The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Rensselaer (New York)

RENSSELAER, N. Y., city in Rensselaer County, on the Hudson River and the Boston and Albany, the New York Central and Hudson River railroads, opposite Albany and six miles south of Troy. It is connected with Albany, Troy and other cities by electric lines and by steamboat with many cities and towns on the river. Three large bridges span the Hudson and connect Rensselaer with Albany. The first settlement was made by the Dutch. It was incorporated as a village in 1815 and in 1897 was chartered as a city. It was called Greenbush until it became a city, when it took the name Rensselaer. The village of Bath was annexed in 1902. Rensselaer is a commercial and manufacturing city, noted for its chemical and aniline works, felt factory, tannery and shirt-waist factory. According to the United States census for 1914, the city had 32 manufacturing establishments, employing a capital of $2,317,925 and yielding products valued at $2,755,418. A large number of persons are employed in connection with the railroads and steamboats and in the offices, stores and factories in Albany and Troy. There are 10 churches, two public schools, one parish school, Saint John's Academy, Saint John's Orphan Asylum, Franciscan Father's Home, Genet Barracks and Memorial Park. Fort Cralo, built in 1642, still stands. The government is vested in a mayor and a common council of 10 members, elected biennially. Pop. 11,213.