Rensselaer, New York

Rensselaer Rail Station, signed as Albany–Rensselaer on its platforms, is a train station in Rensselaer, New York, located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from downtown Albany across the Hudson River. Operated by the Capital District Transportation Authority, it serves as Amtrak's primary station for the Capital District. To emphasize the station's location across the river from Albany, as well as to distinguish from the Rensselaer station in Indiana, Amtrak refers to the station as "Albany–Rensselaer." It is served by Amtrak's Empire Corridor routes, including the Lake Shore Limited, whose Boston and New York sections diverge at the station. As of 2020 it was Amtrak's ninth-busiest station, as well as the busiest to serve a metro area with a population smaller than 2 million– a distinction it has held since at least 2010. This is primarily due to the large number of passengers who commute to and from New York City.

Mill Creek, also previously known as Tierken Kill, is a tributary to the Hudson River. Poetanock was the Native American name for the stream. From its source just west of Snyders Lake in East Greenbush the stream travels southwest, then north and west to the Hudson River. The stream has two waterfalls, the Upper Falls on the Mill Brook, and the Lower Falls on the Mill Brook. Its mouth on the Hudson River is directly opposite Albany New York at what was Van Rensselaer Island, in the City of Rensselaer.

Patroon Agent's House and Office, also known as the Casparus Pruyn House and Office or Whish-Hull House and H. V. Rector office, is a historic home and office located on the Hudson River at Rensselaer in Rensselaer County, New York. It was built and first occupied Nov. 29, 1839 and consists of a 2+1⁄2-story rectangular brick residence with an attached 1-story rectangular brick office in the Greek Revival style. It was built by the Van Rensselaer family as a home and office for Casparus F. Pruyn, rent collection agent for William Van Rensselaer who had inherited the "East Manor" in 1839, consisting of Rensselaer County from his father Stephen. Today, the Patroon Agent would be considered the Chief Operating Officer of a corporation; also, several other Patroon Agent Houses have been located in and around Albany over the 200+ years of the patroonship. The properties face the Hudson River and are visible across the river from Interstate-787 on Albany's west bank. Located in what was originally settled as Bath, then later Bath-on-Hudson (incorporated into the City of Rensselaer in 1903), the property is situated at the riverfront southern boundary of Beverwyck, William Paterson van Rensselaer's estate situated facing the river on the ridge northeast of the Bath ferry landing. The house features an operating water-collection system for the many mineral springs that percolate in the area that was originally used for indoor plumbing; this system includes brick and cast-iron cisterns, channels with brick walls and ash-plank linings and an outflow now connected to the city storm-sewer system channeling the constant flow of 52 F water. In February 2013, a City contractor installing new sewer lines south on Forbes Avenue discovered a substantial underground water spring flow mid-street, between # 5 and 7 Forbes Avenue. After excavating 18 ft deep, a dewatering system of crushed stone and perforated drainage pipes was installed between Tracy and Central Avenues to divert this flow south to the city storm sewer system. This diversion—thought to be from an underground diagonal streamflow across the hillside between Forbes and Broadway—relieved virtually ALL groundwater inflow in all basements along Forbes Avenue, including drying up completely the springs and drainage system in the cellar of this subject structure. Years later, the cellar remains dry for probably the first time in 175 years. The center-hall interior is formal with two large rooms deep on either side of the hall that features an oval, glass-paned oculus skylight at roof level atop the three-story galleried staircase with turned mahogany bannisters. This stairwell originally rose open from the cellar to the servants' quarters, now the attic, but was partitioned when the house was divided into north and south duplex units after the van Rensselaer family first sold it in 1865. Later, central heating replaced the use of 8 faux-grained black marble fireplaces and the two kitchen hearths in the cellar. The duplex layout consists of the north half containing the center hall, and the south using the side (Central Avenue) entrance and a perpendicular simple mahogany bannister servants' staircase to access the three floors and cellar. The north, rear, first floor (dining) room features a pair of built-in corner closets with concave-curved doors; the front (living) and back (dining) rooms are divided by sliding pocket doors. All interior doors are grain-painted mahogany and feature original brass hardware, stamped "A. Wollensak, Albany." All rooms feature heavy plaster moulding at the 14' ceilings and deep wood-paneled trim and folding casement shutters at all windows. The formal first-floor rooms now have grain-painted floors, but were originally covered with tan, red and black over-plaid ingrained wool carpet, a swatch of which survives. The ground floor is lined with a course of bricks between the sub-flooring and finished, plastered cellar ceiling providing insulation and fire resistance from the kitchen areas below. The exterior walls are constructed in an envelope fashion with an air space between the heavy brick exterior and the heavy plaster interior walls. This air space "breathed" through warm or cool air circulation from the cellar upwards and across the rafters and exited out the oculus cupola windows atop the roof. The cupola was lost during the Hurricane of 1938, which also precipitated a water-borne collapse of a section of the north end of the east cellar wall. The adjacent (north) Patroon Agent's Office, separated from the house property in 1865, has an elaborate set of heavy cast-iron security features, including doors, interior window shutters, iron bars and drop-down panels at the interior windows of what was likely a vault. An open cistern area in the main office floor has now been covered over to provide floor space in the large, elegant vaulted-ceiling room. This area was rehabilitated and decorated as offices in the early 1990s for a prominent general contractor, Henry V. Rector and is now owned and occupied by Kot Electrical Contractors. Pruyn resided and conducted the Patroon's business here between 1839 and 1844. Several signed rent receipts, acknowledging cash, pounds of wheat, fowls and other agricultural products "on account of rent" are in the collection of the current Agent's House owner. Pruyn was a central figure in the Anti-Rent War at Rensselaerswyck. Pruyn previously resided at Colonie at what is now known as the Casparus F. Pruyn House.Further detail and pictures are provided in the compilation book "Three Villages, One City" by Douglas L. Sinclair, edited by Raymond W. Hull, encompassing a reprint of The Yankee Doodle Series by Josephine M. Fraser (1976) all published by the City of Rensselaer Historical Society in 1992. The house has also been featured in the Troy Record, May 28, 1979, and the Albany Times Union, June 27, 1985. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

The Livingston Avenue Bridge is a railroad bridge over the Hudson River in New York connecting Albany and Rensselaer. The original structure was built in 1866 by the Hudson River Bridge Company but was replaced in 1901–02. A rotating swing bridge span allows large ships to proceed up the river. The New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) has identified the bridge as a critical link in its Empire Corridor passenger rail line, and has initiated a study project for bridge rehabilitation or replacement.

The Maiden Lane Bridge was a railroad bridge across the Hudson River between the city of Albany and Rensselaer County, New York. It was designed by Kellogg, Clark & Co., and was one of the largest bridges they designed. The bridge was owned and built by the Hudson River Bridge Company, which was owned jointly by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company which owned 3/4, and the Boston and Albany Railroad Company which owned 1/4. The Maiden Lane Bridge was often referred to as the "South Bridge", while the Livingston Avenue Bridge was referred to as the "North Bridge". The Livingston Ave. Bridge was used for freight (and through-traffic passenger trains) while passenger trains used the Maiden Lane Bridge for access to Union Station, which was completed less than 10 months later. The state of New York authorized construction on May 10, 1869, construction began in May 1870, and the first train crossed on December 28, 1871. The bridge consisted of four 185.5-foot (56.5 m) long fixed spans, one 274-foot (84 m) long draw span, seven 73-foot (22 m) long spans over the Albany Basin, one 110-foot (34 m) long span over Quay Street, and one 63-foot (19 m) long span over Maiden Lane. All the spans except the one over Maiden Lane were double tracked, through, and pin connected; the span over Maiden Lane was also double tracked, but was a deck and plate girder span. A reconstruction of the bridge, except for the draw span, was done in 1899 by Pencoyd Bridge Company and finished by January 3, 1900. The bridge lasted until the 1960s, when the Albany–Rensselaer Amtrak station was built on the east side of the Hudson in the city of Rensselaer and Interstate 787 was built along the west side in Albany, thereby eliminating the need of the bridge.

Clark–Dearstyne–Miller Inn is a historic inn and tavern located at Rensselaer in Rensselaer County, New York. It was built about 1791 and is a 2+1⁄2-story, rectangular, gable-roofed heavy timber frame building. It rests upon a fieldstone foundation. There is a 2-story, shed roof addition to the rear. It features an ornate, bracketed, raised porch along the front facade added about 1880. The building exhibits a number of vernacular Federal details.Excerpt from Raymond W. Smith's National Register of Historic Places Register form; "The inn was operated by a series of hotelkeepers into the early twentieth century. From 1839 to 1867, James Dearstyne was the owner/proprietor. The Dearstyne family remained until the late 1890s, when the business was known as the Dearstyne Miller Hotel. The inn continued to function as the Miller Hotel at least until the 1920s. During its early decades, the hostelry accommodated travelers crossing the Hudson via the North Ferry and rail passengers arriving at the Bath station in front of the hotel. Tenant farmers who journeyed from rural farmsteads to pay their rents to the Van Rensselaer agent at Bath also were frequent patrons of the inn. At various periods during the nineteenth century, the building also housed local government offices for the village of Bath and the town of North Greenbush. According to tradition, the body of President Lincoln was housed temporarily in the hotel in 1865 while awaiting ferry transport to the capitol at Albany. A historic photograph taken in the early twentieth century depicts President Theodore Roosevelt before the porch of the Miller Hotel. From the 1950s to its abandonment in the 1980s, the former Clark–Dearstyne–Miller Inn was operated as a neighborhood tavern. Although the historic building currently is vacant, it is an important example of an unusual building type that remains a significant link to the early history of Bath-on-Hudson." It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

The Doane Stuart School is a private college preparatory school in Rensselaer, New York. The school is coeducational and interfaith, and it educates students from early childhood through Grade 12.

The Dunn Memorial Bridge, officially known as the Private Parker F. Dunn Memorial Bridge, carries US 9 and US 20 across the Hudson River between Albany, New York and Rensselaer, New York.

W. P. Irwin Bank Building is a historic bank building located at Rensselaer in Rensselaer County, New York. It was originally built in 1873 and is a 2-story, rectangular flat-roofed, masonry structure on a stone foundation. A 1+1⁄2-story, four-bay flat-roofed brick rear wing was added in 1905. The building exhibits a number of Gothic Revival details.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

The Hudson River Way is a 2002 pedestrian bridge that links Broadway in downtown Albany, New York with the Corning Preserve on the bank of the Hudson River. The bridge crosses Interstate 787.

The Central Warehouse is a former warehouse building in North Albany, a neighborhood of Albany, New York. The building was a refrigeration warehouse built in 1927, 11 stories tall, with 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) of space. The structure is considered a landmark of the community and city. The building has a rail line that enters the second floor and the walls are 3 feet (0.91 m) thick concrete. In 1981 the building began to have signs placed on it seen from I-787, and in 1983 one in particular "Year of the Bible" received numerous complaints and the state began proceedings to have it removed. The signs violated the Federal Highway Beautification Act and was removed in 1986. Previous signs from 1981 to 1983 were not disputed by the state because Albany Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd had personally approved them and the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) chose not to enforce the law since it would be against Corning's wishes, Corning died in 1983. In 1996 the building, which by then had been abandoned, was found to have up to 18 inches (460 mm) of ice built up on some floors. The ice was believed was keeping the ammonia of the refrigeration system from expanding, bursting pipes, and being released into the atmosphere. The building was abandoned in the early 1990s. The ammonia was subsequently drained from the pipes. On October 22, 2010, a fire began in the warehouse and lasted for days, the current owners claimed no structural damage was done to the building and that plans to renovate the building into a residential and retail complex were still possible, over $1 million had already been invested in cleaning the insides of the building. The City of Albany declared a state of emergency on July 29, 2022 after chunks of the building's concrete wall began to fall near the train tracks below. Amtrak, who uses this portion of the track for service west of Albany, temporarily suspended use of the track. On August 1, after the city made emergency repairs to the crumbling wall, Amtrak resumed use of the track. The building's owner was billed by the city for the repair costs.In October 2022, longtime owner Evan Blum lost control of the property after a judge ruled in favor of foreclosure. The building is now under the management of Albany County.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYS OPRHP) is a state agency within the New York State Executive Department charged with the operation of state parks and historic sites within the U.S. state of New York. As of 2014, the NYS OPRHP manages nearly 335,000 acres (523 sq mi; 1,360 km2) of public lands and facilities, including 180 state parks and 35 historic sites, that are visited by over 78 million visitors each year.: 2