SCHENECTADY, a city of the United States, county seat of Schenectady county, New York, in the valley of the Mohawk river, 17 miles by rail north-west of Albany, with which it is also connected by the Erie Canal. It is best known as the seat of Union College, an institution founded in 1795 by a union of several religious sects, and now possessed of large endowments, extensive buildings, and a valuable library, and along with the Albany medical and law schools, &c., forming the Union University. Besides manufacturing locomotives, iron bridges, and agricultural implements, Schenectady has shawl, hosiery, carriage, and varnish factories. The population was 9579 in 1860, 11,026 in 1870, and 13,655 in 1880.

Occupying the site of one of the council grounds of the Mohawks, Schenectady was chosen as a Dutch trading post in 1620, was chartered in 1684, and became a borough in 1765 and a city in 1798. In 1691 it was burned by the French and Indians, and sixty-three of its inhabitants massacred.