Stockade Historic District

Stockade Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Statue of Lawrence the Indian at center of Stockade District, 2008
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Location	Roughly bounded by Mohawk River, RR tracks, and Union St. (original), and 16, 18, and 20 S. Church St. (increase), in Schenectady, New York
Coordinates	42°49′7″N 73°56′47″W / 42.81861°N 73.94639°W / 42.81861; -73.94639
Area	82 acres (33 ha)[2]
Built	1735–1800
Architect	Multiple
NRHP reference No.	73001267 and 84002963[1]
Added to NRHP	April 03, 1973 (original) September 07, 1984 (increase)[1]

The Stockade Historic District is located in the northwest corner of Schenectady, New York, United States, on the banks of the Mohawk River. It is the oldest neighborhood in the city, continuously inhabited for over 300 years. Union College first held classes in a building within the district, and later it would be one of the termini of an early suspension bridge that was, at the time, the longest in North America. Joseph C. Yates, the 7th Governor of New York and founding trustee of Union College, and Elizabeth V. Gillette, a physician and the first woman from upstate New York elected to the New York State Assembly, were residents of the Stockade.

It contains a wide variety of Dutch and English 17th- and 18th-century buildings, many with later embellishments and additions. The National Park Service has described it as "the highest concentration of historic period homes in the country," with over 40 older than 200 years. The Stockade was New York's first local historic district,^[3] when it was recognized by the city council in 1962.^[2]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and its boundaries were increased slightly in 1984.^[1][4] The city and an active neighborhood association, the first founded in Schenectady, work to protect its historic character.