City Limits

In 1986, during Albany's Tricentennial celebrations to mark 300 centuries since the signing of the Dongan Charter, a line in the colors of Albany's flag appeared on downtown streets. The line retraced the boundary of the stockade that enclosed Albany in 1686.

The heavy wooden fence ran from the Hudson River on the east and close to the current path of Maiden Lane on the north side and, on the south side, roughly parallel to modern Hudson Avenue near the parking garages and post office. Fort Albany marked the western end close to today's Crown Plaza Hotel at Lodge Street.

This artist's rendering gives a good view of how Albany would've looked at the time of the Charter.

http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/im/im1686.html

Albany certainly has grown since the signing of the document which, in effect, created it as a city.

The commemorative lines on the sidewalk have all but worn away in the part twenty-three years. There's one piece on State Street a half block up from the Crown Plaza, near where Fort Albany (and, later, Fort Frederick) stood. The portion in the photo is at the rear of St. Peter's Episcopal Church just off Lodge Street.