Union Presbyterian Church

Our Neighborhood and Community

Our Neighborhood

Though situated in the middle of a block, UPC sits at a crossroads.  The blocks surrounding the church are made up mostly of two- and three- family homes dating from the turn of the century, about 36% of which are owner occupied.  To the north-east of the Church lies the GE Realty Plot, some of the more stable middle class neighborhoods of the city, and beyond that the suburban town of Niskayuna.  To the northwest is Union College, a small private liberal arts institution with no religious affiliation.  To the southwest are downtown Schenectady, Hamilton Hill and The Vale, some of the most troubled neighborhoods of the city.  To illustrate, the average income for families in the same zip code as the church (12308) is $48,264.  In neighboring Niskayuna (12309), household’s incomes average $93,907, while the area encompassing Hamilton Hill and the Vale (12307) has an average household income of $23,774.  Similarly, the area around the church is 72% Anglo (non-Hispanic white) and 34% single parent families while Niskayuna is 89% Anglo and 15% single parents.  These figures are 40% and 61% for the Hill and Vale area.  Youths, those under twenty, are 31% of the area around the church, 39% of those in Hamilton Hill and the Vale, and 27% of residents of Niskayuna, while 18% of those in the area around the church are over sixty, just 14% in Hamilton Hill and the Vale, and 21% in Niskayuna.  Finally, while 26% of residents of the area around the church are college graduates, fully 44% of those in Niskayuna have college degrees but just 6% of residents of the Hill and Vale area have completed college.[1]

Our Community

As with many cities in upstate New York, Schenectady has seen a period of population decline and social and economic upheaval.  As is reflected in the congregation’s growth city population rose rapidly in the first third of the century rising from just under 20,000, in 1890 to more than 95,000 in 1930.  From 1930 on the city’s population dropped by an average of five thousand each decade to just over sixty thousand in 2000.  Population patterns for the surrounding suburbs, however, are somewhat different with growth beginning later – in the teens and twenties, accelerating in the forties through sixties, leveling off in the seventies and eighties and increasing again in the 1990s.  In 1970 the population of the suburban regions of Schenectady county matched those of the city and have since surpassed the city reaching 84,734 at the time of the 2000 Census.  Overall county patterns show rapid growth from 1890-1930, slight decline from 1930-1940, a return to rapid growth from 1940-1970 then declines in the 1970s and 1980s and slight growth in the 1990s.  These roughly mirror those of the Capital District as a whole, with the last few decades marked by slow overall growth, shrinking central cities and expanding suburbs – especially in Saratoga County.

The religious ecology of Schenectady County shows a moderate degree of diversity in denominational form, but less diversity in membership.  Out of a total of 107 congregations in 1990, the most recent year for which county level statistics could be located (http://www.thearda.com), 21 are Catholic, 15 United Methodist, 13 Reformed Church in America (RCA), eight American Baptist, six Episcopal, six Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), five Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ECLA), and four Jewish congregations.  Looking at religious affiliations, by far the largest group is the un-affiliated (42.4%), followed by Catholics (33%), and then Jewish (4.8%), RCA and Methodist (each about 4%), ECLA (2%), Episcopal (1.5%), and Missouri-Synod Lutheran, American Baptist and Presbyterian and Black Baptist (about 1.2% each).

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