Portal:Capital District/Selected article
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The Central Troy Historic District is an irregularly-shaped 96-acre (39 ha) area of downtown Troy, New York, United States. It contains nearly 700 properties in a variety of architectural styles from the early 19th- to mid-20th centuries. In 1986 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), superseding five smaller historic districts that had been listed on the Register in the early 1970s. Most of the buildings, structures and objects within the district contribute to its historic character. Two of Troy's three National Historic Landmarks, the Gurley Building and Troy Savings Bank, are located within its boundaries. Nine other buildings are listed on the Register in their own right. Among the architects represented are Alexander Jackson Davis, George B. Post, Calvert Vaux and Frederick Clarke Withers. There are many buildings by regionally-significant Marcus F. Cummings. The downtown street plan was borrowed from Philadelphia, and one neighborhood, Washington Square, was influenced by London's squares of its era.
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Oakwood Cemetery is a nonsectarian rural cemetery in northeastern Troy, New York, United States. It operates under the direction of the Troy Cemetery Association, a non-profit board of directors that deals strictly with the operation of the cemetery. It was established in 1848 in response to the growing rural cemetery movement in New England and went into service in 1850. The cemetery was designed by architect John C. Sidney and underwent its greatest development in the late 19th century under superintendent John Boetcher, who incorporated rare foliage and a clear landscape design strategy. Oakwood was the fourth rural cemetery opened in New York and its governing body was the first rural cemetery association created in the state.
It features four man-made lakes, two residential structures, a chapel, a crematorium, 24 mausolea, and about 60,000 graves, and has about 29 miles (47 km) of roads. It is known for its dense foliage and rolling lawns, and has historically been used as a public park by Lansingburgh. Lansingburgh is the northern section of Troy, though it progressed separately from Troy. It became a village in 1790 and was annexed as part of the city of Troy in 1900. and Troy residents. Oakwood was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Prominent Americans such as Uncle Sam Wilson, Russell Sage, and Emma Willard, at least fourteen members of the United States House of Representatives, and the founders of both Troy and Lansingburgh are buried at Oakwood. The cemetery has been said to be "one of New York State's most distinguished and well-preserved nineteenth-century rural cemeteries." It also offers a famous panoramic view of the Hudson River Valley that is said to be the "most concentrated and complete overview of American history anywhere in America".
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The Saratoga campaign was an attempt by Great Britain to gain military control of the strategically important Hudson River valley in 1777 during the American Revolutionary War. The primary thrust of the campaign was made by an army of 8,000 men under the command of John Burgoyne from Quebec that moved up Lake Champlain and down the Hudson to Saratoga, New York, where the bulk of the army was forced to surrender after the climactic Battles of Saratoga in September and October.
Burgoyne's effort was unsuccessfully supported by Colonel Barry St. Leger's attempt to move on Albany, New York through the Mohawk River valley. His expedition was forced to retreat after losing Indian support in the siege of Fort Stanwix. A third supporting expedition expected by General Burgoyne never materialized (apparently due to miscommunication on that year's campaign goals) when General William Howe sent his army to take Philadelphia rather than sending a portion of it up the Hudson River from New York City. A late effort to support Burgoyne from New York was made by Sir Henry Clinton in early October, but it did not significantly affect the outcome.
The American victory was an enormous morale boost to the fledgling nation, and it convinced France to enter the conflict in support of the United States, openly providing money, soldiers, and naval support, as well as a wider theater of war.
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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, or RPI, is a private research university located in Troy, New York, United States. It was founded in 1824 by Stephen Van Rensselaer for the "application of science to the common purposes of life", and is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world. Built on a hillside, RPI's 275-acre (111 ha) campus overlooks the historic city of Troy and the Hudson River and is a blend of traditional and modern architecture. The institute operates an on-campus business incubator and the 1,250-acre (510 ha) Rensselaer Technology Park, and is known for its success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace.
RPI's mission has slowly evolved over the years while retaining a focus on the scientific and technological roots upon which it was founded. Over the past century, RPI has grown into a university with 5 schools: The School of Architecture, The School of Engineering, The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, The School of Science, and the Lally School of Management & Technology. All together, the university offers around 140 degree programs in 60 fields leading to bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. RPI consistently ranks in the top 50 among US universities for overall academics and among the top 50 worldwide for technology. Adopted by the Board of Trustees in 1995, RPI's current mission is to "educate the leaders of tomorrow for technologically based careers. We celebrate discovery, and the responsible application of technology, to create knowledge and global prosperity."
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Tech Valley is a marketing moniker for the eastern part of the US state of New York. It includes the Hudson Valley and Capital District, along with portions of the Mohawk Valley and North Country. Originated in 1998 to promote the greater Albany area as a high-tech competitor to regions such as Silicon Valley, it has since grown to represent the counties in New York from IBM's Westchester County plants in the south to the Canadian border to north. Tech Valley encompasses 19 counties.
At first the name Tech Valley was derided as over-enthusiastic self-boosterism, even if the area was already home to science and engineering schools like Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Union College; incubators like the Rensselaer Technology Park; or world-class research and development sites like the Benét Laboratories, GE Global Research, and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. But SEMATECH's decision in 2002 to put its new plant at the University at Albany began Tech Valley's rise in the public's perception. In the 2000s, the area saw notable growth in the high-tech sector, including the addition of SUNY Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, the opening of the Luther Forest Technology Campus, and most recently, the decision by GlobalFoundries to open a chip manufacturing plant near Saratoga Springs.
In an effort to empower the upcoming generation, local leaders and educators saw it fit to open, in 2007, Tech Valley High School, an innovative project-based learning public high school populated by students from across the two BOCES surrounding Albany. Somewhat humorously, in 2004, when Bill Gates was asked by a Times Union reporter what he thought about Tech Valley, Gates responded that he had no idea where it was; two years later, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would donate $400,000 to fund the new high school. Additionally, Hudson Valley Community College will be opening a semiconductor and alternative energy education center in time for the fall 2010 semester, a move that may have been a deciding factor for President Barack Obama to host a speech about higher education, and specifically community colleges, on HVCC's campus in September 2009.
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Fort Ticonderoga, formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century fort built at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in upstate New York in the United States. It was constructed by the French between 1754 and 1757 during the Seven Years' War, often referred to as the French and Indian War in the USA, and was of strategic importance during the 18th-century colonial conflicts between Great Britain and France, and again to a lesser extent during the American Revolutionary War.
The site controlled a river portage alongside the mouth of the rapids-infested La Chute River in the 3.5 miles (5.6 km) between Lake Champlain and Lake George and was strategically placed in conflicts over trade routes between the British-controlled Hudson River Valley and the French-controlled Saint Lawrence River Valley. The terrain amplified the importance of the site. Both lakes were long and narrow, oriented north–south, as were the many ridge lines of the Appalachian Mountains extending as far south as Georgia, creating the near-impassable mountainous terrains to the east and west of the Great Appalachian Valley that the site commanded. The name "Ticonderoga" comes from the Iroquois word tekontaró:ken, meaning "it is at the junction of two waterways".
During the 1758 Battle of Carillon, 4,000 French defenders were able to repel an attack by 16,000 British troops near the fort. In 1759, the British returned and drove a token French garrison from the fort merely by occupying high ground that threatened the fort. During the American Revolutionary War, the fort again saw action in May 1775 when the Green Mountain Boys and other state militia under the command of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured it in a surprise attack. The Americans held it until June 1777, when British forces under General John Burgoyne again occupied high ground above the fort and threatened the Continental Army troops, leading them to withdraw from the fort and its surrounding defenses.
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The 2009 special election for the 20th congressional district of New York was held on 31 March 2009 between Democrat Scott Murphy and Republican Jim Tedisco. On 24 April, after recounts of absentee ballots took place, Tedisco conceded the election. The congressional vacancy had occurred when New York Governor David Paterson appointed the former Congresswoman representing the 20th district, Kirsten Gillibrand, to the United States Senate in January, replacing Hillary Clinton, who resigned to become United States Secretary of State.
Traditionally, the district leaned conservative and was considered a safe Republican seat until it became a swing district when Blue Dog Democrat Gillibrand defeated incumbent John E. Sweeney in 2006. As of 1 November 2008[update], the Republican Party held an enrollment advantage of 70,632 registered voters across the district, down from a 93,337 voter advantage when the district lines were drawn by the New York State Legislature in 2002. In 2004, George W. Bush carried the district by an 8-point margin, although he lost statewide by a substantial margin.
In 2008, Gillibrand had been reelected with 61% of the vote (an increased margin over her win in 2006). Additionally, Democratic President Barack Obama carried the district against Republican nominee Senator John McCain by a margin of 50.7%-47.7%, or by approximately 10,000 votes of over 330,000 cast in the district.
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U.S. Route 4 (US 4) is a part of the U.S. Highway System that runs from East Greenbush, New York, to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In the U.S. state of New York, US 4 extends 79.75 miles (128.35 km) from an intersection with US 9 and US 20 in East Greenbush to the Vermont state line northeast of Whitehall. While the remainder of US 4 east of New York is an east–west route, US 4 in New York is signed north–south due to the alignment the route takes through the state. The portion of the route between Waterford and Whitehall is part of the Lakes to Locks Passage, an All-American Road.
US 4 was assigned in 1926 and initially extended from Glens Falls to the Vermont border near Whitehall by way of Hudson Falls. The route utilized part of NY 30, a highway assigned in 1924. US 4 was extended southward to its present terminus in East Greenbush as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. The portion of US 4 between the northern city line of Mechanicville and the eastern village line of Whitehall is designated as the Turning Point Trail.
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The Albany City Hall is the seat of government of the city of Albany, New York. It houses the office of the mayor, the Common Council chamber, the city and traffic courts, as well as other city services. The current building was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson in his particular Romanesque style and opened in 1883 at 24 Eagle Street between Corning Place (then Maiden Lane) and Pine Street. It is a rectangular, three-and-a-half-story building with a 202-foot (62 m) tall tower at its southwest corner. The tower contains one of the only municipal carillons in the country.
Albany's first city hall was the Stadt Huys, built by the Dutch at the intersection of Broadway and Hudson Avenue probably in the 1660s, though possibly earlier. It was probably replaced around 1740 with a larger building, which continued to be known as the Stadt Huys. In 1754, the Stadt Huys was the location of the Albany Congress, where Benjamin Franklin presented the Albany Plan of Union, the first proposal to unite the British American colonies. In 1797 Albany was declared the state capital of New York and the New York Legislature made its home in Albany's city hall. In 1809 the Legislature opened the first New York State Capitol and Albany's government moved in with the Legislature. After purchasing a plot of land at the eastern terminus of Washington Avenue, across Eagle Street from the capitol, the city government moved in to a new city hall designed by Philip Hooker in 1832.
In 1880 Hooker's city hall was destroyed by fire and a new design was commissioned by Henry Richardson; the building opened in 1883. The new city hall still stands and is a fine example of Richardson's unique Romanesque style. Architectural critics consider the building to have been designed around the high point of Richardson's career. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 4, 1972.
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The Port of Albany–Rensselaer, widely known as the Port of Albany, is a major port operating year-round on both sides of the Hudson River within Albany and Rensselaer, New York. The name Port of Albany-Rensselaer came into use in 1925, though separate private and public port facilities have existed in both cities since the 17th century. The Albany Basin and Erie Canal were both constructed with public funds in 1825 leading to a huge boost in the shipping industry. The current port location was constructed in 1932 under Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt. Public and private facilities not owned by the Port of Albany continue to exist in both cities, though they tend to be recreational and non-commercial.
The Port of Albany consists of roughly 236 acres (96 ha), of which approximately 202 acres (82 ha) are in Albany and 34 acres (14 ha) in Rensselaer. It is 124 nautical miles (230 km) north of New York Harbor. From New York Harbor to the Federal Dam three miles (5 km) north of Albany, the Hudson River is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. The Hudson has a deep water shipping channel 400 feet (120 m) across, and at Albany the river is 700 feet (210 m) across with a maximum 31 feet (9.4 m) saltwater draft and a mean range of tides of 4.7 feet (1.4 m). The port is at sea level.
Since the founding of Albany in 1624 as a trading post, shipping has been important to its growth and prosperity. Furs (especially beaver), timber, and farm produce were important exports while European people and goods were shipped in. The Dongan Charter, which established Albany as a city, made Albany the exclusive market town in the upper Hudson River Valley. From its beginning the port consisted of hastily-built docks built every spring and destroyed every winter by erosion, flooding, ice, and tidal action. Three city-owned docks were established in 1766, the northern and southern ones later being expanded into wharves.
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Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. At roughly 150 miles (240 km) north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, approximately 10 miles (16 km) south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. The city had an estimated population of 93,539 in 2008 and the population of the greater metropolitan area was estimated at 857,592 in 2009. Albany is the oldest continuously chartered city in the United States. The city was founded by the Dutch in 1614, but taken over by the English in 1664, at which time it received its current name in honor of the Duke of Albany. Albany was chartered as a city in 1686 and was one of the top ten most populous cities in the nation until 1860; it became the state capital in 1797. The city played an important role in advancements in transportation during the 19th century. Albany saw the longest tenure of any US city mayor with Erastus Corning 2nd. The city's current economy is based mainly in higher education, government, health care, and an emerging high-tech sector. Albany is a two-time winner of the All-America City Award (1991 and 2009).
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The Dongan Charter is the 1686 document incorporating Albany, New York as a city. Albany's charter was issued by Governor Thomas Dongan of the Province of New York, a few months after Governor Dongan issued a similarly worded, but less detailed charter for the city of New York. The city of Albany was created three years after Albany County. The charter is the oldest existing city charter still in force in the United States and possibly in all the Western Hemisphere. In 1936 the United States Congress commemorated the charter's 250th anniversary by minting a half dollar coin.
