Downtown Albany in 1952
Overlay of Downtown Albany in 1952 over contemporary aerial photo. Switch to alternative base layers in the right-hand corner layer button or adjust transparency on the bottom.
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Overlay of Downtown Albany in 1952 over contemporary aerial photo. Switch to alternative base layers in the right-hand corner layer button or adjust transparency on the bottom.
This shows the Empire State Plaza Area in 1952.
Downtown Albany, NY, 1952
Uploaded by Richard Welty. (In 1 layer) Depicts: 1952 Last modified about 1 year ago. 8 control points.
Data Source: Map Warper. https://mapwarper.net/maps/44094
I often think people romanticize cities before the highways - often city streets were narrowed with fewer lanes, more parallel parking added, after the highways were built. Broadway with the old Dunn Bridge and all the slip ramps to the bridge was kind of a monster on its own when mixed and mashed traffic heading in all directions with six lanes in front of the D & H building. Old Broadway and State wasn't particularly pedestrian friendly back in the 1950s and 1960s. I'm playing the devils advocate to a degree here but ramming a lot of traffic throughout urban downtowns isn't necessarily conducive to healthy, pedestrian scale neighborhoods. I'm not defending Frank Fuller's baby, Interstate 787 but we shouldn't be romantic about saving the Old Broadway / Old Dunn Bridge. It was pretty hideous for any body but the motorist back then.