There was no Albany in 1650.  There was only Fort Orange, and a small
cluster of houses outside the fort considered illegal by the West India
Company.

    Albany originated in 1652 as the village of Beverwyck, which was laid out
by the West India Company in 1652 north of and physically separate from Fort
Orange, but under its jurisdiction.  The town was not called Albany until
1664 when the English took it.

    Merwick in her book Possessing Albany (page 73) notes that by 1655 in
Beverwyck 75 lots had been patented to townsmen.  In 1659 there were about
127 houses.  It was said the population at that time was "230 able-bodied
men" or "1100 souls."