838 Area Code 🌍☎️

Albany is the capital and most populous city of New York State, located on the west bank of the Hudson River approximately ten miles south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, with a 2020 population of 99,224. The oldest city in New York and the economic and cultural core of the Capital District - a metropolitan area of 1.3 million residents including Colonie, Troy, Schenectady, and Saratoga Springs - Albany originated as a Mohican settlement before Dutch colonists established Fort Nassau in 1614 and Fort Orange in 1624 for fur trading. After the English took control in 1664 and renamed it Albany in honor of the Duke of York's Scottish title, the city became New York's capital in 1797 and was chartered in 1686 as the oldest surviving British colonial settlement north of Virginia. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Albany thrived as a center of trade and transportation, serving as the eastern terminus of the Erie Canal and home to early railroads, though its population declined in the late 20th century until a $234 million redevelopment plan approved in the 1990s spurred downtown renewal. Since 2020, Albany's economy has focused on artificial intelligence, computer hardware, nanotechnology, and digital electronics. Schenectady is a city in eastern New York's Schenectady County, about 15 miles southeast of state capital Albany near the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers, with a 2020 census population of 67,047 making it the ninth-most populous city in New York. Founded by Dutch colonists in 1661 on the south side of the Mohawk River, the city's name derives from the Mohawk word skahnéhtati meaning "beyond the pines." Schenectady rapidly developed in the 19th century as a manufacturing and transportation hub, connected by the Mohawk River and Erie Canal, with major employers including General Electric (founded there) and American Locomotive Company, both of which remained influential into the mid-20th century. Union College, chartered in 1795, was the first nondenominational institution of higher education and the second college established in New York. Today, General Electric continues operations in the city, working on renewable energy technologies and historically collaborating on nuclear-powered submarine production. Johnstown is a city and the county seat of Fulton County in New York's Mohawk Valley, located approximately 45 miles northwest of Albany in the Adirondack foothills. Named after colonial founder Sir William Johnson, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Britain who arrived from Ireland in 1738, the city was officially established in 1762 and separated from its surrounding town in 1895. Johnson, a major general during the French and Indian War and the largest landowner in the Mohawk Valley with over 400,000 acres, built Johnson Hall (designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960) and established the county courthouse in 1772, which remains the oldest operating courthouse in New York. Adjacent Johnstown and Gloversville together formed the center of the American glove industry for 90 years before international competition caused most manufacturers to close, earning them the nickname "Glove Cities." As of the 2020 census, Johnstown had a population of 8,204.