Roessleville

Roessleville is a hamlet in the town of Colonie, Albany County, New York, United States. 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,[1] but became a CDP again in 2020.[2]

Roessleville was originally of the Pine Bush pine barrens that stretched from Albany to Schenectady; the land later became farmland in the 1940s, then more recently transformed into a densely packed suburb.[3] 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.[3][4] 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.[5]

Roessleville is that section of the town of Colonie between Osborne and Wolf roads, it is bisected by Central Avenue (NY Route 5).[3] 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 2.9 square miles (7.5 km2) in area.[6]

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;[7] the Guilderland section was not included in 1980,[8] and in 1990 Roessleville had a population of 10,753.[6]