Broadway (Albany, New York)

The streets of Albany, New York have had a long history going back almost 400 years. Many of the streets have changed names over the course of time, some have changed names many times. Some streets no longer exist, others have changed course. Some roads existed only on paper. The oldest streets were haphazardly laid out with no overall plan until Simeon De Witt's 1794 street grid plan. The plan had two grids, one west of Eagle Street and the old stockade, and another for the Pastures District south of the old stockade.

These streets had their starts during the Dutch colonial era in the 17th century, some such as Broadway, State, and Pearl streets grew and continued to stretch out into the countryside, while some such as Van Tromp are short stubby streets one block long. Others are so narrow that today they are blocked off to vehicular traffic.

Albany's original "main street". The original name was Yonker Street, it and Broadway are the two oldest streets in Albany. Three structures sat in the middle of the street, from east to west they were- the original Dutch Reformed church, St. Peter's Anglican Church, and Fort Frederick; by 1810 they had been demolished. State Street west of Eagle Street was called Deer Street, today it is sometimes referred to as "upper" State Street to distinguish it from the older "lower" State Street. "Upper" State Street is a one-way street traveling east and goes from a Y-intersection with Western Avenue and continues east to Eagle Street. There are two other discontinuous sections of State Street, one is blocked from "upper" State Street by the downtown campus of the University at Albany, SUNY (SUNY Albany) and is a one-way street travelling west from Cortland Place to O'Leary Boulevard (Partridge Street) then is blocked by the downtown dorms of SUNY Albany, Albany High School, and St. Mary's Park. The next section goes from North Main to North Pine streets. State Street from Broadway to Eagle Street is part of New York Route 5, though this is an unsigned part of the route.

Called Handalaers Street on the Miller map of 1695. One of the original streets within the Dutch stockade, it and State Street are the two oldest streets in Albany. The intersection with Yonker (State) Street is where the original Dutch Church sat until 1806. North of State Street it became known as Market Street. The second oldest house in Albany, the Quackenbush House was built along Broadway. Handalaers Street was changed to Market Street, and then in 1815 Court Street became South Market and Market became North Market. Broadway from Madison Avenue north out of the city was once New York Route 2 until the 1980s. The only portion of Broadway within the city of Albany that is part of a state or US route is a small section from State Street south to Hamilton Street is part of New York Route 5, though unsigned as such.

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