Schenectady

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Schenectady
Nickname : The Electric City
Seal of Schenectady
seal
Location in New York
Schenectady (New York)
Schenectady
Schenectady
Basic data
Foundation : 1661
State : United States
State : new York
County : Schenectady County
Coordinates : 42 ° 48 ′  N , 73 ° 56 ′  W Coordinates: 42 ° 48 ′  N , 73 ° 56 ′  W
Time zone : Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Inhabitants :
-  Metropolitan Area :		 66,135 (status: 2010)
870,716 (status: 2010)
Population density : 2,370.4 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 28.4 km 2  (approx. 11 mi 2 ) of
which 27.9 km 2  (approx. 11 mi 2 ) are land
Height : 104 m
Postcodes : 12345
Area code : +1 518
FIPS : 36-65508
GNIS ID : 979468
Website : www.cityofschenectady.com
Mayor : Gary McCarthy
SchenectadyCityHallRear.jpg
City Hall in Schenectady

Schenectady [skəˈnɛktədi] is a city in the US state of New York . It is the administrative capital of Schenectady County . From the 19th century, the city was heavily industrialized, it is also called Electric City after the company General Electric , which was located here until 1974 .

geography

The city is located in east New York on the Mohawk River near the confluence with the Hudson River , about 230 km north of New York City . It is about the same distance from the Atlantic in the southeast and Lake Erie in the west. The city has an area of ​​28.4 km², of which 0.5 km² is water.

history

In 1661 the city was founded by Arendt Van Curlear , a Dutchman from Nijkerk , and 14 families who emigrated with him after they had received the land from Mohawk Indians. During this time, the settlement was considered a gateway to the west . In 1690, when the colonial war broke out , the settlement was burned to the ground and most of the residents were killed. After that, the village was rebuilt with the help of the Iroquois and the neighboring communities Albany and Troy and a second defensive wall was built around the village. A third wall was built in 1776, at which time the settlement was granted city rights.

In 1819, a fire destroyed the entire commercial center near the river with 160 buildings, from which the city was slow to recover. Six years later, the Erie Canal was completed, which ended the importance of Schenectady as a transhipment point.

In 1831 the age of the railway began here too. The DeWitt Clinton , also built in New York in 1831, needed 46 minutes for its main route from Schenectady to Albany (New York) and was the first steam locomotive in New York State.

Soon after, heavy industry began to shape the face of the city when the Schenectady Locomotive and American Locomotive Company opened their plants here. Were built u. a. the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 938 Locomotive , the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway J-2 Series , the Devner & Rio Grande Western # 20 , the Mogul 1629 Locomotive, and the Southern Pacific 2-8-0 895 Locomotive . In 1886 Thomas Edison moved his test laboratory here. In the 20th century, General Electric settled, which earned the city the nickname Electric City . The General Electric location has its own zip code, 12345. Many American children write Christmas wishes to Santa and use this zip code , which means that quite a few General Electric employees answer the mail in their spare time.

Culture

Schenectady has seven colleges and universities, four high schools, ten public and ten private elementary and middle schools. The city also has a public library with around 548,000 books, 28,700 audio and 13,700 video documents.

Worth seeing

The Union College with the oldest landscaped campus in the US, designed by French architect Joseph Ramée , who was in the United States 1812-1816; the Schenectady County Community College , which began as a school in the former Hotel Van Curler, and Central Park , the most beautiful and largest park in the city.

Demographics

27.2% of the population are under 18 years of age and for every 100 women aged 18 and over there are 87.4 men. The average age is 35 years. (Status: 2000). The average income of a household is 29,378 USD , the average income of a family at 36,458 USD. Males have a median income of $ 30,869 versus females averaging $ 25,292. The per capita income is $ 17,076.
20.8% of the population and 16.8% of families live below the poverty line.

ancestry

According to the 2010 census, there were 66,135 inhabitants in 26,265 households in Schenectady. The population density is 2,199.9 inh / km². 54.38% are white, 28.19% are African American, and 0.69% are American. Native, 3.62% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, and 15.98% other or mixed race. Hispanics or Latinos are 20.47% (of which 14.1% are Puerto Ricans). The inhabitants of European descent are Italian (19.7%), Irish (15.8%), German (12.2%), Polish (9.0%), English (7.4%) and French (6.0 %) Ancestry.

sons and daughters of the town

Others

Schenectady has officially had its own hymn since January 30, 1995 called Our Schenectady , composed by John Van Laak . 1972 two weeks found here on the Union College campus long the filming of Sydney Pollack's film The Way We Were (German: Just as we were ) held with Robert Redford , Barbra Streisand , Bradford Dillman and Lois Chiles in the lead roles.

The 2012 American feature film The Place Beyond the Pines is set in and around Schenectady, as was the 2008 film Synecdoche, New York .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ZIP Code 12345, Schenectady NY, US ZIP Codeshttps: //www.zip-codes.com/zip-code/12345/zip-code-12345.asp5, Schenectady NY, US ZIP Codes

Web links