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ABOUT THE HISTORIAN'S OFFICE

My office is located on the second floor of the town hall. The files of the Historical Society of Esquatak are also stored in the historian's office. Office hours are on Thursdays from 8:30 until 1:00 pm or by appointment. Please stop in to visit or contact me for research about any questions you may have on Schodack history at 477-7939, extension 316 or by email (historian@schodack.org).

The meeting room/courtroom has a large display of historic photographs from several localities within the town including East Schodack, South Schodack, Schodack Centre, Castleton, Muitzeskill, Schodack Depot (Brookview) and Schodack Landing. Each grouping of photographs is centered with a reproduction of an 1876 map from Beers Atlas of Rensselaer County, as well as a map of the whole town from the same atlas. The photographs of each locality do not date from 1876 but from a few decades later, mostly the 1880s through the early 1900s.

The hallway to the town court office has a display of the early one-room schoolhouses in the town. A group of historic photographs of the Albany Southern Railroad, an interurban line that ran through the town, is located on the third floor of the town hall. Also on the third floor is a display of photographs showing country life in simpler times.

The next time you are in the town hall take a few minutes to enjoy a glimpse of the "good, old days" in the town of Schodack.

Brief Precis

Rich in history, Schodack was settled by the Dutch soon after Henry Hudson's exploration of the Hudson River in 1609. Before the Dutch came, the land was farmed and hunted by Indians of the Mohican tribe. The hamlet of Schodack Landing, which was an early center of river trade, still contains many old homes and is listed as a National Historic Site. Many of Schodack's long-time residents are of Dutch descent. The Town celebrated its Bicentennial in 1995.

The interest heightened by Bicentennial activities continues, as evidenced by ongoing work of archiving and cataloguing contemporary records of "current events" for future generations, and by exhibits (like that above) designed to highlight Schodack's past.

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