History and Fonda connection
Fonda Street was a historic street in Schenectady, New York, corresponding to the northern portion of present-day Jay Street beyond Union Street. An 1811 property-map reference in Jonathan Pearson's Street Books identifies the intersection of Fonda and Pine Streets. Schenectady city directories list residences and businesses on Fonda Street in 1841–1842, and an 1862–1863 directory describes it as extending from Union Street to Nott Street, distinguishing it from Water Street. A 1906 street directory identifies the former Fonda Street as North Jay Street.
The name very probably reflects the Fonda family's longstanding presence and substantial landholdings in Schenectady. Jellis Adam Fonda (1669–1737), a gunsmith, and his wife Rachel Pieterse Winne (1673–1727) settled there around 1700 and established a family of eleven children. Their son Douw Jellis Fonda (1700–1780) later settled at Caughnawaga, the community now known as Fonda, New York. Other descendants continued to live and work in Schenectady.
Jonathan Pearson's 1883 history describes Jellis Fonda's farm near Front Street and the Mohawk River, using nineteenth-century landmarks to identify property extending south across the canal and Fonda Street. This unusually direct association between family land and the former street strongly supports the interpretation that the street was named for the local Fonda family. However, no original naming resolution or deed expressly assigning the name has yet been identified, and the individual namesake, if any, remains unknown.
Sources and references
- Jonathan Pearson, Street Books, Book 3, p. 111B (1811 map), indexed by Schenectady County Historical Society.: The index names an 1811 map of Pine Street at Fonda Street. Index verified; original drawing not yet inspected.
- Schenectady City Directory 1841–1842, address listing: FONDA, transcribed by Schenectady Digital History Archive.: Several numbered Fonda Street addresses and businesses, clearly postdating 1799.
- Schenectady City and County Directory, 1862–1863, “Streets, Etc.”, p. 16.: Fonda street from Nott to Union; Water Street independently listed from river to State. Strongest proof against synonymy for 1862.
- E. S. Cullings, Complete Street Directory and Map of the City of Schenectady and Environs (1906).: Street directory explicitly says “Fonda St., changed to N. Jay St.” and “Jay St. (formerly Fonda St.).” Public domain.
- Schenectady County Historical Society, Grems-Doolittle Library, “Barracks, Brewhouses, and Burial Grounds: The Jonathan Pearson Street Books” (Nov. 2014).: Confirms Fonda Street formerly the portion of Jay Street north of Union; separately describes historical Water Street.
- History of Schenectady County to the Close of the Nineteenth Century, part 13, account of July 8, 1799 street changes.: Older tentative assertion that Fonda Street “seems” to have been called Water Street; requires context/reconciliation; do not treat as definitive mapping.
- L. Fagan, Henry Ramsay, Map of Schenectady County, New York (1856), Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.: Selected potential illustration, city inset. Public-domain source; exact street text not verified at this stage.
- Jonathan Pearson, A History of the Schenectady Patent in the Dutch and English Times (Albany: J. Munsell's Sons, 1883), pp. 110–111, 'Jillis Fonda.': Primary 19th-century retrospective description of Jellis's Schenectady land near Front Street, including parcel extending across the canal and Fonda Street. Strong geographic family association; not an explicit naming record.
- Austin A. Yates, Schenectady County, New York: Its History to the Close of the Nineteenth Century (New York: New York History Company, 1902), pp. 261–264, 'Genealogy of the Fonda Family.': Genealogical and historical context for Jellis Fonda and descendants in Schenectady and Caughnawaga. Historical compilation, not a primary street-naming source.
- Schenectady County Historical Society Newsletter, vol. 40, nos. 3–4 (March–April 2003), 'From the President's Desk,' p. 1.: Confirms the northern end of modern Jay Street was Fonda Street on 1875 G. W. Lewis map; no naming derivation given.
- Cuyler Reynolds (ed.), Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1911), vol. III, pp. 1005–1007, Fonda.: Independent genealogical compilation identifying Jellis Adam Fonda and Rachel Winne, the 11 children, and son Douw who moved to Caughnawaga. Supports family context, not original street naming.