Marion “Mae” Carlson was once the rooming house queen of Albany. In 1960, Knickerbocker News reporter Edward Swietnicki probably overestimated by at least 100 persons the number of adults (200) and children (250) who lived in her 21 furnished rental properties, most of them converted single-family homes a couple blocks from the Capitol. At the…
Month: January 2015
A “Beautiful, Brilliant, Efficient, and Electrifying” Capital
The South Mall Cornerstone Ceremony, June 21, 1965, commemorated the end of demolitions that cleared 98 acres in Albany and the beginning of construction of the massive State office complex, officially known as the Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza. On the northwest edge of the South Mall take area, speakers and VIPs sat…
George & Josephine
On May 22, 1930, George Stalter, a 43-year old bachelor from Speyerdorf, Germany, arrived in New York City with $200 in his pocket and plans to continue on to Albany. That city was where his friend, fellow hairdresser, and future business partner, Alfred Doebbelin, had settled two years earlier, after emigrating from Rathenow, Germany. Alfred…
St. Paul’s and the City of Albany, Part II: Moving up the Hill
A guest post by Paul Nance The shape of Albany changed dramatically in the 1840’s. The State Street hill was graded, making the incline much less steep. But the most important change was the grading and filling of the Ruttenkill ravine. The gully, which had been fifty feet deep and three hundred feet across, was…
St. Paul’s and the City of Albany, Part I: South End and Downtown
A guest post by Paul Nance Readers of this blog may recall that St. Paul’s Episcopal was one of four churches appropriated by the State for the South Mall in 1962. As a result, St Paul’s congregation was forced to move to its current location on Hackett Boulevard. This was, however, far from the first…
98 Acres in Albany 