SCHENECTADY, a city of the state of New York, in the county of Schenectady, at North Lat. 42° 45', and 73° 47' West Long. from Greenwich.
The name of this city, is of Indian origin, being derived from Schenectadea, or Pine-Wood-Landing, a phrase, used by the Indians to designate an extent of country, of which the present city of Schenectady forms a part.
Schenectady is pleasantly situated, in a fertile plain, on the south-east side of the Mohawk river. It is bounded, on the east and south-east, by a range of hills of moderate elevation, and of rather a light, sandy soil. On the west of the city and the Mohawk, the country is spread out into considerably extensive flats, possessing a soil of great fertility, and under a high state of cultivation.
The city is laid out with great regularity: most of its streets intersecting each other at right angles, and dividing the area into squares.
Schenectady contains Union College, an academy, six churches, a court house, a jail, a bank, and a printing office.
The houses are, for the most part, constructed of brick: and though, owing to the great intervals of time at which some of them were built, there has been so great a mixture of the ancient and modern styles of architecture as greatly to impair the beauty of the city, viewed as a whole; yet many private houses have an air of much comfort and elegance.
Union College, for its importance as a literary in stitution, deserves particular notice. It is situated, east of the compact part of the city, on an eminence, which affords, particularly on the west, an extensive and delightful prospect. The city, flanked, on the north-east and south-west, by luxuriant meadows and pasture lands—beyond these, on the west, the beau tiful Mohawk, gliding calmly along—farther on, the rich and variegated flats, terminated by a range of re gular and not very high hills—form, when beheld from the College, one of the most charming landscapes in nature.
Union College was incorporated in 1794, and was so named from the Union of several religious deno minations in its establishment.
The plan of the college edifices, as drawn by M. Ramee, a celebrated French architect, for its beauty and adaptation to the purposes for which it was de signed, is highly creditable to the taste and judgment of that artist. Only two of the eight large edifices of the original plan, have yet been completed. These afford rooms for the accommodation of about 200 students, and tenements for the families of the Pre sident and Professors.
The faculty of Union College consists (1829) of a President, six Professors, and three Fellows.
The libraries of the College contain about 12,000 vo lumes. The philosophical and chemical apparatus is very respectable.
The usual number of students is about two hun dred. In 1828, there had been graduated at this insti tution 1120, of whom 1085 wei e then living.
Schenectady contains between 3000 and 4000 inha bitants. Neither its population nor its trade is thought to have increased materially, for several years past. Indeed it is one of those places, which the progress of internal improvements has served rather to injure than to benefit. Situated at the foot of navigation on the Mohawk, Schenec6dy, before the construction of turnpikes and the Erie canal, derived considerable bu siness from the purchase of western produce, which is now carried through it to Albany and Troy.
Schenectady is more interesting from the associa tions of its early history, than for its present magni tude or importance as a city. Its early history, how ever, embraces so many incidents, and is so intimate ly connected with that of the colony of New-York, that we cannot be expected in this place, to give any thing like a general narration of it. But we may be itted to remark, that this is one of the most an --ert cient Dutch settlements in the state of New-York. Its early inhabitants suffered all the miseries and hard ships that can be supposed to have attended upon their exposed situation, and slender means of subsist ence. Not powerful by their numbers; at a conside rable distance from their civilized countrymen; with scarcely any thing to serve for their defence; they were almost continually during many years, falling victims to savage treachery and barbarity. And on the evening of Feb. 8th, 1690, the town was surprised by a party of French and Indians, and there ensued such a scene of conflagration, and inhuman cruelties, as cannot adequately be described. The whole town was completely destroyed—upwards of sixty persons were shockingly massacred—about thirty shared a worse fate from being carried into captivity by the Indians —many others fled naked towards Albany, in the heart of a severe winter, and through a deep snow. Of these some were frozen to death; while others pre served their lives, but lost their limbs through the se verity of the frost.
On the 17th of Nov. 1819, one hundred and one houses were accidentally burned in this city. These have not all been rebuilt, nor their ruins all removed, which give to a part of the city, a dreary aspect.