Walmart Accidentally Reconnects Latham To Its Roots

If you have not noticed yet, the Latham Circle Mall is long gone, demolished and swept away, as if it never was. The new building that is unmistakably a Walmart now takes it place. 

Although the Latham Circle Mall was a treasured joke of a mall it did not reconnect Latham with its roots the way that Walmart is, because you can camp out in Walmart parking lots.

This is relevant because Latham is pretty much a truck stop in the middle of Schenectady, Albany, Saratoga and Troy:

•  In 1755 during the French and Indian War, Latham was known as "the corner" of Troy-Schenectady Roadd and Old Loudon Road
• In 1829 Latham was known as Yearsley's Corners, because the only person that lived in Latham at the time was a guy named Jonas Yearsley
• In 1851 Latham was known as Van Vrankens Corners, because at that point in time the Van Vrankens pretty much owned the entire Vranken Capital Region
• In the 1860s Latham was the Town House Corners, before William Latham bought the hotel and somehow got the hamlet named after him

Latham was that close to being named Vranken.

Because of Walmart's policy that allows people to camp out in their parking lots, they have pretty much brought the spirit of Latham back to the corners. The spirit of the Latham Circle Mall will live on as well, because Wikipedia has yet to change its image of Latham, and the mall is still on DeadMalls.com. I am sure that for generations to come, whenever a local pulls into the Latham Circle Walmart, they will say "Remember the Mall?"

The moral of the story is don't get upset about the Latham Circle Walmart, because it is reconnecting Latham with its roots in more ways then one. Not only will it celebrate Latham's history of being a pit stop while you're on your way to somwhere important, but Walmart is kind of like them darn Van Vrankens.

I am Dan America, a proud native to Latham, NY, and I represent the L.A.W.: Latham Against the World.