Scotia Village Hall is located at 4 North Tenbroeck Street, Scotia NY 12302.
Phone: 518‑374‑3195.
Beginnings [1]
The Village of Scotia lies between the Mohawk and Sanders Lake, about half a mile from Schenectady. Reeseville was a suburb of Scotia of seven hundred and twenty-eight houses, and was named after a wealthy gentleman by the name of Reese who moved into that neighborhood. The two places have since grown together, and are now known only as Scotia. Scotia, the ancient name of Scotland, was the name given by its first settler. This tract commences at a point nearly opposite the eastern extremity of the city, and extends westerly along the north side of the Mohawk about two miles. The first patent conveying it was granted November 3, 1665, by Governor Richard Niccols to Sanders Lendertse Glen (Anglice, Alexander Lindsay Glen). Mr. Glen was an immediate descendant of the Earl of Crawford and Lindsey, whose family had been on the peerage roll up to 1399. Mr. Glen took to wife Catherine McDonald, the daughter of a Highland chieftan.
Scotia contains about ninety dwellings, two stores, one hotel, without license, two blacksmith shops, shoe store, wagon-maker's shop, and a few other places of business. It has a large district school-house, two churches, fire department, and a lodge of Good Templars.
The Sanders House in this village is one of its principal attractions. It is built a few feet to the north of where the first house stood, that was spared from destruction and massacre at Schenectady in 1690, on account of favors shown previously by Mt. Glen to the French and Indians in a time of their suffering. The present stone house was built in 1713, and is still owned and occupied by the Sanders family.
The Saratoga Railroad Company, when they first built their road across the Scotia bridge, in consideration of land furnished them by Mr. Sanders on the Scotia side for depot, freight-houses and repair shops, etc., bound themselves to stop trains there twice a day forever, and to do all their repairing there.
Early Settlers [2]
On the north bank of the Mohawk, opposite the City of Schenectady, is the little village of Scotia; so named by one of the first settlers in the vicinity of Schenectady, who was called, by his Dutch neighbors, Sanders Leendertse Glen, but whose Scotch name was Alexander Lindsey Glen. He came to this country by the way of Holland in 1633 and some years later (about 1658) settled on land at Scotia.
A few rods west of the toll bridge that spans the Mohawk at Schenectady stands the old Glen-Sanders house, so-called in later years, because of the intermarriage of the two families. It is said that a sister of Alexander Glen married a man by the name of Sanders, and that the present owners of the old house, husband and wife, are both lineal descendants from the father of Alex. Leendertse Glen, the families again being brought together after nearly three centuries. It is also said that a house was erected on the north bank of the Mohawk near the site of the present building, by Glen, the first settler, about 1660. A half century later, or to be more exact, in 1713, the river having encroached upon the old structure to such an extent as to render it unsafe for occupancy, a new dwelling was erected on higher ground, much of the older building being used in its construction, which can be seen at the present day, in many of the doors and casings. The family, proud of their ancestors and the antiquity of their surroundings, have preserved their home and its antique furniture, together with old letters and legal documents, so that to-day it is a storehouse of treasures of historic value ; its large collection of old china and quaint furniture making it a most interesting museum to antiquaries of the historic Mohawk valley.
Nearby Towns: Glenville Town • Niskayuna Town • Princetown Town • Rotterdam Town • Schenectady City •