Bicentennial Plaque No. 29 - The North-East Gate

This bronze tablet is difficult to spot, set flush to the ground and surrounded by greenery in front of SUNY Plaza on Broadway (just north of the marble Independence Day tablet). In warmer weather, the plants almost completely engulf it.   It is, however, close to its original location.  It was first placed in a granite block by the curb in front of the Van Benthuysen Printing & Publishing House which stood at 403 Broadway a few yards to the south.

The inscription on this plaque reads:

On the northeast corner of Broadway, then Court street, and Hudson, then Spanish street, stood the Second City Hall, Erected 1705, in which the Famous Congress of 1754 Met and Prepared a Union of the Several Colonies for Mutual Defense and Security.  The Southeast Gate of the City stood in front, to the south of the City Hall.  To the north of this spot a Bridge crossed, and on this ground was the house where Peter Schuyler, the first and for sixteen successive years Mayor of this City.

The Rutten Kill referenced on this plaque was also known as the Rat Creek and was buried in the 1800s.  It ran through a ravine that was filled in to create parts of Hudson Avenue. 

The Bicentennial Tablets
Bicentennial Plaque No. 1 - Fort Orange
Bicentennial Plaque No. 4 - The Progenitor