Albany, Livingston Parish, Louisiana File prepared by D.N. Pardue Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** From the book entitled "The Free State - A History and Place-Names Study of Livingston Parish" by the members of the Livingston Parish American Revolution Bicentennial Committee in cooperation with the Livingston Parish Police Jury and the Louisiana American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, 1976. Reprinted by permission. Dedicated to the memory of Reuben Cooper and Raymond Riggs. Albany is eight miles west of Hammond on US Hwy. 190. Louisiana Highway 43 connects Albany with Springfield five miles to the south and with Montpelier 15 miles to the north. According to the US survey system, Albany is in Township 6 South, Range 6 East of the Greensburg Land District. Albany is located on an interfluve (ridge) 40 feet above sea level which slopes eastward to the Little Natalbany River and westward to Blood River. From a topographic point of view, the area is relatively flat. The village was incorporated on Oct. 7, 1953 by proclamation of Governer Robert F. Kennon. The first appointed officials were Grady Stewart, mayor; B.G. "Bunny" Hess, Louis Bartus and Wilford Cowart, aldermen; and Jessie Fletcher, marshal. The present officials are George H. Stewart, mayor; Jessie W. Fletcher, Joseph P. Kreko and Francis Stephens, aldermen; and Carlton L. Staton, marshal. (1) The Albany Post Office was established on Oct. 15, 1908 with William Faust as the first postmaster. Subsequent postmasters with the dates of their appointments include Wiley C. Faust, May 16, 1914; and Matthew H. Kinchen, Aug. 3, 1920. A listing of those after 1930 has not yet been acquired. (2) In regard to the origin of the name, it has been determined that it was derived from the Natalbany River. This was learned by interviewing many of the older residents of Albany and comparing their answers to independent documentary evidence. Among those interviewed were Fred Scott (born July 23, 1897), who gave the most confident and correct answer to the question concerning the origin of the name, and Mrs. George (Mary Addison) Cunningham (born Jan. 11, 1884), who gave the most logical explanation. Mrs. Cunningham explained that the residents wanted to name the site of the new railroad station and the proposed post office "Natalbany" because they were situated on the west bank of the Little Natalbany River. (3) However, there was already a town and post office by that name north of Hammond on the Illinois Central Railroad. Therefore, neither the railroad nor the post office would permit another community having the name Natalbany to be established in the same state. But since the residents of Albany were partial to the name Natalbany, they decided to eliminate the first three letters and call the new community "Albany." This was acceptable because there were no other railroad stations nor post offices in Louisiana by that name. Even today, although there are at least 16 other communities in the United States named "Albany", there are no others in Louisiana. An interesting coincidence is that the name "Albany" has two possible origins. It is the old Scottish name for Scotland, and in fact, it was the Duke of York's Scottish title. This is the reason the state of New York bears the name "York" and the capital is named "Albany." The Duke of York and Albany later became King James II (1633-1701) of England. The second origin is the Choctaw Indian language. According to William A. Read, author of the book, Louisiana Place Names of Indian Origin, "nita" means "bear" but the meaning of "bani" is uncertain. Perhaps, according to Mrs. Clare D'Artois Leeper, author of the article entitled "Louisiana Places" in the Sunday Advocate, the complete translation of "Natalbany" might be "lone bear" or "bear barbecuer." (4) Nothing could be found to substantiate the claim of some residents that the name "Albany" war derived from the Hungarian language, specifically, that it was named "Arphadhon" after Hungary's national hero, Arpad. This was the name of the Hungarian Settlement which is located three miles south of Albany. In fact, the post office which served this community in the past was not named Arpadhon, but "Maxwell" after Abram William Maxwell. However, an effort was made in March, 1908 to change the name of Albany to Balaton, a place in Hungary known for its fruit growing. (5) Next, let us turn our attention to why there was a community to name Albany. Rivers were the main traffic arteries in the period of early settlement; therefore high land was at a pre- mium. This explains why some of the land in Albany was claimed so early. A portion of two Spanish land grants adjacent to the Little Natalbany River are located in Albany. Section 40 was claimed by Nancy Settoon in 1801, and Section 37 was claimed by Alexander Bookter under the name of Absalom Traylor in 1806. The elevation of Albany is 40 feet above sea level, while the elevation of Springfield five miles to the south is only 15 feet and the elevation of Montpelier is 121 feet above sea level. The ridge which extends in a north-south direction and increases in elevation from south to north is the geographical foundation on which the development of Albany took place. The land to the east and west of Albany decreases in elevation about five feet. This area was the last to be claimed. In fact, the land adjacent to the west boundary line was not bought until the 1890's. The present north-south road through Albany represents that portion of the Springfield- Natchez road which in 1806 (see Lafon's 1806 map of Louisiana) ran through the area which Albany now occupies. The area adjacent to the Little Natalbany River was settled as early as 1801, however, the development of Albany was gradual. In the 1850's, land farther from the river was acquired. It was not until 1890, when the Brakenridge Lumber Co., Ltd. established a sawmill at Maxwell three miles below Albany in what is today known as the Hungarian Settlement, that things began to change. The company operated a tram railroad known locally as a dummy line from Springfield to an area north of the Starns Bridge. This line passed through Albany east of the Starns Road, but it did not develop Albany because it paralleled the Springfield-Montpelier Road. In 1900 the Baton Rouge, Hammond and Eastern Railroad was incorporated with the objective of running a line between the towns of Baton Rouge and Hammond. This company did not begin construction and was acquired by the Illinois Central system in 1906. The IC then proposed a railroad that would run through Maxwell three miles to the south. Later they altered the route to include Denham Springs and this alteration placed the line through Albany. This deflection precipitated the settlement of Albany. Had the road been constructed through Maxwell, there would have been no Albany. Albany was created as a crossroad community where the east-west railroad intersected the old north-south road. The first documented use of the name "Albany" in regard to the community occurred on Feb. 21, 1908, when the railroad announced the names of the stations on their new line. The first regular train was operated over the Baton Rouge-Hammond line on Feb. 26, 1908. (7) Although Albany is situated in a heavily forested area, apparently only one sawmill was located there. This was the Charles L. Jackson sawmill which burned in 1915. Afterward Mr. Jackson moved his mill three miles west of Albany to Blair Flag Stop. The only remnant of a wood-related industry in Albany is a pulpwood loading facility situated on a siding track of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad. Albany in the past was the center of a large truck farming region. The principal crop was strawberries, and many crates were shipped north by refrigerated express cars. Clark Forrest, Jr. ------------------ (1) Louisiana Secretary of State's Office. "Record of Municipal Officers." Baton Rouge, La. (2) "Records of the Post Office Department" (Record Group 28), National Archives, Washing- ton, D.C. 20408 (3) Personal interview by Clark Forrest with Mrs. George Cuningham (born 1884) on Jan. 22, 1970. (4) Sunday Advocate, (Baton Rouge), May 16, 171, p. 4-E (5) Hammond Daily Herald, March 3, 1908. (6) Louisiana State Land Office, Baton Rouge, La. (7) The Daily Picayune (New Orleans), Thursday, Feb. 27, 1908, p. 12. ******