When the Antarctic Snow Cruiser Almost Visited Albany
In the decade of the Great Depression, Americans wanted desperately to believe that science and invention would bring us a gee-whiz, Buck Rogers world. Feeding this…
Jed’s Historical Fragments #253: Court minutes of Old Albany, 1683.
I’ll go a little easier on you, that last entry was a reading challenge! This appeared in The Argus, January 29, 1905. January 2, 1683. Wynant…
Jed’s Historical Fragments #282: Albany attempts to shore up its defenses following the Schenectady Massacre of 1690.
(This account – reproduced in the Argus of August 27, 1905, is from historical records circa 1690 and include many unfamiliar spellings, abbreviations, and random capitalizations.…
What Was There: 24 Quail Street
This forlorn structure on the southeast corner of Quail and Third Streets has an unremarkable yet diverse history. Built in 1880, 24 Quail Street was a…
Homestead Park: A Postwar Development
Upper Western Avenue, near the city limits, was pretty much undeveloped hinterland into the early part of the 20th century. In 1940, an entrepreneur named William…
Samuel Munson, The Munson Block, and Its Destruction for an Expanded Marketplace
Samuel Lyman Munson was born the 14th of June, 1844, of Puritan lineage; his forebear, Thomas Munson, was one of the founders of New Haven, Connecticut.…
Jed’s Historical Fragments #252: adulterers and The Whale of 1647
Extraordinary Session, July 24, 1682. Philipp Schuyler complains of misbehavior by Indians. Conference with the chiefs about it and payment by them of all damages. Cornet…
Jed’s Historical Albany Fragments #409
JED’S HISTORICAL ALBANY FRAGMENTS was a weekly feature in the Sunday edition of the Albany Argus in and around 1909. It’s worthwhile reading because of its…
DURANT’S AMAZING 1833 BALLOON “ASCENSION”
Charles Ferson Durant, (Born Sept. 19, 1805 – died, Mar. 2, 1873) has been called “America’s First Aeronaut,” and the “father of air leafleting.” (Balloon flight…
ALBANY’S WWII HONOR ROLLS
Beginning in 1942, Service Clubs and Honor Roll Clubs began to pop up around the city, organized to do whatever they could for those boys in…
