Save the Academy
When Abraham Lansing laid out his village in the 18th century he gave it a public square located in the center of the upcoming village of Lansingborough.
Here was to be built a church and an academy.
Three pretty famous people are associated with the academy — Chester A. Arthur, Herman Melville, and Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford. The Academy is now part of the Troy Public Library and recently suffered water damage. It was revealed the insurance company denied claims to restore it putting one of the more important historical structures in danger.
Ok, Chester Arthur may not have been the greatest President of this country but he is ours! His father William Arthur was a Baptist preacher in the First Baptist church (later Powers Opera House) that’s now a garage in Lansingburgh. The family lived here from about 1846 to 1849. He also preached in Schenectady.
Chester started out in Greenwich and went to grammar school in Schenectady. He also lived in West Troy. In August 1844 they moved to Schenectady where his dad preached at the Baptist Church on Union Street. William served churches in Lansingburgh (1846— 49), Hoosick (1849—53), West Troy [now Watervliet] (1853—55), and Albany (1855—64).
Chester taught at the Lansingburgh Academy. He may have gone to school there as well.
He graduated from Union College in Schenectady in 1848 at age 18. He was a schoolteacher in Schaghticoke and a lawyer in NYC. During the Civil War he served as Quartermaster General of NYS. In 1871 he was appointed Collector of the Port of New York by President Grant and did his bidding for the Republican machine at the time.
He was accused of promoting the spoils system and was a good soldier for machine politics and became Vice President — until President Garfield was assassinated then becoming the 21st President. He decided to abandon party politics and do something good.
Instead of being a party hack in 1883 he and Congress established the bipartition Civil Service Commission.
He made certain Government positions obtainable only through competitive written examinations. The system protected employees against removal for political reasons. State workers locally can thank him. He is buried at Albany Rural Cemetery. The Arthur Administration enacted the first general Federal immigration law.
When he died in 1886, Publisher Alexander K. McClure wrote, “No man ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted, and no one ever retired … more generally respected.”
While in Lansingburgh Chester resided with his
family in a house on 626 First Avenue and while living here his father published a periodical called The Antiquarian and General Review. The house is still standing and lived in. There needs a historic marker in front.
Herman Melville moved to his house at 114th Street and 1st Avenue (then North and River Streets) in 1838 with his mother and seven siblings.
He went to the Academy and took courses in surveying and engineering with the hope of getting a job on the Erie Canal. When he graduated the principal and his mentor was Ebenezer D. Maltbie, author of a popular book Zoological Science, or Nature in Living Forms (1858). It may have been Maltbie with his animal background that aroused Melville’s interest in the sea.
It seems he may have helped young Melville with his first published Maritime story “The Death Craft,” published in the Democratic Press and Lansingburgh Advertiser on Nov. 16, 1839. During his stay here he wrote his first two novels Typee (1846) and Omoo (1847) and was may have been working on Moby Dick (1851).
He eventually got a job in 1866 in the NY Custom House with the help of you guessed it — Chester Arthur.
In 1804 Rev Dr. Samuel Blatchford became pastor of the Presbyterian churches in Lansingburgh and Waterford (which later merged). He lived on the SE corner of 113th Street and 2nd Avenue from 1804-1828. General Lafayette entertained here during the day on July 1, 1825. The house is now broken up into apartments and has been aluminum sided.
He was an early principal of the Lansingburgh Academy and later in 1824 became the first president of Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), then called the Rensselaer School after its founder Stephen Van Rensselaer.
It was located in the village of Middleburgh, in the old Farmer’s Bank building, right on the NW corner of Middleburg and River Street. When Blatchford died in 1818 Eliphalet Nott, President of Union College and later the third president of RPI delivered the sermon. He is buried at Oakwood Cemetery. The house also needs a historical marker.
In the meantime, someone needs to raise the money to clean up the damage done to the Academy (library). This is an important piece of Lansingburgh’s history.
Don’t lose it!