The Albany Business College was a private, for profit educational insitution and was a maintain of the city for over a century. It was established in 1857 as a subsidiary of Bryant and Stratton in 1857 by C.E. Prentice, John Carnell and Benton Hoit. In later years it severed its affiliation with Bryant and Stratton and was privately owned.
It was originally located at 51-53 North Pearl St. In 1889 it moved into a grand building, designed by Edward Ogden at the corner of North Pearl and Columbia Streets in downtown Albany.
The College moved twice more in the 2oth century; first to Washington Ave,. 19 133 and then to Central Ave outside the City limits, to an old Vallee’s restaurant site in the 1970s. It closed in 1988, and was purchased by Bryant and Stratton, coming full circle.
ABC, as it as known, was sort of a family tradition. A great grandfather from Cohoes attended in the 1880s, a great uncle graduated in 1890, a great aunt in 1918 and another uncle in 1956.
c 1915C, 1895c. 1910c. 1910c 1920
c. 19051909c. 1910c. 1910Employment Desk 1912c 1895
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Corner of Madison and Partridge c 1973Dutch Oven Bakery 1938Lake and Madison c 1920s
School 4 Madison and Ontarioc. 1953Madison looking east near Ontario, Vincentian on right and School 4 on left1950s
Steamer 101940s19151967c. 1955early 1950sMike Flanagan.. second owner of Petit Paris Restaurant mid 1960s and musician extraordinaire.The Westerly Apts.. S. Main Ave. Constructed in the early 1900sThe Betty Schuyler Restaurant 1940s
Joe’s Maitre’Dc 1959Madison between Quail and Ontario, north side c 1973
Service station/Garage corner of W.Lawrence and Madison 1930s
The old NYS Museum in the wonderfully iconic State Education Building was a garden of earthly delights. Tens of thousands of NYS school children visited the museum during its 60 some odd years, until it closed when the “new” Museum in the Cultural Center in the Empire State Plaza opened in the 1970s.
But for the children of Albany, especially the baby boomer kids of the ’50s and ’60s, the Museum was special. It was a source of infinite wonder; it was our own very, very cool playground. The Museum was on bus lines; it was located within walking distance of two ethnically diverse neighborhoods, Arbor Hill and the South End,; both teeming with children. And it was free. When kids in Albany sighed, “I’m bored”, many an Albany mother replied, “Go to the Museum”. That was the big deal about the old Museum.. it was kid friendly.
Rotunda NYS Education Building
The Museum was on the 5th floor; to get there you passed though the grandeur of the State Ed Building. The exterior of the building is magnificent and imposing with its massive 36 Corinthian column colonnade. But it’s even more gorgeous inside. The scale is part of it; but it’s also a stunning example early 20th century Beaux-Arts architecture. The central rotunda with a barrel vault ceiling and stupendous chandelier are awe-inspiring. It never failed to take my breath away. Even the rowdiest kids calmed down, lowered their voices and stopped fidgeting, sensing they were in the presence of something special.
When you reached the Museum floor, the first thing you saw was a replica of the Gilboa prehistoric forest, filled with ancient fossilized tree stumps and wonder of wonders, a waterfall. I don’t know about other kids, but for me, it was so peaceful, it was the equivalent of a Zen garden.
But then the fun began. The old Museum was really a museum of natural history. Just up the street was the Albany Institute of History and Art. It had an excellent collection of old Dutch paintings, china, furniture and artifacts, and 2 Egyptian mummies! But other than the mummies, the Institute held little attraction for most of us kids. So when I think about the old Museum, it’s impossible not to think of the movie, Night at The Museum.
Where you went next depended on your mood.. did you want to go visit the Iroquois Indian diorama exhibits? I remember the first time I saw them; I swear it was if the pages of a National Geographic had come alive. There were Native American artifacts… huge pots and best of all, arrow points and arrowheads. Arrowheads were part of our Akbany childhood. Between digging in back yards and playing in the residential, commercial and public constructions sites that dotted the city for 2 decades, kids were always finding, them. They were a staple of school “show and tell”. But the Museum placed them in context.. you understood that cool thing you found dated back thousands of years. And then you looked back at the Iroquois exhibits and began to have a better understanding of the people who used them.
You could visit the huge Cohoes mastodon; one of three on display. or maybe a stroll through the taxidermy animal collection (which I found sort of creepy.) The paleontology collection was amazing.. rows upon row of cabinets of miilion year old fossils, There were botany and biology exhibits; beautiful illustrations of the birds, flora and flowers we saw in our yards and park, and those funky mushrooms we saw growing in the woods.
The fossilized sea life and shells were pretty nifty. I still love a curvaceous wentletrap or a nautilus.
Every time I visited, there seemed to be something new.. or something I’d missed. I first fell in love with
Pyrite
sedimentary rocks; fascinated by the layers and strata in limestone and shale. But there were so many choices.. the sparkling Herkimer Diamond, the “man made diamond”, iridescent quartz of all hues, meteorites, minerals and rocks that shimmered like gold or looked like coral.
The was a tall (maybe 4′) pillar of rock salt that showed the tongue depressions of decades of New York school children who had licked it. And we licked it too, just like our parents and aunts and uncles had done before, (I always called it Lot’s Wife.)
There was a bunch of rocks that glowed in the dark in a small room. Recently someone said that the State Museum was the perfect “group date” for young teen kids in Albany. You could go into the little dark nook and steal a first kiss. The Museum had it all.
A friend’s father was the building superintendent of the State Ed Building; I’m still jealous.
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The first Fair was sponsored by the Albany Agricultural Society in 1813.
From then until 1892, fairs were held in Albany and other surrounding towns, including Bethlehem Center and Slingerlands.
The Altamont Driving Park and Fair Association was incorporated on May 20, 1893. The Board of Directors voted to establish a grandstand (which would be the first permanent structure on the fairgrounds) and also instructed him to draw up plans for a front gate.
Within a month the Board of Directors also approved the purchase 24.5 acres of land in Altamont originally owned by George Severson now held in trust by Isaac Reamer to be known as the “Altamont Fair Grounds.” This is the site of the present fairgrounds.
The first fair to be held at the Altamont location was from September 12 through 15, 1893. Admission was 25 cents for adults, and the net receipts for the four days was $884.13. A racetrack was built in front of the Grandstand, and horse racing was held at the first fair and continued at the Altamont Fair until the mid 1990’s.
In 1896 the Board of Directors appointed a committee to travel to the Cobleskill Fairgrounds to obtain plans and cost estimates of duplicating Cobleskill’s two story Fair Building to be used at Altamont for the “exhibition of Domestic, Manufacture Art and Fancy Work and Fruits and Vegetables.” On August 26, 1896 the Board examined the completed Exhibition Hall and voted to approve and accept the structure, which thy felt had been built with “superior workmanship.” This building is now known as the Flower & Fine Arts a Building and has recently been named to the State and National Register of Historic Sites.
In 1897, the Altamont Driving Park and Fair Association changed its name to the Albany County Agricultural Society and Exposition. Over the next 20 years, more property was acquired and more buildings were constructed, including the Poultry Building in 1899 and a Ladies’ Building (now the Vegetable Building )
In addition to the the agricultural, animal and domestic arts competitions and exhibitions, the Fair has, through the years, incorporated other attractions. Auto racung was started in 1915 and continued through the 1990s. Other feature events included wrestling, boxing, a rodeo, a fall out shelter exhibit in the 1960, dramatic readings and plays, an Atlas Missile exhibit in 1962 and, in 1964, a raffle for a house. Of course, Fair queens have been crowned. Here’s smattering of Fair ads from the 1920’s through the 1960s.
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Albany NY Open Air Market early 1800s by James Eights
In the early 1800’s Albany’s open air public market was located at the intersection of State and Market Street (now Broadway).
Over time the market are moved north, as real estate in the City center became more costly. By the early 1880s it was held once a week and located at the top of the State St. hill, just below Eagle St. and the State Capitol.
By the late 1880’s it was re- located near the base of the Madison Ave . In the early 1890s, over some opposition who wanted located closer to the Hudson River and railroad lines, it was relocated to the Lyons Block. This was a large open area below the Lyon’s Printing Company Building. It was bounded by Grand, Hudson, Beaver and Daniel Streets. In the early 1930’s, there was again sentiment to move the market farther south,closer to the River. Those efforts were unsuccessful, and in the mid 1930’s the market was enlarged, through the demolition of buildings on Philip and Grand Streets. The market remained in that location for about 30 years. However, the Lyons Building was demolished in early 1964 to make way for construction of the Empire State Plaza, and the land around it appropriated for the same purpose.
I think my last visit to the Market was in 1963, when I went with my grandfather to buy flats of petunia to plant for my grandmother for Mother’s Day. I was about 12, and had no idea I would never see it again.
Here’s a reminiscence by Charlie Mooney, a columnist for the Albany Knickerbocker News, about the old Public Market.
late 1880sc. 1890Lyon Building when first constructed in 1892
AFD Fire Dept. Hook & Ladder #1 on paradec. 19101912
West Point cadets drilling in the Public Marketplace 19181920Albany Open Air Market c. 1922
Market in the 1930s
Overflow from Lyon’s Block on to Market St. mid-1930s1933
The Billiard Ball factory was in my neighborhood when I was growing up. It was located on Delaware Ave. just south of Whitehall Rd. There’s a strip mall today. It was a fixture of my childhood, belching smoke (God only knows what was in it.)
John Wesley Hyatt (1837-1920) was the inventor of the celluloid billiard ball. Celluloid, besides being the base of photographic film, was a substitute for ivory, long the prime substance in billiard ball manufacture. The Hyatt “composition” ball, with a celluloid base, dominated the sport until the 1960s.
It went out of business in the mid 1980’s.
Early Photo of Factory
Women inspecting and packing billiard balls in the 1930’s.
Marker Identifying site of factory.
The Billiard Ball Factory c 1985 (Courtesy of the Albany Times Union.)Billiad Ball Co factory workers late 1970s (Courtesy of the Albany Times Union.. Bob Richey Photo Archive)Billiad Ball Co factory workers late 1970s (Courtesy of the Albany Times Union.. Bob Richey Photo Archive)Special U.S. Bicentennial Billiard Ball (Courtesy of Joseph Caruso, whose mother worked in the factory at that time.)
Muhlfelder’s was a woman’s clothing store on North Pearl Street in downtown Albany. It was established in the early 1900’s, and closed the early 1970’s. It was known for good quality, moderate to expensive clothing. It was one of the few clothing stores that had an extensive cosmetics department, as well as excellent costume jewelry and hats.
(Ads from the Albany Evening Journal and the Albany Knickerbocker News via fultonhistory.com.)
Albany’s fortune was founded on the fur trade in the early 1600′s. There was an abundance of beaver, highly sought after for fashionable beaver hats in Europe. So much so that Albany was incorporated as “Beverwyck” (loosely translates from Dutch to “Beaverville”) in 1652 . By the early 1900′s, however, the beaver population had been harvested in New York State almost to the point of extinction.
It was about that time that the middle class, with disposable income, began to grow. Fur coats become status symbols as a result of silent films. Glamorous films stars wore fur on and off screen. There was nothing more chic than a fur, except for a diamonds. Furs were aspirational Albany women were no exception The demand for fur coats increased. Sable and mink were far too expensive for most consumers, so other furs were used. Raccoon coats caught on, especially among students on college campuses. The raccoon coat is the iconic symbol of the roaring ’20s. And then came the Depression .
Women still wanted fur coats .. symbols of sex and glamour, but they were also practical. Nothing was warmer in the harsh northeast winters. While the financial crisis had an impact in Albany, it and the surrounding areas were not devastated. As the State Capital, it had many government workers. Federal money flowed into the home state of Roosevelt and the city in which he had lived for so many years while he was in the State Legislature and the Executive Mansion. The demand for fur flourished.
There were dozens of furriers in Albany in the 1930′s – many of whom had been plying their trade for generations in the city, but most were foreign born – immigrants who migrated here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from Europe and Russia. They had skills and talent. So they turned to other furs. ”Jap Mink” fur coats were a hot commodity in the 1930’s. Japanese mink is actually a form of light colored weasel with a bushy thick coat that could be dyed to mimic natural mink. Seal skin was water repellent, great for snowy winters, but doesn’t have a lush pelt. Fox was a popular, less costly fur, as was squirrel. But one thing Albany did have was muskrats. Muskrats galore; an embarrassment of muskrats. (And still has, even today.) Muskrat pelts were durable and fairly waterproof. And in the Depression, there were plenty of people willing to trap the wily muskrat for extra money.
Then came World War II, and no one wanted to buy “Jap” anything. With so many more women working, and with larger incomes, fur coats were still in great demand. And muskrats still ruled in Albany. Local furriers ran ads everyday offering to pay the “highest prices” for muskrat skins.
After the War ended, women still wanted to buy fur; throughout the late 40’s and into the early 1950’s. But by the middle of the 1950’s, demand in general, and in Albany in particular, dropped. Dior’s “New Look”, launched in 1947 meant fuller, longer skirts with a nipped, defined waist. Even the best furriers found it difficult to tailor fur coats for these clothes. When they did, they were expensive. And women now wanted mink.. mink anything.
“Philip Schuyler’s House on State and Pearl built in 1667 and torn down for a bank in 1924. He was the father of the city’s first mayor. The city continued to knock down its Dutch history throughout the 20th century until there was not a single intact Dutch building left. ”
(Courtesy of a Don Rittner Blog in the Albany Times Union.)
Albany Muskrat 