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.
History of Albany, New York (1664–1784)
The Dutch briefly regained Albany in 1673, during which time the town was referred to as Willemstadt, but the Dutch again lost control in November 1674. Fort Albany was renamed Fort Nassau during this time. It was called Fort Nassau instead of Fort Orange to avoid confusion with New York City's renaming as New Orange. After the English recapture of Willemstadt, all names were returned to their previous English names, but most Dutch political appointees from that period were retained. In 1676, Governor Edmund Andros of the Dominion of New England (of which the Province of New York was a part) had Fort Frederick built at the top of Yonkers Street, today the corner of State and Lodge streets, to replace Fort Albany, which was located by the Hudson River.
Albany was formally chartered as a municipality by Governor Thomas Dongan on July 22, 1686. At this time Albany had a population of only 500. The "Dongan Charter" was virtually identical in content to the charter awarded to the city of New York three months earlier. Pieter Schuyler was appointed first mayor of Albany the day the charter was signed. As part of the Dongan Charter the city's boundaries were fixed with Patroon Street (today Clinton Avenue) as the northern limit and the "northern tip of Martin Gerritsen's Island" as the southern limit, both lines extending to the northwest. Albany was given the right to purchase in "Schaahtecogue" (today Schaghticoke), and at "Tionnondoroge" (today Fort Hunter).