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.
Buildings at 744–750 Broadway
At the time of Albany's incorporation in 1686, Clinton Avenue was the city's northern boundary. Eighty years later, Stephen Van Rensselaer II, patroon of the surrounding lands, had the area just north of the city surveyed and laid out a grid plan covering the area from Clinton to North Ferry and west from the Hudson River to Northern Boulevard. This became, in 1795, the Town of Colonie.