Notable Quotes and Things to Know about the Stockade Historic District

Quotes:

The founder of Schenectady, Arendt Van Curler, described this area as, “the most beautiful land which the eye of man ever beheld.”
“It’s a really special place with a remarkable number of surviving gable-fronted houses,” said John R. Stevens, author of “Dutch Vernacular Architecture in North America 1640-1830.”
In the April 25, 1995, issue of the Wall Street Journal, The Stockade areas was listed as one of Schenectady’s key assets. “Society as a whole would lose something of value if this area should decline. It must be preserved.”
In a Schenectady Gazette article of February 1, 1998, Larry Hart reported: “A field photographer for the U.S. National Parks Service, visiting the Schenectady Stockade for the Library of Congress shortly before the district zoning, called the area, “the nicest group of historical homes anywhere in the United States.”

Four centuries of Schenectady Stockade history are inscribed on the granite monuments at Union Street and Erie Boulevard.
In 1823 the Marquis de Lafayette of France, whose country assisted the colonies in the Revolutionary War, was a guest of Governor Joseph C. Yates at his Stockade home.
On September 18, 1957, Stockade residents met to create an organization to improve and protect the neighborhood, which until then was called “the Village.” The name “The Stockade Association” was chosen, and its Constitution and By-Laws soon followed. Officially, it became The Stockade Association of Schenectady, New York, Inc.
In January 1998, the Schenectady City Council adopted a resolution that “Riverside Park in Schenectady’s residential Stockade Historic District is recognized as a unique component of the District and best serves residents and visitors as a quiet place to view the natural beauty of the Mohawk River.”
Riverside Park is special in having direct access to the Mohawk River without the railroad tracks that usually block river fronts elsewhere.
Many historic areas are of a single architectural period, but homes in The Stockade span three centuries and provide a total history of domestic architecture in America. Some of the many styles include Dutch Colonial, Federalist, and Greek Revival.