Illustrated in the History of Albany. 



87 



up a short preface he had written. I told him it would not answer. 

 In justice to iiimself, this concluding volume of his series should con- 

 tain something more ; and above all it should give some slight sketch 

 of his struggles and sacrifices in continuing his work. As I was well 

 acquainted with his labors, and knew how unrequited they had been, 

 I offered to write a concluding address for him. He gladly consented, 

 and this is the result." Mr. Munsell himself, I think, never com- 

 plained. It was left to this kind friend to put in words, and such 

 appropriate words, too, those feelings, not which Mr. Munsell had for 

 himself, but which others who knew his work entertained for him. 

 To the world, Mr. Munsell is best known as a printer of rare skill and 

 enthusiasm in his profession, but to xVlbanians and to his associates in 

 the Institute, he will always be best remembered as the man whose 

 researclies, like those of Layard or Schliemann, have rescued a city 

 from oblivion. 



1. General Progress. 



Let us then look at our old city as it emerged from the trials and 

 struggles of the revolution, and entered upon its new career of progress 

 and prosperity. Let us recall its contour, size and general aspect, and 

 draw, if we can, even a rude and imperfect sketch of it, touched np, if 

 possible, with some of the colors of nature. In the old maps of the 

 city (1696), the fort stood at the head of State street, where now St. 

 Peter's church stands. A line of stockades ran off on each side down 

 to and along the river, enclosing the space from Steuben street on the 

 north, to Hudson street on the sotith. Within this narrow space was 

 included all that there was of the little city. Subsequently the stock- 

 ades were extended and renewed, probably when fears of the French 

 and Indian wars stirred up the city to greater diligence in its defense. 

 This new stockade followed the line of Hamilton street on the south, 

 and on the north crossed Broadway near Van Tromp street, where the 

 location of the ancient blockhouse and gate was preserved to a late 

 period, as the dividing line between Albany and the Colonie. 



According to Simeon DeWitt's map, made in 1794, State street still 

 extended only up to Lodge street, where it merged into the Schenectady 

 turnpike. The old fort had been removed, but the ground on which 

 it had stood, and westward, where now the capitol stands, towered np 

 in a high bluff. Capitol hill was a famous place for huckleberries in 

 those days, and all west of Eagle was still left covered with the scrubby 

 pine which was the only vegetation that the poverty of the soil was 

 capable of supporting. Broadway from Its junction with State street, 



