Why isn't Old Niskayuna Road located in Niskayuna?

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — If you take a drive around the Capital Region, you might notice something bizarre about some of the area's street names — they do not match their mentioned locations!

For example, Rensselaer Avenue is surely located in Rensselaer, right? Nope, it's in Schenectady.

But Albany Street is probably in, well, Albany, no? Not quite; it's actually in Saratoga Springs.

There are several other examples of this phenomenon throughout the region. In search of why, NEWS10 reached out to several town and city historians around the Capital Region to find out where some of these seemingly mismatched street names came from.

Speaking generally, street names come from a variety of sources, according to Colonie Town Historian Kevin Franklin.

"Some old, some new, and after the 911 emergency development, the issue of repetition in street names and their jurisdictional locations posed some issues, particularly with the proliferation of cell phones and cell phone towers," Franklin said. "Some street names come from names of family members who sold their farms years ago to developers."

Often, streets were also named for where they traveled to or for the locations they connected, Cohoes City Historian Daniele Cherniak told NEWS10. For example, Albany-Shaker Road used to connect Albany to a Shaker settlement that was located in modern-day Colonie.

"Road names often carry echoes of the past, telling the story of how people once traveled and connected," Saratoga Town Historian Sean Kelleher told NEWS10.

Below are the histories of three roads in Loudonville, Niskayuna and Saratoga Springs, Loudonville. If you have a question about the history of a road in your area, reach out to your local town or city historian, whose information can be found on the local government website.

Old Niskayuna Road, located in Loudonville

Centuries ago, the Native Americans used the name Canastagione to describe the alluvial flats and corn fields that stretched along a portion of the Mohawk River, near the Mohawk View area. According to a British map from the 1750s, a path extended from the Canastagione — specifically where today's towns of Colonie and Niskayuna meet in the Rosendale area — towards Albany, cutting through modern-day Loudonville.

However, the term Canastagione underwent many different spellings through the years — "You can imagine scribes in England copying the different ways that Canastagione had been spelled," Franklin noted. After several variations, the word finally landed on "Niskayuna."

With this new spelling, the path that connected Albany to the Canastagione now connected Albany to Niskayuna. Hence, the section of the route that remains in Loudonville is now called "Old Niskayuna Road."

According to Franklin, the path was a "very, very old" one and saw many historical developments. During the Schenectady massacre in 1690, for example, merchant Symon Schermerhorn likely used the route to travel to Albany to sound the alarm that Schenectady had been attacked, Franklin said.

Old Troy Road, located in Niskayuna

On current day maps, Old Troy Road is a circular driveway that begins and ends at Troy-Schenectady Road. However, according to Niskayuna Town Historian Rita Ogburn-McCall, the landscape of the area was very different in earlier centuries, with Old Troy Road giving Niskayuna landowners westward access to Troy-Schenectady Road.

During that time period, Niskayuna families often purchased large tracts of land along the Mohawk River's northern and southern banks, in what was originally Watervliet (now partly the Lisha Kill Nature Preserve). These farmers also operated mills and mines in the region.

To sell or trade their products in surrounding towns — Schenectady and Troy, namely — the farmers depended on "rugged farm-to-market routes," such as Troy Road (now Troy-Schenectady Road), until the completion of the Troy-Schenectady Railroad and the Niskayuna Railroad Station in 1843, Ogburn-McCall said. As the area became more developed, smaller roads like today's Old Troy Road were reportedly either abandoned or scaled to fit their current use.

According to Ogburn-McCall, Niskayuna Reformed Church is also credited with establishing Old Troy Road. As the first Dutch church in Niskayuna, located on Troy-Schenectady Road near Old Troy Road, the establishment has been heavily involved in social, political and educational activities since the 18th century.

Old Schuylerville Road, located in Saratoga Springs

According to Kelleher, Old Schuylerville Road is exactly what it sounds like: the original road that connected the town of Saratoga — including Schuylerville — to Saratoga Springs. Before modern road construction, it was the most practical route, as early travelers had to avoid Bog Meadow.

However, as drainage of the bog improved and better roads were built, the preferred route between Saratoga Springs and Schuylerville shifted to today's Lake Avenue, or Route 29.

"So, Old Schuylerville Road is quite literally the old way to Schuylerville," Kelleher said.