Welcome to West Albany ...
West Albany is located in Albany County<1>.
While we don't have a date for the founding of West Albany, you might consider that their post office opened in 1862.
A typical abbreviation for West Albany: W. Albany
West Albany is 200 feet [61 m] above sea level.<2>.
Time Zone: West Albany lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time
Area Codes for West Albany: 518 & 838<3>
Communities Also Named West Albany ...
Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 2 communities that are also named West Albany - they are located in Minnesota and Oregon.
For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for West Albany.
Communities near West Albany ...
We have created a list of 10 communities that are near West Albany.
- Schenectady
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- Troy
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Cohoes
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Watervliet
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Rensselaer
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rensselaer have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rensselaer
- Rensselaer is located in Rensselaer County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 9,142 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rensselaer <4>
- Scotia
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
- Colonie
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Mechanicville
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Menands
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
- Wyantskill
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wyantskill came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<6>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wyantskill
- Wyantskill is located in Rensselaer County
To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.
We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around West Albany. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for West Albany.
Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of West Albany. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around West Albany.
We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around West Albany. See our Newspapers Page for West Albany.
TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for West Albany ...
Looking for more information about West Albany? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.
While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to West Albany, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for West Albany.
Adding West Albany to Our Gazetteer ...
We originally found mention of West Albany in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.
From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for West Albany was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<7>
From that list, the West Albany post office opened in 1862.
We also found West Albany in the book titled List of Post Offices in the United States (1870).
For more details, see References and Mentions for West Albany.
Footnotes ...
| <1> | If you're interested in how the shape of New York's counties, including Albany, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. |
| <2> | The elevation is an estimate for the area around West Albany - it will be higher in some places and lower in others. |
| <3> | When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 518 code has been Overlayed with the 838 area code. New phone numbers in the West Albany area will be assigned with one of these codes: 518 or 838. As a result, placing a call in the West Albany area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number). |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <6> | If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database. |
| <7> | A copy of their list with background information can be found at:
https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/ |