Albany County, New York
The city of Albany was the first municipality within this large county, founded as the village (dorp in Dutch) of Beverwyck by the Director-General of New Amsterdam, Pieter Stuyvesant, who also established the first court in Albany. Albany was established as a city in 1686 by Governor Dongan through the Dongan Charter after the English took over the colony. Schenectady to the west was given a patent with some municipal rights in 1684 and became a borough in 1765.
North Albany, Albany, New York
In 1825 the Erie Canal was built linking Albany to Buffalo on Lake Erie. Locks 1 and 2 were located in North Albany. The canal led to the establishment of the Albany Lumber District, the future lumber district at this time being owned by the Patroon Stephen Van Rensselaer and his brother William, and consisting of mostly vegetable gardens that paid little in the way of rent. The Patroon was soon approached about building slips off the canal for the use of the lumber industry in return for a more ample amount of rent. For about a quarter century in the middle of the 19th century the Albany lumber district was considered the largest white pine wholesale market, and by the 1870s Albany was the largest lumber district in the United States by value, though by that time it had recently been outstripped in feet sold by Chicago. Also due to the canal's influence factories began to locate in North Albany producing a varied collection of goods including books, stoves, carriages, and machine tools. Large numbers of Irish who built the Erie Canal and continued to work in the factories of North Albany lent to the area the name of "Limerick".