Albany mayor: Philip Schuyler statue to move in weeks
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The General Philip Schuyler statue will be removed from outside Albany City Hall in a matter of weeks, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said.
The statue has stood outside Albany City Hall for nearly 100 years. There have been plans to move that statue for nearly three years.
There are a few factors coming to a head right now. First, the city just received a requested report from a group of Albany High School students – part of the Young Abolitionist Leadership Institute. Second, the city is getting ready to create a Monuments Commission – a group just in charge of statues and monuments across the city. Third, a major renovation project will soon begin to fix the outside of Albany City Hall, and that includes removing a traffic circle where the statue sits.
Schuyler was a prominent figure in the Revolutionary War. He was born in Albany, and was the father-in-law of Alexander Hamilton. He was also one of the largest owners of enslaved people in Albany.
It will cost about $40,000 to move the statue into storage and keep it there, the mayor said. She said she still doesn’t have a preference for where it should go next, but thinks there are opportunities to have it contextualized with its history being told.