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Albany |
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The city of Albany had its beginning when Abner
Hackleman and Hiram Smead squatted there in 1845. When Abner Hackleman
died in Iowa on his return there from Oregon to fetch his family, his
son Abram crossed the plains to look after his father’s land. Abram
(Abraham) Hackleman was born in Rushville, Indiana, July 29, 1829, his
mother being Elizabeth (Lines) Hackleman. He was but 18 when, in the
company of his friend, John Burkhart, he left the East in April 1847,
with only one yoke of oxen. He came over the Barlow Road and arrived on
the site of Albany in September, 1847, where he built a leg house. In
the spring of 1848 he went to the California mines, returning in the
fall. He repeated the trip in 1849, but when he came back in the fall of
1849 he was ill. He now engaged in farming. In 1850 he laid off 70 acres
of his land in East Albany, known as Hackleman’s 1st Addition, and
followed this by three more additions, in all over 100 acres. By the
turn of the century he owned two farms in Linn County and some 3,000
acres in Crook County. He married Elenore Davis in Linn County - she
having crossed the plains in 1847 with her father Truit Davis of
Missouri who took a land claim 4 miles out of Albany. The couple had
five children. Abram Hackleman helped build the Military Road from
Albany across the Cascades. He was also interested in the
Oregon—Pacific Railroad(19). He
died in Albany November 23, 1904, aged 75 (57). In the spring of 1848 Messrs. Walter and Thomas
Monteith arrived on the site of Albany and purchased the claim of Mr.
Smead for the sum of four hundred dollars, and firmly believing in the
future of this locality, they had their land surveyed, and that portion
of it near the river (about 60 acres) was laid out in town lots (58).
They built a cabin and later on the same site in the summer of 1849 they
built the first frame house in Albany, which still (1942) stands on the
corner of Second and Washington streets. In 1849—50 many of the first
settlers took the gold fever and went to California; so many left on
this account, that quite a difficulty was experienced in getting men to
serve in public offices, a difficulty
which, however, soon ceased, and has not been felt since. On the return
of a number of these truant settlers, with fresh accession to their
numbers, business increased, and the march of improvement began and
continued with great vigor. There are no reliable records of the population of Albany as this town grew to city size. To accept the population estimates issued by various private publications from 1850 and on, would be folly, since most of them are colored to suit particular interests. The U. S. Census did not give the population of individual towns in Linn County until 1880. In that year it gives Albany 1,867 inhabitants, while in the same year McKenney's Pacific Coast Directory of 1880—81 credits Albany with a population of 3,000. On studying the various directories published by Polk & Company, the impression grows that population figures given, more or less bear the imprint of boosting. The more sober U. S. Census estimates credit Albany with the following numbers of inhabitants at the various decade points:
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Albany Quick Facts Location: Twp 11S, Rge 3W, Sect 5-6, 7-8 Name Origin: Albany, New York Other Names: Takenah, New Albany Post Office Established: 8 Jan 1850 First Postmaster: John Burkhart Incorporation Date: 1864 Population 1999: 40,010
Sketches & Photos: M.V. Brown, J.P. Finlayson, Magnolia Mills, Mrs. W. Monteith, Monteith & Sons, C. D. Simpson Albany Street Scene, Albany Construction Scene, Mills on Calapooia River More Links: Further Reading: (see bibliography for full citations) Remembering When, Vols 1-5, by Robert Potts -- Lots of photos! Land of Linn, Floyd C. Mullen Old Time Albany, Fred Nutting articles from the Albany Democrat-Herald |
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Town histories were abstracted from: "History of Linn County",
Compiled by Workers of the Writer’s Program, Works Progress
Administration, 1941. See bibliography
for above-cited references. All photos from the collection of Lisa
L. Jones, unless otherwise noted. Lisa
L. Jones contributed and is solely responsible for the content of
these pages. Copyright 2001.