Everything Old Albany On Flickr

 For an extensive collection of Albany photos - ranging from long-demolished buildings to vintage advertisements (and everything in between), visit the Albany...The Way It Was group archive on Flickr.

Thousands of photographs are sorted into albums by topic (such as Civil War, Washington Park, Banks, Maps, and more).  It's a treasury worth exploring.

Also, for terrific discussions on Albany history, please consider joining the Facebook group.

Henry Johnson To Receive Medal of Honor

The long effort to posthumously award Henry Johnson the Medal of Honor for his service in World War I has been successful. 

Article from All Over Albany

Seriously Endangered Church of The Holy Innocents

 

In 1850, Albany lumber baron William H. DeWitt built a memorial to four of his children who died quite young.  In addition to a splendid marble tombstone in the Albany Rural Cemetery, DeWitt also erected a little stone church in their memory; the Church of the Holy Innocents.

Built at the corner of North Pearl and Colonie Streets, it was a short walk from the DeWitt home to the church which was designed by Frank Wills.  In the 1860s, a matching chapel was added to the south side; this addition designed by Edward Ogden and William L. Woolett.

Holy Innocents served as an Episcopal church until the late 1940s.  Until 1980, it was home to a Russian Orthodox congregation (hence the distinctive blue "onion dome" which replaced the original steeple and bell around 1960.

Vacant since 1980 and currently owned by Hope House, this beautiful building has suffered greatly from neglect.  It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and cited by the Historic Albany Foundation as one of the city's most endangered buildings, it is also one of the oldest church structures in Albany.  

 

Yesterday, the rear wall of the church collapsed.  Despite the damage and the decades of neglect, Historic Albany Foundation states that the building can be stabilized and saved.

Albany is one of the oldest and most historic cities in the United States, but much of our tangible history has been lost to neglect and demolition.  Several years ago, the equally historic Trinity Church was demolished after part of the structure caved in. 

Please, let's not lose the Church of The Holy Innocents, too.  Call the City of Albany and let them know this historic church must be stabilized and saved, not reduced to yet another empty lot and yet another empty hole in the city's cultural and historic fabric.

Office of The Mayor, City of Albany - 518-434-5100
Hope House (current owners of the site) - 518-482-4673 - Kevin Connally, Executive Director


Photos are from the Albany...The Way It Was collection on Flickr

Albany...The Way It Was Facebook Group
Albany...The Way It Was on Flickr

Times Union article

The Gravestone of Jeremiah Field - A Mystery Solved

An historic gravestone, long described as discarded, in fact rests in the Church Grounds lot of the Albany Rural Cemetery.

Jeremiah Field and The Headstone Believed To Be Lost.

The Step Stone of The Church

Volume One of Joel Munsell's Annals of Albany contains a description of an old stone which marked the location of the First Dutch Church on Broadway near the foot of State Street.  The stone survived until 1850.  The stone - or at least an artistic rendering of it - is the kidney-shaped object near the left side of the "very rude engraving" above (click to enlarge).

The Virginia Bowers Memorial Sculpture

This wonderful sculpture made from original trolley tracks removed from Delaware Avenue honors the late Virginia Bowers, Albany historian.  It's a whimsical creation with metal birds in its branches and stands behind the Delaware Avenue branch of the Albany Public Library.  If you'd like to buy a brick to be placed around the sculpture, they are $50 each and can be ordered here.

For more on Virginia Bowers, see this brief profile.

An Uncommon Thrill - When The Hilton Sisters Came To Albany

 

Violet and Daisy Hilton

 In 1934, Daisy and Violet Hilton brought their vaudeville act to Albany.

Audiences at the Capitol Theater in Albany are getting an uncommon thrill these days, "The Hilton Sisters," American Siamese Twins," born at San Antonio, Texas, are appearing on the stage with their "Double Rhythm Revue" and are also meeting with the audience personally in the foyer to chat with patrons and present their autographs.

The Hilton Sisters, who are making an unfortunate accident of birth pay them back what it can by their stage appearances are also good entertainers.  They sing, play musical instruments and dance with male partners.

The June 4 edition of the Schenectady Gazette didn't get it quite right.  Daisy and Violet Hilton were not born in San Antonio, but in Brighton, England on February 5, 1908.  The illegitimate daughters of an unwed barmaid, the infant girls were fused together at the pelvis and, while they did not share any major organs, they did share a circulatory system and it was thought at the time that surgical separation could cause one or both girls to bleed to death.  Immediately after their birth, the twins were taken by their mother's boss, Mary Hilton.  Mary Hilton and her husband (always referred to as "Sir") raised the girls with plans to exploit their connection for profit.  They oversaw the girls' early training as singers and dancers, but kept them under control with threats and abuse.  The girls began their show business careers at the age of three when Mary Hilton and Sir took them on tour through Germany, Australia, and the United States.  Mrs. Hilton died in Birmingham and left control of Daisy and Violet to Mary Myers.  Mrs Myers took them to San Antonio and continued the girls' musical training.  The abusive control of every aspect of the twins' lives also continued until 1931 when the twenty-one year old sisters sued their "managers."  They succeeded in their suit, gaining their freedom from Mary Myers and her husband along with $100,000 in compensation.

 Advertisements like this appeared in the Albany, Troy, and Schenectady newspapers.

The Hilton Sisters took charge of their own careers, touring the country with a vaudeville act.  In 1934, their "Double Rhythm Revue" came to Albany.