Boulevards Neighborhood History
Map of Schenectady, 1866, from Beers’ Atlas of Schenectady County:
Map of Schenectady, 1895, Edwin Conde, City History Center:
Map of Schenectady, 1901, Edwin Conde, City History Center:
When lots were first divided up in the neighborhood — article from the Amsterdam Daily Democrat, October 25, 1901:
A Schenectady Gazette article from June 30, 1917:
Excerpt from book by George Rogers Howell “History of the County of Schenectady, N.Y., from 1662 to 1886”
Wendell Quarry
Wendell Quarry was a quarry near the BANA neighborhood and GE Plot owned by Robert H. Wendell (aka Harry Wendell) in the 1800s. Here is more information on Mr. Wendell from the State Museum.
According the Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, “He was a slave owner and prominent in the Whig party. He built his homestead on College Hill, which is now standing, in the residential section of Schenectady. The farm is now traversed by broad boulevards and streets which are lined with handsome residences. Near the house were the slave quarters where lived the tillers of the fields, owned by Mr. Wendell.”
According to the City of Schenectady’s “Union Triangle Historic District” report, [Wendell] “probably knew then that the farm, with its bluestone quarry, would have real estate value at some later time as the city expanded, by which his heirs would benefit.”
Mr. Wendell is buried in Vale Cemetery.
From The Schenectady Reflector, 1875:
This is from a Schenectady City Council document dated June 12, 1916:
In June 1917, the Schenectady Gazette ran the following notice:
TO DRY WENDELL QUARRY
The water will be pumped out of the old Wendell quarry, now used as a dump, in the endeavor to abate the nuisance complained of by residents of that section.
An article from January 20, 1914 advertised “CARNIVAL at Wendell Quarry Wednesday night.”
There are numerous documented advertisements in 1917 for “Skating at Wendell Quarry.” And this is despite well documents accidents — like this one highlighted in the December 24, 1912 edition of the Gazette:
The Amsterdam Daily Democrat, in their Wednesday evening edition on November 25, 1885, wrote that “Patrick Kyne and John Goldfoot, quarrymen, were frightfully hurt by an explosion in the Wendell quarry near Schenectady, Monday.” No word was found on their recovery.
Here is when Mr. Wendell put the land up for sale in May 1830:
According to the City of Schenectady’s “Union Triangle Historic District” report, Sherman Alonzo Case was likely the quarry’s operator in the later part of the 19th Century. The document goes on to state: “the Wendell homestead and nearby quarry had been sold to the Trustees of Union College by 1885.”
The Troy Daily Times, on December 10, 1900, ran an announcement stating: “The Mohawk Skating Club, which formerly had a rink on the Mohawk River, will this winter change its location to what is known as the college quarry, containing a body of water which when frozen will give a surface of about 100 by 300 feet.”
This October 1948 Schenectady Gazette article recalls skating on the “old college quarry”:
