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As with any major society since the dawn of time, roads and other transportation connections played an important role in the development of Niskayuna, and in understanding its history.
No roads started or ended here, but many of the prominent roads we drive or walk every day connected to a much larger system of trails or highways long before the establishment of any formal numbered structure. They were used for a combination of migration, commerce and transit.
Much like New York City’s Broadway and Bowery, a number of the key roads in Niskayuna started as trails used by the local Native Americans. These trails often followed key geological features such as rivers or creeks.
River and Rosendale roads were part of a common trail used not just for trade between villages but also as a migratory path from summer to winter settlements in the area. Lisha Kill Road to Mohawk Road also follows the path of an old native trail to the settlement on Niska Isle, even then a popular place to ford the river that would later become Vischer Ferry.
Some of the roads through town started not as Native trails but as more robust and direct replacements for those narrow, windy and muddy routes.
The little bit of State Street (Route 5) that passes through Niskayuna was built as part of the Albany-Schenectady Turnpike, a replacement for the long-traveled Kings Highway through the Pine Bush. Many know the old route by the many historical signs marked on Old State Road, Kings Road and both cities’ downtowns. The Albany route was started in 1797 and finished in 1801. The city of Troy built its own turnpike to Schenectady a year later along today’s Route 7 to Union Street, replacing River Road.
Turnpikes were a critical development in the early expansion of the young United States. Organized as private companies funded by local businessmen, banks and landowners, turnpikes provided a well-maintained paved route, some with pre-cut wagon ruts to speed travel.
These routes would then connect to other funded roads to create an early national network westward. Turnpikes would charge tolls at various points along their routes to fund maintenance.
Although a short drive today, even these speedier routes took time, leading to several inns sprouting up along both routes. Each road would later play home to a line of streetcars between their respective cities, including several stops in Niskayuna.
Lastly, some roads were purpose-built.
Balltown Road led to Ball’s Town — that is Eliphalet Ball — and his settlement that is today Ballston. The road, built in 1804, first connected a growing hamlet around a mill at the Aqueduct to the Albany Turnpike.
A bridge built the next year connected the route to its ultimate terminus. Other roads, such as Van Antwerp and the western portion of Rosendale Road, provided a similar connection for small hamlets and farms to the larger trading routes.
So much of history is tied up in roads and where they were laid down. These initial decisions, in some cases made centuries ago, ultimately come to define an area, how it expands and where it stops. As you journey around town, consider the path you take — and also those who trod it before.
Ben Spear is a member of the Niskayuna Historical Committee. To submit information to the committee, email Niskayuna Town Historian Denis Brennan at [email protected].
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Categories: Schenectady County, Your Niskayuna
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