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.
Upper Albany Historic District
Albany Avenue was laid out in the early 19th century as a turnpike connecting Hartford to Albany, New York. The stretch in the northern part of the city was initially farmland, and it was where a number of wealthy Hartford businessmen, notably James Goodwin and James Goodwin Batterson, built large country estates in the second half of the 19th century. In the 1890s Hartford's streetcar system was extended along Albany Avenue, opening the area to more intensive development. Streets were platted on either side of the road, with many of the house lots sold to individuals who hired builders to put up houses. The houses were of a size and scale designed to appeal to the city's rapidly growing middle class, and had higher quality features than typical worker tenement housing of the period. Keney Park, at the northern end of the district, was established in 1898 by a bequest from businessman Henry Keney, and was one of the attractions whose easy access was promoted by developers.