The Same Schenectady Street Scene Over Time

At the Grems-Doolittle Library we probably have more historic photos of State Street than any other street in Schenectady. This makes sense as State is Schenectady's main street and commercial hub and has been for quite a while. As such, there are a number of advertisements that have popped up on buildings over the years and it seems that one building in particular that would get plastered with ads for local businesses. 322 State Street housed several businesses over the years including the Boston One Price Clothing House, Evelyn Dress Shop, German newspaper the Deutsche Journal, the Schenectady Business College and various other businesses. This building is right by the train tracks, making it a perfect space to advertise. We've chosen some photos that show just how this area changed over the years. Some of these are undated, but a good way to get an approximate date is that if there is no railroad bridge over state, then it was taken prior to 1906.

Looking down State Street from the railroad crossing in 1888. This may be the earliest view of this corner that we have. 

Schenectady celebrated Washington's birthday with a big parade in 1892. 

This photo is from the mid-1890s.

This damaged photo from a glass plate negative also shows an advertisement for the Charleroi Plate Glass Company on a handcar. 

 A busy street scene taken on State Street from the Canal Bridge, 1910

One big change that occurred in 1906 was raising the grade of the railroad tracks. This was a notoriously deadly intersection and building the rail bridge greatly increased safety in the city. 

It's a bit difficult to read, but we think the street says "Stop, Let's Go Smilin' Thru Schenectady." This may have been referring to a play called "Smilin Thru" which was playing at the Hudson Theater in 1927. 

A 1966 view from the opposite side shows an ad for the Gazette.

A bit of a later view from 1977 and it's very difficult to see what they're advertising on 322 State. 

Looking down State in 1984. Zooming in, we can see that the ad on 324 State is the same as it was in 1977 for Nelson's Slenderizing Fashions.

Although there aren't quite as many ads, 324 still had an ad on it in August, 2017. Courtesy of Google Maps.

For more photos from our collection, check out our New York Heritage page at https://nyheritage.org/contributors/schenectady-county-historical-society.

Documenting Slavery in Schenectady

In this document, dated 1809, Phillip Vedder grants permission for his female slave to marry Peter Jackson. Enslaved people in Schenectady, as elsewhere, faced numerous restrictions on their behavior and needed permission from their owners for many life choices, in addition to being used for their labor. Misc 476 from Historic Manuscripts Collection, Grems-Doolittle Library Collections. 

Image of advertisement for sale of enslaved woman and her six-month-old child by Christopher Ward of Schenectady in 1796. This advertisement appeared in the local newspaper of the time, the Mohawk Mercury. Notices for slaves for sale and notices about runaway slaves were not uncommon in Schenectady newspapers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Image from microfilm of Mohawk Mercury newspaper, Grems-Doolittle Library Collections.

Many people conceive of the issue of slavery in American history as a Southern institution. However, the enslavement of human beings was part of the system of labor in New York -- including Schenectady -- from the earliest European settlements in the 1600s through 1827. 11 of the 60 people killed in the Schenectady Massacre of 1690 were slaves, which shows that slavery was a way of life in Schenectady at the time of its early settlement. By 1714, enslaved people constituted 7% of the population of Schenectady. This percentage increased to almost 11% by 1796. 

Letter from John Hansen to Ryer Schermerhorn dated 1772. Hansen, acting on Schermerhorn's behalf, proposes trading Schermerhorn's unnamed "Negro wench" for rum and sugar. From New York State - Slavery, Documents Collection, Grems-Doolittle Library Collections.

Emancipation of slaves in New York State was gradual. Conversations among whites as to whether slavery should be permitted or abolished increased in number in the years leading up to and following the American Revolution. Both the British and Americans offered incentives of freedom and land to blacks in exchange for military service. In 1799, the Legislature passed an act to gradually abolish slavery in New York. According to the Act, any child born to an enslaved woman after July 4, 1799 was defined as an indentured servant; children born after that date would be required to serve their mother’s master until age 28 (for males) or 25 (for females). Enslaved people born before that date retained their enslaved status for their lifetime. A 1817 statute extended freedom for enslaved people born before 1799, who were to be granted freedom in 1827. Essentially, slavery was abolished in New York State in 1827 -- although a loophole allowed visitors from states where slavery was permitted to bring their slaves into New York for up to nine months out of the year. It was not until 1841 that slavery was completely prohibited in New York State, by residents or by visitors.

Bill of slave for enslaved man, Cato, dated 1800. Cato was being sold from Peter Conyne, Henry Fonda, Peter Mabee and Simon Mabee to Jacob Mabee for £85. M-Slaves-3 from Mabee Family Papers, Grems-Doolittle Library Collections. 

Free African-Americans who lived in New York did so at risk of enslavement. The burden was on African-Americans and persons of mixed race to prove that they were free to city and county governments. Those who could not provide proof of their freedom could be jailed on suspicion of being runaway slaves. Authorities in New York State localities had the power to arrest them and place advertisements in newspapers seeking their "owners." If no one claiming to the the person's slave owner came forward, authorities had the right to sell the person into slavery. Free African-Americans could also be kidnapped and sold into slavery below the Mason-Dixon line. 

Photostat copy of first page of a legal agreement dated 1805 between Yat, an enslaved man, and John and Sarah Glen of Schenectady, who owned him. In the agreement, the Glens promise to release Yat from slavery after six years, but only if he agrees to abide by a number of restrictions on his behavior -- including when he can see his wife, when he is permitted to play his fiddle, how often he is to attend church -- and must pay his masters $90.00 at the end of this six-year term. If Yat failed to live up to any of the several expectations listed in the document, he was to "remain a slave forever and [would be] subject to be sold." Image from Grems-Doolittle Library Collections. 

We have in our collection a number of materials that help to document the reality of slavery in what is now Schenectady County. lacking materials that give us the perspective of people locally who endured enslavement -- such as diaries or letters -- we must piece together fragments of information from those who owned, bought and sold, or freed slaves. Documents such as bills for sale of slaves, receipts for the sale of slaves, wills that show enslaved people appearing as property bequeathed to heirs, correspondence that discusses slaves, copies of manumission records, and newspaper advertisements offering slaves for sale or advertising a reward for the capture of an escaped slave. Records from institutions, such as local churches, can show the baptisms, marriages, and burials of enslaved people. A few documents that illustrate slavery in Schenectady are included throughout this blog entry. If you are interested in the history of slavery, the free African-American community, or the Underground Railroad and abolitionist activity in Schenectady County, please contact us or visit our library. We'd be glad to get you started in your research. 

Letter from John Sanders of Scotia to the overseers of the poor for the city of Schenectady. This document illustrates the role of bureaucracy in the years of gradual emancipation. Sanders wished to free his slave, Meg, according to an 1801 act. Under those terms, the overseers of the poor had to confirm in writing that a slave under consideration for manumission was under 50 years of age and "of sufficient ability to provide for themselves." GenL 55 from Historic Manuscripts Collection, Grems-Doolittle Library Collections. 

Pink Pills for Pale People

Samples of advertisements for Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People, ca. 1912. The drawings for these advertisements were made by a Schenectady artist, Margaret Curran-Smith. From Collections of Grems-Doolittle Library. 

Patent medicines -- packaged drugs whose contents are incompletely disclosed -- were plentiful and profitable from after the Civil War through the early twentieth century. Before the first Pure Food and Drug Laws were passed, the manufacturers and promoters of patent medicines made millions of dollars from a credulous public eager for cures for a variety of ailments (and many of whom were unable to afford the regular care of a doctor). One of those patent medicines was Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People, which were manufactured, distributed, and marketed in part by W.T. Hanson in Schenectady.

Image of Willis T. Hanson from drawing in newspaper. From Hanson surname file. 

There was no "Dr. Williams" involved with the Pink Pills, but early on, there was a Dr. Jackson connected to the product. In 1890, a Canadian physician, Dr. William Jackson, sold the rights to his Pink Pills for Pale People, a "fatigue remedy," to George Taylor Fulford, a Canadian entrepreneur. Sometime soon after, W.T. Hanson, a Schenectady businessman and druggist, secured the sole distribution rights for Dr. Williams Pink Pills for Pale People in the United States. Hanson was at the center of three separate but seemingly connected companies: the W.T. Hanson Company, the Hanson-Fulford Company, and Dr. Williams' Medicine Company. The executive office, advertising department, factory, and shipping department of all three companies was located at 147 Centre Street (now Broadway). A number of prominent area men, including Edwin Conde of Schenectady and Dr. Alexander Duncan Langmuir of Albany, served on the Dr. Williams' Medicine Company's board of directors. Conde also served for a time as the publicity promoter for the company.

Package of Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People. Packages of 40 pills were sold for 50 cents from druggists or directly from the Schenectady manufacturer. Image from the Kansas Historical Society's  Kansapedia "Cool Things" topics (http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/cool-things-pink-pills-for-pale-people/10240)

The advertisements for Dr. Williams Pink Pills for Pale People, like those for other patent medicines of the period, offered miraculous personal testimonies, crediting the Pink Pills with rescuing themselves or their children from the brink of death. Statements such as "I tried them and firmly believe that if I had not I should be in my grave right now" and "That Dr. Williams' Pink Pills saved my life is beyond doubt," were common. The medicine claimed to cure chorea, "locomotor ataxia, partial paralyxia, seistica, neuralgia rheumatism, nervous headache, the after-effects of la grippe, palpitation of the heart, pale and sallow complexions, [and] all forms of weakness in male or female." In one advertisement, the Pink Pills were even credited with curing paralysis, after a person took the pills for four months!

The notorious advertisement in which Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People  is credited with curing a  boy's paralysis.  From Hanson surname file.

Advertisements for Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People can be found in newspapers from across the country. In 1901, the advertising efforts of Dr. Williams' Medicine Company were the subject of a glowing article in the Omaha Daily News, which heralded the company as "an example of what can be accomplished by young men in this twentieth century of keen business rivalry and ceaseless competition."

As the twentieth century dawned, patent medicines came under increased scrutiny. In an article in Collier's entitled "The Great American Fraud," Samuel Hopkins Adams took on the patent medicine industry.  Adams listed Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People in a group of nostrums he referred to as "the most conspicuous of this kind now being foisted on the public," and noted the composition of the pills as "green vitriol, starch and sugar." Adams' articles led to the passage of the first Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. The Act required more accurate labeling of medicines, and curbed some of the most misleading, overstated, or fraudulent claims that appeared on the labels of patent medicines.

In 1912, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station conducted an analysis of Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People. The author of a subsequent report could not resist commenting: "in using the pills the patient is directed first to purge the bowels, then take the pills, bathe frequently, keep the bowels regular, and partake of a nutritious diet. The thought occurs that perhaps the desired result might well be secured by following all of this treatment except the taking of the pills." Dr. Pincus Rothberg, a chemist with the Bureau of Chemistry at the Port of New York, also analyzed the pills and found the composition of the pills to be more than 37 percent sugar, 13 percent iron sulphate, 11 percent potassium carbonate, 15 percent starch, and 17 percent vegetable substance, with traces of talc and a small quantity of strychnin. Rothberg's analysis was published in The Composition of Certain Patent and Proprietary Medicines in 1917. The examination of the Pink Pills led to a court battle; in 1917, the Dr. Williams Medicine Company was found guilty of misbranding its product.

Although the Dr. Williams Medicine Company continued to exist in Schenectady in the early 1920s, it was surely in its decline as the tide turned away from the patent medicine era. In 1922, popular rhyming syndicated columnist Walt Mason singled out Dr. Williams Pink Pills for Pale People in two different columns disparaging patent medicines. "And then at last we're ailing and getting worse each day, and pink pills, unavailing, seem made to throw away," he wrote in one, and "I take pink pills to cure my ills, my gout and flu and tetter; I swallow ten, and now and then I think I'm feeling better" in another. The terminology of the patent medicines began to be used as references to touted would-be panaceas that have little actual benefit; in 1926, a congressman derided a bill before the House of Representatives as being "pink pills for pale people." As early as the 1930s, patent medicines, including Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People, were being exhibited as artifacts of a bygone era.