became Albany. In 1666, Jeremias van Rensselaer, then-patroon of Rensselaerswyck, had petitioned the new government of Governor Nicholls to recognize Fort Albany (Fort Orange) as part of Rensselaerswyck. Governor Nicholls informed him that he would be wise to drop the matter until he heard from the Duke of York. In 1678, Governor Andros issued to the patroon's heirs a grant reaffirming the patroon's rights over Rensselaerswyck, but leaving out Fort Albany and the immediate area around the fort. The English abandoned Fort Orange and built a new fort on top of State Street Hill named Fort Frederick; it served both to defend the settlement from the Mohawk and other Iroquois to the west and to be on high ground to remind the Dutch inhabitants of English rule. The land around the old fort was sold to the Dutch Reformed Church for use as pastureland, but the fort structure continued to deteriorate. It was indicated on maps during the 18th century, labeled as "ruins of an Old Fort." Richard Smith, a traveler, observed by 1769 that there was "nothing to be seen of Fort Orange... but the Ditch which surrounded it". After the American Revolutionary War, the deteriorated site of the old fort was memorialized as a historic site and was the site of many historical observances. Subsequent occupation Simeon De Witt built a large house or mansion and a number of outbuildings on the site of the old fort during the 1790s; the address for the site of the old fort became 549 South Market Street (later Broadway). On his property traces of the old fort could still be seen as late as 1812. He lived at this location while he was the surveyor-general of New York. Following his death, his mansion and outbuildings were adapted for use as the Fort Orange Hotel. It burned down in 1848 but was rebuilt under the same name. In 1886, as part of the bicentennial of Albany's incorporating document, the Dongan Charter, the city erected a bronze tablet at the site of the northeastern bastion of Fort Orange. In the 1930s the tablet was moved during construction of the Dunn Memorial Bridge, and for almost 100 years it did not mark the site of Fort Orange. The Albany Institute of History and Art has a cannonball labeled as "Dug up at Fort Orange site July 22nd 1886", the date the bicentennial marker was