External links
- Schenectady County Historical Society – official site
- Mabee Farm Historic Site - official site
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The Schenectady County Historical Society, located in Schenectady, New York, was established on July 14, 1905, under the Membership Corporation Laws of the State of New York. The Society is an independent not-for-profit corporation, not a unit of government. Today, the Schenectady County Historical Society brings to life the region's history through exhibits, talks, workshops, concerts, programs and community events at their three sites: Mabee Farm Historic Site, the Grems-Doolittle Library and the Schenectady History Museum, and the historic Brouwer House Creative.
Its stated mission as embodied in its original constitution was “to promote and encourage original historical research; to disseminate a greater knowledge of the history of the State of New York and particularly of Schenectady County; to gather, preserve, display, and make available for study artifacts, books, manuscripts, papers, photographs and other records and materials relating to the early and current history of Schenectady County, New York and of the surrounding area; to encourage the suitable marking of places of historic interest; to acquire by purchase, gifts, devise, or otherwise the title to or the custody and control of historic sites and structures.”
For seven years, the Society had no headquarters of its own, but was given space for exhibits in the Schenectady County Public Library. In December 1912, a committee responsible for finding a home for the Society succeeded in negotiating a three-year lease for the building at 11-13-15 Union Street that had been erected a half-century earlier to accommodate the offices of the County Clerk and the Surrogate Court and was no longer needed for that purpose. The exhibits were moved from the Library to the new home, and this became the location for monthly meetings for the next 46 years.
In April 1958, the General Electric Company deeded to the Society the former G.E. Women's Club building at 32 Washington Avenue “as tangible evidence of its interest and desire to associate itself with those who are working to advance the city's cultural and educational activities." The c. 1895 Georgian style building, whose grounds are adjacent to the waters of the Binnekill and the Mohawk River, displays aspects of Federal and Greek Revival throughout the house. It is located in the Stockade Historic District, declared a national historic site in 1973.
To house an expanding collection of books and documents, a second major addition was added to the rear of the house in 1991. Called the Grems-Doolittle Library in honor of its major benefactor, Mandalay Grems, the Library and the Schenectady History Museum in the original house form the core of the Society's downtown Schenectady operations.
In little over a decade, the 1990s, the Society grew from a modest house museum called the Dora Jackson House with one room jammed with local history and genealogy, to the expansive Schenectady History Museum; the adjoining Grems-Doolittle historical and genealogical library housing over 2,000 local family files.
The Mabee Farm Historic Site —three 17th century farm buildings on 9 acres (36,000 m2) in Rotterdam Junction, seven miles (11 km) west of the City of Schenectady was donated to the Society in the 1993.
The Mabee House had been passed from generation to generation for 287 years before being deeded to the Society by George Franchere. Franchere also gave the Society 583 family papers including the deed passed by Daniel Janse Van Antwerpen to Jan Pieterse Mabee on January 29, 1705, and he provided generous financial support for Farm operations for several years after his initial gift. Mr. Franchere, the last in that particular line of Mabees, died in Florida in November 2004, and is buried in Vale Cemetery. In accord with the Franchere will, part of that income was used in 2008 to purchase 27 acres (110,000 m2) of adjacent land from Schenectady County, effectively quadrupling the size of the Farm. The George E. Franchere Educational Center, was completed in October 2011 on part of the newly acquired land, and provides car and bus parking; space for receptions, presentations, and artifact storage; refreshment facilities; classrooms; and offices for Site management. Additionally, in 2009 it acquired 9 acres (36,000 m2) plus from the NY State Canal Corp on the north side of the Mohawk River, to protect the historic viewshed. In the early 2000s, the c. 1760s Nielsen Dutch barn was moved to the site, and is used for programming. Today, the Mabee Farm's collection of 18th century buildings and ongoing farming practices are demonstrative of life in early rural Schenectady.
In 2017 the Kindl Family of Schenectady donated a property at 14 N Church Street, Schenectady to the Society. The historic Brouwer House dates to 1735, and is among the oldest houses in the Stockade neighborhood. The Society adapted the historic space into creative studios. In residence at any given point are artists, crafters, musicians, theatre companies, or other local non-profits. Behind Brouwer House Creative is an extensive shade garden.
The Schenectady County Historical Society offers more than 150 public programs each year, with an annual visitation of 20,000+.
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Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populous city and the twenty-fifth most-populous municipality. The city is in eastern New York, near the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers. It is in the same metropolitan area as the state capital, Albany, which is about 15 miles (24 km) southeast.
Pattersonville-Rotterdam Junction was a census-designated place (CDP) in Schenectady County, New York, United States. The population was 918 at the 2000 census. The area was not delineated as a CDP for the 2010 census.
Rotterdam is a town in Schenectady County, New York, United States. The population was 30,523 at the 2020 census.
Historic Richmond Town is an authentic town and farm museum complex in the neighborhood of Richmondtown, Staten Island, in New York City. It is located near the geographical center of the island, at the junction of Richmond Road and Arthur Kill Road. Staten Island Historical Society and Historic Richmond Town are two different names for the same organization, reflecting its long history and evolution.
Vale Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery and the largest cemetery in Schenectady, New York. It opened on 21 October 1857, when the Rev. Julius Seely dedicated what was then termed "the Vale". It has tripled its size since opening and today it holds the remains of some of the most notable persons in Upstate New York. In 1973, a 35-acre tract of unused and abandoned cemetery land around the ponds of Cowhorn Creek was sold to the city of Schenectady to form Vale Park.
Keweenaw National Historical Park is a unit of the U.S. National Park Service. Established in 1992, the park celebrates the life and history of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a federal-local cooperative park made up of two primary units, the Calumet Unit and the Quincy Unit, and almost two dozen cooperating "Heritage Sites" located on federal, state, and privately owned land in and around the Keweenaw Peninsula. The National Park Service owns approximately 1,700 acres (690 ha) in the Calumet and Quincy Units. Units are located in Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw, and Ontonagon counties.
The Mabee House, on the grounds of the Mabee Farm Historic Site,, is the oldest house still standing in the Mohawk Valley. It is located in the town of Rotterdam, New York, in the hamlet of Rotterdam Junction, New York, along New York State Highway 5S, about six miles (9.7 km) west of the city of Schenectady.
Located in the village of Schoharie, Schoharie County New York, the Old Stone Fort was originally built as a Reformed Dutch Church in 1772. With the coming of the American Revolutionary War, the church was enclosed by a log stockade in 1777.
The Conrad Weiser Homestead was the home of Johann Conrad Weiser, who enlisted the Iroquois on the British side in the French and Indian War. The home is located near Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pennsylvania in the United States. A designated National Historic Landmark, it is currently administered as a historic house museum by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The historic site was established in 1923 to preserve an example of a colonial homestead and to honor Weiser, an important figure in the settlement of the colonial frontier.
The Milwaukee County Historical Society, also known as MCHS, is a local historical society in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Founded in 1935, the organization was formed to preserve, collect, recognize, and make available materials related to Milwaukee County history. It is located in downtown Milwaukee in the former Second Ward Savings Bank building.
Fort Hunter is a hamlet in the Town of Florida in Montgomery County, New York, United States, west of the capital at Albany, on the south bank of the Mohawk River and on the northeast bank of Schoharie Creek.
Historic preservation in New York is activity undertaken to conserve forests, buildings, ships, sacred burial grounds, water purity and other objects of cultural importance in New York in ways that allow them to communicate meaningfully about past practices, events, and people.
Lehigh County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1904, dedicated to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting the history of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The Historical Society and Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum are located at 432 West Walnut Street in Allentown.
The historic Simi Adobe–Strathearn House served as the headquarters of Rancho Simi, also known as Rancho San José de Nuestra Senora de Altagracia y Simi, one of the land grants in Alta California by the Spanish government. The name derives from Shimiji, the name of the Chumash village here before the Spanish. Rancho Simi was the earliest Spanish colonial land grant within Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. At 113,000 acres, Rancho Simi was one of the state's largest land grants.
The Autrey Mill Nature Preserve & Heritage Center is located in Johns Creek, Georgia, United States.
The Stockade Historic District is located in the northwest corner of Schenectady, New York, United States, on the banks of the Mohawk River. It is the oldest neighborhood in the city, continuously inhabited for over 300 years. Union College first held classes in a building within the district, and later it would be one of the termini of an early suspension bridge that was, at the time, the longest in North America. Joseph C. Yates, the 7th Governor of New York and founding trustee of Union College, and Elizabeth V. Gillette, a physician and the first woman from upstate New York elected to the New York State Assembly, were residents of the Stockade.
The Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post is a museum dedicated to the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe's history, culture, and contemporary life. It officially opened to the public on May 18, 1996. Located in Onamia, Minnesota, United States, it is one of the 26 historical sites and museums run by the Minnesota Historical Society.
Downtown Schenectady is the central business district for the city of Schenectady, New York. It originated in the 1820s with the moving of the commercial and industrial interests east from the original 17th and 18th century settlement, spurred on by the development of the Erie Canal. Home to the headquarters and major manufacturing plants of two large corporations, General Electric and American Locomotive Company, Downtown Schenectady catered to tens of thousands of workers in its heyday. Typical of the post-industrial Northeastern United States and Upstate New York in particular, Downtown Schenectady saw a decline in manufacturing and population starting in the 1970s. Recent construction and renovation has caused the downtown area to become an entertainment mecca for New York's Capital District anchored by Proctor's Theatre.
Rev. Thomas Grassmann, OFM Conv, was a Conventual Franciscan friar, historian and archaeologist of Colonial New York, who discovered the site of the Mohawk American Village of Caughnawaga near Fonda, New York.
