The village and then town of Schenectady emerged from a patent to farm on the Great Flats of the Mohawk River originally granted by the Dutch in 1661. It was located beyond the western border of Rensselaerswyck.

Over the next decade, Schenectady was settled mostly by former Beverwyck residents who sought less competitive opportunities farther away from the community that became Albany in 1664. The complete list of patentees is the subject of some discussion. Union College librarian and historian Jonathan Pearson has compiled a useful list.

Over the next twenty-five years, the original patentees and their descendants built a stockaded town on the south side of the Mohawk River about eighteen miles west of Albany. By 1680, a Dutch Reformed church had become established in the community. As part of his initiative to "royalize" the colony, Governor Thomas Dongan granted Schenectady a town patent in 1684 and a community economy began to develop on the Albany model but with a more direct connection to the farms of its immediate environs. Land north of the Mohawk also was deeded and settled. It would be known as "Scotia" (today's village of Scotia in the town of Glenville - both commemorating the original landholding families).

All this came crashing down when French and Indian raiders destroyed the town on the night of February 9, 1690. The settlement was in shambles with its people killed, captured, or sent fleeing as refugees to the safety of the Albany fort. The Schermerhorns and others temporarily set up homes in Albany. The so-called "Schenectady Massacre" still is one of the "great," mythical events of the community's heritage and has been embellished in print, song, and tradition!

The community was rebuilt during the early eighteenth century. With the onset of three decades of peace in 1713, Schenectady began to grow again - its population fueled by the natural increase of the descendants of the original patentees and a number of newcomers as well.

With the establishment of Oswego during the 1720s, Schenectady lost much of its frontier character and developed as a farm and market town but also as a regional center serving a growing Mohawk Valley hinterland. It was connected to Albany by kinship among its pioneer families and overland via the King's Highway, a rudimentary but well-travelled road through the Pine Barrens.

Like Albany, Schenectady experienced its first significant contact with the larger American scene during the Seven Years War when it became a major staging area and was overwhelmed by British and provincial soldiers - all of whom expected to be boarded and fed by the inhabitants. Despite its proximity to the influence of Sir William Johnson, Schenectady's native leaders were left growing doubts regarding the validity of a continued connection to the royal establishment!

Following the war, the community became a point of departure for new settlers heading west and also a transfer point for regional trade. In 1764, Schenectady's growth and development were recognized when it was accorded borough status by the royal government - in practice, an underdeveloped form of government that was to include a mayor and alderman. The text of the "bond" posted by borough officials in 1766 is now online. Heading the list of borough fathers was John Sanders - one of a number of Schenectady people with roots deep into the Albany community as well.

During the War for Independence, Schenectady supported the American cause in a effort led by its Committee of Safety - an arm of the Albany County Committee of Correspondence . . ..The Second Regiment of the Albany County Militia (both officers and soldiers) was composed chiefly of Schenectady residents.

By 1790, Schenectady's overall population had grown to more than 4,000 with 3,472 people living south of the Mohawk. With the opening of the frontier to settlement, people streamed through Schenectady on their way west.

In 1798, the City of Schenectady was chartered by the State of New York. The following year, the street grid was laid out and the original streets renamed! Schenectady County was formed from Albany in 1809.