Emma Willard and the Troy school that opened higher learning to women
Emma Willard opened the Troy Female Seminary in 1821, teaching young women subjects such as math and science that were…
Section
Local Leaders
People and institutions that shape the Capital Region and the Hudson Valley.
Thomas Cole, the Catskill painter who started the Hudson River School
Thomas Cole's paintings of the Catskills in the 1820s launched the first American art movement. His home in Catskill is…
Joseph Henry, the Albany teacher whose electromagnet experiments changed science
Born in Albany in 1797, Joseph Henry did pioneering work on electromagnetism at the Albany Academy and became the first…
Rachael Ray: From Lake George and Albany to National Television
Rachael Ray grew up in Lake George, worked at an Albany gourmet market, and built a national food career. A…
Frederic Church and Olana, the house he designed like a painting
Frederic Church, Thomas Cole's only student, built Olana above the Hudson in the 1870s. The house and grounds are now…
Philip Schuyler and the Albany mansion where Hamilton married
General Philip Schuyler built his Albany home in the 1760s. His daughter Elizabeth married Alexander Hamilton there in 1780.
Samuel Wilson, the Troy meat packer behind “Uncle Sam”
During the War of 1812, barrels of beef stamped "U.S." from Samuel Wilson's Troy business gave the country its nickname.
Arvind Krishna, IBM’s CEO, and the Company’s Hudson Valley Footprint
Arvind Krishna has led IBM since 2020. A profile of his career, the Red Hat deal and IBM's Poughkeepsie mainframe…
Pete Seeger, the Beacon folk singer who sailed to clean up the Hudson
Pete Seeger lived above Beacon for decades and launched the sloop Clearwater in 1969 to rally people to clean the…
Martin Van Buren, the Kinderhook tavern keeper’s son who became president
Martin Van Buren grew up speaking Dutch in Kinderhook, built a political machine in Albany and retired to his Lindenwald…