Rawson Circle celebrates 100th anniversary this weekend

ALBANY — Time flies when you’re having fun. Most people wouldn’t think about their neighborhood celebrating a 100th year anniversary, but Rawson Circle is no ordinary neighborhood.

On Sunday, Rawson Circle will be celebrating this milestone at the Women’s Federated Clubhouse located at 1012 N. Van Buren St.

A place that feels like it was plucked from a novel or the scenery of a Hallmark movie, Rawson Circle was built and designed by Albany’s elite 100 years ago and is maintained by its current residents.

“We’re proud of being in an old neighborhood — an old in-town neighborhood — I just can’t express how happy it makes us to have that,” Valerie Buchanan, secretary of treasury for the Rawson Circle Neighborhood Association, said.

The birthday celebration on Sunday will feature refreshments, live entertainment, driving tours, garden tours and a birthday cake. It’s a community event open to the public with Ben Roberts as master of ceremonies, and will include a proclamation from Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard.

Historic Rawson Circle memorabilia will be on display for history enthusiasts including an aerial photo taken in 1935. That particular map, Buchanan said, was shared among many of the neighborhood’s residents over the years. Old movies, and possibly old photographs, of the neighborhood will be on display.

“We will have Thronateeska present to schedule people for oral histories,” Buchanan said. “We were going to do it on Sunday, but — I’m on the board at Thronateeska too — we think the acoustics might not be good so they’re just going to take appointments and hopefully people will go down there and record their comments and things.”

Attendees will also have the opportunity to share their stories about Rawson Circle at the reception.

Rawson Circle is known for its unique winding roads and manicured gardens, but has seen another side of Mother Nature. After the January 2017 storms, the neighborhood became almost recognizable, but the residents worked to restore it to its original grandeur — including refurbishing the turtles and placing the neighborhood decals on them.

“The beauty of this neighborhood has always been its winding streets and its park-like setting,” she said. “We had taken it hard that it doesn’t look exactly the same.

“It boosted us since we had so much devastation in this neighborhood after the January 2017 storms,” Buchanan said. “It made us feel better to perk it up so we are continuing to try to make improvements.”

Hurricane Michael struck the area merely weeks before Rawson Circle’s centennial celebration, but that didn’t stop them. In times like these, the close-knit neighborhood endures.

Refreshments and live entertainment at the celebration will be 2-4 p.m., and driving and garden tours will be 4-5 p.m.

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