The story
History
Colonial
After England took control of the colony of New Netherland from the Dutch, Albany Shire was created on November 1, 1683, by New York Governor Thomas Dongan, and confirmed on October 1, 1691. The act creating the shire (county) vaguely defined its territory "to containe the Towns of Albany, the Collony Rensselaerwyck, Schonecteda, and all the villages, neighborhoods, and Christian Plantaçons on the east side of Hudson River from Roelef's Creek, and on the west side from Sawyer's Creek (Saugerties) to the Sarraghtoga." The confirmation declared in 1691 was similar but omitted the Town of Albany, substituted "Mannor of Ranselaerswyck" for "Collony Rensselaerwyck", and stated "to the uttermost end of Sarraghtoga" instead of just "to the Sarraghtoga". Livingston Manor was annexed to Albany County from Dutchess County in 1717.
Albany County's boundaries were defined more closely as state statutes would add land to the county, or more commonly subtract land for the formation of new counties. In 1772 with the creation of Tryon and Charlotte counties, Albany gained definitive boundaries and included what are now Albany, Columbia, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady counties; large parts of Greene and Washington counties; and the disputed southwest corner of Vermont.
The city of Albany was the first municipality within this large county, founded as the village (dorp in Dutch) of Beverwyck by the Director-General of New Amsterdam, Pieter Stuyvesant, who also established the first court in Albany. Albany was established as a city in 1686 by Governor Dongan through the Dongan Charter after the English took over the colony. Schenectady to the west was given a patent with some municipal rights in 1684 and became a borough in 1765.
The Manor of Rensselaerswyck was created as a district within the county in 1772, and later divided into two districts, one on each side of the Hudson River in 1779. The west district included all of what is now Albany County other than lands were in the city of Albany at the time. Though the Manor of Rensselaerswyck was the only district (along with the city of Albany) in what is today Albany County, it was not the only district in what was Albany County at the time. Pittstown in 1761, and Duanesburgh in 1764, were created as townships. But when districts were created in 1772, those townships were incorporated into new districts, Pittstown in Schaghticoke and Duanesburgh into the United Districts of Duanesburgh and Schoharie. Schenectady was also made from a borough to a district in 1772. Other districts established in 1772 were Hoosick, Coxsackie, Cambridge, Saratoga, Halfmoon, Kinderhook, Kings, Claverack, Great Imboght, and the Manor of Livingston.
In a census of 1697, there were 1,452 individuals living in Albany County; two years later it would be counted as 2,016 at the beginning of King William's War. By the end of the war in 1698, the population had dropped to 1,482, but rebounded quickly and was at 2,273 by 1703. By 1723, it had increased to 6,501 and in 1731 to 8,573, which was slightly less than the population of the city of New York in the same year. In 1737, the inhabitants of Albany County would outnumber those of New York County by 17 people. In 1774, Albany County, with 42,706 people, was the largest county in colonial New York. According to the first Federal Census in 1790, Albany County reached 75,921 inhabitants and was still the state's largest county.
Formation of towns
On March 7, 1788, the state of New York divided the entire state into towns eliminating districts as administrative units by passing New York Laws of 1788, Chapters 63 and 64.
Timeline of boundary changes
Albany County was one of the original twelve counties created by the Province of New York on November 1, 1683. At the time, it included all of New York state north of Dutchess and Ulster counties, all of what is now Bennington County in Vermont.
On May 27, 1717, Albany County was adjusted to gain an indefinite amount of land from Dutchess County and other non-county lands.
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On October 7, 1763, King George III, as part of his Proclamation of 1763, created the new province of Quebec, implicitly setting the northern limit of New York at the parallel of 45 degrees north latitude from the Atlantic-St. Lawrence watershed westward to the St. Lawrence River, implicitly setting the northern limit of Albany County, but it was never mapped.
On July 20, 1764, King George III established the boundary between New Hampshire and New York along the west bank of the Connecticut River, north of Massachusetts and south of the parallel of 45 degrees north latitude. Albany County implicitly gained present-day Vermont. Although disputes occasionally broke out later, this line became the boundary between New Hampshire and Vermont, and has remained unchanged to the present. When New York refused to recognize land titles through the New Hampshire Grants (towns created earlier by New Hampshire in present Vermont), dissatisfied colonists organized in opposition, which led to the creation of independent Vermont in 1777.
On July 3, 1766, Cumberland County was partitioned from Albany County to cover all territory to the northern and eastern limits of the colony, including Windsor County, most of Windham County, and parts of Bennington and Rutland counties in present-day Vermont.
On June 26, 1767, Albany County regained all of Cumberland County.
On March 19, 1768, Albany County was re-partitioned, and Cumberland County restored.
On March 16, 1770, Albany County was again partitioned. Gloucester County was created to include all of Orange, Caledonia and Essex counties, most of Washington County, and parts of Orleans, Lamoille, Addison and Chittenden counties in present-day Vermont.
On March 12, 1772, Albany County was partitioned again, this time into the counties of Albany, Tryon (now Montgomery), and Charlotte (now Washington). This established a definite area for Albany County of 5,470 sq mi (14,200 km2).
On March 24, 1772, Albany County was partitioned again, with an additional 50 square miles (130 km2) handed over to Cumberland County.
On March 9, 1774, Albany County was partitioned again, this time passing 1,090 square miles (2,800 km2) to Ulster County.
On April 1, 1775, Albany was again partitioned, this time giving up 60 square miles (160 km2) to Charlotte County, who then exchanged this land with a like parcel in Cumberland County.
On January 15, 1777, Albany County was again partitioned, this time on account of the independence of Vermont from New York, reducing Albany County by an additional 300 square miles (780 km2).
On June 26, 1781, Bennington County, Vermont, attempted to annex a portion of Albany County that today includes portions of Washington and Rensselaer counties to form what they called "The West Union". The fledgling United States – under the Articles of Confederation – arbitrated this annexation, and condemned it, resulting in Vermont ceasing the annexation on 1782-02-23.
On April 4, 1786, Columbia County was created from 650 square miles (1,700 km2) of Albany County land.
On March 7, 1788, New York, refusing to recognize the independence of Vermont, and the attendant elimination of Cumberland County, attempted to adjust the line that separated Cumberland from Albany County in present-day Vermont, but to no effect.
On February 7, 1791, Albany County was partitioned again, this time to form Rensselaer and Saratoga counties. Rensselaer received 660 square miles (1,700 km2), while Saratoga received 850 square miles (2,200 km2). Also the town of Cambridge was transferred to Washington County. A total of 1,680 square miles (4,400 km2) changed hands.
On June 1, 1795, Albany County was once again partitioned, this time losing 460 sq mi (1,200 km2) to Schoharie County.
On April 5, 1798, another partition took place, with 90 square miles (230 km2) passing to Ulster County.
On March 25, 1800, once again Albany County was partitioned, with 360 square miles (930 km2) being used to create Greene County.
On April 3, 1801, all New York counties were redefined, with Albany County gaining 10 sq mi (26 km2).
On March 7, 1809, Schenectady County was created from 230 square miles (600 km2) of Albany County land, reducing Albany County to its current size.
On March 3, 1888, Albany County ceded Havre Island to Saratoga County.
2020 census
As of the 2020 US Census, there were 314,848 people in 126,540 households residing in the county. The population density was 563 inhabitants per square mile (217/km2). There were 134,072 housing units at an average density of 248 units per square mile (96/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 78.2% White, 12.7% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 4.8% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 1.6% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. 4.9% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 19.2% were of Irish, 16.0% Italian, 11.0% German, 6.1% English and 5.1% Polish ancestry according to Census 2000. 90.4% spoke English, 2.7% Spanish and 1.0% Italian as their first language.
There were 124,682 households, out of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.2% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.1% were non-families. 33.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.99.
In the county, the age distribution of the population shows 22.6% under the age of 18, 11.3% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 91.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.8 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $42,935, and the median income for a family was $56,724. Males had a median income of $39,838 versus $30,127 for females. The per capita income for the county was $23,345. About 7.2% of families and 13.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.9% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.
From Wikipedia’s article on Albany County, New York, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5