Editing Albany, New York (section)

===Revolutionary War and real estate===
In 1775, with the colonies in the midst of the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], the ''Stadt Huys'' became home to the Albany [[Committee of Correspondence]] (the political arm of the local revolutionary movement), which took over operation of Albany's government and eventually expanded its power to control all of [[Albany County, New York|Albany County]]. [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Tories]] and prisoners of war were often jailed in the ''Stadt Huys'' alongside common criminals.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Committee of Correspondence |publisher=New York State Museum |last=Bielinski |first=Stefan |date=March 8, 2010 |access-date=August 19, 2010 |url=http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/coc.html |archive-date=August 18, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818044657/http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/coc.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1776, Albany native [[Philip Livingston]] signed the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] at [[Independence Hall]] in [[Philadelphia]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Livingston, Philip (1716–1778) |work=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress |publisher=United States Congress |access-date=October 9, 2009 |date= |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=L000369}}</ref>

During and after the Revolutionary War, Albany County saw a great increase in real estate transactions. After [[Horatio Gates]] defeated [[John Burgoyne]] at [[Battle of Saratoga|Saratoga]] in 1777, the upper [[Hudson Valley]] was generally at peace as the war raged on elsewhere. Prosperity was soon seen all over [[Upstate New York]]. Migrants from Vermont and Connecticut began flowing in, noting the advantages of living on the Hudson and trading at Albany, while being only a few days' sail from New York City.<ref name=anderson68>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/landmarksofrenss00ande#page/n91/mode/2up|title=Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York|publisher=Syracuse, New York, D. Mason & company|year=1897}}</ref> Albany reported a population of 3,498 in the [[1790 United States census|first national census]] in 1790, an increase of almost 700% since its chartering.<ref name=pop>{{cite web|title=How a City Worked: Occupations in Colonial Albany|publisher=New York State Museum|access-date=January 10, 2009|url=http://www.nnp.org/nnp/publications/ABAFB/4.4.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120005559/http://www.nnp.org/nnp/publications/ABAFB/4.4.pdf|archive-date=November 20, 2008|url-status=usurped}}</ref>