Schenectady, New York USA

Lawrence the Indian; statue located in the Stockade Historical Distrct, Schenectady, NY

That's right. My hometown has a bunch of interesting history associated with it.

Lawrence, pictured here, for example, is the member of the Mohawk tribe. In general, the Iroquois Nation, of which the Mohawks are a part, were not exactly friendly to the new settlers from across the water, but Lawrence took it upon himself to help the settlers on the Mohawk River. He taught them the local ecology, the local farming skills (our rocky soil was very different from the well-tilled Dutch and British soil that the settlers here were used to, and the climate is far more that of the Nordic countries ... Sweden, Norway, Finland ... than it is of the countries from which the settlers of the Mohawk Valley came).

Arthur's Market, Schenectady Stockade

The Schenectady Stockade is New York State's first historic district. It was in that section of the Mohawk River that the Dutch settlers first landed when they came west, up the Mohawk River from Albany. Today, it is an eclectic collection of homes that date anywhere from the 1600s to the early 1900s. Art shows, family gatherings, street parties, walkabouts bring Schenectadians and others to the Stockade in droves in the spring, summer and fall. Arthur's Market, pictured here, has been open almost without pause from the 1700s.

The GE Meatball*

Across State Street from the Stockade, at the end of Erie Boulevard, you see the GE meatball in the sky. General Electric Company's main plant is here. In its heyday, the GE in Schenectady brought 50,000 workers in to work from surrounding areas. Erie Boulevard and Route 50 were packed with commuters. In the late 1990s, GE dismantled most of that main plant and moved those operations to Connecticut and overseas.

Charles Steinmetz

Schenectady was also Charles Steinmetz's home. Steinmetz fostered the development of the alternating current that made the expansion of the American electric power industry possible. He formulated mathematical theories for engineers. He taught at Union College. He made ground-breaking discoveries in the understanding of hysteresis (the dependence of the state of a system on its history). This understanding enabled engineers to design better electromagnetic apparatus, especially electric motors.

Pat Riley playing for the Lakers in the early 1970s

Three-time NBA Coach of the Year Pat Riley graduated from Linton High School, which was later renamed Schenectady High School, part of the Schenectady public school system. He's now President of the Miami Heat.

Proctor's Main Stage. Photo taken from Proctor's website

For theatre buffs, Proctor's is a jewel. A vaudeville house located in the heart of downtown Schenectady and with a main stage big enough to hold and Phantom of the Opera, this theatre is the local stop for touring Broadway shows, for recitals, for concerts, for comedians, for almost any show that chooses to stop in the Capital District. ... well, except for the rock concerts. Those tend to go to Albany.

Oh, yes. There's a lot to see and do right here in My Home Town!

* the GE logo is a trademark or registered trademark of The General Electric Company.