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 (1784–1860)
Philip Van Rensselaer returns to office in 1819 after Mayor Jenkins resigns. In 1819 the city is built up only one mile west of the Hudson, beyond that is the Pine Bush, today the Pine Bush Preserve does not begin until five miles (8 km) out from the Hudson. Theodric Romeyn Beck performs a comprehensive agricultural and geological survey of Albany County in 1820, it is the first in the state. Also in 1820 a chamber of commerce is established at Albany. The Common Council takes over the right to appoint the mayor and in 1821 unanimously elects Charles Edward Dudley. In Albany William Charles Redfield proposes that hurricanes are circular rotational vortices.
In 1823 the Federal Dam at Troy is finished with a lock allowing for river navigation above Troy to Lansingburgh and Waterford. Throughout 1824 from January 1 to March 7 the Common Council meets trying to vote out the mayor in favor of Ambrose Spencer, but several times deadlocks 11-11, finally on March 8 on the second ballot of that day Ambrose Spencer is elected on a vote of 11 for, 10 against, and one blank. He is only the third Episcopalian mayor and non-Dutch Reformed, in 1825 he will be reelected unanimously. The Albany Institute, the predecessor to the Albany Institute of History and Art is incorporated in 1824. In 1825, a long and wide pier was constructed from, and perpendicular to, Albany's shoreline. Along with two bridges, the pier enclosed roughly of the Hudson River as the Albany Basin. The construction of the pier and bridges cost $119,980. The Erie Canal opens officially and the Seneca Chief leaves Buffalo on October 26, arriving at Albany November 2. James Stevenson is elected by the Common Council in 1826, this is the first time in which an Episcopalian succeeds and Episcopalian as mayor of Albany. The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad (M&H), chartered in 1826, builds the Albany and Schenectady Railroad between those two cities, starting service on August 9, 1831, this is the first railway in the state.
The last public execution in Albany occurs on August 24, 1826. Jesse Strang is hanged for the murder of John Whipple at the Cherry Hill Mansion, beyond the city line then but today a museum within the city's South End. He is hung on what was Hudson Street (Avenue), at a location now within the Empire State Plaza. Charles Dudley returns to office on the resignation of Mayor Stevenson, this returns a Dutch Reformed mayor after two Episcopalians, and Dudley's fourth time as mayor, but resigns in 1829 in order to become a United States Senator. John Townsend replaces him and becomes the first Presbyterian mayor of Albany, Albany becoming less dominated by Dutch descendants. Also in 1829 Joseph Henry at The Albany Academy demonstrates the idea behind electromagnets, induction, generators, and the electric telegraph but fails to patent any idea or invention, only publishing scientific papers, allowing others such as Samuel Morse to patent the same inventions years later.