Schaghticoke Town

Rensselaer County, New York

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Schaghticoke Town Hall is located at 290 Northline Drive, Melrose NY 12121.
Phone: 518‑753‑6915.

Beginnings [1, 2]

With the approach of Queen Anne's War in 1703, Governor Edward Cornbury authorized the construction of a military outpost in the area known as Schaghticoke. Fort Schaghticoke soon became headquarters for the Hoosac and Mohawk scouts who formed a vital element in the defense system at the outermost reaches of the colony of New York. In 1709, Johannes Knickerbocker I, son of Harmon Hanse Knickerbocker, a Dutch emigrant, became commander of Fort Schaghticoke, obtained the first farmland in "Schaghticoke," and initiated its settlement.

The [New York] general assembly, March 7, 1788, passed "An act for dividing the counties of this state into towns." It was by that act that the town of Schaghticoke was erected. At the time, it was part of Albany County.

The first town meeting for the election of officers was held at the house of John Carpenter. Those elected included: town clerk, Silas Wickes; supervisor, Jacob A. Lansing; assessors Nicholas Groesbeck, Zephaniah Russell, Abraham Viele, Jacob Yates, Martin Weatherwax; overseers of the poor, Walter N. Groesbeck, James Masters, Penuel Bacon; commissioners for roads, James S. Masters,John W. Groesbeck, William Kittle; constables, John Story, Sybrandy Viele, Jacob Groesbeck; collector, William Groesbeck; pathmasters, Jared Eabell, Ashley Goodrich, Richard Bennett, John Kinnion, Walter N. Groesbeck, Athniel Samburus, Harrison Quackenbush, John W. Groesbeck, Abraham Viele, Garret Waldron, Peter Yates; fence viewers, Walter N. Groesbeck, Asa Havens, Nathaniel Rusco; poundmaster, Walter N. Groesbeck.

  1. Diana S. Waite and Lynn Beebe Weaver, New York State Board for Historic Preservation, Knickerbocker Manison (Johannes Knickerbocker House), nomination document, 1972, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.
  2. A. J. Weise, A. M., History of the Seventeen Towns of Rensselaer County from the Colonization of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck to the Present Time, J. M. Francis & Tucker, Troy, N.Y., 1880.

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