A photo tour of industrial buildings, upper Broadway

By alcue, November 5, 2021

I’ve always been fascinated with this little strip of industrial structures, mostly built, I believe in the early 1920’s, replacing residential buildings. They were primarily created to deal trucks and distribute films. The Film row is especially interesting. These places would receive shipments of movie reels from the motion picture companies and distribute them to local theaters and many other picture houses in upstate New York. In addition to the new releases, they would maintain a stock of cartoons and short features that they would try to market to theaters. They were a treasure trove of lobby cards, stand-up displays, and movie posters, a bunch of which were discovered by lucky renovators a few decades ago.

Research on tenants is preliminary and subject to addition and revision. Revised November, 2021. Except where noted, all photos taken July 18, 2014.

962 Broadway.
1953 National Theatre Supply
1959 National Theatre Supply
1973 vacant
1979 Tivoli Supply
2014 CJC Workstation Consultants LLC
2021 Service Image Systems

966 Broadway.
1919-1936 James Ackroyd & Sons Roofing
1953 American District Steam Co., Buffalo Forge Co., Line Material Co., Penn Ventilator Co., Robert B. Taylor
1959-1974 James Ackroyd & Sons Roofing
1979 R.B Taylor, R.K. Chase
2014-2021 R.K. Chase Co. Inc, Ackroyd Metal Fabricators Inc.

970 Broadway. (Photo taken 11-4-21)
This incongruous little building is the last existing residential holdout on this section of Broadway. It’s currently home to Nakia Computers.

980 Broadway. (Photo taken 11-4-21)
In the early 1920’s, Joseph Bridge & Company monuments was at this address. In 1927, it was torn down, and this gigantic building was erected by International Harvester.
1927-77 International Harvester truck & machinery sales
1978-81 H.L. Gage truck sales
1998 Terry-Haggerty Tire Company
2021 McCarthy Tire & Automotive Center

1024 Broadway.
1929 1010 William P. Pabst
1936 Joseph B. Lambert trucking, Smith & Howell film transportation
1953-1959 Ken Smith’s Machinery Co. Inc.
1973-1979 All-Lifts, Inc.
2014 boarded up (sign partial CHIR…)
2021 boarded up (sign partial HINERY CO…)

1028 Broadway.
1929 [1026] Larrabee-Deyo Motor Truck Co Inc
1936 [1030] Autocar Sales & Service
1953 [1030] John R. Tinklepaugh Inc, machinery distrs
1959 Chamberlin Co. of America Inc. waterproofing
1973-1979 Capitol Bakery, R&S Bakery
2014-2021 Broadway Cabinetry

1031 Broadway.
1924 Industrial Bldg: Hunt-Helm-Ferris & Co. (barn equipment), Mohawk Brush Company, Ramsey Chain Company, Inc.
1929 Industrial Bldg: The Engineering Service Corp. (mechanical engineers), Hunt-Helm-Ferris & Co (barn equipment), Mohawk Brush Company
1936 Albany Industrial Building: J deBeer & Son baseball mfr, Mohawk Brush Co, Starline Inc. barn equipment
1953 Industrial building: J de Beer & Son baseball, Mohawk Brush Co.
1959-1974 Argus-Greenwood Inc. printers
1979 Argus Press
2010 endangered historic resources list
2014-2021 empty

1032 Broadway. (Photo taken 11-4-21)
1916 Jacob deBeer relocated his baseball factory from Johnstown to here. His son Frederick joined him in the business.
1919 Clide Automobile Co.
1924 National Biscuit Company garage, Albany Coca-Cola Bottling Works
1929 Albany Coca-Cola Bottling Works
1936 vacant
1953 Albany Hi-Grade Steel Corp, Albany Machine Tool Works Inc, Albany Metal Forming Works Inc.
1959 Albany Machine Tool Works Inc, Albany Metal Forming Works Inc.
1960-2007? Empire Industrial Fabricators
1972-? Goodman-Thomson Corporation
1973-4 Empire Welding & Boiler Repair Co.
2008-2009 Arcadia Manufacturing, parts fabrication for government work, filed chapter 11 2011
2021 still closed, rotting

1040 Broadway.
1919 Patrick W. Mulderry storehouse
1929-1936 Albany Card & Paper Mfg. Co. (photo mounts)
1953 National Biscuit Co.
1959 Antico Marine Inc., boats
1973-2021 Specialty Box & Packaging Co Inc.

1044 Broadway. (Photo taken 11-4-21)
1929 Tiffany Stahl Productions, First Graphic Exchange Inc.
1936 Paramount Pictures Distributing Corp.
1949 National Screen Service (posters & accessories exchange)
1953 National Screen Service, Farley & Co. real estate, Car-O-Len Theatres, Perlmutter Theatre Buying & Booking Service, Inc., RED Inc. real estate, Shaker Heights Development Inc, Hudson Valley Credit Corp., Strand Yonkers realty
1959-1979 Int’l Union of Operating Engineers Local 16
2014 V.F.W. State Headquarters
2021 Addictions Care Center of Albany

1046-1048 Broadway. (Photo taken 11-4-21)
1927 Tiffany Productions
1929 FBO Picture Corporation of America
1936-1953 RKO Distributing Corporation
1959 vacant
1979 Argus Press warehouse
2014 Shaw?
2021 Modern Carpet Company

1050-1052 Broadway. (Photo taken 11-4-21)
1929-1959 Columbia Pictures Corporation, Educational Film Exchange
1973 Clyde W. Lower, Inc. coin amusements, Gary’s Automatic Phonos, Inc.
1979 Money Off (used office furniture)
2021 Hartist Metal Sculpture Studio

1054 Broadway. (Photo taken 11-4-21)
1929-1953 Universal Film Exchange Inc.
1959 vacant
1973 Seeburg Industrial Commercial Music, Muzak Corporation, Davis Distributing Corporation
(1973 WFLY Radio was at 1056 Broadway)
1974 Davis Distributing Company
1979 vacant
2014-2021 Metal Supermarkets

1058-1060 Broadway. (Photo taken 11-4-21)
1058 Broadway.
1929 Warner Brothers Pictures Inc.
1936 Warner Brothers Pictures Inc., Vitagraph Inc
1953 Warner Brothers Pictures Inc.
1959 WB Pictures Distributing Corp.
1973-4 Commodore Electric Co., Inc.
1979 Margold Silk Screen Designs, Inc.
2014 CMC Kuhnke
1060 Broadway.
1929-1936 Metro Goldwyn Mayer Distributing Corp.
1953-1959 Loew’s Inc.
2014 CMC Kuhnke
2021 SecureScan (building is now totally 1060 Broadway, 1058 is gone)

1074 Broadway. (Photo taken 11-4-21, brewery photo taken in 2019)
1929-1959 Mack International Motor Truck Corp.
1979 vacant
2014 Fastenal (industrial & construction supplies)
2019 The Druthers Brewing Company was located on the side of this building until moving to larger quarters across the street.
2021 Selby & Smith (sheet metal contractors)

1201 Broadway. (Formerly 1197 Broadway) (Photo taken 11-4-21)
In 1896, the Watervliet Turnpike and Railroad Company tore down their old car barn and erected this massive building, The WTRC was absorbed into the United Traction Company in 1899. It remained a trolley barn and later bus garage until 1967. Adjunct buildings were demolished for the construction of I-787.
In 1977, it was purchased by Becker & Son Truck Parts, and the address changed to 1201 Broadway. They operated here until 2013. It is now (2021) ASI Truck Parts

1205 Broadway. (Photo taken 11-4-21)
There was a speakeasy on this corner operated by James McGee during Prohibition. Once Prohibition ended, it became the Erie Grill.
1933 Erie Grill, owned by James McGee, and later, Hugh F. Diamond. There was a 1941 license issued for alcohol sales to W. Ronan Campion, of the funeral home family. The bar appears to have closed soon thereafter, when Campion enlisted in the Armed Forces.
The address was vacant for most of the 1940’s.
From 1947-1949, this was occupied by the Exterior Home Improvement Company (also named the Aluminum Construction Company), which sold aluminum siding.
This address was listed as vacant for the entirety of the 1950’s.
It reappeared in 1962 as Broadway Building Supply, who apparently expanded the original building with several additions.
In 2000, its assets were bought by Adirondack Manufacturing Corporation, a manufacturer and distributor of windows and doors.
In 2011 this address became the Broadway Bicycle Shop. This business seems to have closed shop in 2018, although the signage remains, and electrical improvement work was being done as of 2021

1240 Broadway.
1924-9 The White Company (trucks)
1936 Keeshin Motor Express Lines Inc., Larkin Equipment Co., Seaboard Freight Lines Inc.
1953-9 Nehi Beverages Inc., Par-T-Pak Beverages, Royal Crown Cola Beverages
1973-9 Nehi Beverages, Inc.
2014-2021 boarded up

1254 Broadway.
1929-2021 Surpass Chemical Co Inc.

1260 Broadway. (Photo taken 11-4-21)
This was built in 1922 as home to Brockway Motor Company. Charles L. Touhey – operating as the 1260 Broadway Albany Corporation – bought the building in 1951 when Brockway went out of business, and has since rented it to a number of clients:
1949-1961 NYS Museum History Collections
1964-1967 Delta Record Distributors
1969-72 International Furniture Rentals
1974 VB Printing
1975-81 Albany Honda Motorcycles, VB Printing
1998 Roxy United Cleaners
2021 no signage, no idea what it is

1268 Broadway.
1929-1979 J. Becker & Sons, truck bodies
2014-2021 Skyway Roofing, Inc.

1275 Broadway.
From the 1920’s to about 1945 this was the manufacturing plant of the American Paper Works (APW) Company. Around 1939 the space was subdivided and part was rented out to Albany Linoleum & Carpet Company. The carpet company moved to Northern Blvd in 1945, and by then APW was gone. A year later, in moved the NYS Department of Labor unemployment office. In 1947 Montgomery Ward signed a 15 year lease and opened a warehouse at 1275, sharing space with the State unemployment office. When the State’s lease expired in 1951, they refused to leave, citing a citywide crunch on government office space. Ward’s sued to have them evicted.
By 1963 Ward’s had outgrown their space and built a new warehouse along the river in Menands. 1275 Broadway was leased by law-book publisher Matthew Bender Company (moving there from Orange Street). Bender remained at this address until around 1979. Since then, it’s been Tipro, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Northeast NY, and Reed Construction Data.

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Tagged: albany, architecture, argus, baseball, broadway, buildings, debeer, district, film, industrial, NY, truck, warehouse