Capital District (New York)
The Capital District is notable for many historical events that predate the independence of the United States, including the Albany Plan of Union and the Battles of Saratoga.[citation needed] The Capital District is a part of the area marketed under the name "Tech Valley" in recognition of the technology companies that have moved to the region.[13] Conflict soon ensued between the French and Dutch for control of the fur trade and both made alliances with different Native American tribes.[16] The Dutch, and then the English, maintained focus on settlement and farming while the French incursion into this area was limited to hunting for furs, trading with the natives, and building a few forts.Hudson, in Columbia County, was purchased from the natives in 1662 by Dutch farmers and speculators but did not see actual settlement and growth until 1783 when New Englanders, mainly from southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, arrived.[25] Tryon County was large: it encompassed the lands from five miles (8 km) west of Schenectady to the western indeterminate boundary of the Province of New York.Their completion connected the area to the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River, leading to a large influx in industrialization and immigration.[citation needed] Troy became famous for its iron works due to Burden Iron Works,[31] though later Troy would earn the nickname of "Collar City" due to Cluett, Peabody & Co., which made Arrow brand shirts at the largest collar, cuff, and shirt factory in the world at the time.The nature of this industry lent itself to the creation of many labor-saving inventions, such as the horseshoe machine of Henry Burden, the pre-shrinking fabric machines of Sanford Cluett, the power knitting loom of Timothy Bailey, the railroad air-brake of George Westinghouse, and the hundreds of electricity-related improvements of General Electric Company scientists.Watervliet, Cohoes, and especially Troy lost a competitive edge that came with being at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers: the location no longer meant better access to markets, waterfalls no longer made the cheapest power, and cheap labor in the southern and western parts of the nation became important to companies.A modern expansion of Crossgates Mall in 1994 attracted luxury retailer Lord & Taylor as an anchor, as well as another Macy's to the area.[citation needed] Capitalizing on young professionals’ growing interest in living in walkable urban downtowns, the City of Albany has countered the shift to the suburbs with an apartment building boom.[47] Since 2002, the Capitalize Albany Corp. has been fueling the downtown residential strategy by allocating resources to building owners, developers and investors.[48] In the early 2000s, the effort started with a series of small luxury apartment projects on Albany's North Pearl[49][50][51] and State Streets[52][53][54] and later expanded to several major developments both in downtown and just beyond it.In the 20 years since its creation in 1998, Schenectady's Metroplex Development Authority leveraged $249 million in sales tax revenues and grants to support 700 projects with a value of $1.3 billion and 8,000 jobs.The Capital District has a humid continental climate, with cold, snowy winters, and hot, wet summers.The region stands at a temperate sweet spot in New York State, annually receiving on average much less snow than other upstate metro areas and much less precipitation than downstate cities.Snowfall is significant, totaling about 63 inches annually,[70] but with less accumulation than the lake-effect areas to the north and west, being far enough from Lake Ontario.The tradition stems from when Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd got a city ordinance passed declaring the tulip as Albany's official flower on July 1, 1948.[87] PolishFest is a three-day celebration of Polish culture in the Capital District, held in the town of Colonie for the past eight years.[94] The Capital District has many museums, historical sites, art galleries, and festivals that stretch back to the 17th century.Potato chips were invented by African-American/Native American chef George Crum, at the Moon Lake Lodge's restaurant in Saratoga Springs.[109] Tech Valley encompasses 19 counties straddling both sides of the Adirondack Northway and the New York Thruway,[108] and with heavy state taxpayer subsidy, has experienced significant growth in the computer hardware side of the high-technology industry, with great strides in the nanotechnology sector, digital electronics design, and water- and electricity-dependent integrated microchip circuit manufacturing.[111] Fueled by its urban counties (Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Saratoga), the region is one of only 51 metros in the nation where businesses annually spend more than $1 billion on R&D.[114] The Albany-Schenectady-Troy NY Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget.The MSA includes Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, and Schoharie counties; this area makes up a large portion of the Capital District.[130] Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy is the oldest continuously existing technical university in the English-speaking world.[131] Albany has long been at the forefront of transportation technology from the days of turnpikes and plank roads to the Erie Canal, from the first passenger railroad in the state to the oldest municipal airport in the nation.Today, Interstates, Amtrak, and the Albany International Airport continue to make the Capital District a major crossroads of the Northeastern United States.[136] Nine of the 11 counties in the Capital District make up the Upper Hudson Region as defined by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
capitalCity of AlbanyCountryUnited StatesNew YorkAlbanyAmsterdamBallston SpaCatskillCohoesGlens FallsGloversvilleHudsonJohnstownMechanicvilleMenandsRensselaerSaratoga SpringsSchenectadySouth Glens FallsWaterfordWatervlietCountiesColumbiaFultonGreeneMontgomerySaratogaSchoharieWarrenWashingtonTime zoneUTC−5UTC−4518, 838Downstate New YorkNew York CityLong IslandHudson ValleyUpstate New YorkCapital DistrictNorth CountrySouthern TierMohawk ValleyCentral New YorkFinger LakesWestern New YorkAdministrative divisionsCitiesIndian reservationsVillagesCensus-designated placesPlaces (including hamlets)metropolitan areaAlbany Plan of UnionBattles of SaratogaShaker settlementTech ValleynicknamesCanada–US borderOrange CountyHenry HudsonsailedHudson RiverSamuel ChamplainLake ChamplainLake GeorgeNative AmericantribesKiliaen van RensselaerManor of RensselaerswyckpatroonshipFort CarillonFort William HenryChamplain ValleyDongan CharterGovernorThomas DonganSchaghticokeFort HunterMontgomery CountyArent van CurlerSchuylervilleColumbia CountyNew EnglandersMassachusettsRhode IslandFrench and Indian WarAmerican RevolutionBattle of SaratogaStillwaterPhilip SchuylerWhitehallBenedict ArnoldBattle of Valcour IslandUnited States NavyFultonvilleFulton CountyIroquoisSullivan ExpeditionCherry Valley MassacreOtsego CountyTimeline of town creation in New York's Capital DistrictAlbany CountyProvince of New YorkCharlotte CountyTryon CountyOtsegoUlsterWaterwheelBurden Iron WorksChamplainGreat LakesSaint Lawrence RiverMohawk and Hudson Railroad CompanyAlbany and Schenectady RailroadErastus CorningNew York Central RailroadCornelius VanderbiltHarmony MillsThomas EdisonEdison Machine WorksGeneral Electric CompanySchenectady Locomotive WorksAmerican Locomotive CompanyHenry Burden