In New York State, the first city to be so designated an actual city was New York City; it received a royal charter in April 1686. Albany, with a population of about 500 people (one-fourth the size of New York City), received its municipal charter from Governor Thomas Dongan three months later on July 22, 1686. The so-called Dongan Charter incorporated Albany, fixed its boundaries, set-up a municipal government, and endowed the city corporation with a number of special rights and privileges.
Albany's essential nature was commercial. Initially, the community economy was based on the fur trade. By 1686, Albany was evolving into a place where regional farmers bartered their crops and forest products for imported and locally crafted items; where they came to have tools and other things repaired; and where they found spiritual and legal guidance. By that time, city people had begun to divide into business, production, and service enterprises - although most Albanians engaged in some of all three activities. The Dongan Charter further enhanced Albany's status and the English fort provided the community with its first great government enterprise.
http://www.iroquoisdemocracy.pdx.edu/html/albanycongress.htm
The City of Albany
By the 1730s, the city fathers, the clerk and the sheriff were complaining that the now old Stadt Huys city hall was inadequate to serve a growing city and county. In 1738, Albany successfully petitioned the provincial government for funds to build a new "City Hall which was very much needed." In 1741, Albany erected a much more substantial building on the same location. The new city hall was a large but plain brick building, three stories high, with a steep-pitched roof. The bell in its belfry was rung each day at noon and at 8:00 p.m. After the church and fort, it was the largest structure and stood out on the Albany skyline. The Albany Congress met there in 1754................
