Schenectady, New York

When first encountered by Europeans, the Mohawk Valley was the territory of the Mohawk nation, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, or Haudenosaunee. They had occupied territory in the region since at least 1100 AD. Starting in the early 1600s, the Mohawks moved their settlements closer to the river, and by 1629, they had also taken over territories on the Hudson River's west bank that were formerly held by the Algonquian-speaking Mahican people. of Schenectady from 1882 In the 1640s, the Mohawk had three major villages, all on the Mohawk River's south side. The easternmost one was Ossernenon, about 9 miles west of present-day Auriesville, New York. When Dutch settlers developed Fort Orange (present-day Albany, New York) in the Hudson Valley beginning in 1614, the Mohawk called their settlement skahnéhtati, also transliterated to Sche-negh-ta-da, meaning "beyond the pines", referring to a large area of pine barrens between the Mohawk settlements and the Hudson River. About 3,200 acres of this unique ecosystem are now protected as the Albany Pine Bush. Eventually, the word entered the lexicon of the Dutch settlers. The settlers in Fort Orange used skahnéhtati to refer to the new village at the Mohawk flats (see below), which became known as Schenectady (with a variety of spellings). In 1661, Arendt van Corlaer (later Van Curler), a Dutch immigrant, bought a large piece of land on the Mohawk River's south side. The colonial government gave other colonists grants of land in this portion of the flat, fertile river valley, as part of New Netherland. The settlers recognized the Mohawk had cultivated these bottomlands for maize for centuries. The proprietors and their descendants controlled all the land of the town for generations, Some Euro-Indian descendants, such as Jacques Cornelissen Van Slyck and his sister Hilletie van Olinda, who were of Dutch, French, and Mohawk ancestry, became interpreters and intermarried with Dutch colonists. They also gained land in the Schenectady settlement. They were among the few métis who seemed to move from Mohawk to Dutch society, as they were described as "former Indians", although they did not always have an easy time of it. In 1661, Jacques inherited what became known as Van Slyck's Island from his brother Marten, who had been given it by the Mohawk. Van Slyck family descendants retained ownership through the 19th century. In 1664, an English fleet conquered the colony of New Netherland and renamed it New York. They confirmed the monopoly on the fur trade by Albany, and issued orders to prohibit Schenectady from the trade through 1670 and later. Settlers purchased additional land from the Mohawk in 1670 and 1672. (Jacques and Hilletie Van Slyck each received portions of land in the Mohawk 1672 deed for Schenectady.) Twenty years later (1684) Governor Thomas Dongan granted letters patent for Schenectady to five additional trustees. On February 8, 1690, during King William's War, French forces and their Indian allies, mostly Ojibwe and Algonquin warriors, attacked Schenectady by surprise, leaving 62 dead, 11 of them enslaved Africans. American history notes it as the Schenectady massacre. In total, 27 persons were taken captive, including five enslaved Africans; the raiders took their captives overland about 200 miles to Montreal and its associated Mohawk mission village of Kahnawake. Through the early 18th century in the raiding between Quebec and the northern British colonies, some captives were ransomed by their communities. Colonial governments got involved only for high-ranking officers or other officials. The Erie Canal was dug along the Mohawk River in the 1820s. During this period, migrants poured into upstate and western New York from New England, but new immigrants also arrived from England and Europe. Many traveled west along the Mohawk, settling in the western part of the state, where they developed more agriculture on former Iroquois lands. A dairy industry developed in the central part of the state. New settlers were predominantly of English and Scotch-Irish descent. New York had passed a law for gradual abolition of slavery in 1799, but in 1824, 102 enslaved individuals were still in Schenectady County, with nearly half residing in the city. That year, the city of Schenectady had a total population of 3939, which included 240 free Blacks, 47 enslaved, and 91 foreigners. In the 19th century, after completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, Schenectady became an important transportation, manufacturing, and trade center. By 1824, more of its population worked in manufacturing than agriculture or trade. Commodities from the Great Lakes areas and commercial products were shipped to the East and New York City through the Mohawk Valley and Schenectady. The last enslaved individuals in Schenectady gained freedom in 1827, under the state's gradual abolition law. The law first gave freedom to children born to enslaved mothers, but they were indentured to the mother's master for a period into their early 20s. Union College established a school for Black children in 1805, but discontinued it two years later. Methodists helped educate the children for a time, but public schools did not accept them. In 1837, Duryee, together with others who were free people of color, co-founded the First Free Church of Schenectady (now the Duryee Memorial AME Zion Church). He also started a school for students of color. Abolitionist Theodore S. Wright, an African-American minister based in New York City, spoke at the church's dedication and praised the school. Through the late 19th century, new industries were established in the Mohawk Valley and powered by the river. Industrial jobs attracted many new immigrants, first from Ireland, and later in the century from Italy and Poland. In 1887, Thomas Edison moved his Edison Machine Works to Schenectady. In 1892, Schenectady became the headquarters of General Electric. This business became a major industrial and economic force and helped establish the city and region as a national manufacturing center. GE became important nationally as a creative company, expanding into many different fields. American Locomotive Company also developed here, from a Schenectady company, and merging several smaller companies in 1901; it was second in the United States in the manufacture of steam locomotives before developing diesel technology. 20th century to present Like other industrial cities in the Mohawk Valley, in the early 20th century, Schenectady attracted many new immigrants from eastern and southern Europe, as they could fill many of the new industrial jobs. It also attracted African Americans as part of the Great Migration out of the rural South to northern cities for work. General Electric and American Locomotive Company (ALCO) were industrial powerhouses, influencing innovation in a variety of fields across the country. Schenectady is home to WGY, the second commercial radio station in the United States, (after WBZ in Springfield, Massachusetts, named for Westinghouse). WGY was named for its owner, General Electric (the G), and the city of Schenectady (the Y). In 1928, General Electric produced the first regular television broadcasts in the United States, when the experimental station W2XB began regular broadcasts on Thursday and Friday afternoons. This television station is now WRGB; for many years, it was the Capital District's NBC affiliate. It has been the area's CBS affiliate since 1981. The city reached its peak of population in 1930, around 95,000. The Great Depression caused a loss of jobs and population in its wake. In the period after World War II, some residents moved to newer housing in suburban locations outside the city. In addition, GE established some high-tech facilities in the neighboring town of Niskayuna, which contributed to continuing population growth in the county. In the latter part of the 20th century, Schenectady suffered from the massive industrial and corporate restructuring that affected much of the US, including in the railroads. It lost many jobs and population to other locations, including offshore. Since the late 20th century, it has been shaping a new economy, based in part on renewable energy. Its population increased from 2000 to 2010, from over 61,000 to over 66,000 - albeit still some 15,000 below its 1960 level. ==Geography==