History of Albany, New York (1664–1784) state capital in the United States. In the period leading up to the Second Anglo-Dutch War, King Charles II of England granted the land from Maine to Delaware, which included all of New Netherland, to his brother James, Duke of York. In April 1664 four ships with a combined 450-men fighting force set sail for New Amsterdam. Fort Orange was surrendered to the English 16 days after New Amsterdam (the city of New York). Surrender terms at New Amsterdam were quite generous. Fort Orange was renamed Fort Albany, and the village of Beverswyck was renamed Albany, in honor of the
Bridewell (New York City jail) Bridewell (New York City jail) The Bridewell was a municipal prison in New York City built in 1768 on the site now occupied by City Hall Park in Civic Center, Manhattan. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Bridewell is a common English noun referred both to a gaol in which prisoners were held, or a workhouse to which they were confined. The term was used for a number of jails in the Thirteen Colonies. Construction on the New York City Bridewell began in 1768, although the building was not completed until after the end of the American Revolutionary War. Even