[2] The hamlet of Groesbeckville in the neighboring Town of Bethlehem, which at the time was just to the south, grew along similar lines and was soon absorbed into the city, the first expansion of Albany's southern boundary.

While the South End is generally taken to refer to a large area of Albany, including almost everything south of downtown and Lincoln Park to the city's southern limit,[4] the district covers a smaller 57-acre (23 ha)[2]: 110  area that mostly resembles a slightly bent rectangle, mirroring a bend that once existed in the Hudson River shoreline and marked the city's original southern boundary.

Within is all the land between Elizabeth and South Pearl (New York State Route 32) streets going north-south and Morton and Second avenues going east-west.

[2]: 120 It follows property lines west and south across that block and Broad Street, excluding some modern government buildings such as a new fire station, Albany's Criminal Court and the local Department of Motor Vehicles office.

Most are two- or three-story vernacular brick or timber frame houses, in a variety of 19th-century styles, particularly Greek Revival, Italianate and Eastlake.

A stockade enclosed the small village of Beverwijck that grew up around it, delineating the area roughly corresponding to what is today downtown Albany.

[2]: 109 By the middle of the 18th century, tensions between the British and the French in North America, mirroring those between their parent countries, twice exploded into war.

[2]: 109 Schuyler oversaw the construction from England, where he was tending to military affairs with his mentor, John Bradstreet, and choosing much of the house's interior finishings there.

[6] Situated on a bluff overlooking the river, city and Schuyler's 80 acres (32 ha), the house he called "The Pasture" was the most elaborate built in Albany at the time, and remained so for many years afterwards.

After being taken prisoner following the Continental Army's victory at the Battle of Saratoga, British General John Burgoyne and his staff were Schuyler's houseguests.

Bassett Street was home to a small community of free African Americans, and there was enough of a Jewish presence that a group was meeting for services there in 1838.

[2]: 113 [9]The growth was such that the brickyards that had originally populated the blocks west of Alexander Street due to the quality clay and excellent drainage were gone completely by 1857, replaced by houses.

[2]: 3  Foley's Row, the timber frame Greek Revival group at 159–169 Franklin Street,[2]: 60  which was almost completely developed by 1850, is a rare example of that type within the district.

[2]: 3 This pattern of building, which continued as the neighborhood grew throughout the rest of the century, resulted in a great deal of architectural diversity within individual blocks.

In 1870 their petition to make this a legal and political reality was accepted and the city's boundary was extended a mile (1.6 km) south, to its present location along the Normans Kill, creating the area of Albany known as the First Ward.

While their synagogues and other cultural institutions were located in other neighborhoods to the north, many were tradesmen who established shops on South Pearl and other streets.

[2]: 3  The actual houses built during this era, however, began to break with the Greek Revival and Italianate traditions that had marked their pre-1870s neighbors.

[2]: 114 In 1886, following an outbreak of eye disease at an orphanage run by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, some of the sisters and the sick children moved into the Schuyler Mansion.

This institutional use of the district's original building heralded a new era for the South End where most new construction was not residences but larger structures meant for the general welfare.

[2]: 3  In 1929, the district came full circle when its youngest contributing property, the unrestrained Colonial Revival John B. Howe Branch Library, was built at the northeast corner of Clinton and Schuyler.

Other than their residence there, they had no lasting impact on the neighborhood since their community and its cultural institutions were concentrated in the Mansion District to the north, where most of Albany's Italian population had settled upon their arrival.

[2]: 115–16 Beginning in 1930, with the Great Depression, the descendants of the original German immigrants who had settled the South End almost a century earlier began moving out.

The city's response was small-scale urban renewal, and black residents displaced by the demolitions that required moved to the South End.

[2]: 116 In 1971 O'Connell, advancing in years, had his father's old tavern at Fourth and South Pearl, long the center of city politics, demolished rather than see it bought or rented by someone else.

[21] In the early 21st century the city and all stakeholders collaborated to create a comprehensive plan for the South End, Mansion and Pastures neighborhoods.

Among the accomplishments it listed were the renovations to the Howe Branch Library and revitalization projects that included 20 homes built by Habitat for Humanity Capital District, which planned to concentrate its efforts at the intersection of Stephen Street and Third Avenue.

The Capital District Transportation Authority had also extended a bus route serving the South End with stops at both nearby hospitals, increasing residents' access to jobs there.

[24] "This whole area was supposed to be redeveloped", Carolyn McLaughlin, a resident and former president of the city council, recalled to the Albany Times Union at the end of 2018, as she stood on the corner of Morton and South Pearl.

[25] To begin that process, the city believes it should first help the South End's existing businesses and solicit investment from those who have already successfully developed and redeveloped in the area.

Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said it was a challenge to attract retailers to the South End since the neighborhood is not only poor but ill-suited to the kind of big-box stores that have come to dominate the sector.