Montgomery County

In February of 1960 Amsterdam’s Evening Recorder newspaper ran a series of, ironically, thirteen photos and captions describing what were then the tentative plans for the state arterial system that was going to lead to the rebirth of the downtown area and create the “New Amsterdam”. Talk of a new arterial system had been floating around for a couple of years by then and it was a foregone conclusion that it would soon be a done deal. Little did anyone realize at that point that it would be well more than a decade before the project was completed, nor the devastating effect it would ultimately have on the city’s traditional business district. Beyond the general east-west and north-south arterial corridors, little of the original proposal made the translation from paper to reality intact – Division Street did not become the westbound arterial, the southbound arterial did not cross the Mohawk on the rebuilt 1916 river bridge, East and West Main Streets did not remain a main artery through the city.