1978 Map of Albany

About this map

Albany is captured here during the late 1970s, revealing a landscape defined by the convergence of major transportation corridors and dense suburban expansion. The orthophotoquad format, produced from aerial photography taken in 1978, provides a starkly different perspective than traditional line maps, showing the actual footprints of commercial centers, residential neighborhoods, and the industrial infrastructure along the eastern edge near Rensselaer. The winding course of Normans Kill provides a natural contrast to the geometric patterns of modern development in Delmar and Slingerlands. North of the city center, the growth of communities like Colonie, Loudonville, and Latham is visible as they fill the space between the radial highways. This survey, rectified by the Geological Survey in cooperation with the Soil Conservation Service, offers genealogists and local historians an exact record of the capital region's built environment before the further intensifications of the late twentieth century.