DURANT’S AMAZING 1833 BALLOON “ASCENSION”
Charles Ferson Durant, (Born Sept. 19, 1805 – died, Mar. 2, 1873) has been called “America’s First Aeronaut,” and the “father of air leafleting.” (Balloon flight…
ALBANY’S WWII HONOR ROLLS
Beginning in 1942, Service Clubs and Honor Roll Clubs began to pop up around the city, organized to do whatever they could for those boys in…
What Was There: 846 Madison Avenue
The area we call Ontario Street was mostly farmland throughout most of the 1800’s. Sometime around 1888, Mary Miles sold the southwest corner of Madison…
What Was There: 1470 Western Avenue
The evolution of 1470 Western Avenue, all the same building, with modifications over the years: 1. Aunt Jemima’s Kitchen (1962) Aunt Jemima’s Kitchen, a creation…
What Was There: 182 Elm Street
This little ex-storefront at the corner of Elm and South Swan Streets (182 Elm) was a neighborhood stalwart for over 50 years. It was once home…
Selfridge & Langford
Edward Langford, who became a veteran Central Avenue businessman, was born in England shortly after his mother returned from a visit to America. His family moved…
Pete Williams, the King of Capitaland Country
Pete Williams is (was?) a country vocalist from Schenectady, NY. He was a member of a road show with Horace Heidt for a farm implement company,…
ALBANY’S RUNAWAY APARTMENT BOOM: 2019
They’re everywhere! To help get a handle on overwhelming scope of this trend, I’ve compiled an incomplete listing of recently-developed apartments, apartments in development, and proposed…
The Douw Building: A Collateral Demolition
The Douw Building was at 36 State Street, on the corner of Broadway. Built 1842, it once housed the mercantile establishment of Voickert Peter Douw. The…
A Glamour Girl and Her Pig
Barbara Pepper was born Marion Pepper in 1915 at the Astor Hotel in the heart of New York’s theatrical section. Her father, David M. Pepper, was…
Doc Circe Died For Our Sins 