Roessleville, New York

Roessleville
hamlet
Official name: Roessleville, New York
Name origin: for Theophilus Roessle
Country	United States
State	New York
Region	Capital District
County	Albany
Municipality	Town of Colonie
Elevation	243 ft (74 m)
Coordinates
Area	2.89 sq mi (7 km2)
- land	2.88 sq mi (7 km2)
- water	.01 sq mi (0 km2)
Population	10,753 (1990)
Density	1,433.7 / sq mi (554 / km2)
Settled	1840
Timezone	EST (UTC-5)
- summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP Code	12205
Area code	518
Location of Roessleville within the state of New York

Roessleville is a hamlet in the town of Colonie, Albany County, New York. It is a densely settled suburb of the city of Albany along New York State Route 5. Roessleville was a census-designated place in the 1990 Census, but was deleted in 2000.

History

Originally Roessleville was part of the Pine Bush pine barrens that stretched from Albany to Schenectady, the land later became farmland in the 1940s and then more recently into a densely packed suburb. Roessleville is named for Theophilus Roessle, a German immigrant from the Kingdom of Württemberg, who built one of the most elegant mansions in the Albany area in what is now Roessleville, today's Elmhurst Avenue was once his gated driveway. Two of the most famous residents of Roessleville was Josiah and Elizabeth Stanford; parents of Governor of California Leland Stanford; who moved the entire family here in 1840 and owned the Elm Grove Farm and hotel.

Geography

Roessleville is that section of the town of Colonie between Osborne and Wolf roads, it is bisected by Central Avenue (NY Route 5). The Albany city line is along its southeastern border, the village of Colonie is along its northwestern boundary at Wolf Road. The census-designated place of Roessleville, as defined by the US Census Bureau for 1990, was in area.

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1970	5,476		—
1980	11,685		113.4%
1990	10,753		−8.0%

Since hamlets are by definition ill-defined any attempt at accurate calculations of population related statistics will be difficult or inaccurate. As a census-designated place (CDP) prior to 2000 however Roessleville did have definitive boundaries, though they did change over time from one census to another. Roessleville was not a CDP in 1960, but was in 1970 when it had 5,476 persons which included 125 in a small slice of the town of Guilderland; the Guilderland section was not included in 1980, and in 1990 Roessleville had a population of 10,753.