About the town » East Greenbush, Rensselaer County, New York, United States

East Greenbush is an affluent suburb of Albany, New York. The population was 16,473 at the 2010 census. The word Greenbush is derived from the Dutch Greenen Bosch, referring to the pine woods that originally covered the land. The first settlement of the land now known as East Greenbush was made by tenants under patroon Kiliaen van Rensselaer circa 1630. The town was established in 1855 as Clinton, and was renamed in 1858. It is mostly suburban along its major highways and rural in the southwestern and northeastern corners. Interstate 90 traverses the town. It contains the west (or south) end of US Route 4 and the northern terminus of NY Route 9J; as well as US Route 9 and US Route 20. The latter are concurrent, under the name Columbia Turnpike, and is often referred to by locals as “9 and 20. ”