Amsterdam, New York
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Amsterdam is a
city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
in
Montgomery County, New York Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 49,532. The county seat is Fonda. The county was named in honor of Richard Montgomery, an American Revolutionary War general killed in 17 ...
, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 18,219. The city is named after
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
in the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. The City of Amsterdam is surrounded on the northern, eastern and western sides by the
town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...
of
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
. The city developed on both sides of the
Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk f ...
, with the majority located on the north bank. The Port Jackson area on the south side is also part of the city.


History

Prior to settlement by Europeans, the region which includes Amsterdam was inhabited for centuries by the
Mohawk tribe The Mohawk people ( moh, Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) are the most easterly section of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous people of North America, with communities in southeastern Canada and northern Ne ...
of the Iroquois Confederacy, which dominated most of the Mohawk Valley. They had pushed the
Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...
Mohican tribe to the east of the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
. Dutch settlers began to arrive in the area in the 1660s, founding
Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
in 1664. They had previously been based in Albany, along the Hudson River to the east. They reached what would later be Amsterdam c.1710. They called the community Veeders Mills and Veedersburgh after Albert Veeder, an early mill owner. By the second decade of the 1700s, Scotch-Irish and German Palatinate immigrants began to arrive in the Mohawk Valley region, but few settled in Amsterdam. The governor of the colony granted a group of 100 Palatine German households land in the area that developed as
Little Falls, New York Little Falls is a city in Herkimer County, New York. The population was 4,946 at the time of the 2010 census, which is the second-smallest city population in the state, ahead of only the city of Sherrill. The city is built on both sides of the ...
to the west, where the English planned they could serve as a buffer to French and Native American incursions."History of Amsterdam, NY"
City of Amsterdam website
The
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
had little effect on the Amsterdam region. No major battles were fought there or in the surrounding region. The
Battle of Johnstown The Battle of Johnstown was one of the last battles in the northern theatre of the American Revolutionary War, with approximately 1,400 engaged at Johnstown, New York on October 25, 1781. British regulars and militia, commanded by Major John R ...
was essentially the repelling of a raid by British forces and their Native American, mostly Iroquois, allies. Amsterdam grew slowly after the war, primarily providing the services needed for the farming communities which surrounded it. It was located in the now-defunct Town of Caughnawaga.Hamilton Child, ''History of Amsterdam, New York;'' Syracuse, New York 1869
When the Town of Amsterdam was created, the city changed its name to Amsterdam in 1803, possibly to encourage its selection as the seat of the town's government. After the War,
Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...
such as the powerful Johnson family fled to Canada. Sir William Johnson had long been the British agent of Indian Affairs for this region. Many new land-hungry settlers came from New England as the state sold off former Iroquois lands for development. The settlement was incorporated as a
village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...
on April 20, 1830, from a section of the Town of Amsterdam. This was a period of rapid growth for the village, influenced by major transportation developments. In turn, the
Mohawk Turnpike New York State Route 5 (NY 5) is a state highway that extends for across the state of New York in the United States. It begins at the Pennsylvania state line in the Chautauqua County town of Ripley and passes through Buffalo, Sy ...
, the
Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...
, and construction of the railroad across the valley improved trade. The steeply descending creeks in the region, which flowed from the foothills of the
Adirondacks The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...
, were used to power an increasing number of mills. These manufactured goods that were shipped from the region by land, canal and rail. Products such as linseed oil, brooms, knit ware, buttons, and iron goods were produced in the growing village, which became an important manufacturing center. It was best known, however, for its carpets, eventually becoming the carpet and rug manufacturing center of the U.S. Through the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Amsterdam was a destination for immigrants from Europe: Irish, Italian, Polish, and Lithuanian peoples, among others, who found work in the factories. In 1865, the population of Amsterdam was 5,135. New
charters A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
in 1854, 1865, and 1875 increased the size of the village. In 1885, Amsterdam incorporated as a city; it expanded by annexing Rockton to the north, and the former village of Port Jackson on the south side of the Mohawk River was annexed to become the fifth ward of the city. By 1920, the city's population was 33,524. In the Great Depression, the mills slowed down their output, but did not close. The city survived the two world wars without significant effect. Shortly after World War II, however, manufacturing in general began to move to the southern United States, where labor costs and taxes were lower. The mills of Amsterdam also shifted their jobs to the South. After a period in the South, that region lost industrial jobs to overseas locations. Additionally, the second and third generations of the city's immigrant families often left to go to college and did not return, as there were few jobs to attract college-educated citizens. The city attempted to re-create its industrial base, but these efforts were not particularly successful. Subsequent city and State projects intended for improved commuting and
urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...
resulted in eroding the local character of the city. As the city's website expresses it:
In an attempt to draw people and business back to Amsterdam, the City and State began a program of urban renewal and arterial roadway construction, destroying much of the original fabric of downtown. Now, not only is there less to go downtown for, it's harder to get there. Once again, Amsterdam is somewhere to be bypassed on the way to somewhere else.
In the early 21st century, post-industrial Amsterdam is still trying to re-invent itself. The city suffered serious flood damage in late August 2011, in the aftermath of
Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 ...
. The flooding threatened properties at the river's edge due to erosion and water damage.


Geography

According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...
, the city has a total area of 6.3 square miles (16.3 km), of which 5.9 square miles (15.4 km) is land and 0.3 square miles (0.9 km) is water, with the total area being 5.41% water. The city developed on both sides of the Mohawk River and Erie Canal, and both North Chuctanunda Creek and South Chuctanunda Creek flow into the Mohawk at Amsterdam. New York State Route 30, a north-south highway called Market Street in part, crosses the Mohawk River to link the main part of Amsterdam to the New York State Thruway. NY-30 also intersects east-west highways New York State Route 5 and New York State Route 67 in the city. New York State Route 5S passes along the south side of the Mohawk River. Amsterdam is currently within New York's 20th congressional district.


Economy

In the 19th century, the city of Amsterdam was known for carpet,
textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
, and pearl button, manufacturing. It continued to be a center for carpet-making in the 20th century, when the Bigelow-Sanford and Mohawk Mills Carpet companies both were located in Amsterdam, but these companies have relocated to other regions. Amsterdam was also the home of
Coleco Coleco Industries, Inc. was an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as The Connecticut Leather Company. It was a successful toy company in the 1980s, mass-producing versions of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game conso ...
, makers of the
ColecoVision ColecoVision is a second-generation home video-game console developed by Coleco and launched in North America in August 1982. It was released a year later in Europe by CBS Electronics as the CBS ColecoVision. The console offered a closer exp ...
,
Cabbage Patch Kids Cabbage Patch Kids are a line of cloth dolls with plastic heads first produced by Coleco Industries in 1982. They were inspired by the Little People soft sculptured dolls sold by Xavier Roberts as collectibles. The brand was renamed 'Cabbage ...
and the
Coleco Adam The Coleco Adam is a home computer and expansion device for the ColecoVision released in 1983 by American toy and video game manufacturer Coleco. It was an attempt to follow on the success of the company's ColecoVision video game console. The Ad ...
. Founded in 1932 as the Connecticut Leather Company, Coleco went bankrupt in 1988 after a failed attempt to enter the electronics market, and pulled out of Amsterdam, as well as its other North American manufacturing sites. The enclosed shopping center is named the Amsterdam Riverfront Center. Once filled with clothing shops, the mall complex has been adapted for offices of doctors, public assistance services, community organizations, a radio station, and an off-track betting site. Media in Amsterdam includes one print newspaper
''The Recorder''
which is owned by the
Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
-based Daily Gazette, an online newspaper
''The Mohawk Valley Compass''
and two AM radio stations,
WVTL WVTL (1570 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station broadcasting a classic country radio format to the Mohawk Valley in the U.S. state of New York. It is licensed to Amsterdam, New York, and is owned by Roser Communications Network, Inc. WVTL' ...
and
WCSS WCSS (1490 AM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting a full service oldies and classic hits radio format. Licensed to Amsterdam, New York, the station serves the Mohawk Valley, with radio studios in the Riverfront Center Mall in that cit ...
. In the early 2000s, distribution centers began being constructed in the Florida Business Park in the Town of
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, which is located just outside the City of Amsterdam. The park currently holds Target, Hill & Marks, Alpin Haus, and most recently, Dollar General. In 2019, Vida Blend broke ground on a new distribution center in the park. Some thousands of city and adjacent county residents are now employed by these businesses.


Demographics

As of the census"Amsterdam, New York (city)"
QuickFacts page from the U.S. Census Bureau's American FacFinder. Accessed: May 21, 2012
of 2010, there were 18,620 people, 8,324 households, and 4,721 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,176.4 people per square mile (1,226.4/km). There were 9,218 housing units at an average density of 1,573 per square mile (607/km). The racial makeup of the city was 80.4%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
(68.1% Non Hispanic White), 3.8%
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
or
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.6% Native American, 0.9%
Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
and 3.4% from two or more races. 26.2% of the population were
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
or
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
of any race. There were 8,146 households in the city, with the average household size being 2.24 persons. In the city, 25.0% of the people were under the age of 18 and 15.8% were age 65 or older. The median income for a household in the city, based on data from 2007 to 2011, was $38,699.


Transportation

The City of Amsterdam is at the convergence of State Routes 5, 30, and 67. The New York State Thruway/Interstate 90 is slightly less than one mile to the southwest of the city. Amsterdam also has passenger rail access provided by
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
. Three trains stop daily at the Amsterdam Station which is located off of State Route 5 in the western part of the city. * The
Maple Leaf The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is the most widely recognized national symbol of Canada. History of use in Canada By the early 1700s, the maple leaf had been adopted as an emblem by the French Canadians along th ...
, operating between
Toronto Union Station Union Station is a major railway station and intermodal transportation hub in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Front Street West, on the south side of the block bounded by Bay Street and York Street in downtown Toronto. The municip ...
, and
New York Penn Station Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York Penn Station or simply Penn Station, is the main intercity railroad station in New York City and the busiest transportation facility in the Western Hemisphere, serving more than 600,000 passengers ...
* Two
Empire Service The ''Empire Service'' is an Inter-city rail service operated by Amtrak within the state of New York in the United States. The brand name originated with the New York Central Railroad in 1967. Trains on the line provide frequent daily service ...
trains, operating between
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...
and
New York Penn Station Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York Penn Station or simply Penn Station, is the main intercity railroad station in New York City and the busiest transportation facility in the Western Hemisphere, serving more than 600,000 passengers ...
In 2022,
CDTA The Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) is a New York State public-benefit corporation overseeing a number of multi-modal parts of public transportation in the Capital District of New York State ( Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer a ...
began providing bus services with two inner-city routes, a Thruway Express route, and an Amsterdam-Schenectady route. The City of Amsterdam has two Level 3 DC Fast Chargers for electric vehicles provided by
New York Power Authority The New York Power Authority (NYPA), officially the Power Authority of the State of New York, is a New York State public-benefit corporation. It is the largest state public power utility in the United States. NYPA provides some of the lowest-co ...
's Evolve NY program. These chargers are located at the city owned parking lot in downtown near the Amsterdam Free Library. Other chargers are located throughout the city at various parks.


Sports

*Amsterdam's municipal golf course was designed by
Robert Trent Jones Robert Trent Jones Sr. (June 20, 1906 – June 14, 2000) was a British–American golf course architect who designed or re-designed more than 500 golf courses in 45 U.S. states and 35 countries. In reference to this, Jones took pride in sayi ...
. *The city is home to the
Amsterdam Mohawks The Amsterdam Mohawks are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Amsterdam, New York. The team plays in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL). The Mohawks, who were located in Schenectady prior to 2003, won the championship in ...
baseball team of the
Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL) is a 16-team Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball league founded in 2010. As of 2022, all teams are within New York (state). All players in the league must have National Colle ...
. The team plays at
Shuttleworth Park Shuttleworth Park is a ballpark located in Amsterdam, New York, United States. It is home to the Amsterdam Mohawks of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League. The ballpark capacity is 3,000. History Shuttleworth Park, formerly Mohawk Mills Par ...
. *The
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (PWHF) and Museum is an American professional wrestling hall of fame and museum located in Wichita Falls, Texas currently closed to water leaks. The museum was founded by Tony Vellano in 1999, and was previo ...
was located in Amsterdam until November 2015, when it relocated to
Wichita Falls, Texas Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. Accord ...
.


Places of interest

*The
Mohawk Valley Gateway Overlook The Mohawk Valley Gateway Overlook is a public pedestrian bridge in the Amsterdam (city), New York, City of Amsterdam, New York, connecting Riverlink Park on the north shore of the Mohawk River (New York), Mohawk River to Bridge Street on the ...
pedestrian bridge spans the Mohawk River and connects the city's Bridge Street downtown area on the south shore and Riverlink Park on the north. It was built from 2014 to 2016. * Lock E11 was built to facilitate water traffic on the Mohawk River/Erie Canal; it is one of 8 locks which include a
truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...
structure which spans the river and which has multiple steel gates which can be opened and closed by the use of electric winches in order to dam the river or let it flow freely. *The Sanford Clock Tower, also known as the Sanford Mills, the Hasbro Plant, the Coleco Industries Plant – where Cabbage Patch Dolls and ColecoVision were manufactured in the 1970s and 1980s – and, currently, the Clock Tower Complex, was built in 1922 for carpet magnate Stephen Sanford as the headquarters and mill of the Sanford-Bigelow Carpet Company. The current owners, who bought the property in 2001, hope to attract small businesses and professional as well as manufacturing and warehousing businesses to the building. Although ill-considered
urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...
highway projects did significant damage to the city's historic downtown, a few historic buildings and sites, mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries, remain in the city, and are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
(NRHP): * Amsterdam (46th Separate Company) Armory was built in 1895 as an armory for the New York Army National Guard and was decommissioned in 1994. It is now a bed and breakfast inn called the Amsterdam Castle; * Amsterdam City Hall was built in 1869 as the residence of carpet magnate Stephen Sanford. In 1932 it was deeded to the city to become its city hall; *the Amsterdam Free Library is a Carnegie library which was built in 1903; *the
Gray-Jewett House The Gray-Jewett House is a historic home located at 80 Florida Avenue in Amsterdam, Montgomery County, New York. It was built in 1890 and is a -story, brick, transitional Queen Anne / Colonial Revival–style residence on a limestone foundatio ...
, was built in 1890; * Green Hill Cemetery; *the
Greene Mansion Greene Mansion is a historic home located at 92 Market Street in Amsterdam, Montgomery County, New York. It was built in 1881 as a residence for Henry Eckford Greene, who died two months after it was completed and never lived in it. Henry Gree ...
was built in 1881; * Guy Park Manor was built in 1774 in the
Georgian style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Geor ...
for
Guy Johnson Guy Johnson ( 1740 – 5 March 1788) was an Irish military officer and diplomat. He served on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War, having migrated to the Province of New York as a young man and worked with his uncle, Sir Wi ...
, the Irish-born nephew and son-in-law to
Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet of New York ( – 11 July 1774), was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Ireland. As a young man, Johnson moved to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Royal Na ...
, the British Superintendent for Indian Affairs in colonial New York. It replaced an earlier house which burnt down. The house and the land it is located on sustained significant damage from Hurricane Irene; the house is located in close proximity to Lock E11; *the Guy Park Avenue School was built in 1902 and ceased being used as a school in 1968; * Samuel Sweet Canal Store was built in 1847 to service
barges Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...
on the Erie Canal as both a store and a forwarding warehouse; *the Saint Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church Complex contains a church (1897, enlarged 1912), a school building (1906, closed in 2011), a former convent, now the parish center (1934) and a rectory (1941); *the Temple of Israel is a synagog built in 1901; *
United States Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...
built in 1936; and * Vrooman Avenue School, built in 1916 and ceased operating as a school in 1975; it is now an apartment building. The
Chalmers Knitting Mills Chalmers Knitting Mills was a historic factory building located at Amsterdam, Montgomery County, New York. It was built in 1913 and expanded in 1916. The original section was a four-story, brick building. The 1916 addition was a seven-story, ste ...
was added to the NRHP in 2010, but was later demolished.


Houses of worship

* Calvary
Assembly of God The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...
(
Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement
) * Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses * Congregation Sons of Israel (Jewish) * Covenant
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
Church * Crossroads Community Church (
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...
) * Five Buddha Temple * First Reformed_Church_ *_Goddess_of_Mercy_Temple_(Buddhist) *_Iglesia_de_Dios,_Torre_Fuerte_(Hispanic_ Reformed_Church_ *_Goddess_of_Mercy_Temple_(Buddhist) *_Iglesia_de_Dios,_Torre_Fuerte_(Hispanic_Pentecostalism">Pentecostal_ Pentecostalism_or_classical_Pentecostalism_is_a_Protestant__Charismatic_Christian_movement
) *_Lord_of_the_Harvest_Church_(Non-denominational) *_Our_Lady_of_Mount_Carmel_(Catholic) *_Pilgrim_Holiness_Church *_
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) *_Lord_of_the_Harvest_Church_(Non-denominational) *_Our_Lady_of_Mount_Carmel_(Catholic) *_Pilgrim_Holiness_Church *_The_Salvation_Army">Salvation_Army *_Segunda_Sinagoga_(Pentocostal) *_ Reformed_Church_ *_Goddess_of_Mercy_Temple_(Buddhist) *_Iglesia_de_Dios,_Torre_Fuerte_(Hispanic_Pentecostalism">Pentecostal_ Pentecostalism_or_classical_Pentecostalism_is_a_Protestant__Charismatic_Christian_movement) *_Lord_of_the_Harvest_Church_(Non-denominational) *_Our_Lady_of_Mount_Carmel_(Catholic) *_Pilgrim_Holiness_Church *_The_Salvation_Army">Salvation_Army *_Segunda_Sinagoga_(Pentocostal) *_Seventh-day_Adventist_Church">Seventh-day_Adventist_ The_Seventh-day_Adventist_Church_is_an_Adventist_Protestant_Christian_denomination_which_is_distinguished_by_its_observance_of_Saturday,_the__seventh_day_of_the_week_in_the_Christian__(Gregorian)_and_the_Hebrew_calendar,_as_the__Sabbath,_and__...
_Church *_St._Ann's_(Episcopal_Church_(United_States).html" ;"title="Seventh-day_Adventist_Church.html" "title="The_Salvation_Army.html" ;"title="Pentecostalism.html" "title="Reformed_churches.html" ;"title="aptist Church of Amsterdam * First
Reformed_Church_ *_Goddess_of_Mercy_Temple_(Buddhist) *_Iglesia_de_Dios,_Torre_Fuerte_(Hispanic_Pentecostalism">Pentecostal_ Pentecostalism_or_classical_Pentecostalism_is_a_Protestant__Charismatic_Christian_movement
) *_Lord_of_the_Harvest_Church_(Non-denominational) *_Our_Lady_of_Mount_Carmel_(Catholic) *_Pilgrim_Holiness_Church *_The_Salvation_Army">Salvation_Army *_Segunda_Sinagoga_(Pentocostal) *_Seventh-day_Adventist_Church">Seventh-day_Adventist_ The_Seventh-day_Adventist_Church_is_an_Adventist_Protestant_Christian_denomination_which_is_distinguished_by_its_observance_of_Saturday,_the__seventh_day_of_the_week_in_the_Christian__(Gregorian)_and_the_Hebrew_calendar,_as_the__Sabbath,_and__...
_Church *_St._Ann's_(Episcopal_Church_(United_States)">Episcopal) *_St._Luke's_( Reformed_Church_ *_Goddess_of_Mercy_Temple_(Buddhist) *_Iglesia_de_Dios,_Torre_Fuerte_(Hispanic_Pentecostalism">Pentecostal_ Pentecostalism_or_classical_Pentecostalism_is_a_Protestant__Charismatic_Christian_movement) *_Lord_of_the_Harvest_Church_(Non-denominational) *_Our_Lady_of_Mount_Carmel_(Catholic) *_Pilgrim_Holiness_Church *_The_Salvation_Army">Salvation_Army *_Segunda_Sinagoga_(Pentocostal) *_Seventh-day_Adventist_Church">Seventh-day_Adventist_ The_Seventh-day_Adventist_Church_is_an_Adventist_Protestant_Christian_denomination_which_is_distinguished_by_its_observance_of_Saturday,_the__seventh_day_of_the_week_in_the_Christian__(Gregorian)_and_the_Hebrew_calendar,_as_the__Sabbath,_and__...
_Church *_St._Ann's_(Episcopal_Church_(United_States)">Episcopal) *_St._Luke's_(Lutheranism">Lutheran_ Lutheranism_is_one_of_the_largest_branches_of_Protestantism,_identifying_primarily_with_the_theology_of_Martin_Luther,_the_16th-century_German_monk_and_Protestant_Reformers,_reformer_whose_efforts_to_reform_the_theology_and_practice_of_the_Cathol_...
) *_St._Mary's_(Roman_Catholic) *_St._Nicholas_(Ukrainian_Greek_Catholic_Church.html" ;"title="Lutheranism.html" "title="Reformed churches">Reformed Church * Goddess of Mercy Temple (Buddhist) * Iglesia de Dios, Torre Fuerte (Hispanic Pentecostal_ Pentecostalism_or_classical_Pentecostalism_is_a_Protestant__Charismatic_Christian_movement) *_Lord_of_the_Harvest_Church_(Non-denominational) *_Our_Lady_of_Mount_Carmel_(Catholic) *_Pilgrim_Holiness_Church *_The_Salvation_Army">Salvation_Army *_Segunda_Sinagoga_(Pentocostal) *_Seventh-day_Adventist_Church">Seventh-day_Adventist_ The_Seventh-day_Adventist_Church_is_an_Adventist_Protestant_Christian_denomination_which_is_distinguished_by_its_observance_of_Saturday,_the__seventh_day_of_the_week_in_the_Christian__(Gregorian)_and_the_Hebrew_calendar,_as_the__Sabbath,_and__...
_Church *_St._Ann's_(Episcopal_Church_(United_States)">Episcopal) *_St._Luke's_(Lutheranism">Lutheran_ Lutheranism_is_one_of_the_largest_branches_of_Protestantism,_identifying_primarily_with_the_theology_of_Martin_Luther,_the_16th-century_German_monk_and_Protestant_Reformers,_reformer_whose_efforts_to_reform_the_theology_and_practice_of_the_Cathol_...
) *_St._Mary's_(Roman_Catholic) *_St._Nicholas_(Ukrainian_Greek_Catholic_Church">Ukrainian_Catholic) *_Saint_Stanislaus_Roman_Catholic_Church_Complex.html" ;"title="Pentecostalism">Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement) * Lord of the Harvest Church (Non-denominational) * Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Catholic) * Pilgrim Holiness Church * The Salvation Army">Salvation Army * Segunda Sinagoga (Pentocostal) * Seventh-day Adventist Church">Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...
Church * St. Ann's (Episcopal Church (United States)">Episcopal) * St. Luke's (Lutheranism">Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
) * St. Mary's (Roman Catholic) * St. Nicholas (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church">Ukrainian Catholic) * Saint Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church Complex">St. Stanislaus (Roman Catholic) * The Time for Truth * Trinity Lutheran * United Presbyterian Church


Education


Public schools

Elementary * William H. Barkley Elementary * William B. Tecler Arts in Education Magnet School * Marie Curie Institute of Engineering & Communications * Raphael J. McNulty Academy for International Studies and Literacy Secondary *Wilbur H. Lynch Literacy Academy *Amsterdam High School (part of the Greater Amsterdam School District, located in the Town of Amsterdam)Amsterdam High School


Private schools

*St. Mary's Institute


Library

The Amsterdam Free Library at 28 Church Street is a Carnegie library built in 1902-1903 with $25,000 from philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
. It was designed by
Albert W. Fuller Albert W. Fuller (1854-1934) was an American architect practicing in Albany, New York. Life and career Fuller was born in the town of Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. From 1873 to 1879 he trained as a draftsman ...
in the
Beaux-Arts style Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorpor ...
.


The Arts

Amsterdam is rich in the Arts. Amsterdam High School is the home of the award-winning Amsterdam Marching Rams, one of the top marching bands in the area. AHS also supports a thriving theater program, with performances housed in the Bert DeRose Theatre. The Marching Rams are directed by Ann Wilary, director, and Cody Chamberlain, assistant director. The Theatre program is led by Chris Stefani. Amsterdam also has opportunities for music within the community. The Mohawk Valley Choir has three ensembles: one for elementary-aged, one for middle-high school aged, and adults. The Mohawk Valley Chamber Ensembles are an extension of this program, founded and directed by Stephanie Podolec.


Government

Amsterdam's government consists of a city council and a mayor. The mayor is elected in a citywide vote. The council consists of five members each elected from wards.


Mayors


Notable people

Notable natives or residents of Amsterdam include: *Justice Smith 1991-1994 Amsterdam High School Running Rams Tailback Former Section 2 class B All Time High School Rushing leader, Boston College eagles Rb,world league football (European league) * Gary Aldrich,
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
agent assigned to the White House under Presidents George H. W. Bush and Clinton; author of a book about the Clinton administration * Bruce Anderson,
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...
recipient, American Civil War soldier * Benedict Arnold (1780–1849), United States Congressman from New York *
Felix Joseph Aulisi Felix Joseph Aulisi (June 18, 1901 in Laviano, Italy – September 20, 1976) was a judge in the New York Supreme Court from 1952 until his retirement in 1971. Biography During his youth, he lived in Italy with his mother after his father em ...
, New York Supreme Court Justice, Appellate Division * Josh Beekman, former
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
offensive guard ( Chicago Bears) *
Benjamin Paul Blood Benjamin Paul Blood (November 21, 1832 – January 15, 1919) was an American philosopher, mystic and poet. His idiosyncratic work explored his development of his pluralist philosophy, culminating in the posthumously published book ''Pluriverse' ...
, inventor, poet, and philosopher * Matthias J. Bovee, United States Congressman from New York *
Roger Bowman Roger Clinton Bowman (August 18, 1927 – July 21, 1997) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the New York Giants (NL), New York Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates. Baseball career Bowman was signed by the New York Giants be ...
, professional baseball player *
Lucille Bremer Lucille Bremer (February 21, 1917 – April 16, 1996) was an American film actress and dancer. Biography Bremer was born in Amsterdam (city), New York, Amsterdam, New York, but soon moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she studied ba ...
, actress *
Tim Buckley Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years. Buckley began his career based in folk music, but his subsequent albums experimented with ...
, musician * Dr. Tom Catena, physician, humanitarian * Todd Cetnar, played professional basketball in the United Kingdom * William B. Charles, former US Congressman *
Jessica Collins Jessica Collins (born Jessica Lynn Capogna; April 1, 1971) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Dinah Lee Mayberry on the ABC soap opera ''Loving'' (1991–1994) and Avery Bailey Clark on the CBS soap opera ''The Young and ...
(Birth name: Jessica Capogna), actress *
Charles Dayan Charles Dayan (July 8, 1792 – December 25, 1877) was an American lawyer and politician. From 1831 to 1833, he served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives from the state of New York. Early life After graduating from Lowville Acade ...
, United States Congressman from New York and former Lieutenant Governor of New York * Kirk Douglas, actor *
Mary Anne Krupsak Mary Anne Krupsak (born March 26, 1932) is an American lawyer and politician from New York. She was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1975 to 1978. She was the first woman to hold the office. Early life She was born on March 26, 1932, in S ...
, New York State Lieutenant Governor *
John Henry Manny John Henry Manny (1825–1856) was the inventor of the Manny Reaper, one of various makes of reaper used to harvest grain in the 19th century. Cyrus McCormick III, in his ''Century of the Reaper'', called Manny "the most brilliant and successful ...
, inventor of the Manny Reaper * H. Edmund Machold,
Speaker of the New York State Assembly The speaker of the New York State Assembly is the highest official in the New York State Assembly, customarily elected from the ranks of the majority party. As in most countries with a British heritage, the Speaker (politics), speaker presides o ...
* Chris Marcil, television producer, writer, and actor * George Miles, Michigan Supreme Court justice *
Marilyn Hall Patel Marilyn Hall Patel (born 1938) is a former United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Patel is Indian-American, hailing from the famous Mumbai Patel famil ...
, federal judge for United States District Court for the Northern District of California, vacated the conviction of Fred Korematsu of the 1944 Supreme Court ruling in '' Korematsu v. United States'' *
Rocco Petrone Rocco Anthony Petrone (March 31, 1926 – August 24, 2006) was an American mechanical engineer, U.S. Army officer and NASA official. He served as director of launch operations at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) from 1966 to 1969, as Apollo ...
, Apollo program director *
Todd Pettengill Todd Clark Pettengill (born April 18, 1966) is a former American radio disc jockey who most recently worked for WPLJ 95.5 in the New York area. From 1993 to 1997, he also served as an on-screen backstage interviewer for the World Wrestling Federa ...
, former professional wrestling show host and announcer for
World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and va ...
. *
David Pietrusza David Pietrusza (born November 22, 1949 in Amsterdam, New York) is an American author and historian. Career David Pietrusza has produced a number of critically acclaimed works concerning 20th-century American history, including five volumes ( ...
, author, historian, memoirist *
Homer P. Snyder Homer Peter Snyder (December 6, 1863 – December 30, 1937) was an American politician and businessman from New York. Snyder began his business career in the knitting industry, moved to bicycle manufacturing. He left the company to began a politi ...
, former US Congressman * Vernon Tichenor, Wisconsin State Assemblyman *
Ray Tomlinson Raymond Samuel Tomlinson (April 23, 1941 – March 5, 2016) was an American computer programmer who implemented the first email program on the ARPANET system, the precursor to the Internet, in 1971; It was the first system able to send mail be ...
, implemented the first person-to-person network
email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...
*
Paul Tonko Paul David Tonko ( ; born June 18, 1949) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2013. He represented the 21st congressional district from 2009 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Tonko has been called a s ...
, Congressional Representative from New York, former New York State Assemblyman *
Beth Van Duyne Elizabeth Ann Van Duyne ( ; born November 16, 1970) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Texas's 24th congressional district. A member of the Republican Party, she was mayor of Irving from 2011 to 2017. She was an ...
, Congressional Representative from Texas, former mayor of Irving, Texas, and former HUD official * Samuel Wallin, former US Congressman * Willis Wendell, industrialist and New York State Senator * Harrison Wilson, Jr., American educator and college basketball coach who served as the second president of Norfolk State University from 1975–1997. *
Ruth Zakarian Ruth Zakarian (born February 6, 1966) is an American actress and beauty queen who was the winner of the first ever Miss Teen USA 1983 pageant in Lakeland, Florida. She also competed at Miss USA 1984 but unplaced. Miss Teen USA An Armenian Americ ...
, Miss New York Teen USA 1983, Miss Teen USA 1983


Additional Published Resources

* Cinquanti, Michael ''A Year's Worth of Amsterdam NY Birthdays'', Amsterdam (NY): Genium Group. * Cinquanti, Michael ''A Year's Worth of Amsterdam NY Birthdays'' (2nd edition), Amsterdam (NY): Genium Group, 2016. * Cinquanti, Michael ''Amsterdam NY Top Ten Lists'', Amsterdam (NY): Genium Group, 2017. * Donlon, Hugh P. ''Amsterdam, New York: Annals of a Mill Town'', Amsterdam (NY): Donlon Associates, 1980. * Farquhar, Kelly Yacobucci and Scott G. Haefner ''Amsterdam'', Charleston (SC): Arcadia Publishing, 2006. * Going, Robert N. ''Honor Roll: The World War II Dead of Amsterdam, NY'', Amsterdam (NY): George Street Press, 2010. * Pietrusza, David ''Too Long Ago: A Childhood Memory. A Vanished World'', Scotia (NY): Church and Reid Books, 2020.


References


External links


City of Amsterdam website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amsterdam (City), New York Cities in New York (state) Cities in Montgomery County, New York Populated places established in 1830 1830 establishments in New York (state) Populated places on the Mohawk River