Elsmere, New York

Elsmere is a hamlet of the town of the Bethlehem in Albany County, New York. The hamlet is a suburb of the neighboring city of Albany. From the northeast to the southwest, it is bisected by New York Route 443 (Delaware Avenue), which is also the hamlet's main street and a major commuter route into Albany. Delaware Avenue is also home to most of the office and retail locations in Elsmere, including the largest such location: Delaware Plaza.

Elsmere
hamlet
Etymology: For Robert Elsmere, hero of Mrs. Humphry Ward's 1888 book titled Elsmere[1]
Elsmere
Location of Elsmere within the state of New York
Coordinates: 42°37′43″N 73°49′0″W
CountryUnited States
StateNew York
RegionCapital District
CountyAlbany
Settled1920s
Time zoneUTC-5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP Code
12054
Area code(s)518

History

Elsmere is situated along Delaware Avenue (State Route 443), formerly known as Delaware Turnpike. Suburban residential growth began to displace the rural farmland starting in 1928 when the Delaware Avenue Bridge opened across the Normans Kill; the bridge connected Elsmere directly to Albany. Prior to this, commuters to Albany used narrow, winding roads through Normansville and a smaller lower bridge.[2] The original center of the hamlet was the intersection of Elsmere Avenue and Delaware Avenue. By 1993, Delaware Avenue from the bridge over the Normans Kill to the abandoned railroad bridge marking Elsmere's unofficial border with Delmar had become heavily commercialized. Many of the businesses along Delaware Avenue occupied houses that had been converted to commercial use. Delaware Plaza, built in 1955, is the unofficial "center" of the hamlet of Elsmere.[1]

Location

References
  1. Frances Ingraham (January 24, 1993). "The Suburban, Residential Hamlet of Elsmere". Albany Times Union. p. G1. Retrieved 2010-02-26.
  2. Rick Karlin (April 18, 1993). "A Bridge Moves Over Atop Tiny Normansville". p. H1. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
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