You’ve almost certainly never heard of William Bell Wait but he had to be one of the most clever and industrious educators and inventors ever to be born in Amsterdam. That birth took place on this date in 1839. Evidently, he wasn’t a resident for very long because he received his early education in the public schools of Albany, NY and he graduated from Albany Normal College (predecessor of SUNY Albany) in 1859…

You can read the rest of my story about this Amsterdam-native in my new book “A Year’s Worth of Amsterdam Birthdays.” To order your copy, click here.