History of Albany, New York (1784–1860) 1807, Robert Fulton initiated a steamboat line from New York to Albany, the first successful enterprise of its kind. By 1810, with 10,763 people, Albany was the 10th largest urban place in the nation. The town and village known as "the Colonie" to the north of Albany was annexed in 1815. In 1825 the Erie Canal was completed, forming a continuous water route from the Great Lakes to New York City. Unlike the current Barge Canal, which ends at nearby Waterford, the original Erie Canal ended at Albany; Lock 1 was located north of Colonie Street. The Canal emptied into
Great Lakes Greyhound Lines new subsidiary, named as the Great Lakes Greyhound Lines, which in 1941 took over the EMM. In 1941, when the Great Lakes GL came into existence, The Greyhound Corporation merged the Ohio GL into the new Great Lakes GL. The Ohio GL had run between Detroit and Louisville (in Kentucky) via Toledo, Dayton, and Cincinnati (all three in Ohio), plus along a detached route between Evansville and Indianapolis (both in Indiana). [The route segment between Louisville and Cincinnati had come from the Southland Transportation Company, which Harris Spearin, with the backing and financing of Wickman in Minnesota, had founded in