in class activities

I choose this particular area because lark street and Madison right now have a lot of bars and restaurant. But this particular area is now currently a Dunkin Donuts and a parking lot, more or less. Back then in was a gas station in which there is one on the opposite side of Madison St. I don’t thing there was much entertainment back then, but now Lark street is best know for their bars and grub places to catch a bite to eat. I wonder how much was gas back then, was it expensive for the people at that time. Also I think what kind of night life or restaurant were there during those years. Was there much going on the neighborhood and when did the neighborhood transition to becoming what it is now today.

This is the New York State Capital, which hold so much responsibilities and politician. The interesting thing is in 1871 the location of the New York State Capital was 1 and a half block away from its current location. Compare to my previous source, these are one the few places that change over the years. These two places might not have much in common but are two location if someone is visitng Albany for the first time should take time out to experience these places. Grab a bite to eat at lark, then head out to the Capital building for a tour and many more.

https://public.tableau.com/shared/5C9GCMXXN?:display_count=no
https://public.tableau.com/shared/WQ7N96GCF?:display_count=no

I actually chose 4 embeds, the reason being that I really wanted to emphasis what types of places surrounded my main embed which was The Albany Female School. This was a school that opened in 1814, within a little less then a century a W.T Grant Department Store, Albany Art Union and Woolworth would open nearby. It is not that I am curious about why these stories but rather curious on the matter of was this done intentionally or not? Because businesses/ owners knew the school would be filled with young and older women did this have a stronger sway in their decisions to open up their said businesses. This type of situation is one that I believe happens a lot now-a-days, for example when I was in high school their was a monopoly on the deli’s/ food establishments that were close by. One could find pizza, Checkers, Dunkin Donuts, etc and I would like to think the reason this was done so was because these places knew that students liked to get food before, during and after class. I’m interested in the similarities I can find with the embeds I found compared to times now.

I chose these three embedded topics because I am interested in Albany pre and post revolutionary war, and pre civil war era. I am interested in how Albany contributed during the Revolutionary war, politically and economically, how Albany itself was affected by the Revolutionary war, and afterwards. I am interested in how Albany would influence politics in the newly independent America, and the grounds it would serve for helping build a strong nation united under one government. I am also interested in why Albany was ultimately named the state capital of New York.

sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albany_Plan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Albany,_New_York_(1664%E2%80%931784)
http://www.historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HM186B_nsdar-revolutionary-soldiers-memorial_Albany-NY.html

currently changing topic:
http://undergroundrailroadhistory.org/underground-railroad-sites-in-the-city-of-albany/

I chose the Museum Corner because I was interested in what type of amusement it offered. I found it impressive that it was the leading theater for several years. It was also damaged by fire several times and that makes me wonder what caused several fires as well as how extensive the damage was. I also want to know why the decision to convert the museum into offices was made since it was the leading theater. I also selected Fort Orange because I noticed that it was occupied by military of the west India company. This one of the few historic markers in Albany that involves the natives. Lastly I chose Washington parks historic district because that’s the city’s biggest park. I find it interesting that the land was preserved for a purpose. I also wasn’t aware that the boundary had increased just last year.

http://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/74?tour=5&index=1#.VsNKRPkrIdU
http://clevelandhistorical.org/tours/show/15#.VsNMAvkrIdU

The topic I to search for was the military history in Albany. I have a particular interest in Military history and as it turns out, Albany has a pretty significant military history. One of the posts I took a look at was the Armory on Washington Ave. It was built in 1890 and was the first National Guard unit in the city. This is interesting because of how large the National Guard has grown today. And this unit was also activated to fight during the Spanish – American War. The second post that I took a look at was where the West India Company had a colony and a military fort called Fort Orange. It was established in 1624 and I just think that it is really cool that we have documentation of the military presence from that long ago, well before the revolutionary war. A third post I looked at was of a specific road that the British Army General John Burgoyne used to enter Albany as a prisoner of war after the battle of Saratoga in 1777. I took particular interest in this post because I know that the Battle of Saratoga was a very important one and was a turning point in the Revolutionary War. It played a vital role in America gaining its independence. It’s very interesting to know that the British General and his army who surrendered passed through these streets as prisoners and the whole event was so well documented that they can recall the very street they traveled through.

I picked these three mainly because I want to see how many breweries survived prohibition and then how they died. I live next to Yuengling brewery (America’s Oldest) and they came up with pretty great and creative ways to stay afloat through American prohibition. It interests me to know if and how any Albany Breweries stayed afloat through prohibition. Also, it would be pretty cool to know what an Albany lager tastes like compared to an average american lager. Also, what would have the Albany economy have been like if prohibition never took place. Would the beer culture have stayed in Albany? Would it look like modern day Denver with micro-breweries popping up all the time?

I am interested in the bars and clubs that were once in Albany because since I have been here I have noticed that there is a limited selection. Everyone that I know from here tells me that there used to be so many places to go and things to do but most of them are gone. I want to write about why that is and if state legislatures had anything to do with the closing of these bars and clubs or was it all financial issues?

This particular hotel stood out to me because of the name. I atteneded DeWitt Clinton HS and have been somewhat fond of the history about him as a person and why things such as schools and hotels were named after him. I would like to compare his hotel to maybe one other and talk about differences and similarities between the two.

My long term goal is to become a principal but in order to reach that goal, having teaching experience is necessary and that drew me in to wanting to learn more about Mrs. Simmons. She was a teacher and I would like to learn more about what subject she taught, what made her become a teacher and what she did after her teaching career.

I can see my house from here! I live on this corner now, and it looks much different, although the corner shop is still there- the only difference being that it’s now a wine store (and a very nice one, at that). I think I’d like to see a more updated picture next to the older one, to see how much has changed, because I can’t actually see my house from here- it looks like it hasn’t even been built yet. It would be interesting (and perhaps more relevant to some people) to see a comparison between what certain buildings looked like then vs. now.

I chose to look at synagogues because my professor Dr. Barry Trachtenburg contributed much of the information available. I would suggest that the information provides a bit more insight into what exactly Ohav Sholom is and maybe a photo of the synagogue today.

This one was definitely a hidden gem. This address has one of the longer description boxes. The photo included on the post seems to be older than the one available on Google Maps, whose copyright is from 2016 (the flickr photo is copyrighted from 2013, so I assume it’s the more outdated photo). I can’t suggest anything more to be included, because it’s pretty inclusive. It even mentions that a registered sex offender possible lives in the building, what more could you ask for?

My three choices are all over the place. The first two come directly from the Albany Flickr page and the third from our interactive map. Henry Johnson was such an important figure in Albany’s history. Henry Johnson Blvd. is named after him! During World War One he was attached an all black regiment out of Harlem, if I remember correctly. He was on guard duty when roughly a dozen German soldiers came across his post on a probing mission. Though he was outnumbered so greatly he and a fellow soldier fought back the attack despite numerous wounds and running out of ammo. He eventually had to resort to hand-to-hand combat and is credited with stopping a larger potential attack. My uncle was present at the White House ceremony in which he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor this past year so I have a connection to him which is great!

The next two photos I chose simply because they looked interesting or odd. I guess I have a fascination with bridges and seeing the old images of when the Dunn Memorial first opened was cool. As a kid I always hung around our local firehouse so seeing a picture in which a group of firefighters actually lose all water is interesting, and scary.

Connection to Cleveland Historical: http://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/748#.VsNKG1KnbcA

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2783709?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Ff6%3Dall%26amp%3Bc2%3DAND%26amp%3Bc1%3DAND%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bq3%3D%26amp%3Bsd%3D%26amp%3Bf4%3Dall%26amp%3Bq2%3D%26amp%3Bq5%3D%26amp%3Bisbn%3D%26amp%3Bq4%3D%26amp%3Bc5%3DAND%26amp%3Bf0%3Dall%26amp%3Bq6%3D%26amp%3Bf5%3Dall%26amp%3Bc4%3DAND%26amp%3Bf1%3Dall%26amp%3Bf2%3Dall%26amp%3Bc3%3DAND%26amp%3Bc6%3DAND%26amp%3Bf3%3Dall%26amp%3Bed%3D%26amp%3Bq1%3D%2522arson%2522%26amp%3Bpt%3D%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone%26amp%3Bla%3D%26amp%3Bq0%3D%2522albany%2Bnew%2Byork%2522&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/capitolfire/fire/index.html

https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/doc/fire1793.html

http://www3.gendisasters.com/category/united-states/new-york

Walking Tour Locations Ideas:

Washington Park Rd, Albany, NY (Souteast Corner of Washington Park) – The Battle of Henry Johnson Memorial

195 Washington Ave, Albany, NY – Washington Avenue Armory

99 Washington Ave, Albany, NY – George Washington Traveled Down This Road on His Tour of the Mohawk Valley

142 State St, Albany, NY (Intersection of State and Eagle) – Fort Frederick

8 S Pearl St, Albany, NY – Birthplace of American Union

USS Slater, Quay St, Albany, NY – USS Slater

32 Catherine St, Albany, NY – Schuyler Mansion

 

The first thing I found really interesting on the map was Richard Allanson. He was a white architect in the early 1800’s in Albany. I thought it was interesting because he was the only architect that I saw and looking at the Flickr slideshow there were a lot of interesting buildings and things like the Rensselaer Bridge. The Flickr album in general connected to Allanson was interesting to me. The next thing I found that I thought was interesting was General George Washington traveling down a road that is about a block away from modern day Washington Avenue in the late 1700’s. I am on Washington Avenue almost daily and to realize George Washington was traveling similar roads around 200 years ago is kind of crazy to think about. The last thing that I found that I thought was probably to most interesting thing I had seen was the birth of the American Union. In a site in downtown Albany in 1754 Benjamin Franklin proposed the first formal plan of Nation Union to Congress. I honestly never knew that Albany was ever holding meetings of Congress. The idea of a formal union for America happened not far from where I am sitting right now.

I found a tour on Cleveland’s Historical Tour site about the Civil War in Cleveland. This relates to the military nature of downtown Albany I was looking at. It is not really within the same time period, but Cleveland also has military history in it’s city.