Arbor Hill is a neighborhood in Albany, New York, generally defined as the area from Clinton Avenue north to Tivoli Hollow and the Livingston Avenue Railroad Bridge and from

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

west to Henry Johnson Boulevard. Both Clinton Avenue and Henry Johnson Boulevard are signed as

U.S. Route 9 U.S. Route 9 (US 9) is a north–south United States highway in the states of Delaware, New Jersey, and New York in the Northeastern United States. It is one of only two U.S. Highways with a ferry connection (the Cape May–Lewes Ferry, between ...

. It was outside Albany's first boundaries as set up in the

Dongan Charter The ''Dongan Charter'' is the 1686 document incorporating Albany, New York, as a city. Albany's charter was issued by Governor Thomas Dongan of the Province of New York, a few months after Governor Dongan issued a similarly worded, but less det ...

of 1686. The original name of the area was Colonie (which is applied now to the current town to the north), and the area was incorporated under that name as a village in 1804; it was annexed by Albany in 1815. There are two sub-neighborhoods in Arbor Hill, Dudley Heights and the Ten Broeck Triangle. "Arbor Hill" was the name given to the Ten Broeck estate; the

Ten Broeck Mansion The Ten Broeck Mansion in Albany, New York was built in 1797. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. A decade later it was included as a contributing property to the Arbor Hill Historic District–Ten Broeck Triangle ...

is still an important cultural and historical museum. The neighborhood has other historical and cultural sights such as the

Palace Theatre Palace Theatre, or Palace Theater, is the name of many theatres in different countries, including: Australia *Palace Theatre, Melbourne, Victoria * Palace Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales Canada *Palace Theatre, housed in the Robillard Block, M ...

and St. Joseph's Church. Demographically it is predominantly African-American.

History

The Albany neighborhood of Arbor Hill had its start as a rural section of the neighboring

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an or ...

of Watervliet. The area was referred to as "the Colonie" and would be incorporated as a municipality in 1791, but would stay within Watervliet. Colonie would become incorporated again, this time as a district in 1801, and then as a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in 1804. In 1808 Colonie separated from Watervliet as a separate town. The trustees of the town, the voters of the town, and the common council of the city of Albany all approved annexation of the town to the city. The state on February 25, 1815, passed "An ACT to annex the Town of Colonie to the City of Albany". Many of the workers involved in building the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing ...

settled here in the 1820s, but by the late 19th century the area—especially the Ten Broeck Triangle section—became exclusive, catering to the new lumber industry barons. By the mid-20th century the decline of Albany's lumber industry led to a decline in fortunes for Arbor Hill. Once exclusive and prosperous, after

the Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagion ...

, it became a distressed light industrial and residential neighborhood . In the early 20th Century, it was mostly settled by a mix of immigrants from Europe, but primarily

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

s. During the administration of mayor Erastus Corning II ( 1942 to 1983), urban sprawl contributed to

white flight White flight or white exodus is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the United States. They refer ...

, and the area lost much of its population. By the end of the 20th century, it became demographically predominantly

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensla ...

. The neighborhood police unit for Arbor Hill was introduced in September 1972 and funded by the federal Law Enforcement Administration Agency (LEAA), which paid for the staffing and training of 48 officers. As the LEAA fell victim to budget cuts, the city was left with little money for maintaining the units and staffing fell to 32 officers. Within one week a firebomb destroyed the building at the corner of Second and Lark streets. The unit then moved to a storefront at 133 Northern Boulevard (today Henry Johnson Boulevard), where it remained until April 4, 1986, when the unit was closed. The New Covenant

Charter School A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

was opened in Arbor Hill in 1999 as the first in the city and only the second in the state amid huge support as a means to reach minority and underperforming students. The school had miserable scores and high turnover in both the student population and among teachers. The charter school was finally closed in 2010. New Covenant was the second of the first three charter schools to close, the second to close in the

Capital District A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any politi ...

and only the eighth in the state to be closed.

Geography

Arbor Hill includes the section of Albany west from

to Henry Johnson Boulevard and north from Sheridan Hollow to Tivoli Hollow.

Education

Arbor Hill has one public elementary school (not counting charter schools): Arbor Hill Elementary School, at 1 Arbor Drive. Demographically, it is 89% Black, 5% Latino, 4% Multiracial, 1% White, and 1% Asian or Pacific Islander. 73% of students are eligible for the free or reduced price lunch program, and 3% have limited English proficiency. The attendance rate is 92%. The average class size is 18 students, and the student body is 393 students in K-6 as of 2007.

References

{{Coord, 42, 39, 40, N, 73, 44, 58, W, display=title Neighborhoods in Albany, New York Former villages in New York (state) Former towns in New York (state) U.S. Route 9

History

Geography

Education

See also

References