimination may find the happy medium, perhaps, somewhere between these extremes of national character. A Dutch purse, talk as we may about parsimony, contracted views, want of taste, &c. &c., is yet a very good thing with which to embellish an estate, or a town. The corporation of this city was formerly rich, but it became lavish, if not prodigal, though aiming, perhaps, only at liberality and public spirit, and it is now poor, and involved in debt. Many improvements have been made, but in doing this it is now felt that they have been rather in a style of extravagance, in which the good people have been paying "' too dear for their whistle."' " Pride was not made for man," or rather, too much of it, any more than for cities, or communities. Property in Albany is very much depreciated in value, by the imposition of taxes, to pay for past follies. But let us look at its public buildings and works.
CAPITOL OF THE STATE.
The Capitol, or State House. erected for the use of the legislature, certain officers of state, the higher courts, &c., was in part designed, also, for city offices, and erected in part at the expense of the city. The whole expense exceeds $120,000, $34,000 of which was paid by the
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Albany in 1823.
city. This building stands at the head of State street, adjoining the public square, and on an elevation of 130 feet above the level of the Hudson. It is a substantial stone building, faced with freestone taken from the brown sandstone quarries on the Hudson below the Highlands. The east front, facing State street, is 90 feet in length ; the north, 115 feet ; the walls are 50 feet high, consisting of 2 stories and a basement story of 10 feet. The east front is adorned with a portico of the Ionic order, tetrastile ; the columns, 4 in number, are each 3 feet 8 inches in diameter, 33 feet in height exclusive of the entablature which supports an angular pediment, in the tympanum of which is to be placed the Arms of the State. The columns, pilasters, and decorations of the door and windows, arc of white or grey marble, from Berkshire county in Massachusetts. The north and south fronts have each a pediment of 65 feet base, and the doors are decorated with columns and angular pediments of freestone. The ascent to the hall at the east or principal front, is by 15 stone steps, 48 feet in length. This hall is 58 feet in length, 40 feet in width, and 16 in height, the ceiling of which is sup- ported by a double row of reeded columns ; the doors are finished with pilasters and open pediments; the floor vaulted, and laid with squares of Italian marble, diagonally, chequered with white and grey. From this hall. the first door on the right hand opens to the Common Council Chamber of the corporation of Albany ; opposite this, on the left, is a room for the Executive and Council of Revision. On the right, at the west end of the hall, you enter the Assembly Chamber, which is 56 feet long, 50 wide, and 28 in height. The Speaker's seat is in the cen- tre of the longest side, and the seats and table for the members are arranged in front of it, in a semicircular form. It has a gallery oppo- site the speaker's seat, supported by 8 antique fluted Ionic columns ; the frieze, cornice, and ceiling-piece, (18 feet diameter,) are richly orna- mented in stucco. From this hall, on the left, you are conducted to the Senate Chamber, 50 feet long, 28 wide, and 28 feet high, finished much in the same style as the Assembly. Chamber. In the furniture of these rooms, with that of the Council of Revision, there is a liberal display of public munificence, and the American Eagle assumes an imperial splendor. There are two other rooms on this floor, adjoining those first mentioned, which are occupied as lobbies to accommodate the members of the legislature.
From the west end, in the centre of the hall, you ascend a staircase that turns to the right and left, leading to the Galleries of the Senate and Assembly Chambers, and also to the Supreme Court Room, which is immediately over the hall : its dimensions are 50 feet in length, 40 in breadth, and 22 in height This room is handsomely ornamented in stucco. An entresole or mezzazine story, on each side of the Court Room, contains l'our rooms for jurors and the uses of the courts.
The attic story contains a Mayor's Court Room, a room for the Society of Arts, for the State Library, and the State Board of Agriculture. The basement story contains the County Clerk's Office, cellars and vaults for storage, and dwelling rooms for the Marshal of the city In the Common Council Room. there are portraits of some distinguished Americans .- and before revising this article, I took some pains, without success, to look at, so that I could at least enumerate them. In the Assembly-Chamber, there is an admirable full length portrait of Wash-
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Albany in 1823.
ington, by Ames, of Albany, and in the Senate Chamber, one of George Clinton, unrivalled in faithfulness, and unexcelled in execution. The walls of these chambers are hung with maps, and I very lately had occasion to regret the difficulty of gaining access to them.
This building is roofed with a double-hip, or pyramidal form, upon the centre of which is erected a circular cupola, 20 feet diameter, covered with a domical roof, supported by S insulated columns, of the Ionic order, and contains a small bell for the use of the courts. The centre of the dome sustain- a pedestal, on which is placed Themis, facing State street. a carved figure in wood of 11 feet in height, holding a sword in her right hand, and a balance in her left.
The Public Square, on the southwest of which stands the Capitol, has recently been laid out in the style of a Park, surrounded by a handsome fence, levelled, laid out into walks and avenues, and planted with shrubbery, and trees, the latter of very diminutive size. Facing this on the west is Gregory's Row, a handsome range of well-finished brick buildings, extending also around the corner and up the south side of Washington street, on the north side of which there are some good buildings, and extending northward, facing the Academy Park. Wash- ington street avenue. across the Public Square, seems to divide it into two parks, Capitol Park and Academy Park, separately enclosed, the latter laid out and planted in the same style as the former. On the northwest corner of the Public Square, opposite the Capitol, north of Washington street, stands the Albany Academy, a large and elegant pile of masonry, faced with the red sandstone of Nyac, the same as that used in the Capitol. It is truly an elegant bui ding, in design and execution the most chaste in the city, though in common with every other it is set rather too much in the ground, but makes a good appearance and has a commanding prospect. I have not time to describe it minutely, nor does it comport with my plan to do so. It cost the city $91,802.45, exclusive of the lot on which it is erected. and a donation to the trustees of the old jail, and lots of ground on which it was situ- ated. It is three stories in height, has a front of 90 feet, five teachers, and about 140 students. The State Hall, erected by the state, for the principal public officers. is a plain, substantial edifice, two stories and a basement, situated on the south side of State street, midway between the Capitol and the Banks. This building accommodates the principal offices of state, such as the Secretary's, Comptroller's, Treasurer's, Surveyor- General's, and the Clerk of the Supreme Court's offices. The Jail. probably one of the best constructed in the state, cost the city $40,525.86; and the Lancaster School House, from a very bad policy. $23,918.93 : to this may be added as an item, that the corpora- tion contracted a debt ef $32,000 for the purchase of a site from the Lutheran Church, for a market. Among the other public buildings, we may notice three banks, and twelve houses for worship, belonging to Presbyterians, Episcopalians Lutherans. Baptists, Methodists, some Independents and Seceders, and Roman Catholics.
The Arsenal. is a large brick edifice, filled with military stores be- longing to the state of New York, situated in the north part of the city, late Colonie. The City Powder House, stands on the plain at the Washington Square; and a Powder House, erected in 1811, by the state, at the expense of $3,000, stands on an eminence of the plain, near the
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Albany in 1823.
three mile stone. The Alms House is also on the plain, near the Washington Square, the annual expense of which, with the support of the poor, is about $3,000.
There are two Ferries, one to Greenbush village, from the south part, and one to Bath village, from the north part, on the border of Watervliet. From the south or principal ferry, the docks, or quays, extend north along the river, nearly one mile, and the street fronting this is pretty compactly built for the most of that distance. Here are usually seen from 80 to 200 sloops and schooners, with a scene of acti- vity honorable to the character of the place. The usual tides at Albany are from one to three or four feet ; but variable according to the wind, and the strength of the current in the Hudson. To this city, the sloop navigation may be said to be pretty good.
There are a great many associations for business purposes, and many literary, charitable, humane, and benevolent societies, which I have not room to notice, and a Chamber of Commerce, Marine Society, &c, &c. There are also an Insurance Company, and a Savings Bank. The Albany Library, is a very respectable one, as is the Apprentices' Library, and its Water Works, for supplying the city with pure and wholesome water, are entitled to particular consideration. Ames's Gallery of Portraits, Mr. Cook's Reading Room, and the Museum of Mr. Towbridge, must not be omitted. The city is well supplied with printing establishments, having one daily, three semi- weekly, and two weekly newspapers, and printing and bookselling business to a great amount. Steamboats run daily between this city and New York, and there are stages in abundance, daily, in all directions, for Albany is a great thoroughfare, and will probably continue such, if nothing more. The Post-Office is well located, in North Market street, a little north of State street, near the two Mansion Houses. hotels, and the Albany, and Mechanics' and Farmers' Banks. There are three Air Furnaces in this city, which make a very great variety and amount of castings ; and there are many mechanical establishments, in the different trades, though Albany, in proportion to its wealth and population, is not con- spicuous in the extent of its manufactures, having no water-power for hydraulic works. The substitution of steam. power, and the very great importance to such a place, of mills, factories, &c., seem to have been strangely overlooked.
But let us turn our attention to the Canals, and the great Basin, from which so much is anticipated at Albany. The Erie Canal, and the Champlain Canal, having formed a junction in Watervliet, S2 miles north of this city, flow on in one channel, which enters the present city of Albany in the fifth ward, late a part of Colonie, three fourths of a mile from the Capitol, where there is a small Basin, and descends to the Hudson in the rear of the State Arsenal, near the north ferry. From this place, a Basin is to be made, extending down stream, on the west side of the river, about 4000 feet in length, to Hodge's dock. in the line of Hamilton street. It will embrace the west part of the river, extending along in front of the city, formed by an onter mole of 80 feet in width, and about 18 in height, on the east side of which there is to be a street of 23 feet in width. The Basin will be from 80 to 300 feet in width, averaging 10 feet water It is connected with the Canal, at the upper end, by a boat lock, and with the Hudson river at the lower
Albany in 1823. 311
end, by a sloop lock. The works are rapidly progressing, and are in- tended to be completed in 1824, being more than half finished. Should the Canal continue to terminate here, this Basin will doubtless be of great importance to Albany, but I rather suspect it will ultimately be extended downward to the head of ship navigation.
The town of Colonie, described in the first edition of my Gazetteer, in 1813, has since been consolidated or abolished. the northern part being annexed to Watervliet, and the southern to Albany. forming the fifth Ward, February 25, 1815. But for this, this good old Dutch city would not have had its Canal, which does not come within the limits of its old charter, though the Basin will, and extend almost down to the first position of Fort Orange, noticed above.
There are many companies of firemen, well regulated, and well pro- vided with engines and other means of effective operations. But while a well-timed vigilance guards against the ravages of the fire of the elements, it were well to check the destruction arising from that of the mind. A deplorable defect in the system of public guardianship exists somewhere, and the small groceries and shops that retail ardent and other spirits are so numerous as to call loudly for reform.
The city of Albany is governed by a Mayor, Recorder, 10 Aldermen, and 10 Assistant Aldermen. denominated in the laws, " the Mayor, Al- dermen, and Commonalty " The Common Council must consist of 5 aldermen, 5 assistants, and the mayor or recorder, to be competent to the enacting of laws. For the better administration of justice, the city is divided into five wards, each of which elects two aldermen and two assistants, with such other officers as are found necessary to the purposes of government, including, also, the usual town officers, such as supervisors, assessors, &c., each ward being a town, as respects elections, officers, &c. The charter election is held on the last Tuesday in September, and the town election, on the day of general iown elec- tions in this state. A large proportion of the houses are of brick, well secured against fire. The whole number of houses and stores is about 2000. There are also a Mechanic Hall, Uranian Hall, and sundry school. houses, in addition to the buildings already enumerated. The shipping, including that annually paying wharfage in this city, amounts to about 400, principally sloops, and an immense amount of business is done, principally with New York, though a good deal with Boston, Philadelphia, &c. The shipment of wheat, annually, is probably to the amount of two to three millions of dollars. Importations, princi- pally from England, are made to a great amount, in the dry goods and hardware business, in which are embarked very great capitals. The Troy Iron and Nail Works, a very extensive concern, is owned in Albany.
The annual expenses of the city, amount to about $45,000. In 1821, the expenditures were $45,614, including $11,168 to commissioners of the city stock; and the receipts for the same year, $49,507, $14,000 of which was for support of poor and night watch, raised by tax. The city debt amounted to $250.342, for the reduction of which, there was a sinking fond of $106,108, $81,000 of which is in city lands. To these notices it may be proper to add. as an evidence of the public spirit in which these burdens have been imposed, that the corporation of Albany, in 1813, publicly offered a reward of $1,000, for the discovery of a
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Albany in 1823.
mine of fossil coal, if within five miles of the navigable waters of the Hudson river, and of a stratum not less than four feet. The coal to be sure, has not been discovered, but no one will pretend to say it never will be, or that such a discovery would not be of immense importance to the city of Albany, and the public.
Mills' Island, in the Hudson, a very large and valuable one, commenc. ing just below the city, is principally in Bethlehem, partly in Albany. The principal obstructions to the navigation of the Hudson below this city, to a free sloop navigation, are, the bar or bars, or rather the flats, . sand-bars, and narrow channels, called the Overslagh, or Overslaugh, in Bethlehem, three miles below, and Winno's Bar, also in Bethlehem, eight miles. Attempts have been made, and are still making, to remove these, but not with the success desired. Should the dam and sloop lock, below Lansingburgh, prove as beneficial as it is hoped they may, the same means will probably be resorted to here, for the benefit of Albany and Troy. The alluvial matter has been steadily increasing in the Hudson, say from ten or twelve miles below Albany, ever since the first survey of the river, and it is a perfectly rational conjecture, that it will continue to increase, and to multiply the obstructions to naviga- tion.
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