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ALBANY, N.Y.
Albany was first visited by the French fur traders,
'
. 1524
the discovery of the mouth of the Hudson River by
. barterinfr
made expeditions to the head of naviKation for the purpo
fortified
with the Indians. About 1540 they began the
^ of the
trading post on Castle Island, which then stood at
main-
river near Rensselaer, though it has since become a p
land.
It was well located to secure the traffic of
in^^ssSJle
of the Mohawk near its mouth at Cohoes,
^ carry from the
for the canoes of the Indians, and
Albany Thus
Mohawk at Schenectady ran overland to
®j.eat routes of travel
Albany, in the earliest times, was the junction of great roures
to the north and west, as it is today.
In 1624, the Dutch West
'in America? sent Lt
rated in 1621, for the special purpose
inland where Albany
thirty families who built Fort Orange on
now stands.
Finding the sending of
o|'^g??nting ^mlnorial rights,
India Company in 1629
,i,i, system a large part of the
known as the Patroon system. Under this system a i t p
region about Albany was settled.
Ki.iean Van Rensselaer
/-f^eTudir/tTe
i?Lra:S'L''gr?ts^=otnTsa^^n^?^^6?o;^^^ it Rensselaerwyck.
_
.
o*v,ori fVkP district immediately surrounding
In 16B2 Peter Stuyvesant
Beaver District Village.
Fort Orange, "PorP
New Netherlands to the English, the
^"an;?^tks"XntV?rXn°;. ^N^£yoarsJater,^wh^ D^utch^again
bufi"n1he°fol~g ?ea'r 16^4, it pkssed back to the English and was
again called Albany.
Albany was chartered as «/"3tl?,tusratd%\a?e'"oT?efu\"e'
Indian war, the city was a military
gtockade embraced a large
made secure by fort and stockade The
present
section, reaching
''.^'''Lrederick'was built, to the banks of
Capitol where about 1676, Fort breaencK
^
the
the river, and from the site of the Union Station
present junction of South Pearl and
. i
the greater part
of defense, completed in the spring of 1^60 included the
of the present business section of Albany. At no t
, pontinentai
or even assaulted. Here, in 1754, was held the first
congress, commissioners of seven colonies meeting ^nnitnl of the
of permanent union. In 1797, Albany was made the capitol of the
State.
The celebration in 1886 of the bi-centennial of the
ration brought into prominence many events of historical interest,
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