Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Albany

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Albany

Albany dates to 1766, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Russell-Colbath House. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1931 on, and the census since 1840.

1766founded
1on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Albany’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Albany began

When was Albany founded?

1766

Albany dates its founding to 1766 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1840.

First census: 406 in 18402020 census: 759260 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1892.The full story ↓

What stands out about Albany’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1850 and 1930, then grew 7-fold.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Albany, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Older than the countryEstablished in 1766, 10 years before the Declaration of Independence.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Albany’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Albany’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPiper Trail Motor Court: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Albany, census by census

02004006008001850190019502000455 in 1850Low: 96

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1850 and 1930, then grew 7-fold.

19 censuses, 1840–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Albany’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Passaconaway, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
FerncroftPassaconawayPaugus Mill
Gone or out of use
Swift River Civilian Conservation Corps Camplocale
1cemetery inside Albany
Albany

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Albany came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Albany.

Read it all →

The community was first chartered in 1766 by colonial Governor Benning Wentworth as "Burton", for General Jonathan Burton of Wilton, New Hampshire. The town was incorporated and renamed "Albany" in 1833, when the New York Central Railroad from New York City to Albany, New York, was chartered.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Albany, 1766 to 2020

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1766
    FoundingAlbany is established
  3. 19th century
  4. 1892Post officeThe Passaconaway post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1931On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1937Post officeThe Passaconaway post office closes
  8. 1984In the archivePiper Trail Motor Court
  9. 21st century
  10. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 759
By decade

Albany, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1980s2 items
Piper Trail Motor Court1984Piper Trail Motor CourtPiper Trail Motor Court1984Piper Trail Motor Court
1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today13 recent
Mom at Jim Liberty Cabin2023Mom at Jim Liberty CabinMom at Jim Liberty Cabin (cropped)2023Mom at Jim Liberty Cabin (cropped)A book and art shop near Albany, New Hampshire2017A book and art shop near Albany, New HampshireA book and art shop near Albany, New Hampshire2017A book and art shop near Albany, New HampshirePholiota marginella 7404262017Pholiota marginella 740426Cortinarius violaceus (L.) Gray 7771152017Cortinarius violaceus (L.) Gray 777115Suillus paluster (Peck) Kretzer & T.D. Bruns 6786472016Suillus paluster (Peck) Kretzer & T.D. Bruns 678647Suillus ampliporus (Peck) Kuntze 6786142016Suillus ampliporus (Peck) Kuntze 678614Psilocybe fuscofulva Peck 6786282016Psilocybe fuscofulva Peck 678628AlbanyNH ChapelAndMuseum2016AlbanyNH ChapelAndMuseumReflections Upon The Swift River2015Reflections Upon The Swift RiverFalls 32011Falls 3COSECHA NARANJA2007COSECHA NARANJA
On the map

Albany on the map, 1931 to 1995

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Albany. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Albany on the 1931 USGS mapAlbany on the 1958 USGS mapAlbany on the 1987 USGS mapAlbany on the 1995 USGS map1931Mt Chocorua sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Albany.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Piper Trail Motor Court
Retake this viewPiper Trail Motor Court, 1984

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Albany’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Albany

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1987
Russell-Colbath House
Russell-Colbath House
Buildings
Russell-Colbath HouseBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Albany

Nobody well known was born in Albany itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
J
John SheaAmerican actor and director · b. 1949
G
Gordon ClappAmerican actor · b. 1948
Orison Swett MardenAmerican writer · b. 1848
Leanne SmithAmerican alpine skier · b. 1987
John WentworthAmerican newspaper editor and politician · b. 1815
Paris GibsonAmerican politician · b. 1830
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Bartlett1 historic placeB−Tamworth3 historic placesA+Madison2 historic placesB−Waterville ValleyIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townConway7 historic placesA

Questions about Albany’s history

What year was Albany founded?

In 1766, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Albany’s post office opened in 1892, and the census of 1840 counted 406 people here.

What is on the National Register in Albany?

One place: the Russell-Colbath House (listed 1987).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (13), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.