Town Of Amsterdam

History

Originated in 1793

When the county was formed in 1772, the easterly section, from the Albany County line near the Hoffmans rock cut to The Noses, was referred to as the Mohawk District, this including both sides of the Mohawk. Boundary lines were restated in 1788 and that part of Mohawk District on the north side of the river was designated as Caughnawaga. The name was in use for only five years.

Caughnawaga was divided in 1793 to create four towns: Amsterdam and Johnstown that ranged along the river, and Broadalbin and Mayfield to the north. Origin of the name Amsterdam is not clear but one of the traditional versions is that it came about during a mill raising when neighborhood volunteers began to refer to the Hagaman Mills section of Caughnawaga as Amsterdam. Whatever the derivation, the name Amsterdam implies Dutch background, and it first appeared on the county map of 1793.

Sections of the Town of Amsterdam came naturally in pattern set by three tributaries of the Mohawk. Through the center of the town runs the Chuctanunda Creek winding its way southward from Saratoga. To the west is Kayaderosseros, the Fort Johnson stream along which Sir William built. In the eastern section of the town is Eva’s Kil, a little creek where Cranesville developed. Legend has it that the stream memorializes Eva Van Alstyne, an early settler wounded and scalped during a Revolutionary raid.

Settlement of the tract that became the Town of Amsterdam was later than that of many other parts of the county because of the ill-famed Kayaderosseros Patent, a 1704 land swindle that involved some highly placed provincial officials. The victims were Mohawk Indians who became infuriated when they discovered that the “big enough for a farm” land they had relinquished was actually about 700,000 acres lying between the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. A half-century passed before the Mohawks were compensated, and then only in part.

Settled During Revolution

Adjustment of the Kayaderosseros dispute permitted influx of settlers and they fared better than some earlier arrivals that had been molested by the red men claiming ownership. The Revolutionary War years witnessed development along the Chuctanunda, from the lower section, where Albert Vedder’s coming was followed by arrival of more pioneers into what became known as Veddersburg, to a few miles north where Joseph Hagaman had acquired 400 acres in 1777 in a settlement soon recognized as Hagaman Mills. At the extreme westerly end of the new township was Tribes Hill, a hamlet described by an 1802 traveler as distinguished by its “a perfect Babel as to language”. Reference was to the intermingled Dutch, Irish and Scotch settlers. Along the Eva’s Kil in the easterly section Philip Groat had acquired land directly from the Indians in 1716 and his sons were operating a gristmill in 1730. Originally referred to as Adriutha or Adriuche, the immediate area came gradually to be known as Cranesville. It was named after David Crane, an 1804 settler who was operating a hotel when the Mohawk Turnpike was under construction.

Veddersburg to Amsterdam

The Revolutionary era name of Veddersburg attached to the little community at the mouth of the Chuctanunda did not last. Sometime between 1804 and 1808 Veddersburg residents expressed preference for the name of Amsterdam, the same as had been adopted by the surrounding township about a decade previous. The Netherlands influence was being maintained. An 1813 description of the renamed community included count of a post office, Presbyterian Church, a school, about 25 dwellings with estimated population of 150, and a few stores and mills.

Also in 1813 a business count revealed that between Amsterdam and Galway there were five-grain mills, four sawmills, carding and fulling operations and two oil mills. Included within the town boundaries at the time was Perth that was continued as part of Amsterdam from 1793 until 1838 when Fulton County was formed.

Some of the early statisticians described Amsterdam as extending for 10 miles along the river and for five miles north. The 1810 town population was given as 3,039 and this had increased to 3,171 by 1820. Also enumerated in the town were 2,457 cattle, 765 horses, 4,613 sheep, five gristmills, 17 sawmills, two fulling mills, two distilleries and four asheries.

Official population figures for the town of Amsterdam were given as 5,333 in 1840 and 4,128 in 1850; 4,557 in 1860; 7,700 in 1870; 11, 710 in 1880 and 2,948 in 1890. The drastic loss during the last-compared decade was due to incorporation of the City of Amsterdam in 1885.

Presently Fast-Growing

Most of the growth in the eastern part of the county during the past quarter-century has taken place in the Town of Amsterdam. The area has attracted new business and also relocations of long-established firms of the City of Amsterdam. Population increase began after state and federal officials had made numerous and futile attempts during the 1940’s to create interest in public housing in the City of Amsterdam. The major development finally achieved was Northampton Court, built with funds of the Federal Housing Administration, which added 68 apartments and 30 garages. Although located in the township, municipal facilities of water and sewer were obtained by the influential developers.

The combination of available acreage and increased traffic along Route 30 north of the city during the early 1960s attracted both business and industry. In 1963 Stephen Collins farm of 140 acres at the Collins Corners intersection was transformed into the Big N Shopping Center. This was the first of a series of installations in the immediate area, and in 1968 the former Matthewson farm south of the intersection became the Family Bargain Center.

Other shopping facilities followed in the town north of the city, also manufacturing plants and banking, and motels and restaurants that benefited from tourist business along the main highway to Fulton and Hamilton Counties. Amsterdam Memorial Hospital moved over the city line to Route 30 in 1963. The fastest growing and most highly populated part of Montgomery County showed a 1970 census total of 5,795. Town assessments passed the $21 millions mark, this in comparison with a $14.5 millions tax roll a decade previous.

Amsterdam Suburbs

Hagaman, northernmost community in the eastern part of the town and observing its own bicentennial in 1977 has grown steadily with the rest of the township since its incorporation in 1892. Following the first official enumeration in 1870, the population was announced as 250, and at the end of the century there were 646 residents. A population count of 1,410 was made in the 1970 census.

Fort Johnson was better known as Akin during the latter part of the 19th century when much of it was owned by the Ethan Akin family whose parcels included the historic home of Sir William Johnson. During the 1880’s the New York Central station sign read Akin. The name of the post office was Akin in 1893, but when time came for incorporation in 1909 the official designation was Fort Johnson. The community first appeared in the census figures with 600 inhabitants in 1910, and the all-time high was reached with 930 counted in 1950. Many homes were lost in construction of the Route 5 arterial and the population had decreased to 711 by 1970.

Cranesville which also lost many dwellings through arterial construction in the early 1960’s had retained character as a residential community although a few businesses were spread along the old turnpike and the Cranes Hollow Road leading north along the creek.

Tribes Hill in the westerly part of the town grew steadily but without incorporation and official recognition of size until the 1970 census when a count of 1,184 residents was made. Included were 968 in the Town of Mohawk and 216 living in the Town of Amsterdam.

Hugh P. Donlon. History of Montgomery County 1772-1972. Amsterdam, NY: Noteworthy Company 1973