Broadway

BROADWAY, once the easternmost street of the stockaded city was always a center of commercial activity. As the city expanded northward after the American Revolution, Broadway became the southern end of the Watervliet Turnpike, which paralleled the Hudson River for about eight miles to its northern terminus in present-day Watervliet. About one mile north of downtown, the vast estate of the Van Rensselaer family was located Just east of Broadway. This family had owned over 240,000 acres – the entire land area now occupied by Albany and Rensselaer counties. In the late 19th century, due to its location near the Erie Canal and the Delaware and Hudson Railroad main line, Broadway began to experience large-scale industrial development; this may explain why the area became the location for truck showrooms constructed in the first quarter of the 20th century.