City Of Amsterdam

History

Amsterdam, the only city in Montgomery County, is located approximately 32 miles west of Albany, situated in the beautiful, picturesque Mohawk Valley.

It was known as "Vedder's Mills" during the Revolutionary period when Aaron Vedder settled near the mouth of the Chuctanunda Creek and erected a sawmill and grist mill, thus starting a small settlement that eventually became Veddersburg, which name, by common consent, was retained for many years until it became the Village of Amsterdam.

In 1804, the population of the hamlet was equally divided between the Holland Dutch, the Scotch and German Palatines. The Dutch, revering the name of Amsterdam, were desirous of calling their present village after the metropolis of their mother country.

In the spring of 1804, a meeting was held at the home of James Allin, located on the Sanford Stud Farm on Route 30. The question of changing the name Veddersburg to Amsterdam was submitted to a vote, which resulted in a tie. Being president of the meeting, Mr. Allin had the casting vote and out of modest courtesy for the Dutch people decided upon the present name "Amsterdam." The Allin house is no longer standing. It stood on Route 30 at Wallins Corners.

Soon the people of Veddersburg realized bridges were needed to reach other villages since settlers were located on both sides of the Mohawk River and Chuctanunda Creek. Footbridges were also constructed over little streams.

To reach the south side of the river, a ferry was built around 1800, at the foot of Pearl Street. The first bridge constructed in 1821 was replaced in 1842 by a covered bridge due to the rampage of the Schoharie Creek. Toll charges were removed after the third bridge was built in 1864. The fourth bridge built in 1876, lasted until 1913 when the Schoharie again flooded the Mohawk and did damage to the bridge. The fifth bridge, built in 1916, was a better constructed one that lasted until the completion of the Amsterdam arterial bridge in December of 1972.

The "Mohawk Turnpike," now known as Route 5, was the principal thoroughfare from Albany to the west.

Our forefathers came to this country in order to worship God as they pleased, and as soon as their homes were built, they erected churches. This first organization was formed in 1792 in connection with the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1780, the first church building was erected at Manny's Corners, and in the same year, a church edifice was erected in the Village of Amsterdam on the corner of Market and Main streets.

The Village of Amsterdam, by 1813, boasted a population of 150, a post office, a school house, a Presbyterian church and 25 dwellings. In 1831, a charter was granted for the incorporation for the Village of Amsterdam. In 1854, the charter was amended. On April 16, 1885, a charter was granted for the City of Amsterdam dividing it into four wards and allowing the elections of officers.

By 1840, the population of the City of Amsterdam was estimated at 1700. There was no indication at this time that Amsterdam would someday have more millionaires, per capita, than any other city in New York state. This would be due to the many prosperous industries established in the city.

John Sanford and his partner, William Green from Connecticut, started in the manufacture of carpets in 1842. By 1878, the Shuttleworth brothers began carpet production in Amsterdam. The middle of the 19th century brought many changes to our community.

Amsterdam had become an important village for different manufacturing companies because of the water power from the Chuctanunda Creek. It contained several carpet mills, a steel spring factory, a coffin manufacturing company, a hosiery mill, a large foundry and machine shop, boiler works, a kerosene oil refinery, a broom factory, linseed oil works, a boot and shoe factory, paper mills, a button shop, a paper box factory plus numerous small factories. They employed approximately 1,000 people.

The first cemetery for public use was located at the foot Pearl Street, between Main Street and the river. The second cemetery was located at Market and Prospect streets. When the cemetery association was organized in 1858, land that was purchased on the north side of the village was named Green Hill Cemetery. At the turn of the century, there were 15,000 burials in the Green Hill Cemetery, thus the area was referred to as "The City of The Dead".

The first public school house previous to 1800 stood upon the site of the "Old East Main" school, near Liberty Street. In 1856, it burned and a new two-story dwelling was erected. At one time, part of the old VanWyck house on Church Street was used for a young women's seminary. In 1839, the 2nd Ward schoolhouse on Division Street was built of stone. By 1877, a three story edifice was added.

The Amsterdam Academy, incorporated by the Legislature in 1839, was located on the corner of Chuctanunda and Main streets, in the old Glove Hotel. The building was sold in 1865, and a new academy was erected on Academy Street. A boarding department that was attached was for ladies, while the day school was for both sexes.

As early as 1821, weekly newspapers were printed in Amsterdam and not until William J. Kline of Fultonville purchased the paper in 1879 was it established as a weekly paper.

The Chuctanunda Gas-Light Company, formed in 1860, was destroyed by fire, and rebuilt by 1867. The Street Railway Company was chartered in 1873, and tracks extended were laid with cars running through Main, Market and Division streets.

Our first fire engine was purchased, thus the "Mohawk Engine Company" was organized. The Farmers Bank, our first bank, was established in 1839, with Cornelius Miller its first president.

Too numerous to mention are the many industries, retail establishments and private citizens who contributed to the growth of the city.

The 19th and 20th centuries saw the Village of Amsterdam grow into a thriving industrial city with migration of Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Germans, Irish and Italians.

In 1960, there were three modernization programs in progress at the same time - public housing, urban renewal, and arterializations. The Common Council officially established Urban Renewal on Dec. 29, 1967. Many new industries emerged replacing old ones, especially after the carpet mills shut down.

Port Jackson was incorporated in 1852 when it's population was 385 inhabitants. On April 13, 1888, the legislature passed a bill that annexed Port Jackson, the little village across the river, as the Fifth Ward, or as most Amsterdamians call it, the "South Side".

By 1875, Amsterdam had become a thriving industrial community with nine knitting mills, a steel spring and coffin factory, a foundry and machine shop, a steam boiler works, two broom factories, a kerosene oil factory, a paper box factory, a paper mill and two factories where the four Shuttleworth brothers started their carpet mills, which eventually became The Mohasco Corporation.

Amsterdam has gone through many drastic changes.

In 1977, a new Amsterdam Mall was constructed in the middle of town and was completed in 1980. Easy access into the city from all directions was made with the construction of new highways.

The Amsterdam of today is a far cry from the little community established so many years ago, at the mouth of the Chuctanunda Creek by Aaron Vedder who realized the potential of the Mohawk Valley.

Due to declining economics, Amsterdam is not considered the thriving "mill town" it once was, but with the help of all concerned citizens, we can rebuild our beautiful city again into that thriving community, once known as part of the "Gateway to the West."

Aaron Vedder, what do you think of Veddersburg now?

The above history was written by Dorothea Cooper, City of Amsterdam Historian Lithographs obtained from FW Beers, Illustrated History of Montgomery and Fulton County. FW Beers & Company, 1878.