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SCHENECTADY

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 320 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SCHENECTADY , a See also:

city and the See also:county-seat of Schenectady county, New See also:York, U.S.A., about 16 m. N.W. of See also:Albany, on the See also:Mohawk See also:river and the See also:Erie See also:Canal. Pop. (189o) 19,902; (1900) 31,682, of whom 7169 were See also:foreign-See also:born; (1910, See also:census) 72,826. Schenectady is served by the New York Central & See also:Hudson River, and the See also:Delaware & Hudson See also:railways, and by interurban electric lines connecting with Albany, See also:Troy, See also:Saratoga, See also:Amsterdam, See also:Johnstown and See also:Gloversville. The city has a See also:fine situation about 230 ft. above the See also:sea. It, is a See also:place of much historic See also:interest, and has many examples of See also:quaint Dutch colonial and See also:early See also:American See also:architecture. There is an See also:Indian See also:monument on the site of the " old fort." Schenectady is the seat of See also:Union See also:College (undenominational), which See also:grew out of the Schenectady See also:Academy (1784), was chartered in 1795, and comprises the See also:academic and See also:engineering departments of Union University, the medical (1838), See also:law (1851) and See also:pharmacy (1881) departments of which are at Albany, where also is the See also:Dudley See also:Observatory (1852), which is under the See also:control of the university. Schenectady is a manufacturing centre of growing importance; here are the See also:main See also:works of the See also:General Electric See also:Company, manufacturers of See also:electrical implements, apparatus, See also:motors and supplies, and of the American See also:Locomotive Company. Together they give employment to about So% of the wage-earners of the city. Among other manufactures are See also:hosiery and knit goods, overalls and suspenders, hardware, See also:lumber, See also:oils and varnishes, gasoline See also:fire engines, See also:mica insulators, agricultural implements, and wagons and carriages. The See also:capital invested in manufacturing See also:industries in 1905 was $22,050,746, and the value of the factory product was $33,084,431, an increase of 87.9% since 1900.

According to tradition Schenectady stands on the site of the See also:

chief See also:village of the Mohawk See also:Indians, and its name, of which there are many different spellings in early records, is probably of Indian origin; on an early See also:map (1665) it appears as Scanacthade. Arendt See also:Van Corlaer, or Curler (d. 1667),' while manager of the estates of his See also:cousin, the patroon, Killian Van See also:Rensselaer, visited the site in 1642, and in 1662, being dissatisfied with conditions on the See also:Manor, he led a See also:band of settlers here. Their See also:allegiance was directly to the Dutch See also:West See also:India Company, and they enjoyed 1 Van Corlaer had emigrated to See also:America about 163o; while manager of Rensselaerwyck he had earned the confidence of the Indians, among whom " Corlaer " became a generic See also:term for the See also:English See also:governors, and especially the governors of New York. a greater degree of freedom, especially commercial freedom, than had been possible on the Manor. The See also:land was See also:purchased from the Mohawks. To each of the fifteen See also:original proprietors, except Van Corlaer, who received a See also:double portion, was assigned a village See also:lot 200 ft. sq., a See also:tract of bottom-land for farming purposes, a See also:strip of woodland, and See also:common pasture rights. Many of the early settlers were well-to-do and brought their slaves with them, and for many years the See also:settlement was reputed the richest in the See also:colony. It received a serious set-back in 169o, when on the 9th of See also:February a force of See also:French and Indians surprised and burned the village, massacred sixty of the inhabitants and carried See also:thirty into captivity. The village was rebuilt in the following See also:year, and a military See also:post was established. About 1700 there was a considerable influx of English settlers. In 1748 the French and Indians again descended on the region and killed many of the inhabitants of the outlying settlement at Beukendaal, 3 as.

N.W. of Schenectady. Schenectady became a chartered See also:

borough in 1765 and a city in 1798. The first newspaper, the See also:Gazette, was established in 1799. For some years after the completion of the Erie Canal, Schenectady, which had formerly been an important See also:depot of the Mohawk river See also:boat See also:trade to the westward, suffered a decline. The first two railways in the See also:state made Schenectady their See also:terminus, the Mohawk & Hudson opening to Albany in See also:September 1831 and the Saratoga & Schenectady in See also:July 1832; the original station of the Mohawk & Hudson is still See also:standing. It was not, however, until its new manufacturing era began, about 188o, that Schenectady's See also:modern growth and prosperity began. See See also:Jonathan See also:Pearson, A See also:History of Schenectady Patent in the Dutch and English Times (Albany, 1883) ; G. S. See also:Roberts, Old Schenectady (Schenectady, 19o4); and G. R. See also:Howell and J. H.

Munsell, History of the County of Schenectady (Albany, 1887).

End of Article: SCHENECTADY

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SCHENKEL, DANIEL (1813—1885)

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