ALBANY, the capital of the State of New York, U.S.A., a city, a port of entry, and the county-seat of Albany county; on the west bank of the Hudson river, below the mouth of the Mohawk, 145m. N. of New York city; at the cross-roads between Boston and Buffalo, and between Montreal and New York. It is served by the New York Central, the Delaware and Hudson, the West Shore, and Boston and Albany railways; by the steam boat lines on the Hudson, and is a terminus of the State barge canal system. The area is 19•1 sq. m. The population in 1920 was 113,344, of whom 87,779 (an unusually large proportion) were natives of the state, and 17,695 were f oreigri-born ; in 1930 it was 127,412.
Albany lies picturesquely, on a series of hills rising sharply from the river. Fine specimens of the Dutch and later colonial architecture are still standing. The Schuyler mansion (built was dedicated in 1917 as a State historical The Van Rensselaer manor-house (1765) was moved in 1893 to the campus of Williams college, Williamstown (Mass.). On a commanding site of 7-84 ac. stands the State Capitol (3oo by 400 ft.) of Maine granite, which was built (1867-98) at a cost of $25,000,000. Across the square is the beautiful colonnaded State education building, which also houses not only the State Department of Education, but also the State library (established 1818) of 630,00o vols. and the State museum, which has a fine collection of Indian relics. The present city hall (erected 1882), the fifth which the city has used, is a French Gothic structure of pink granite. A large State office building has recently been erected (1927). Many of the schools, banks, hotels, clubs, and churches have architectural beauty and dignity. The New York State National Bank (1803) is probably the oldest building in America continuously used for banking purposes. There are 20 parks, of which Washington and Lincoln are the largest. A zoning ordinance was adopted in 1924 as a foundation for a comprehensive programme of building and improvement. The assessed valuation of property in 1926 was $187,331,711. Con verging railways, water routes, and highways, together with a population of 30.000,00o within a radius of Zoom. make Albany an important distributing point. As a transfer point for railway express it ranks second in the country; for mail, third. Traffic facilities were greatly improved by the New York Central's con struction of the "Castleton cut-off" (opened 1924), which diverts rail traffic from the steep grades and congested trackage at Albany across a new bridge iom. below the city. The same company has also built a vast terminal classification yard at Selkirk, west of the river, which eventually will have a capacity for 20,000 cars. Albany has a municipal airport, the Quentin Roosevelt field; and the deepening of the Hudson (authorized 1925), to give a 27 ft. channel from New York city, will make it virtually a seaport. The Albany port district, embracing the city of Albany, the city of Rensselaer, and adjacent lands and water in the Hudson river, is in charge of a commission appointed by the governor. Ground was broken for port development in 1926. Albany has many and diverse industries. It had 23o factories in 1927, with an aggregate output valued at $58,185,252, and products ranging from such staples as stoves, chemicals, textiles, and paper, to billiard balls, checkers, and dominoes, axle-grease, piper towels, college caps and gowns, and college pins. About i , i 00 men are employed in printing plants. Albany is an im portant educational centre. The public school system includes 27 elementary schools, vocational schools for boys and girls, junior high and high schools. The Catholic system consists of 18 parish schools (including four high schools), two academies, and two institutions of college grade. There are several private academies. The State college for teachers (opened 1844) had an enrolment of 2,275 in 1926-27. The professional schools of Union uni versity, which has its undergraduate college in Schenectady, are situated here: viz., the Albany college of pharmacy (established 1881) ; the Albany law school (1851) ; and the Albany medical school (1839). The Dudley observatory, founded in 1853 as the result of an abortive attempt to establish a national university in Albany, is also affiliated with Union university. Training schools for nurses are maintained by four hospitals. The State library school, the . first ever established for the professional training of librarians, was opened in 1887 at Columbia university, and in 1889 was transferred to Albany as an adjunct of the State library. There are three daily papers; the Knickerbocker Press (1842) ; the News and Journal (1922), and the Times-Union (1853).
Albany was probably the second permanent settlement within the borders of the 13 colonies. Its authentic history dates from 1614, when the agents of the United New Netherland company built a small fort on Castle (now Westerlo) island, which they occupied for three years as a trading post. In 1624 colonization was begun by the newly-organized Dutch West Indian company. Eighteen families of Dutch Walloons arrived; Fort Orange was built on a hill near the present site of the Capitol; and the little settlement around it became known as Beverwyck. In 1629 the Dutch Government granted to Kiliaen van Rensselaer, a diamond merchant of Amsterdam, a large tract of land (ultimately 1,093 sq. m.) on both sides of the river, centring at Fort Orange, for a patroonship. His grant was named Rensselaerswyck. The colo nists he sent over were capable and industrious, and the settlement prospered. In 1652 Peter Stuyvesant, after a lengthy controversy with the director of Rensselaerswyck, established Beverwyck as an independent village. When Fort Orange was surrendered to the English (Sept. 24, 1664) Beverwyck was named Albany, one of the titles of the duke of York (afterward James II.). In 1673-74 Albany again came under Dutch control for about a year, during which time it was called Willemstadt. Meanwhile the van Rensselaer family in Holland was trying to obtain from the duke of York a patent for the colony which would restore to them the ownership of the former village of Beverwyck. The application came finally to Governor Dongan, who declined to grant it because he "did not think it convenient that the second town in the government should be in the hands of private men." The van Rensselaers thereupon relinquished their claims to Albany, and received a patent (1685) which erected the colony of Rensselaerswyck into an English manor. On July 22 1686, Governor Dongan granted to Albany a city charter, by which all vacant and unappropriated lands within its limits were vested in the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city, thus ending the jurisdictional disputes. The first mayor, appointed by the governor, was Peter Schuyler (165 7-1 7 24) . In 1643, according to Father Jogues, the settlement consisted of 25 or 3o houses, built along the river; in 1695 the Rev. John Miller found 200 houses; at the first federal census (1790) the population was by 185o it had reached 50,763, and in 191o, 100,253. As late as 175o a Swedish naturalist, Peter Kahn, who wrote a vivid description of the city, found the language and manners still Dutch, though the dress was in English style. Albany became the permanent state capital in i 797.
Its strategic position at the gateway of the Iroquois country and at the head of navigation on the Hudson made Albany highly important throughout the colonial period. In 1689 the first inter colonial convention was held here, when delegates from Massa chusetts bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New York met to treat with representatives of the five nations and to plan a system of defence. The Albany Congress of 1754 was a similar and more important gathering, including commissioners also from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, which met in anticipation of renewed hostilities with the French. It secured from the Indians assurances of their continued support, and adopted a plan (proposed by Benjamin Franklin) for "one general government" of the English colonies for purposes of common defence. The "Albany plan," though disapproved both by the home Government and by the colonies, paved the way for the congress of 1765 and the Continental congress of 1774. During the Revolution the British looked upon Albany as "a capital object to be subdued," and it was the objective of Bur goyne's expedition which ended with the battle of Saratoga. In 1839 it became the centre of the "Anti-Rent War," which was precipitated by the death of the last patroon and the attempt of his heirs to collect overdue rents, and was not entirely settled until The first newspaper, the Gazette, was founded in 17 71. The Argus, founded in 1813, was long the organ of the coterie of New York politicians known as the "Albany regency," and was one of the most influential Democratic papers in the country. The Evening Journal, founded in 1830, and edited for 35 years by Thurlow Weed, was equally influential as an organ of the Whig, and later of the Republican party.
See J. Munsell, The Annals of Albany (Albany, 1850-59) ; E. B. O'Callaghan, Documentary History of the State of New York, vol. iii. (Albany, 185o) ; William Barnes, The Settlement and Early History of Albany (Albany, 1851) ; Collections on the History of Albany (1865-71) ; G. R. Howell and J. Tenney, Bi-Centennial History of Albany (1866) ; A. J. Weise, History of the City of Albany (Albany, 1884) ; Amasa J. Parker, Landmarks of Albany County (Syracuse, 1897) ; Cuyler Reynolds, Albany Chronicles (Albany, 1906) ; John Boyd Thacher and, and others, Albany's Tercentenary (Albany, 1924)•