USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The history of the city of Albany, New York : from the discovery of the great river in 1524, by Verrazzano, to the present time > Part 32
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"Albany contains six thousand inhabitants, two thousand of whom are slaves, as the laws of the State of New York permit slavery. The old houses are built in the Dutch style, with the gable-end to the street ; the pyramidal part rising in steps, and terminating in a chimney decorated with figures, or in some iron puppets. All the buildings, which have been erected within these last ten years, are constructed of bricks in the English style, wide and large.
"The revenue of the city amounts to about thirty- ive thousand dollars a year. It possesses a great quan- ity of land in the neighboring country, and also sells the quays on the river at two dollars and a half per foot, and ground-rent of one shilling, which is irredeemable. "his revenue is partly owing to the economy of the ad- ninistrators, who have hitherto endeavored rather to nrich the city than to embellish it, and render it more
1 The Dutch designated Albany as de oude stad, the old city, and Lansing- urgh, which was first named New City, de nieuwe stad, the new city.
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
convenient. The senate [or common council ] is, at present, composed of young men, who promise to take care of these articles. But, from the ignorance, apathy, and antiquated ideas, which prevail in this city, it is much to be apprehended, lest the results of their exer- tion's should prove but very trifling for a long time to come. I almost incline to think that young people here are old born.
"A bank, which was instituted here four years ago, promotes the trade of Albany ; it consists of six hundred shares of four hundred dollars each, only half of which have hitherto been paid. The yearly dividend is nine per cent, besides what is deducted for the expense of the building in which the bank is kept.
"There is in Albany a Dutch Lutheran church of a Gothic and very peculiar construction ; the Episco- palians, Presbyterians, German Protestants, and Metho- dists, possess also churches in this town.
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"The price of land, in the vicinity of Albany, is from sixty-three to seventy-five dollars per acre. Some lands near the river are still dearer. * * *
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"Some manufactories have been established at a small distance from the town, among which is a glass house, in which both window-glass and bottles are made. 1 The former is pretty smooth, and the manufactory is carried on with much activity. Mr. Caldhowell [Cald- well] possesses also near the town extensive works, where tobacco, mustard, starch, and cocoa mills, are turned by water, and even every necessary labour is per- formed by the aid of water machinery. The tobacco mill is the most important part of these works ; about one hun-
1 The glass manufactory was owned by the firm of McCallen, McGregor & Co., the company being James Caldwell and Christopher Batterman. I was eight miles west of the city, and its site was familiarly known as the Glass House.
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
dred and fifty thousand pounds are yearly manufactured. Last summer [July, 1794] a complete set of similar works having been consumed by fire, Mr. Caldwell's friends immediately opened a loan of twenty thousand pounds at the bank, and the legislative body of New York re- solved also last session to assist him with a sum of the same amount. I am to add in honour of Mr. Caldwell with whom I am not acquainted, that nearly all the labouring people in the city, in consequence of this un- fortunate accident subscribed several days' labour, as a voluntary contribution to the reconstruction of these works, which are truly grand and beautiful. They give employment and subsistence to fifty persons, some of whom receive one hundred dollars a year ; children, nine years old, can earn from six shillings to one dollar a week. Tan-yards, corn, oil, paper, fulling-mills, have also been erected in the surrounding country ; and labourers are found in abundance. The wages of com- mon-day labourers amount to four shillings and six pence a day, and to seven shillings in harvest.
"Hospitality to strangers seems not to be a prominent feature in the character of the inhabitants of Albany, the few, with whom we got acquainted, looked extremely dull and melancholy. They live retired in their houses with their wives, who sometimes are pretty, but rather awkward in their manners; and with whom their husbands scarcely exchange thirty words a day, although they never address them but with the introductory ap- pellation of 'My Love.' Exceptions, undoubtedly, exist in regard to the charms of the ladies, as well as to the conduct and conversation of the husbands ; but, it is asserted, they are very few."1
1 Travels through the United States of America, in the years 1795, 1796 and 1797. By the Duke de la Rochefoucault-Liancourt. London, 1799. vol. i. pp. 368-373.
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
By a legislative act of the twenty-sixth of March, 1796, Philip Schuyler, Abraham Ten Broeck, Daniel Hale, Jeremiah van Rensselaer, and Teunis T. van Vechten were appointed a board of commissioners to build a state- prison in Albany county. In July, they purchased six acres of land lying on the north side of the city, between the main road and the river, three fourths of a mile from the city-hall. In 1797, the power conferred on the com- missioners was annulled, and the work of erecting the building was not undertaken.
In the early summer of 1796, a number of Roman Catholics, who had been attending at different times the ministrations of officiating priests in the houses of Margaret Cassidy and William Duffy, undertook to solicit the means for the erection of a suitable building for a church. The undertaking received the generous en- couragement of the citizens. "With great pleasure " the editor of the Gazette observes, "we have noticed the success of the subscription, opened a few days since for erecting a Roman Catholic chapel in this city. It be- speaks the tolerant and liberal disposition of the country, to find our citizens of every persuasion emulous in assisting their Roman Catholic brethren with the means of building here a temple to the God of heaven, in which they can worship according to the dictates of their own consciences. The corporation unanimously resolved to present them with a piece of ground for the site of their church." The city gave the society a plat of ground on Pine Street, between Barrack and Lodge streets. The fol- lowing persons were elected trustees of the church at the house of James Robichaux, on the sixth of October, 1796 : Thomas Barry, Louis Le Coulteaux, Daniel McEvers, Terrence O'Donnell, Jeremiah Driscoll. Michael Bagley, James Robichaux, William Donovan, and Philip Farrell.
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
On the thirteenth of September, 1797, the corner-stone of the chapel was laid by Thomas Barry, one of the trustees. A marble tablet was placed in the front wall of the building, having the representation of a human skull in the right upper corner, and of two crossed bones in the left, and the following inscription : "I. H. S. Thomas Barry, Louis Le Coulteaux, founders. E. C. Quinn, master-builder. A. D. 1798. The edifice, which was finished in 1807, was a brick building, about fifty feet square, fronting on Pine Street.
An enumeration of the buildings in the city was made in December, 1796, which showed that within its limits were seven hundred and one dwelling-houses ; one hun- dred and thirty-one stores, sixty-eight store-houses, and one hundred and ninety-three stables.
THE COURT-HOUSE OR CITY-HALL IN 1796.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE CAPITAL OF THE STATE.
1797-1819.
By the concurrent action of the two houses of the state legislature, on the ninth and eleventh days of November, 1796, then in session in the city of New York, the senate and the assembly adjourned on the eleventh day of that month to meet again on the third of Jan- uary, 1797, in Albany. When the legislature convened in Albany, a number of its members favored the project of making the city the capital of the state. To obtain a consideration of this important matter by the legisla- ture, a bill, entitled "an act for establishing the permanent seat of government," was presented in the assembly, on the fourteenth of January, by Gaylord Griswold of Her- kimer County.
To influence the action of the legislature, the board of aldermen, on the twenty-fifth of January, determined to proffer to the state so much land as would be needed for the site of the public buildings.
"Whereas, There is a bill before the Hon. the Legis- lature of the State of New York for fixing the permanent seat of government in the city of Albany, be it there- fore
"Resolved, That this board will convey to the people
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St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, 1807.
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
of the State of New York so much ground out of any of the vacant lands of this board as shall be thought neces- sary for erecting the requisite buildings."
The senate and assembly while the bill was under consideration so amended it that its title became "an act for erecting a public building in the county of Albany," and its primal provisions for the establishment of a per- manent seat of government were eliminated. The act, passed the tenth of March, 1797, constituted Philip Schuyler, Abraham Ten Broeck, Jeremiah van Rensse- laer, Daniel Hale, and Teunis T. van Vechten, commis- sioners "to superintend the erection of a suitable building for the purpose " therein mentioned, "on such ground lying in the city of Albany as the corporation of the city " might thereafter convey to the state " as a donation for that purpose." As enacted, the building was to be "so constructed as to contain commodious, secure, and suffi- ciently extensive apartments for the safe keeping of all the records, books, papers and other things belonging or in any wise appertaining to the office of the secretary of this state, and to the office of the clerk of the supreme court ; and such other public papers as the legislature may from time to time direct to be deposited therein ; and such building shall contain such additional apartments as may be requisite for offices for the secretary of this state, and for an office for a clerk of the supreme court." The expense of the erection of the building was not to exceed ten thousand dollars, which sum was to be taken from the appropriation made to erect a state-prison in Albany County, by the act of the twenty-sixth of March, 1796. The act also provided that from and after the first of November, 1797, the office of the treasurer of the state and that of the comptroller should be kept within the city and county of Albany, and that from
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and after the first of June, 1798, the court of probates likewise should be kept there.
The commissioners selected the plat of ground now on the southwest corner of State and Lodge streets for the site of the Public Building, the corner stone of which was laid by the mayor, Abraham Ten Broeck, on the thirtieth of May. The building was erected under the supervision of William Sanders, the architect, and was occupied in August, 1798, by the government officers for whose use it had been built.
Although Albany was not definitely designated in 1797 by the legislature as the permanent seat of the govern- ment of the state, still there were many manifestations that the city was to become the capital of the state of New York. This was apparent when, in the spring of 1797, the "elegant house " of James Caldwell, in State Street, No. 60, was rented for the residence of Governor John Jay.
The membership of the Reformed Protestant Dutch church had become so large that the old meeting-house, at the intersection of State and Market streets, was too small to seat the congregation that worshipped in it. It was therefore determined in 1796 to erect another church- building, on the northwest corner of Pearl and Orange streets. On Monday afternoon, the twelfth of June, the corner-stone was laid by the Rev. John B. Johnson, in the presence of a large concourse of people. In the fall of 1798, the edifice was completed, and was described as "a superb and elegant building, finished in the most modern style, with two handsome domes or steeples." It was called "the North church." On its completion, eighty-two of the pews in it were sold for $10,371, with a reservation of $418 as their annual rent. There were then seventy-seven pews that were not sold.
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
On the fourth of August, 1797, the city was again ravaged by fire. "It broke out " says the editor of the Gazette, "at the hour of 11 o'clock on Friday evening last, in a store-house of Mrs. Bradt, near the Middle- dock-and notwithstanding the citizens flew to the fire, had water in abundance, and used every exertion to ex- tinguish it, driven by a S. E. wind, it spread with an inconceivable rapidity, and before 3 o'clock, the buildings (three houses excepted) on five entire blocks of the city were consumed.
We are informed that several
gentlemen, * * * estimate the number of Dwelling Houses at Ninety-five or Ninety-six ; and the number of families burnt out at One Hundred and fifty, amounting nearly to One Thousand persons.
* We believe ourselves within bounds when we state the loss at 250,- 000 dollars-some imagine it considerably more." The buildings burned were on Middle Lane, Dock, Steuben, Market, Montgomery, Columbia, Watervliet, Trump and Orange streets.
The clergy of the city, convinced that the fire was "the judgment of God," and the cause of it, " the sins of the community," recommended the common council to set apart Wednesday, the sixteenth of August, " as a day of fasting and humiliation and prayer." By a resolu- tion of the board of aldermen; the day designated was duly observed as was suggested by the ministers.
Previous to the fourth of February, 1792, there were sixty persons who were recognized as the firemen of the city. On that day an act was passed by the legislature increasing the number to eighty. On the thirty-first of March, 1797, another act was passed, permitting the city to have " a number not exceeding one hundred and fifty firemen."
In December, 1797, the Albany Museum was open
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"on the corner of Green and Beaver streets, opposite Mr. Denniston's tavern, every day, Sundays excepted, from 9 o'clock in the morning till 9 at night." It contained "a number of living animals, and a great variety of other natural and artificial curiosities."
When the news of the death of George Washington reached the city, on the twenty-third of December, 1799, the bells of the churches and the city-hall were tolled from three until five o'clock in the afternoon by order of the common council, the members of which resolved to wear crape round their left arms for the space of six weeks, "as a testimony of respect to the memory of Lieut. Gen. Washington, deceased." While the bells were tolling, minute guns were fired by the United States artillery company stationed in the city, under the com- mand of Captain John McClallen. Black drapery was hung in the churches, and flags were placed at half-mast on the public buildings. On Thursday, the ninth of January, 1800, a funeral pageant passed through the principal streets in memory of the illustrious chieftain.
The twenty-second day of February having been set apart as a day to commemorate the deeds of Washing- ton, the Rev. Matthew O'Brien preached a suitable ser- mon in St. Mary's Roman Catholic church at nine o'clock, on the morning of that day. At eleven o'clock a proces- sion moved from the city-hall, composed of the executive and judicial officers of the state, both houses of the legis- lature, the corporation and citizens, and proceeded through State and Pearl streets to the North church, in which the Rev. John B. Johnson, eloquently discoursed upon the life and character of Washington ; the Rev. John Bassett and the Rev. Eliphalet Nott taking part in the solemn exercises. In the afternoon, Major Michael Gabriel Houdin delivered an oration in the city-hall.
ENG CO
JOSEPH'S CHURCH
S
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
At a meeting of a number of Presbyterians, at Wen- dell's tavern, on the fourth of October, 1800, who had organized themselves into a religious society, James An- gus, George Embrie, John Kirk, and Joseph Caldwell, were appointed a committee to rent a room suitable for a meeting-place for worship and to obtain a minister to take the pastoral care of the society. A call having been extended to the Rev. John McDonald, the former pastor of the First Presbyterian church, the committee reported on the sixth of January, 1801, that he had accepted it. The following persons were elected trustees of "The United Presbyterian congregation of the city of Albany," on the thirty-first of January : Joseph Caldwell, James Angus, John Kirk, Alexander Cumming, Alexander Watson, John Van Ness Yates, John Grant, George Klinck, and George Pearson.
The Rev. John McDonald first preached to the society in the Long room belonging to James Angus, in North Pearl Street ; subsequently in the store-room of James Caldwell, in State Street. Meanwhile the trustees had obtained from the city sufficient ground on the corner of Fox (Canal) and Barrack (Chapel) streets for the site of a church, the corner stone of which was laid on Wednesday morning, the fifth of October, by the Rev. John McDonald, "in the presence of the trustees and ecclesiastical officers of that congregation." The church was first opened for public worship on the first Sunday of Jan- uary, 1802. The Rev. John McDonald resigned the pas- torship of the congregation on the twenty-eighth of March, 1819.
An act to incorporate the proprietors of the Albany water-works was passed on the seventeenth of February, 1802. By it, Stephen Lush, Philip S. van Rensselaer, John Tayler, and their associates were made a corporate
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
body by the name of "the trustees and company of the Albany water-works." The stock of the corporation was to consist of four hundred shares at one hundred dollars each. Conduits for supplying the city with water were allowed to be laid by the company through any part of Albany and Watervliet. The contract that had been made with Benjamin Prescott for laying the conduits was not to be annulled. Shortly afterward the company declared a dividend of three per cent. on the stock for the previous six months.
The religious society known as the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church was regularly organized in January, 1800. The Rev. Andrew Wilson, in April, 1802, was installed pastor of the congregations of the churches in Albany and Lansingburgh. On the twenty-fifth of May following, John Magoffin, William Mulroy, William McGill, David Bleekley, William Muir, John McMillan, and Samuel McElroy, were elected trustees of the society.
The site and size of the Episcopal church in State street were so unsuited to the convenience of the con- gregation that it was determined to raze the building and to erect another on the northwest corner of State and Barrack streets. The new edifice, completed in 1804, was consecrated on the fourth of October, by Bishop Moore. On a tablet set in the wall of the new church was the following inscription : "Glory be to the Lord for he is good-for his mercy endureth forever. Saint Peter's church formerly standing in the centre of State at its junction with Barrack street. Built A. D. MDCCXV -Incorporated A. D. MDCCLXIX. Demolished and this edifice erected A. D. MDCCCII. Thomas Ellison, rector- John Stevenson, Goldsbrow Banyer, Church Wardens. Philip Hooker, Archt." The church-bell. which had hung in the tower on the west side of the old building bearing
STA
69
NewYork State
ational Bank
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
the inscription. "St. Peter's church, Albany, 1751. J. Ogilvie, minister, J. Stevenson, E. Collins, wardens," was placed in the steeple of the new structure.
The management of the business of the Bank of Al- bany was in certain ways unfavorable to the interests of some of the merchants and manufacturers of the city, and the organization of a new banking institution in 1803, was the natural consequence of it. The projectors of the new bank obtained no little commendation for their enterprise by a published declaration that they intended it "for a true republican institution." The founders of the bank, in February, 1803, petitioned the legislature to permit them to organize a company under the name of the New York State Bank. Their petition obtained the passage of "an act to incorporate the stockholders of the New York State Bank and for other purposes," on the nineteenth of March, 1803. By it, the stockholders were made a corporate body " by the name of the president, di- rectors and company of the New York State Bank." The comptroller of the state of New York (then Elisha Jen- kins,) together with John Tayler, Thomas Tillotson, Abraham G. Lansing, Peter Gansevoort, jr., Elkanah Watson, John R. Bleecker, Francis Bloodgood, John Robinson, Gilbert Stewart, John D. P. Douw, Richard Lush, and Thomas Mather were named the first directors of the bank. The capital stock, exclusive of what the state 'might subscribe, was not to exceed four hundred and sixty thousand dollars, a single share having the value of fifty dollars.
On Friday, the twenty-fifth of March, the directors elected John Tayler, president, and John W. Yates, cashier of the bank. The first banking-house was then known as No. 53 State Street. The bank began business on Wednesday, the seventh of September ; the banking
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
hours being from 9 o'clock A. M. to 12 M., and from 2 to 4 P. M. The discounts were made for fifty-six days. The bank's by-laws of 1803 provide that "A com- mittee consisting of Two Directors shall be appointed Monthly whose duty it shall be to Visit the Vault, ex- amine to their satisfaction the Cash and Other Effects deposited therein." On the tenth of May, 1804, the bank began business in the new banking-house, now No. 69 State Street. 1
In the summer of 1804, the citizens of Albany were informed by an advertisement that I. Wood had taken rooms at Mrs. Dole's, next door to the Albany Coffee House, corner of Green and Beaver streets, where he would take likenesses in profile, for one dollar ; the pro- file being called a physiognotrace.
To provide a more suitable building for the use of the legislature, an act entitled "an act making provision for improving Hudson's River, below the city of Albany, and for other purposes," was passed the sixth of April, 1804. The second section of the act ended with the fol- lowing statement : "Whereas the situation of the pre- sent court-house in the city of Albany is found by ex- perience to be highly inconvenient for the transaction of public business, and the corporation of the said city having represented to the legislature that they are willing to appropriate a lot of ground on the public square of the said city, for the site of a public building for the accom- modation of the legislature, and for a new city-hall, and have prayed that the present court-house, and the lot used with the same, might be sold, and the proceeds thereof applied towards erecting and finishing such new state-house : Therefore,
1 The lot was bought from Josiah Townsend. The building was erected by Smith & Boardman, superintended by Philip Hooker, architect.
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
"III. Be it further enacted, That John Tayler, Daniel Hale, Philip S. van Rensselaer, Simeon De Witt and Nicholas N. Quackenbush, be and they are hereby ap- pointed commissioners for erecting and completing a public building in the city of Albany, on a lot to be designated for such purpose, as is hereinafter mentioned, with sufficient and commodious apartments for the legislature, the council of appointment, the courts of justice, and for the common council of the said city, upon such construction and plan as by them shall be judged proper."
The corporation was empowered to sell the court- house and the ground on which it was built ; the money received for them to be paid to the commissioners to be applied to the building of the new state-house. The supervisors of the city and county of Albany were to levy and collect by a tax on the free-holders and in- habitants of the county, three thousand dollars, exclusive of a similar sum to be raised by the city. The further sum of twelve thousand dollars was to be obtained by the sale of lottery tickets.
The ground given by the city authorities for the erection of the new state-house, was described as ex- tending " along the west side of the public square, from Deer street on the south to Lion street on the north, which last is the main street by which the western coun- try enters the city."
The Gazette of Thursday, the twenty-fourth of April, 1806, contains the following paragraph respecting the laying of the corner-stone of the building : "Yesterday the Corner Stone of the New State House, to be erected in this city, was laid by the Hon. Philip S. Van Rensselaer, Esq., in the presence of the Chancellor, Judges of the Supreme Court, members of the Corporation, State House
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