SCHENECTADY (ske-nek'ta-di), a city of New York, U.S.A., the county seat of Schenectady county; 16 m. N.W. of Albany, on the Mohawk river. It has an airport, and is served by the Delaware and Hudson, the New York Central, the West Shore and electric railways. Pop. (1920) 88,723 (23% foreign-born white, over half from Italy, Poland and Germany) ; and 95,692 in 1930. The city has a fine site of 10•34 sq.m., 23o ft. above sea-level, in a beautiful and fertile region. It is a place of much historic interest, and has many examples of quaint Dutch colonial and early American architecture. St. George's Episcopalian church was built in 1762. The fine "Great Western Gateway" bridge (opened 1926) connects the highways east and south of the river with those north and west. A wide crosstown boulevard has been constructed (completed 1924) over the abandoned bed of the Erie canal. Union college was incorporated in 1795. The chapel was built in 1924 by public subscription as a memorial to the Union boys who died in the World War. The assessed valua tion of property for 1927 was $191,642,280.
According to tradition Schenectady stands on the site of the chief village of the Mohawk Indians, and its name is of Indian origin. In 1661 Arendt Van Corlaer (or Curler), a cousin of the patroon Killian Van Rensselaer and manager of his manor, with 14 other residents of Rensselaerwyck, bought a tract here from the Indians, established a settlement, and in 1670 extended their territory to embrace about 128 square miles. The price was "600 hands of good Whyte Wampum, six Koates of Duffels, 3o Barres of Lead, and nine Bagges of Powder." Many of the early settlers
were well-to-do and brought their slaves with them. For many years the settlement was reputed the richest in the colony. In 1690 (Feb. 9) a force of French and Indians surprised the village, burning it, killing 6o of the inhabitants and carrying 3o into captivity. About 1700 there was an influx of English settlers. Schenectady was chartered as a borough in 1765 and as a city in 1798. From the close of the Revolution to the opening of the Erie canal (1825) it was a lively river port, and boat-building was one of its chief industries. Railways to Albany and to Sara toga (the first in the State) were opened in 1831 and 1832. The manufacture of locomotives began in 1848. In 185o the popula tion was 8,921; in 188o it was 13,655. Rapid development dates from the establishment in 1886 of the Edison Machine Works, which became a unit of the Edison General Electric Company in 1889 and the largest plant of the General Electric Company on its organization in 1892. The General Electric Company has here its general offices, research laboratories, broadcasting station (WGY) and largest manufacturing works, covering 645 ac. and comprising 35o buildings with 6,500,000 sq.ft. of floor space. The list of distinguished scientists who have been connected with the Schenectady plant includes W. R. Whitney, Irving Langmuir (q.v.), W. D. Coolidge and C. P. Steinmetz (q.v.). From 19,902 in 1890 the population of the city grew to 72,826 in 1910. The value of its manufactures in 1927 was $99,402,269.