What's In A Name?

What's In A Name?
Dr. Paul Loatman, City Historian

Did you ever wonder where the "mechanic" in Mechanicville came from? Probably, the most frequently asked question directed to me as City Historian involves the origin of the name of our community. If you are like me, the first thing you think of when you hear "mechanic" is oil changes and spark plugs. But the name Mechanicville goes back many years before the invention of the automobile, so the source of the term must have been derived in some other fashion. But where does the name come from?

Part of the solution to solving this problem has to do with the changing meaning of language over the centuries. People have been living in this area for more than two centuries, and while the first documented use of the name "Mechanicville" dates to 1829, it is quite likely that people living along the Tenendehowa Creek started to use the term around 1800. At that time, when Thomas Jefferson was President, the United States was a rural, agrarian nation and the Industrial Revolution was still off on the horizon. Most people were farmers, but others earned their livings as coopers, masons, carpenters, butchers, stone-cutters and the like. They were independent mastercraftsmen who owned their own tools and hired themselves out as society needed their talents. Because they were practitioners of what were called the "mechanical arts," these skilled workers were called "mechanics." The term also had political implications because it was used to describe a class of people who, while having a higher status than tenant farmers, did not own enough property to qualify as freeholders and thus were not eligible to vote in elections until the 1820s in New York State. Because the party of Jefferson and Jackson led the fight to abolish property qualifications for voting, "mechanics" became strong supporters of the Democratic Party in the 19th century.

Like other economic actors, craftsmen attempted to better their lot by assuring themselves a decent wage, but at that time, any organized efforts by workers to withhold their labor by going on strike were considered to be conspiracies against society at large and subject to criminal prosecution. Despite these legal restrictions, skilled artisans formed "friendly" mechanics societies, which were mutual aid organizations collecting members' dues to pay out widows' and orphans' benefits. One of the oldest such groups in the United States was the Albany Mechanics Society founded in 1793.

Much of the area north of the Mohawk River was originally part of Albany County. Although documentary evidence is lacking, it is quite likely that a number of mechanics sought to better their lot by securing a grant of land from the Albany City Council to settle on the Tenendehowa. The local stream provided a water power source where grist mills and saw mills could perform sawing, milling, and carpentry services. Farmers who would otherwise have had to travel to Troy or Albany to find similar services now could obtain the services of skilled craftsmen in the local area. In turn, the artisans had a steady demand for their labor, permitting them to settle permanently in their newfound community. By the 1820s and 1830s, the coming of the canal and railroad further solidified their economic base by providing shipping outlets for their planed lumber, flour, and wood products in what was now more widely known as "Mechanicville."

One other aspect of our community's name needs to be resolved: is our "ville" singular or plural? Actually, there are four other Mechanics-"villes" or "burgs" in the United States, each of which does incorporate the "s" in its name. Our city never officially acquired the "s" although it wasn't for lack of trying by some people. In the late 19th century, the local post-office and occasional map-makers pluralized the name, apparently taking their cues from those other Mechanicvilles. The inability to resolve the issue may also have led a group of pioneering town fathers in North Dakota to simply call their town "McVille." At any rate, the next time store clerks ask for your address, tell them to leave out the "s", because there is only one "Mechanicville" in the whole wide country.