Albany Firsts

• January 8, 1850, Albany's first post office was established.
• In 1851, Albany was designated as the county seat and all court meetings were held there. The first courthouse was built in 1852. The Monteiths were always public spirited citizens and they donated 10 acres for a new courthouse to assure Albany would remain the seat of the county. The new two-story octagon courthouse was completed on April 26, 1853.
• In 1853, residents of the east side of Albany persuaded the Territorial Legislature to change the name of Albany to 'Takenah'. This was a Kalapuyan word used to describe the deep pool where the Calapooia River meets the Willamette River. Some translated the word as "hole-in the ground." Many people felt this was not a proper name for a new and growing city, so in 1855 the Provisional Legislature reversed it back to Albany.
• Albany's first school was established in 1851 by R.C. Hill, the town's first physician. The first building erected specifically for use as a school, however, wasn't built until 1855 and stood at the corner of Fourth and Broadalbin streets.
• The Oregon Democrat was Albany's first newspaper and was founded by Delazon Smith, who became one of Oregon's first U.S. Senators. Shortly after, Thomas Monteith began publication of the Albany Herald. The newspaper today is Albany Democrat-Herald.Agriculture, production, and processing was the Albany areas first industry. In 1850 Linn County's white population numbered 994 people, belonging to 172 families, living on 138 farms. A total of 6,041 acres of land had been cleared and planted to crops. For more than four decades, 1845 to 1885, wheat was the principal crop in Linn County.