Normansville, New York facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Normansville
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Former hamlet
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| Etymology: Normansville was situated in the ravine created by the Normans Kill Creek. | |
 Normansville
Location in New York
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| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| Region | Capital District |
| County | Albany |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| ZIP Code |
12054 (Bethlehem side)/12209 (Albany side)
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| Area code(s) | 518 |
Normansville is a former hamlet in Albany County, New York, United States. In the 19th century, Normansville was a hamlet in the town of Bethlehem. Normansville was located within and along the north and south banks of the ravine carved by the Normans Kill Creek, a tributary of the Hudson River.
Contents
History
Normansville was originally called Upper Hollow for the deep ravine carved by the Normans Kill that the unincorporated village sits in. Further downstream was Lower Hollow, later named Kenwood. Upper Hollow had its start with the construction of the Delaware Turnpike in 1805 which went from the city of Albany to Otego (which then was part of Delaware County). At the Normans Kill (kill is Dutch for stream) the road was carried by a 100-foot-long (30 m) wooden bridge and northwest of this bridge was a toll-gate. This bridge was washed away by a freshet in 1869. This was the year after the turnpike company had abandoned the road and so the town of Bethlehem built an iron bridge in its place.
Soon after the turnpike was constructed taverns and various industries began to spring up to take advantage of the power that could be harnessed from the Normans Kill's waters. Among the industries were cloth mills and saw mills, several of these mills were swept aside by the same freshet that washed away the bridge, they were quickly rebuilt but by the beginning of the 20th century the mills were abandoned. Another major industry along the Normans Kill was that of cutting ice blocks from the creek during the winter and storing it for shipping to New York City and other locations for use in iceboxes. The Pappalau Ice House on the Albany side was one of many ice houses along the Normans Kill and Hudson River at the end of the 1800s, by 1920 it too would be abandoned as new technologies made the industry obsolete.
In 1916, Albany annexed much of the town of Bethlehem up to the Normans Kill. This included that portion of the hamlet of Normansville north of the creek. Prior to this annexation the children of Normansville attended a small school, Bethlehem District Number 11 in Normansville on the Delaware Turnpike. After the annexation those children in Albany attended the city schools, and the children remaining in Bethlehem continued to attend school in District 11. Due to the annexation and the loss of a large amount of the taxable land, the district was consolidated into neighboring District Number 7 in 1919.
In 1929, Delaware Avenue was rerouted and a wider, higher, longer highway bridge called the Normanskill Viaduct was built across the top of the Normans Kill ravine. Starting in the spring of 1994, the Normanskill Viaduct was dismantled and replaced by a new bridge 50 feet upstream.
In the 1980s, several changes occurred to the sleepy hamlet, especially on the Bethlehem side. In 1986, the original yellow brick turnpike road was paved over, the yellow bricks were first pulled up and saved though. Rockefeller Road, the main street on the Bethlehem side, was the main route south out of the hamlet and connected to Kenwood Avenue by way of a bridge built in 1914 over the now-abandoned Delaware and Hudson Railroad tracks. In 1987, the town closed the Rockefeller Road Bridge due to safety concerns, this was supported by the Normansville Neighborhood Association to remove the traffic that used Rockefeller Road as a shortcut between Kenwood and Delaware avenues. In January 1990, the older Normans Kill bridge was closed to vehicular traffic, and since then the two Normansvilles have had little exchange even though pedestrian travel over the bridge is still possible. Since then Old Delaware Avenue to Delaware Avenue is the only way in and out of Bethlehem's Normansville.
Demographics
In 1886, the hamlet of Normansville (which then included both sides of the Normans Kill) included approximately 100 individuals, 22 families, and 17 dwellings. In 1993, it was estimated that the Bethlehem neighborhood of Normansville consisted of 50 people, 19 homes, and one church.
Geography
Normansville lies within and along the banks of a ravine. This ravine was carved by the Normans Kill, a creek and tributary of the Hudson River that forms the border between the city of Albany to the north and the town of Bethlehem to the south. The ravine is of clay banks with the creek flowing over a bed of slate.
Location
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City of Albany Normans Kill |
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| Hamlet of Elsmere |  |
Graceland Cemetery | ||
 Hamlet of Normansville  |
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Landmarks
- Steven's Farm – Also called Normanskill Farm, a city-owned park and active farm. The park has the largest of Albany's community gardens, a dog park, hiking trails, a working farm, historic farm buildings, and a historic whipple truss bridge from 1867. The Albany Mounted Police Unit's draft horses are also kept here. The domesticated ducks and geese that call Washington Park home are brought to Stevens Farm every year for winter accommodations.
- Old Normans Kill Bridge – Original bridge across the Normans Kill, over 60 feet below the current Normanskill Viaduct. The bridge, built in 1884, is 158 feet long, paved with yellow bricks, and barely wide enough for two cars to pass. Local legend states that Edgar Allan Poe wrote about the yellow bricks the road and bridge were paved with and this was picked up by L. Frank Baum who used this reference in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Local historians stress this has not been confirmed and is just local lore.
