Riding in Style: The Campbells and their Chariot

The Campbell Mansion on State Street. This mansion was designed by famed architect Samuel Fuller. The mansion still exists and can be seen at 101 State Street. It currently houses the Campbell House Psychological Associates. Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library Photo Collection.  

Schenectady resident Daniel Campbell immigrated from Ireland to Schenectady sometime around 1754. According to historian Austin A. Yates, Campbell was "possessed of small means but on his arrival, he commenced as an Indian trader, with a pack upon his back, and by his native shrewdness, great industry and remarkable economy." He built his fortune by trading with local Native Americans, Schenectadians, and by purchasing soldier's rights to land after the American Revolution. Campbell married Engeltie "Angelica" Bratt after he immigrated to Schenectady. Campbell made quite a name for himself as a trader in Schenectady and by 1762 was able to construct his mansion on State Street. Campbell was also a close associate of William Johnson who was known for commanding Iroquois and colonial forces during the French and Indian Wars in the mid-1700s. Campbell would often entertain Johnson at his State Street mansion when he visited Schenectady.

Possible portraits of Angelica and Daniel Campbell. Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library Photo Collection.  

How Daniel Campbell gained his wealth is evident from his letter books which we have at the Grems-Doolittle library. He traded animal skins and furs, liquor, shrub (the fruit and vinegar based drink, not the foliage), various other goods, and most importantly, land. He had contacts with prominent merchants in Detroit, Montreal and London, among other places. There are several letters in his letter book that deal with people trespassing on his land, one biting letter from December 16, 1773 to William Brisby shows that Daniel Campbell was not a man you would want to cross. An image of the letter with a transcription can be seen below:

"Sir, I have sufficient proof that you have this winter cut 150 saw loggs of my land about a mile from your house for which villainy you may be assured I will prosecute you as the law directs if you do not immediately come and make me payment for the full value of every logg you have cut or caus'd to be cut for your deceiving me in this manner you shant have one acre of land from me altho I was determin'd to have given you a lease. If I don't see you or have proper satisfaction from you soon  you may expect the consequences for go where you will I shall have you taken. I am, D.C." 

Other letters refer to Campbell suing people who owed him money (sometimes threatening to arrest them), invoices for various goods, and letters about general business matters. There are very few letters of a personal nature, but from letters like the one shown above, you can get a sense of Daniel Campbell's personality. These letters show how shrewd Campbell could be in his business dealings and give an indication as to how he amassed his fortune. The letter shown on the left gives an example of the types of items Campbell was selling in 1774. They include, men's shoes, Jamican Spirits, pipes, salt, rifles, black wampum (the best sort), sugar, tea, pork and tobacco.


Campbell's wealth allowed him to buy a carriage for his wife Angelica in the 1792. Owning a personal carriage was a pretty big deal in the 18th Century. Carriages were heavily taxed as a luxury items and you had the added expense of hiring a coachman and maintaining a couple horses. Campbell's carriage was quite the luxury item. The carriage had two seats and a red Russian leather interior. It's build was similar to the European carriages that were fashionable at the time. Angelica's monogram was on both sides of the carriage, as well as the Campbell coat of arms and coronet. The carriage stayed in the Campbell family well after Daniel and Angelica died. The Campbell's had one child, David, who died in 1801. Without a direct heir, Angelica left much of the land to her nephew Daniel David Schermerhorn with the catch that he change his last name to Campbell which he did.

The Campbell Chariot in 1925. Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library Photo Collection.  

The Campbell Chariot at the Henry Ford Museum. Courtesy of the Grems-Doolittle Library Photo Collection.  

Before the carriage was sold it had a brief theater career, showing up on the stage of the Van Curler Opera House in 1918. It played the role of "carriage" in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.

The carriage was kept by Daniel David Schermerhorn Campbell at the Campbell property in Rotterdam (the current site of Viaport Rotterdam) along with a 26 bedroom mansion that D.D. Campbell built. It was said that the Marquis de Lafayette rode in the carriage when he visited Schenectady in the 1820s. It passed from through the Campbell family until 1929 when it was offered to the historical society. The historical society declined due to a lack of space, the carriage simply wouldn't fit in the rooms of 13 Union Street where the SCHS used to reside. The carriage made its way to the Henry Ford's museum in Dearborn, Michigan where it was recently renovated by B.R. Howard & Associates.

The Henry Ford Museum has some very detailed photos of the carriage on their digital collections website. B.R. Howard & Associates also keep an online portfolio of projects they worked on. You can see before and after photos, and find out more about the Campbell Chariot at their website, http://www.brhoward.com/ross_chariot.html.

Early Railroads and a Canal...in Scotia?

Detail of map A Map of Scotia Estate, Late the property of John Sanders, Esquire, now deceased: According to a survey thereof, made preparatory to a partition between Robert, Jacob G., Peter, and Theodore W. Sanders, Sons and heirs of said deceased, Pursuant to his last Will & Testament by James Frost, Surveyor, dated December 13th, 1834.  Image from Glen-Sanders Papers, collection on microfilm in the Grems-Doolittle Library (originals at New-York Historical Society in New York City).

This blog entry is written by Schenectady County Historical Society Trustee John Gearing.

The Society is fortunate to have the Glen-Sanders Papers in its microfilm collection (comprising 18 reels, the original documents are in the collection of The New-York Historical Society in Manhattan). Toward the end of Reel 18, one finds a collection of maps and surveys that shed much light on a critical period in Scotia's history. The first item is a field book and survey map from 1834 made by James Frost, showing the lands of the Scotia Estate belonging to the late John Sanders, Jr. and their division between his heirs: Charles, Peter, and John. This is the earliest map of the Scotia Estate the Society possesses. The map not only shows which parcels were to go to which heirs, but the ownership of those Estate lots that had been conveyed prior to John Sanders Jr.'s death, which may make it interesting to those tracing their family history in Scotia.

Overall view of Frost map of Scotia Estate, as seen on the microfilm reader. Image from Glen-Sanders Papers, collection on microfilm in the Grems-Doolittle Library (originals at New-York Historical Society in New York City).

Two of New York's early railroads are also shown: the Schenectady and Utica and the Ballston and Saratoga Railroad. There is an annotation on the map beneath this last-mentioned railroad noting that “the True nature and style of this is Saratoga and Schenectady Rail Road.” The Saratoga and Schenectady Railroad was New York's second line after the pioneering Mohawk-Hudson. Chartered in February 1831, the Saratoga and Schenectady line only reached as far as Ballston initially, which may have influenced Frost's label on the map. The rest of the line to Saratoga was quickly completed, and horse-drawn service between Schenectady and Saratoga began in the summer of 1832. The railroad's first steam engine, the Davy Crockett, was a revolutionary six-wheel design by the railroad company's chief engineer, John Jervis. It entered service in July of 1831. Because of the bridge's weight limitations, railroad cars were drawn by horses through Schenectady and across the bridge, where they were then coupled to the Davy Crockett. The Frost map shows the location of the engine house near the Scotia end of the bridge.

The other railroad shown on the map, the Schenectady and Utica, stands out in New York railroad history as the first line that posed a threat to the Erie Canal's freight business. Chartered in 1833, the line did not begin service until 1836. Its appearance on the 1834 Scotia Estate map likely indicates that construction from the Schenectady end was well underway by that time. Interestingly, although the map shows both of the rail lines sharing the Mohawk Bridge, it also appears to show a railroad right of way (unlabelled) departing from the Schenectady and Utica line in a graceful curve and terminating on the north bank of the Mohawk River roughly where the railroad bridge stands today. This may indicate that the construction engineers were planning on building a new bridge across the Mohawk, one that would have been strong enough to carry trains pulled by steam locomotives. The threat to the Erie Canal's freight business was such that the Schenectady and Utica was forbidden by law from carrying freight until 1844, and then it was only allowed to carry freight in the winter months and then only upon the railroad paying freight tolls to the canal company.

Detail of Frost map showing the labeling of Ballston-Saratoga Railroad, Warme Killtie, New Canal, and Lower Ferry Road. Image from Glen-Sanders Papers, collection on microfilm in the Grems-Doolittle Library (originals at New-York Historical Society in New York City).

Perhaps the most curious feature on Frost's Scotia Estate map is the structure labeled “New Canal.” The map shows a canal running easterly, parallel to and approximately 275 feet north of a road marked “Lower Ferry Road.” Sunnyside Road is the most likely candidate for this road today. The eastern end of the canal appears to end just slightly south of the intersection of today's Freeman's Bridge Road and Maple Avenue. The canal extends across both railroad lines, appearing to terminate slightly west of the Utica and Schenectady line. A stream labeled “Warme Killtie” runs south to a point about 200 feet north of the canal, and then turns easterly and runs roughly parallel to the canal. A short canal section branches from the New Canal and connects to the Warme Killtie at the point where it begins it's turn to the east, suggesting that the Warme Killite was at least a major source of water for the canal. Further up the Warme Killtie the map shows a millpond and mill, raising the likelihood that there was an intention to float the mill's products down the stream to the canal. Once on the canal, freight could have been carried west to the railroad crossings, or east to the highway junction. A map notation indicates that about 3,700 feet of the canal had been completed at the time the survey was made.

Contemporary image of portion of area shown on Frost map of Scotia Estate. Remnants of the "New Canal" can be seen running parallel to Sunnyside Road and along modern railroad  tracks. Image from Google Maps. 

Comparing this 1834 map with a contemporary Google map and satellite image, one finds a body of water that is almost certainly the canal, running parallel to and about 275 feet north of Sunnyside Road. The Warme Killtie can be made out, although now it no longer continues eastward. Instead, it now appears to connect to the surviving canal. Intriguingly, the Google map and images suggest that today the body of water that was the canal, continues westward, closely paralleling the modern railroad line (just to the north), nearly to the intersection of Route 5N and I-890. This raises a question: was there an attempt to build a canal system in Scotia prior to the development of railroads? Some accounts recall the disappointment felt by Scotia residents when the Erie Canal was routed through Schenectady instead of Scotia. The Scotia canal may have been intended to extend eastward as far as Rexford, and there connect with the Erie, or could have even been planned to cross the Mohawk River at Freeman's Bridge via aqueduct and connect with the Erie on the south shore. Consultation of Scotia histories and Google searches have so far failed to lead to any additional information about Scotia's canal, leaving a tantalizing subject for further research.

A Look Back at Brandywine Park

A man stands at the entrance to Brandywine Park around the turn of the century. The park's entrance was located across from the intersection of Albany Street and Elm Street in Schenectady. Photograph from Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection. 

In the days before automobiles, public transit companies offered their patrons more than simply transportation from point A to point B. They also provided opportunities for entertainment and recreation. The Schenectady Railway Company, which ran the city's trolley lines, offered moonlight pleasure tours in open trolley cars, taking passengers on one-and-one-half-hour tours from downtown Schenectady, up through Latham, and back again. The Schenectady Railway Company also invested funds to establish parks along its trolley lines as an attraction. One of those parks was Brandywine Park. The trolley company opened the park in 1896. It was located south of State Street on what was then the city's western edge, with an entrance opposite the intersection of Albany Street and Elm Street.

Image from 1905 Schenectady city atlas showing the location of Brandywine Park. 

The one-acre park was to serve as "a family pleasure resort and picnic ground;" it was host to a variety of activities, including clambakes, shooting exhibitions, dog shows, picnics, music, dancing, moonlight cakewalks, political rallies, carnivals, bingo parties, garden parties, daredevil motorcyclist exhibitions, hot-air balloon launchings, and track meets. The Schenectady Elks put on an annual Independence Day celebration there for several years.

A 1910 issue of the Amsterdam Evening Recorder featured this advertisement for an Independence Day celebration at Brandywine Park. The Schenectady Elks Lodge put together 4th of July celebrations for several years at the park. Image obtained via www.fultonhistory.com.

The park also served as a place for ethnic communities and ethnic organizations to gather for celebrations. Members of Schenectady's African-American community used the park grounds in celebration of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1912 and for John Brown's Day in 1913. German immigrants held their German Day there in 1905.  The Italian-American organization Società Unione Fratellanza held an annual picnic there. Political groups held open-air meetings, rallies, and speeches in the park. In 1906, labor activist Elizabeth Gurley Flynn gave her first public speech in Brandywine Park.

The dance pavilion in Brandywine park, soon after it was built in 1896. Image from Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection. 

As the years progressed and the city's growth intensified through the remainder of the 1890s and the early 1900s, the park was no longer on the outskirts of the city, but within it. As early as 1903, the Schenectady Railway Company expressed interest in selling the grounds, and eventually did sell the property to St. Luke's Church in the early 1920s. The church continued to operate the grounds as a park until it began to develop the property and build a school and other buildings there in 1928.

Portion of an advertisement for a boxing exhibition featuring Jack Dempsey at Brandywine Park in 1923, after it became the property of St. Luke's Church. Image from Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection. 

Schenectady's Horse-Drawn Trolleys, 1887-1891

Schenectady Street Railway Company horsecar on Washington Avenue in Schenectady. This photo is said to have been taken on the last day of horsecar service, July 2, 1891. Photograph from Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection. 

During this week in the year 1887, the Schenectady Street Railway Company first began offering trolley services to the public. The company started its service with 30 horses, 5 trolley cars, and 4 sleighs. The single track route for the trolley line ran about 2 miles, from the Schenectady side of the Scotia bridge at the foot of Washington Avenue, up State Street, and ending at the company's stables, car barn, and office at Brandywine Avenue and State Street. The trolley service opened on July 16, 1887, and began with a dedication at Crescent Park. The inaugural trolley was painted a bright red and yellow, and was pulled by a pair of white horses. Fourth ward alderman J. Ezra McCue was said to be the first man to board the trolley in Schenectady and pay the 5-cent fare, ushering in the era of trolley transportation that would continue in Schenectady through the mid-1940s.

A horse-drawn trolley travels along State Street, ca. 1890. Photograph from Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection. 

The trolleys were an improvement over the stagecoach -- horses could haul more people more easily over rails than they could over cobblestone or rutted roads. Like in any new venture, unforeseen problems did crop up. One initial problem was that the horses were not used to pulling a trolley car; some pulled the cars off of the track and onto the cobblestone streets. This was quickly resolved as both horses and drivers became accustomed to the vehicles. Another concern was how to manage crossing the railroad tracks on State Street; the tracks had not yet been elevated and were at street level. The city government first ordered that the trolley stop at the tracks, all passengers exit and cross the tracks on foot, then board a second trolley waiting on the other side. Public protest soon quashed this measure, and the wave of the flagman then allowed streetcars to cross.

A lone horse works hard to pull a trolley car along in this early photo. Photograph from Larry Hart Collection. 

Horsecars came late to Schenectady, having been used in other American cities since the 1830s. By the mid-1880s, there were over 400 trolley companies in operation nationwide. By the time horse-drawn streetcar service came to Schenectady, the Edison Machine Works (later the General Electric Company) had already been established, and the city was standing on the threshold of its rapid development as the "Electric City." Larry Hart, in a 1960 Schenectady Union-Star column, noted that "the horsecar was doomed to early replacement here by an offspring of the wonder of the age -- electricity." After only four short years, the route was electrified and electric trolley service began on July 2, 1891. Being at least twice as fast as the horse-drawn trolleys, the electric trolley helped the city to expand in the coming years. By 1927, the Schenectady Railway Company operated 140 miles of track, employed over 500 people, owned over 200 cars -- certainly a far cry from the streetcar's beginnings in Schenectady 40 years before.

Even after the use of horses was discontinued for trolley service, the Schenectady Railway Company continued to use horses for its bright red tower wagon, an apparatus used to work on breaks on overhead trolley wires, repair gas lights above streets, and hang banners. Photograph from Larry Hart Collection.

Klondike Ramp and Klondike Stairs

Photograph of the Klondike Ramp taken in March 1958, just a few months before its demolition in August of that year. Photograph from Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection.

One of the curiosities in Schenectady's history is the Klondike Ramp, the remnants of which can still be seen when traveling on I-890 near the Broadway exit. The ramp (and its predecessor, the Klondike Stairs) were built to accommodate workers traveling between the hill section east of Pleasant Valley down to Broadway and the GE plant. First, an informal footpath was created, referred to as the "Klondike Path," by 1903, beginning near the intersection of Mumford Street and Strong Street and extending down to Broadway, ending between the buildings of Veeder's flour mill and warehouse. After receiving a petition asking for the construction of a iron or stone stairway be built, the city's Common Council authorized the city engineer to present estimates for the cost of constructing an uncovered set of stairs and railings, and the Klondike Stairs were in use by 1905.



Postcard depicting the original Klondike Stairs, looking up from Broadway, around 1910. From Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection.  


Almost immediately after being constructed, the stairs required frequent repairs. The construction of the stairs brought a host of other maintenance issues, including lighting, cleaning, and ice and snow removal. In December 1914, a man named Oscar Klein wrote in to the Schenectady Gazette's "Everybody's Column" decrying the city's neglect of the stairs in winter. "The landings are very bad; neither has the ice been cleaned off, nor has it been covered with sand," he wrote. "Some consideration should be shown to the workingmen who have to walk the path twice a day." Problems increased as the stairs aged. During the 1920s, newspaper articles described the poor and unsafe condition of the stairs, and calls for the replacement of the stairs increased during the latter part of the decade. At the February 18, 1930 meeting of the city's Common Council, Mayor Henry Fagal addressed the condition of the Klondike Stairs in his mayor's message: "the concrete side and retaining walls are crushed in many places and show evidence of sliding and partial overturning. The concrete surfaces have very generally disintegrated and in two or three places the footings have been undermined by surface water wash . . . there are several places where there are not hand-rails whatever."




This image from a 1930 Sanborn map shows the original Klondike Stairs and, on a paste-down, the circular Klondike Ramp. 


In the same address, the Mayor announced plans for the construction of a circular pedestrian ramp, which was completed by early in 1931. The iron and concrete structure was an eight-sided ramp that spiraled upward in seven tiers. Historian Larry Hart compared the look of the structure to a birthday cake -- "metal curved-neck light stanchions on top supported the cake illusion since they looked like candles when lighted at night." The ramp structure was an improvement over the stairs, allowing for easier access for elderly and disabled people and making for much easier maintenance in winter.

However, the spiraling ramp also made for a more time-consuming journey home. Arthur Seymour lived on Duane Avenue and worked at GE during the life of the Klondike Stairs as well as the Klondike Ramp. In 1978, he recalled both to historian Larry Hart: "It was easier to run up the stairs than walk as the treads were only five or six inches apart," Seymour said. "If you were tired and had to walk up, it seemed like you would never get home. I was glad when the circular ramp was built to replace the stairs but found it more tiresome and longer to make it to Strong Street." As more people used trolleys, buses, and cars to travel to work, the ramp was used less and less. By 1948, an article in the Union-Star reported that in watching the ramp during its "rush hour," from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., only 51 people used the ramp, including children riding down the ramp in wagons. The ramp also began to deteriorate as time passed. In January 1958, the ramp was closed to foot traffic due to safety concerned. It was demolished in August of that year. 

Photograph of the closed Klondike Ramp in 1958. Photo from Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection.

Why were the stairs and ramp called "Klondike" or "Klondyke"? Historian Larry Hart posits two possibilities: one is that in winter the ice-cold wind rushing through Pleasant Valley made it "cold enough to be another Klondike." Another is that the name "Klondike" came from the workers who traveled down to work every day at GE, who each morning went to "dig for gold" -- meaning, to work for their weekly paycheck.

While the ramp was usually known as the Klondike Ramp, it was also known by other names or nicknames. Martin Marciniak, who grew up in the Mont Pleasant neighborhood in the 1950s, remembered the Klondike Ramp being referred to by the nickname "Seven Heavens," for its seven tiers. Newspaper articles also frequently referred to the ramp as the "Pleasant Valley Ramp" for its location.