USA > New York > Albany County > Cohoes > The history of Cohoes, New York, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 15
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175
HISTORY OF COHOES.
1863.
Wilcox, vice-president ; A. T. Becker, secretary ; P. D. Niver, treasurer ; Daniel McElwain, Edward Shepard, Joseph Chadwick, Peter Manton, Levi Dodge, directors. A lease was obtained of the pond north of Simmons's dyke, and suitable buildings and enclosures were erected.'
This year was marked by a number of changes in Cohoes business firms, and several important additions to the manu- facturing interests of the village.
In January, Geo. Campbell, formerly of the firm of Gage, Campbell & Gage of Waterford, with John Clute as partner, leased the building formerly occupied by Jeremiah Clute's bedstead factory, and established a machine shop therein. In March, the property at the corner of Ontario and Rem- sen streets was purchased by Messrs. Joseph Chadwick and Geo. Warhurst, who converted it into a knitting mill.2 In June, the erection of C. H. Adams's mill on Ontario street, one of the most complete in the place, was commenced. It is of briek, four stories high, and 50 by 100 feet. The firm of C. II. Adams & Co. was dissolved, S. D. Fairbank retiring on account of ill health, and Mr. Adams continued the business alone.3 The Watervliet mill, which he vacated, was leased for 10 years by Alden Frink & Weston, who had also become proprietors of the Halcyon Mill in the early part of the year. Another enterprise in which this firm became engaged was the manufacture of axes. The factory belonging to Jonas Simmons, near the rolling mill,
1 A skating park was established two years later on Oneida street, between Van Rensselaer and Saratoga streets, which remained for some time in successful ope- ration. Mr. McElwain was principally interested in its management. The latest institution of the sort was established in December of the present year, by A. Paul.
2 Mr. Warhurst retired in 1867, his interest being bought by Win. N. Chadwick. P. R. Chadwick was subsequently admitted to partnership, and the present tirm of Chadwick & Co., formed.
3 The present proprietor, John Wakeman, succeeded Mr. Adams in January, 1870.
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1863.
was purchased by them, and the firm of W. J. Ten Eyck & Co. organized, in which they held the controlling interest.'
A new knitting mill, Wm. Conliss and John Carter pro- prietors, was also started in the building formerly used by Wightman & Youmans as a wheel factory.
On August 15th the corner stone of the new St. Bernard's church, the site of which had been purchased by Father Keveney in 1861, was laid by Bishop (now Cardinal) McCloskey, with imposing ceremonies.
On August 17th Hurst's woolen mill on Mohawk street was destroyed by the most disastrous fire with which Cohoes has ever been visited. It caught in the picking room, located on the first floor near the stair case, and owing to the combustible character of the contents of the mill and a high wind which prevailed at the time, spread rapidly from floor to floor, cutting off almost every means of escape. Within five minutes after the alarm was sounded the entire east end of the building, containing the only stair case, was a sheet of flame. The stairs were very narrow, so that but few were able to pass down, and the only means of exit was by jumping from the windows, in doing which many sus- tained severe injuries. Three of the operatives, Margaret Downey, Anna Lyons and Catharine Donnelly, were unable to escape, and perished in the flames. The death of the latter was one of the most terrible features of the fire ; she attempted to escape from a third story window, but her clothing became caught on the steam pipe under the window sill, and all efforts to free her being futile, she was burnt to death in the sight of hundreds who were powerless to aid her. Some twenty of the operatives were seriously injured.
1 Ou the failure of Alden Frink & Weston. in 1866, the Ten Eyck M'f'g Co. was organized with the following officers: David Cowee, president ; Geo. R. Seymour, treasurer; R. I. Thompson; secretary ; W. J. Ten Eyck, superintendent. This company suspended in 1572. and in the following year the factory was taken by Williams, Ryan & Jones. Their successors have been, Sheehan, Jones & Co., Jones & Ryan, and (July 1st, '74), M. H. Jones & Co.
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1863. -
The firemen, aided by four companies from Waterford and Lansingburg, and the Ranken steamer from Troy, succeeded in preventing any serious damage to adjoining buildings. Mr. Hurst's loss was $27,000 of which $18,000 was insured. This calamity gave rise to a great deal of inquiry and news- paper comment in regard to the means provided for escape from our factories in case of such disasters, and had the good result of causing the erection of adequate fire escapes in all the mills of the place.
During this summer the horse rail road was in process of construction. It was the original intention of the company to have the Cohoes terminus located at the Cataract House, but this was abandoned, as not being feasible. The rails were laid as far as the junction on the 10th of October, and an excursion car was run over the road on that day. In the following week Mr. Simons disposed of his interest in the omnibus line to the company. He had been engaged in the business for fifteen years, and under his management the Troy stage became an institution of great convenience, 12 round trips daily having been made since 1859. The com- pletion of the road was thus spoken of in the Cataract :
"It is one of the most important events that mark the progress of our village in the career of improvement. We know of no good reason why it may not be made advanta- geous to the place. True, it may tend to divert trade to the city, but it will also bring the patrons of our manu- factures nearer and create a condition and feeling of intimacy between the business men of the two places, that has not hitherto existed."
The road was well patronized and soon took precedence over other modes of conveyance. Ever since the completion of the rail road running from Albany to the junction, the trains had entered the village of West Troy by means of a Y track, and stopped at the depot, a short distance from the ferry. The establishment of the horse railway, however, so far diminished their business that the railroad company discontinued the practice of backing down the Y after Dec.
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1863.
21, 1863. The track was torn up, but has recently been re- laid for the accommodation of the Albany and Troy locals.
The objections to street rail roads seem to have been speedily overcome, and the example of the Troy capitalists was contagious, for in the same year the Waterford and Co- hoes Horse Rail Road Co. was organized by gentlemen from Cohoes and Waterford. The Cohoes representatives on the board of directors were Hugh White, Wm. F. Carter, Wm. G. Caw, Isaac Quackenbush and Wm. M. White. The stock, amounting to $25,000, was soon taken, articles of as- sociation were duly filed, and the right of way obtained from the village trustees. Another company, composed, with the exception of T. G. Younglove, of capitalists from Troy and Lansingburg was organized the next year, which, said the Cataract, " proposed to at once commence active operations." Nothing more definite, however, resulted than a quarrel between the two companies, which ended the con- sideration of the project for the time being.'
The first movement of importance towards the incorpo- ration of Cohoes as a city was made in Jan., 1864. A meet- ing was held in the trustees' room on the 22d, of which L. S. Parsons was chairman and S. Hayward, secretary. Re- marks were made in favor of the project by Wm. G. Caw, and on motion of Sherebiah Stiles, a committee of fourteen was appointed to ascertain the feelings of the citizens in re- gard to the matter, and the steps necessary to be taken. The citizens were evidently not favorably inclined, for no further mention of the project was made for some time.
The following notice of the destruction of an old house was published in the Cataract of Jan. 30:
"The building known as the Old Junction House below
1 Still another company was organized Oct. 24, 1871, with the following directors : C. HI. Adams, D. J. Johnston, H. S. Bogue Murray Hubbard. E. L. Stimson, Jas. F. Crawford, Henry Brockway, J. W. Himes, Jas. B. McKee. N. W. Frost. C. F. North and John Wakeman of Cohoes, A. J. Griffin, of Waterford. The capital stock was $25,000.
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1864.
this village, formerly owned by Alfred Phelps, Esq., took fire about 7 o'clock last Sunday evening, and was totally destroyed. It had recently been purchased by the Horse Rail Road Co., and was undergoing repairs preparatory to being converted into a residence for their employés. Loss $1,000, and no insurance. The building was one of the oldest land-marks in this neighborhood, and had a wide notoriety as the scene of operation of the Junction Banking Association of years ago."
Numerous improvements in the manufacturing establish- ments attested the good condition of business during the year. Mr. Van Benthuysen commenced the erection of an addition to his paper mill, south of the first building, 60 by 100 feet in size. The Troy M'f'g Co., who had become pro- prietors of the Bailey Mill, built an addition 50 by 125 feet, and four stories high, having a front of 50 feet on Ontario street, and thus doubled the capacity of their factory. The axe factory of Ten Eyck & Co. and Jonas Simmons's rolling mill were also materially enlarged. The latter establish- ment had never been in complete running order until this season. Mr. Simmons took Edward N. Page as a partner and commenced operations in the spring, employing 40 men, and manufacturing five tons of iron per day.'
The Harmony Company built an addition to the Ogden Mills, 60 by 80 feet, and five stories high, connecting the two original buildings. They also erected a cotton house 40 by 150 feet on Mohawk street.
The manufacture of paper boxes, which has since become quite a prominent branch of Cohoes industry, was com- menced in July, by L. R. Dubuque & Co. in the second story of Egberts's Hall. On Aug. Ist, a similar establish- ment was started by Manning & Clute in the building on Remsen street now occupied by Targett & Co .?
1. In March of the following year Mr. Simmons's interest was purchased by Messrs. Morrison & Colwell of Troy, who organized the present firm of Morrison, Colwell & Page.
? After one year this firm sold to L. R. Dubuque & Co. who continued until the spring of 1867, and then sold to Isaac Clute, the present proprietor.
180
HISTORY OF COHOES.
1864.
It had for some time been the intention of Mr. Egbert Egberts, to whose public spirit Cohoes is indebted for a number of substantial improvements, to found an academy here which should be the leading educational institution of this vicinity. To this end a bill was introduced in the leg- islature, which was passed May 24, to incorporate Egberts Institute. The trustees of corporation were to be the pas- tors of the Protestant churches in Cohoes, the following being named in the bill as first trustees : Chas. N. Waldron, J. H. Hobart Brown, Fred'k W. Flint, Henry L. Starks, Wm. H. Maynard. Provision was made in the bill for en- dowment of the institution by Mr. Egberts to such amount as he might see fit. At the first meeting of the trustees, held May 18, Rev. Dr. Waldron was elected president, and committees were appointed for selection of a principal and preparation of a course of studies. Deeds were received from Mr. Egberts conveying to the Institute the building on White street, east of Egberts Hall, which had been com- pleted some time before, and the property on Remsen street just north of the hall, which had formerly belonged to W. Twichell. The Institute, under direction of Rev. A. B. Bullions, was opened for the reception of scholars Sept. 8th.
The publication of the Cataract was discontinued from Jan. to Aug. 1865, and the only means of learning the local events during that time is from out of town papers. There appear to have been few occurrences of importance, how- ever, aside from the rejoicings and excitement attending the close of the war.
A fire on June 1st, destroyed Conliss & Carter's knitting mill near Ontario street, and several small buildings adjoin- ing, occupied by H. Thompson & Son's mill ; B. Mulcahy's blacksmith shop, and Warner's needle factory. The mills of the Troy M'f'g Co., Clifton Co., and Henry Brockway, were seriously threatened at times but were saved by the exertions of the firemen, who were assisted by the Ranken
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1865.
Steamer Co. of Troy. The losses were as follows: Conliss & Carter $7,000, Thompson & Son $3,000, H. Brockway $1,000, B. Mulcahy $200, Warner $300.
On July Ist, the capital police law went into effect, and was welcomed with great satisfaction as an improvement on the system of village constables formerly in vogue. The police district according to this law was divided into two parts, the Albany division and the Troy division. The latter contained six precincts, three in the city of Troy, and the remainder in adjacent villages. The Cohoes pre- cinct embraced Cohoes, Green Island, and a part of Water- vliet. The first members of the force in this village were: sergeants, Wm. Buchanan, John McDermott; patrolmen, Francis S. Staats, John Richmond, Moses Pickering, Gus- tavus Bailey, Wm. Hastings, Jas. Delve and Michael Long. The station house was established in Hayward's building, corner of Remsen and Ontario streets. '
The Young Men's Christian Association, which for some time had not been in a flourishing condition, was reorganized in March, and the first officers elected in August as follows: president, D. J. Johnston ; vice president, H. B. Silliman ; Cor. Sec'y, Wm. S. Smith; Rec. Sec'y, Albert Ten Eyck ; Treas., Jas. H. Masten. The association rented the second story of Quackenbush's building, corner of Remsen and Oneida streets, and fitted up a commodious reading room.
The necessity of improvements in the fire department had been for some time felt. It was evident that the hand en- gines in possession of the village were entirely inadequate in case of a conflagration of any size, and ever since the burning of Hurst's Mill the matter had been frequently agitated. The working of the Ranken steamer of Troy, which had been present at several fires here, gave general satisfaction, and there was a strong feeling in favor of pur- chasing a similar engine. An offer was made by the Har-
1 In May, 1866, it was removed to its present location corner St. John's alley and Mohawk street.
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1865.
mony Co. to furnish a first class steamer if the other manufacturers of the village would subscribe enough to purchase another ; and also to furnish a house and equip- ments for one engine, without expense to the village. No action was immediately taken on this liberal offer, and the citizens were content for this year with the addition to the department of a Hook & Ladder Co., the organization of which had been for some time desired.
Prominent among the improvements of the year was the building of a new dam by the Cohoes Co., which is one of the finest structures of the kind in the country. Work was commenced in June and the dam was completed in about four months. It is of solid stone masonry, 1,443 feet in length, and is built directly below and in connection with, the old dam of 1840, thus acquiring additional strength. The gate house, built of brick, and containing the head gates, was not completed until some time later. It is 218 feet long ; the front tower is 31, and the main towers are 43 feet in height. The cost of the dam and appurtenances was $180,000. The engineer of the work was Wm. E. Worthen, of New York, who was assisted by D. H. Van Auken, the present engineer of the Co., and T. G. Young- love, its agent. The contractor was John Bridgeford, of Albany.
Business at this time was prosperous, and several addi- tions to manufacturing interests were made. The Erie Mill on Erie street was erected by Wm. Burton, for Messrs. Wm. Moore and Jonathan Hiller, who commenced putting in their machinery in the fall. This firm had during the year been conducting the factory in the Empire Mill, which had been established by L. W. Mansfield. The foun- dation for the Riverside Mill, on the site of one of the build- ings of Miles White's axe factory, was laid in October by Messrs. Bogue & Wager. The Harmony Co. added largely to their facilities by the purchase of the Strong Mill, which
183
HISTORY OF COHOES.
1865.
they enlarged and remodelled at an expense of $100,000, extending the building 30 feet at the north end, and putting on a French roof which added a story to its height. Be- sides a number of other improvements in their property an addition to No. 2 mill was commenced, which was com- pleted in the following year and increased the capacity of the mill to 48,000 spindles. The Cataract of Oct. 21, speaking of these improvements, said :
" What is true of the manufacturing interests of the place is also applicable to our local mercantile trade and other business. In the fifteen years of our residence in Cohoes we do not remember a time when so much activity and evi- dent thrift was manifested. We have twice as many dry- goods stores as we had a year ago, and all appear to be doing a healthy and profitable trade. The same is also true of the clothing, boot and shoe and grocery establishments of the place."
The census taken this year showed a population of 8,795, a decrease of 5 since 1860. The falling off was accounted for by the census enumerators by the fact that among the ignorant classes a great fear of the draft existed, and many persons, supposing the census to be a new enrollment, refused to give any information concerning their families. The same trouble was found in other places, the population in Albany being reported as 2000 less than it was in 1860. The Albanians did not wish their city to show a retrograde movement, and took measures for procuring another census. Their example was followed in Cohoes ; a subscription paper was circulated to procure the necessary funds and a second enumeration was made by Sheffield Hayward, who reported the population as 9,765, the number of families being 1,826. In the government census the capital employed in manufacturing operations in the place was stated to be 82,840,900, and the number of operatives employed, 2,729.
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1866.
X.
1866 TO 1869.
THE prosperous condition of business of every kind, described in the Cataract in the latter part of 1865, con- tinued with but slight interruption for the next few years. There were many important additions to the manufacturing establishments of the place, bringing new inhabitants and stimulating every branch of trade. Building was extended in all directions, and blocks of stores and handsome resi- dences appeared in localities which had formerly been con- sidered almost outside of the village.
The early part of 1866 was marked by few local events of importance. On the night of Jan. 10th, the stables of the Troy & Cohoes Horse Rail Road Co., near the junction, were burned at a loss of $18,000. The fire originated in the office, and spread throughout the building in a very few minutes, so that before any aid could be received from the fire department, it was completely destroyed, together with all of its contents. Thirty-one horses, seven cars, and a large quantity of hay and feed were burned:
A suit brought by the village against the company to compel them to conform their track to the grade of Mohawk street, and to pave the same, which had been some time pending, was decided this month in favor of the plaintiffs. The following comment was made by the Cataract :
" This is an important decision not only because it vindi- cates the action of the trustees, but it reestablishes the grades at the points of variation, greatly improves Howard street, compels the company to pave their road from White street to the old junction, reimburses the village for the expenses to which it has been subjected in sinking the gas and water pipes, and cutting down Howard street, and in- sures it against action on the part of adjacent land owners."
The second newspaper established in Cohoes - the Co-
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1866.
hoes Democrat - made its first appearance Jan. 27th. It was a weekly sheet, about the size of the Cataract, and was owned and conducted by Michael Monahon, who had for twelve years been foreman in that office. It was evident that Cohoes was not yet ready to support two newspapers, for after a brief and troubled existence of four months the publication of the Democrat was discontinued.
In the latter part of May, ground was broken by the Harmony Co. for the erection of a new cotton factory, Mill No. 3, on the east side of Mohawk street, opposite their first building. While excavations for the foundation were being made, a few months later, the skeleton of a mastodon was discovered, an event which awakened great interest here, and caused Cohoes to be for some time quite prominently before the public. The foundation of the mill for nearly its entire length is laid upon a bed of slate rock. At the north end of the building it was found that the layer of rock was thin and rested upon a large bed of peat ; with a view to the removal of this, a small section was excavated to a depth of about sixty feet, and in so doing numerous relics of earlier ages were exhumed.
The first discoveries, made in the middle of September, were decayed stumps and limbs of trees which lay imbedded in the rich loam ; a week later, near the bottom of the bed, the jaw-bone of the mastodon was unearthed. The event was described as follows in the Cataract, Sept. 29 :
" Assuredly there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy ! Those who, during the present generation, have trod the earth of Cohoes have never taken into their wildest imaginings the strange things that were concealed beneath the surface. But the late excava- tions made by the Harmony Co., have brought to light the fact that a huge mastodon once dwelt where our village now stands, in an age that has been followed by the mightiest convulsions and upheavals. Fifty feet below the surface the jaw of this monster has been found, and has created in our village such a sensation as few events ever excited .. .. The jaw is somewhat decayed and flaky but the
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1866.
teeth are in excellent preservation ; the length of each jaw bone is thirty-two inches ; the breadth across the jaw at the broadest point twenty inches and the extreme depth about twelve inches. On one side is a single tooth four inches in length and two and a half in width, and on the other two teeth one of which is six and a half inches long, the other four, and each uniform in width and shape with its neighbor opposite. The holes or cavities for the dental nerves are from an inch to an inch and a half in diameter. . . . The excavation has revealed other wonders, little less re- markable. Vast volumes of oak wood, so tender that it can be cut and removed with a shovel, are intermingled with the peat. This wood when exposed to the sun or fire until thoroughly dried, becomes as hard as if it had never de- cayed. On each side of the peat bed so far as traced, are perpendicular rocks into which huge semi-circular cavities, deep and smooth, have been worn by the action of water. There is but one solution of this mystery. The cavity of rock where the deposit of peat now rests, was once the bed of a stream running diagonally across the line of the street and towards the Mohawk. As the peat was covered deeply with slate rock, it is evident that the stream had a sub- terranean channel and outlet at this place, though perhaps an open river above. In this wonderful revelation there is a vast field for speculation both for the geologist and the zoölogist."
Further discoveries were made from time to time within the next few weeks ; the skull, tusk, leg-bones, ribs and enough other bones of the animal to make the skeleton nearly complete were found, most of them in a pot-hole distant some sixty feet from the one in which the jaw bone was buried.1 The remains of numerous beaver dams were also brought to light, containing logs and pieces of wood, cut with great precision and neatness by the teeth of their builders. The bones were kept for some time at the office of the Harmony Mills, where they were visited by hundreds of persons, among whom were Profs. Marsh of Yale college, Hall of Albany and a number of other scien-
1 In the following March, while making excavations on the outside of the mill several tones of the fore-leg were found in a pot hole fifty feet south of that point.
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1866.
HISTORY OF COHOES.
tific men. They were also placed on exhibition in Troy, at the county fair and in Harmony Hall.
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