Colonie (pronounced "ColoNEE") is the name of both a town (township) and a village within that town. The village of Colonie is a 3.5-square-mile parcel located along Central Avenue between Wolf Road and Route 155, next to the Albany County Airport. The population of the village is about 9,000. The town of Colonie encompasses much of eastern Albany County, including the city of Albany, the village of Menands, and the areas known as West Albany, Latham and Loudonville. Much of Colonie was rural in the 1950s but is now full of subdivisions, with a population of 77,000 and growing.