AMSTERDAM, the only city of Montgomery county, N.Y., U.S.A., on the north bank of the Mohawk river, about 33m. N.W. of Albany. It is on the main line of the New York Central rail road, the State barge canal and the direct highway between Xrew York and Buffalo; and is served also by the Fonda, Johns town and Gloversville railroad, and (through south Amsterdam) by the 'Vest Shore railroad. Hills on both sides of the river command fine views of the Mohawk valley. The city has an area of 6.05 square miles. The population was 33,524 in 1920, of whom 9,807 were foreign-born whites (including Poles, Italians, Lithu anians and Germans) ; and 34,817 in 193o.
Amsterdam manufactures rugs, brooms, carpets, pearl buttons, silk gloves, silk and cotton hosiery, underwear (silk, rayon, cotton and woollen), sweaters, aprons, box board, box machinery, paper boxes, looms, boilers, linseed oil, oil cakes, "mendets," paper clips and novelties. The total output of the city's 56 factories in 1927 was valued at $45,809,707. The city has a large jobbing trade and is the retail trading centre for a territory covering more than i,000 square miles. Outbound freight amounts to over 300, 00o tons annually, and it is estimated that more than twice as much comes in. There is a breeding farm for race-horses on the outskirts of the city. The assessed valuation of property was $30,927,988 in 1927. A memorial has been erected to the 2,500 men from Amsterdam who served in the World War ; and a sys tem of memorial playgrounds and parks was completed in 1927. Three miles away, on a trolley line, is Fort Johnson, built by Sir William Johnson, the well-known American pioneer (see JOHN SON, SIR WILLIAM). Amsterdam was settled about 1775, and was called Veedersburg until 1804, when its present name was adopted. It was incorporated as a village in 1830 and chartered as a city in 1885.