The Unique Foundation of Rensselaer County

Frank DelBeneEdited by Kaitlyn Walsh

Foundation of the county• Kiliaen van Rensselaer• Dutch West India Company• New Netherlands

• Patroonship set up • Owner of the patroon and other top positions passed down

through blood lines. • Rensselaer County was a part of Albany County until 1791

Rensselaerwyck• Tenants were assigned positions on the manor• Contracts were signed tenants• Always favored patroon• Contracts always were impossible to pay and made the

immigrants be stuck on the land in order to pay it off• No fur trade without consulting the patroon• Trade was always to go through New York City first• Dutch West India Company rules• Then trade could go anywhere else

Fall of Rensselaerwyck• Primogeniture passed,

stopping the family from passing the manor down to the next generation

• Stephen van Rensselaer III (The “Good Patroon”)• Left behind debt when he died

• Anti-Rent movement begins• Tenants did not want to pay the

difference• Patroons in Hudson Valley

were going away• Rennselaerwyck one of the

last ones

Anti-Rent Movement

• Started in 1840’s and lasted until the fall of the manor• Tenants were stuck to land• Their leases were unfair and payments could never be met

• Tried multiple ways to get freedom:• Suing the patroons, but the law prevented that

• Titles

• Violence but most were arrested• Legislation to pass laws in their favor

• This action was the route they took and succeeded in gaining their freedom from the Rensserlaerwyck Manor

Economy of Rensselaer County• Major industries• Textiles• Iron• Pharmaceuticals

• Iron industry was best at making horseshoes• Needed for Midwest railroad expansion

• Bayer Co., a German company, invested in the area• Dye industry created jobs and produced things for WWII effort

Iron Business

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute • Founded in 1824• Oldest technical school in United States• 1850 expansion• Benjamin Franklin Greene• Three year university with six colleges

• Rensselaer Plan• More money towards student research

• One of best technical schools in the country• Top 50 university overall

Progression of Rensselaer County in History• Rensselaer patroonship established in 1630• Last over two centuries• Last patroonship in Hudson River Valley

• Family owned entire area for that period

• Anti-Rent movement• Tenants finally get their freedom after legislation is passed

• Iron, textile, and pharmaceuticals were largest businesses to comes into the area

• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute opened in 1824• One of best technical schools currently in the country

Further Investigation

• Rensselaer County Tourism Historic Sites: http://www.renscotourism.com/historic_sites.aspx

• Historic Sites in Rensselaer County: http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/ny/rensselaer/state.html

• Rensselaer Demographics: http://www.renscochamber.com/resources/relocation/demographics

• Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce: http://www.renscochamber.com/

• Towns and Villages of Rensselaer County Links: http://www.rensselaercounty.org/Cities%20Towns%20Villages.htm

• Rensselaer County Interactive Access: http://www.rensco.com

• Rensselaer County Historical Society: http://www.rchsonline.org/

Bibliography• Cannon, Nancy S. “Voice of the People: Life in the Antebellum

Rural Delaware County New York Area,” www.Oneonta.edu http://www.oneonta.edu/library/dailylife/protest/http://www.colorantshistory.org/RensselaerDyeIndustry.html

• Cheyney, Edward Potts. The Anti-rent Agitation in the State of New York, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1887

Bibliography Continued• Jacobs Jaap. “Dutch Proprietary Manors in America: the

Patroonships in New Netherland,” in Louis H. Roper, Bertrand Van Ruymbeke, ed., Constructing Early Modern Empires: Proprietary Ventures in the Atlantic World, 1500 – 1750, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007.

• Lewis Tom. The Hudson: A History. Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2007.

• McCurdy, Charles W. The Anti-Rent Era in New York Law and Politics, 1839-1865. Chapel Hill: North Carolina Press.

Bibliography Continued • O’Callaghan, E. B.“The Last Patroon,”

www.Newnetherlandinstitute.org, http://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/more-historical-fun/dutch-treats/the-last-patroon/Edward Potts Cheyney. The anti-rent agitation in the state of New York. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1887.

• Ricard, Leander. “A History of the Dye Producing Industry in Rensselaer, New York.” www.Colorantshistory.org http://www.colorantshistory.org/RensselaerDyeIndustry.html

• “Timeline of Rensselaer History,” www.Rpi.edu http://www.lib.rpi.edu/archives/timeline/1859.html