USA > New York > Albany County > Cohoes > The history of Cohoes, New York, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 6
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Other buildings erected during this year were Mr. Wil- kinson's house on the northwest corner of Oneida and Mohawk streets, the most imposing residence the village had yet seen, and the brick building west of the church,
it for granted that the race would soon become extinct, and that it would be use- less to make any business arrangements.
The building was in later years used for the manufacture of white lead by Mr. Underwood, who had commenced that business in part of the Wilkinson machine shop.
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1832.
which was owned by Hugh White. The bricks used in the construction of the latter were made by a man named Welch and are said to have been the first made in the place, aside from those found in the old farm houses.'
The event which marks this year as one of particular im- portance in the history of the place was the establishment by Egberts and Bailey of the first factory in which knitting machinery was successfully run by power .? Mr. Egberts, who had been keeping a store with his brother in Albany, became interested in 1831 in the process of making knit goods, and gave the subject considerable attention. After inspecting the clumsy hand machines then in use, the idea was suggested that improvements might be made by which a knitting frame could be made to run by power. Mr. Eg- berts himself was not a practical mechanic, and could do nothing towards perfecting any such apparatus ; but while he was talking on the subject with Dr. Williams, his family physician, the latter suggested that Timothy Bailey, who was then in the employ of Alfred Cooke, a cabinet maker, was a young man of remarkable mechanical ability, who could accomplish almost anything he turned his hand to, and would doubtless be able to carry out the idea if it were possible. Mr. Bailey was accordingly consulted, and after a careful examination of the knitting frame then
1 Bricks were afterwards made in considerable quantity by Mason Sawyer. About 1842, Patrick Rogers, who has for some years had a monopoly of this branch of business here, commenced operations. His brick yard was located on the flats south of Columbia street, afterwards on Mohawk street near Columbia and another has been of late years established on Harmony Hill.
? "The art of knitting is said to have been invented in Scotland, but the first machine for making knitted fabrics was the invention of Wm. Lee of England abont two centuries ago. This machine remained in nearly the same condition in which Lee left it for almost two centuries and the first introduced into America was the old heavy hand frame, which required the strength of a pretty strong man to ope- rate it with advantage. Immense sums of money had been expended in England to adapt the knitting frame for operation by steam or water power, like the carpet loom, but this Achievement was left for the perseverance and skill of American in- ventors."- Alken's History of the Art of Knitting.
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1832.
used, concluded that he would undertake the task, on the understanding that Mr. Egberts was to provide the neces- sary funds. The first thing requisite was a knitting machine on which experiments could be commenced, and as this could not be obtained in Albany, Mr. Bailey went to Philadel- phia, arriving there April 1, 1831. After some search he succeeded in finding a disused machine, which he purchased for $55, and returned, prepared to commence operations at once. Within six days after its arrival in Albany he had the apparatus so arranged that it would knit by turning a crank at the side, and preparations were accordingly made for perfecting its operation. Mr. Egberts procured an upper story in a store near the foot of State street, to which Mr. Bailey moved his tools and machinery, and there continued his labors. In time he succeeded in making a machine which would make four shirt bodies, and knit thirty times back and across per minute, by the simple revolution of a crank, and steps were then taken to put the invention to practical use. In the meantime, Joshua Bailey, an elder brother of Timothy, had become interested in the machine, and selling out his farm, came to Albany to take part in the enterprise. In the fall of 1832, the partners came to Cohoes, and established themselves in the lower story of the cotton factory which was then being finished, the wheel having been just put in when they moved into the building. Their operations at first were of course on a very small scale, owing to their lack of facilities. Mr. Bailey's time was given almost altogether to making new machinery, in which he was at first assisted by Edward Gleason, who had been in his employ some time while engaged in the first frame in Albany: Eight machines were made in succession and after a time Mr. Bailey arranged machinery for carding and spinning, the first goods having been made from yarn bought of outside parties. Thus was laid the foundation of that branch of industry which has since become a distin-
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guishing feature of Cohoes, and to which it is largely in- debted for its present importance.'
Egberts and Bailey did not occupy all of the cotton factory until some years later, and in the meantime several other concerns were located in the building. One of the earliest was the machine shop of Russell Phelps, established soon after the factory was completed. S. D. Fairbank, afterwards a prominent citizen, came to Cohoes with Mr. Phelps, and engaged in business with him.
Early in 1833 John Tillinghast commenced the manufac- ture of satinet warps, but did not long continue ; the late Wm. Leckie of this city was in his employ. In the fall of the year the first building of importance on Remsen street, the first one north of the present Music Hall, was erected by John Stevenson, who sold it soon afterward to Mr. Mudge. On Mohawk street below the site of Root's Mill the first office of the Cohoes Company, a small brick struc- ture, was built. During this year the company commenced the construction of the upper canal, one and three-quarter miles long, with a fall of eighteen feet, by which the water from the dam was brought directly into use in the lower levels. The work, done under direction of Chas. A. Olmsted, Geo. Strover of Schuylerville being contractor, was com- pleted in the following year. It ran on the east side of the Erie Canal and parallel with it, to a point a few hundred feet above the Two Locks, near School street, where it was taken under the canal by means of two wooden trunks about four or five feet in diameter, and then continued in its present course, terminating near the middle lock of the Three Locks, in the rear of the present Harmony Mill No. 2. The water was then let into the upper end of Basin A, being again taken under the Erie Canal by means of wooden
I The Bailey Brothers secured lodgings for a time in the village, and afterwards occupied different parts of the wooden block which was erected by the firm about 1455, on the corner of White and Remsen streets. Mr. Egberts was in the habit of driving up from Albany every day, and for some years boarded at the Cohoes Hotel.
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1834.
trunks. At this point, on the site of the Harmony Mills carpenter shop, was located the Cohoes Iron Foundry, con- ducted by John L. Wilkinson and Nathaniel Wheeler, which for many years did a large business. '
A factory for the manufacture of axes and edge tools, established during this and the following year by Daniel Simmons, was the foundation of a branch of business which has since become one of the most important in Cohoes. Mr. Simmons began life as a blacksmith and had a forge in the lower part of the city of Albany. Here he commenced making axes by hand for an occasional customer, using for the cutting edges German or blister steel, which was then supposed to be the only kind that could be successfully welded to iron. About 1825 it was found that by the use of refined borax as a flux, cast steel could be made to an- swer the purpose, and Mr. Simmons promptly took advan- tage of the discovery, being one of the first to put it to practical use. His axes soon became favorably known, and the demand for them was so increased that greater facilities for production became necessary. Accordingly in 1826, he removed to Berne, Albany County, where he secured a small water power, erected rude buildings, and put up trip hammers and other machinery. In time these accommoda- tions proved insufficient, and Mr. Simmons came to Cohoes, where he founded the establishment, one of the earliest in the country, which, under years of successful management, has made the Simmons Are familiar in all parts of the globe. His partner for two years was Levi Silliman .? The
1Though Mr. David Wilkinson was interested in the establishment of this foundery and of the machine shop, the business of both was conducted by his son. Mr. Wheeler's connection with the foundery ceased in 1844. Its subsequent proprietors were Chas. A. Olinsted, the Cohoes Company and Fuller & Safely (1858), by whom it was destroyed in 1867.
2 In 1848, Mr. Simmons associated with him, under the firm name of D. Simmons & Co., Messrs. Wm. II. Weed of New York and Storm A. Becker of Cohoes. Hiram St. John, of New York, was subsequently admitted, to the partnership. After Mr. Simmons's death in Dec. 1860, the firm of Weed, Becker & Co., was formed, which gave place to the present company in Feb. 1874.
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1836.
first building (destroyed by fire in 1875), and the office of the present company which was built a few years later, were erected on the foundations of the establishments of the Cohoes Manufacturing Company.
Another business enterprise was the establishment of the veneering and sawing mill of Hawes and Baker which was built near the junction of Remsen and Mohawk streets on the site at present occupied by the Star Knitting Company. The concern had been started in the preceding year, in an upper story of Mr. Wilkinson's machine shop, by Hawes and Goodwin, the latter of whom was one of the pioneers in the business of sawing veneers. His interest was bought by John Baker.
Among the private residences erected during the year was that of Joshua R. Clarke, on the corner of Mohawk street and Cataract alley, now occupied by H. S. Bogue.
During the next few years but little progress seems to have been made. The increase of population was slight, and there were but few additions to the business of the place, as appears from the following account of the village and its manufactures published in 1836 :
"The property of the Cohoes Company, of which the vil- lage is part, at the mouths of the Mohawk, includes the Falls and the banks on both sides of the river, and extends within a few rods of the junction of the Erie and Champlain Canals. The property around the Falls has, from the first settlement of the country, been in the Van Rensselaer family who, with a just regard to its future value, had refused to part with it. The great hydraulic power here was first de- veloped by Mr. Canvass White, during the progress of the Erie Canal ; at whose instance it was arranged with Peter Remsen & Co., of New York, and Mr. Van Rensselaer to commence its improvement on a large scale ; a liberal charter was obtained from the state in 1826, authorizing the investment of $250,000 and subsequently of half a mil- lion. By an independent canal, nearly two miles long, sup- plied with water by a dam in the river, half a mile above the Falls where the stream is three hundred yards wide, un-
9
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1836.
connected with the state works, the company are enabled to avail themselves of the whole water of the river, yielding power for mills as durable and constant as the rocks and the stream. The entire head and fall thus gained is one hundred and twenty feet, permitting the use of the water under six successive falls of from eighteen to twenty-three feet above the level of the state dam, below which it may be used under a head of eleven feet, and may be carried on these levels to almost any point on the company's estate. The minimum supply of water is one thousand cubic feet, the second, competent to drive from three to four millions of cotton spindles. The upper canal, excavated for a great part of its course in the slate rock, passes from the dam on the east side of the Erie Canal and thence by a tunnel under that canal to the west side. The advantages of this position for manufactures are unquestionably the greatest in the state. By the Erie Canal and the North River it communi- cates directly with the great marts on the Hudson and with the ocean, by that canal with the interior of the state and the lakes and the Great West ; and by the Champlain Canal with the northern portion of the state and the basin of the St. Lawrence ; obtaining readily from the south all that may be required from abroad, and from the west and north a never-failing supply of provisions, lumber and iron, upon the cheapest terms. . The village now con- tains one factory for cotton and woolen machinery, one for edge tools, one for cotton, linen and woolen hosiery made on newly invented looms, a mill driving turning lathes, an iron foundry, a carpet factory, an Episcopal church, two hotels, three stores, many shops of various kinds on the canals, and sixty dwellings, whose number is rapidly in- creasing." --- Gordon's Gazetteer of New York.
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1837.
V.
1837 TO 1847.
AFTER two comparatively uneventful years, an impor- tant addition which was made to its business interests gave an impetus to the activity of the place. In 1837, the Har- mony Manufacturing Company, composed of New York capitalists, commenced the erection of a large cotton factory on Harmony Hill, the germ of the immense establishment which is now foremost among the manufacturing concerns of Cohoes. The company had been incorporated under the general act, in the previous year, by the following stockholders : Peter Harmony, Henry Punnett, Peter Rem- sen, Francis Olmsted, II. J. Wyckoff, P. H. Schenck & Co., James Stevenson, Joseph D. Constant, William Sin- clair, Van Wyck. Wickes, Eliphalet Wickes, LeBron & Ives, Teunis Van Vechten, Joab Houghton, Charles O. Handy, Francis Griffin, Jacob II. Ten Eyck, Illis Winne, Jr., Hugh White, Henry Dudley, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Jr., and Benjamin Knower. The capital was $100,000 which was increased in 1839, to $150,000. The building (which is now standing immediately south of No. 1 mill, of which it forms a part according to the present arrangement of the company), was erected by Joshua R. Clarke and was com- pleted in the following year. A report made in August of that year by Peter Schenck and Hugh White, the building committee, described it as follows :
" It appears by accurate accounts kept of expenditures that the cotton mill which is of very stout brick walls and slated roofs, four stories in height, one hundred and sixty- five feet long and fifty feet wide, with wheel houses at each end of the building of two stories, about thirty-nine and twenty-five feet each, with the flumes, water wheels, driving pullies, etc., etc., has cost the sum of about $60,000 Aug. 1,
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
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1838. That the sum of $12,000 or thereabouts, will be re- quired to finish the Cotton House, put up steam boiler and pipes for heating, two foreing pumps, hose, etc., and com. plete the tail race, with other small items that appertain to factory (not machinery)."
At the same time the company erected beyond the canal three brick tenements for the use of their operatives, con- taining each two stories and a basement, at the average cost of $3,000, and arranged for completing another in the following year.
In the same report it was stated that the saw mill, which had cost $6,000, had been kept in constant employ and at a profit on the investment though it would require $4,000 to purchase timber to make it a profitable concern. The man- agers had at this time three thousand spindles in the mill and were on the point of commencing operations. They had contracted with the Matteawan Company for the pur- chase of six thousand spindles, but the cost of the building was so much more than had been anticipated, that the com- pany were prevailed upon to alter the contract, and furnished only five thousand, all of which were in operation in the following spring.
In this year were made the first preparations for the en- largement of the Erie Canal, and the changing of its course through the village.
It was the intention of the Cohoes Company to continue their first canal, running it further west, around the base of Prospect Hill in about the direction now taken by the Erie Canal, but the appropriation by the state of this land as the site for its improvements, made this impossible. The company of course sought compensation at once, and an arrangement for exchange was made, as set forth in the following act of the legislature, passed May 16, 1837.
" The canal board are authorized in this discretion to grant and convey to the Cohoes Company so much of the present Erie Canal ( except the stone of which the locks and bridge abutments are constructed) as may be abandoned
-
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1838.
after the completion of the enlarged Erie Canal in satisfac- tion of the damages sustained by the said company by reason of the enlargement and alteration of the line of the present Erie Canal. Such grant shall be made upon such conditions and under such restrictions and reservations as the said board may deem proper."
The establishment of a large factory, and the commence- ment of work on the canal improvement brought here a number of new inhabitants, adding largely of course, to the business activity of the place, and making necessary a number of local improvements.
A change in the proprietorship of the Cohoes Hotel, during 1838, established, on a sound basis, an institution which for many years after played a prominent part in the history of the village. The first proprietor had been succeeded in a short time by Willard Jenks (known by the nick-name of Quid), who was followed by Messrs. Alby and Lyons. This firm had no better success than its predecessors, and was sold out by the sheriff. Up to this time, it is said, no rent had been paid for the building, the owners of which were so well satisfied in having it occupied as a hotel, that they asked no further remuneration - an instance of remarkable public spirit. After the failure of Alby and Lyons the property came into possession of Henry D. Fuller, who moved here from Waterford, and was afterwards joined by his brother, Edward W. Fuller.' Under the new manage- ment the hotel was greatly improved, and became one of the most important local institutions. For a number of years all the public entertainments and exhibitions were held in its dining room ; the elections took place there at various times, and it was the scene of all the public meet- ings for different purposes which were held until some time after the incorporation of the village. If an improvement
1 The subsequent proprietors have been Jacob Anthony. 1843 15-, Robert Williams. INIS. A. C. Bentley, 1848-50, Wm. Schont. n, 1550-51. J. K. Wilkins, 1:51-31, A. Van Der Mark, 1556-60, Oscar O. Finney, 1-60-65, Hnlet Lake, 1865-70, City Hotel, Geo. Z. Dockstader, 1871-76, M. L. Crocker.
1
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1838.
was to be suggested, or a remonstrance to be made, or money to be raised, or any matter of importance to the public in general to be considered, "A meeting of our citizens, to be held at the Cohoes Hotel," was invariably called, as the first proceeding.'
Among the improvements of the proprietors was the establishment of a regular mail stage, running between Waterford and Albany and making one round trip daily. The first public conveyance had been started about three years before by John Brown (a brother of Thos. V. Brown, now residing in this city) ; it was a vehicle of the simplest kind, and far from comfortable, being merely an ordinary box wagon, with an oil cloth top. Mr. Brown sold out to the Messrs. Fuller, who put on the road a new coach, of the kind we now call old-fashioned stage coach, but then re- garded as a model of elegance and comfort.
There were few changes of importance during this year in the business interests of the place. Messrs. Hawes & Baker sold out their veneering and sawing mill to Levi Silliman, the former partner of Daniel Simmons, and com- menced the manufacture of stoves, which they continued for some years, the only Cohoes firm, it is said, ever engaged in that business. Their castings were at first made in the Cohoes foundery, and afterwards in West Troy and Green Island.
Among the private residences built were those of Heze- kiah Howe and Wm. J. McAlpine, both under direction of
" For many years the only places in town at which liqnor was sold (except the canal groceries) were the hotel and Van Der Werken's grocery on the corner of Oneida and Mohawk streets. The latter establishment was a well known resort in the earlier days of Cohoes. It was originally kept by Jacob Van Der Werken, and afterward by his son, John B., known to the citizens respectively as Yaupy. and John Yaupy, both of whom were prominent in local affairs. The property on this corner came into the possession of Jacob Van Der Werken about sixty years ago and remained in possession of his family until quite recently, part having been bought by John Larkins in 1864, and a lot in the rear of the old grocery by Wm. Triebel, in 1865.
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1839.
Joshua R. Clarke. The former, on the south-west corner of Seneca and Mohawk streets, now occupied by Dr. Moore, has since been considerably altered ; the house of Mr. McAlpine (who was engineer of this division of the canal), on the opposite side of the street, is now occupied by W. N. Chadwick, and is one of the best preserved of the older residences of Cohoes. The valuation of land in the village, at this time, as appears from a memorandum in the patroon's office, was $1,000 per acre.
An important evidence of the growth of the village was the establishment of new churches. The Reformed Dutch church had been organized in November of the previous year, with the following members, of whom only the last two are now living : Nicolas Lighthall, Rosetta Lighthall, James Safely, Janet Safely, John Schoonmaker, Gitty Schoonmaker, Abram Weidman, Elizabeth Weidman, John Van Der Werken, Daniel Simmons, William Renwick, Isabella Renwick.
The corner stone of the first church, which stood on the same site as the one now in use, was laid on Sept. 4, 1838, by Hon. Tunis Van Vechten, mayor of Albany. A hymn was sung, composed for the occasion by Rev. Wm. Lock- head, first pastor of the church, and prayers were offered by Rev. Drs. Yates of Schenectady and Vermilyea, then of the North Dutch church, Albany.
In 1839 the Methodist church was organized by Rev. E. Crawford, under direction of Rev. Chas. Sherman. The original members were twenty in number, among them being Jas. Hemstreet and wife, Joseph Mudge and wife, Mrs. Timothy Bailey, James Shannon, Jonas Simmons, Sr., and wife, Baltheus Simmons, Mrs. Fuller, Joseph Gould, Sr., and wife, Wm. Dodge and wife, Silas Owen, Sr., Gideon Longley and Mr. Rhodes. The first services were held in the school house on Oneida street, in which the Episcopal church had been organized.
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HISTORY OF COHOES.
1839.
In May of the same year, the first Baptist church was organized, and the Rev. John Duncan ordained as pastor, the sermon of ordination being preached by Rev. I. West- cott, of Stillwater. These services were held in Harmony Mill, No. 1, and the church as then constituted consisted of twenty-four members, of whom Thomas Lansing is the sole survivor. Among them were Josiah H. Beach and wife, Alanson Cook and wife, Ebenezer Bartlett, wife and four children, Mr. and Mrs. Castleton, Peter Link, Rebecca Steenberg and Mrs. Duncan. The first deacons were Ebenezer Bartlett and Alanson Cook. For nearly a year the meetings were held in a boarding house, on the West Harmony, and afterwards in a building on Mohawk street, below Oneida, recently occupied by Peter Smith.
On the 10th of August the Presbyterian church was established under direction of Rev. Mr. Chamberlin, with the following members : Levi Silliman, Mrs. Clarissa Silli- man, Timothy Bailey, Joshua Bailey, Joshua Bailey, Jr., Mrs. Almira Bailey, Augustus J. Goff, Asahel Goff, Mrs. Lucy Goff, Mrs. Melinda Goodsell, Maltby Howell, Mrs. Mary Howell, Mrs. Eliza Ann Tremain and Miss Fanny A. Hamilton. Of these, only one, Mrs. Clarissa Silliman, is now living in Cohoes, and only three are living elsewhere. Levi Silliman and Timothy Bailey were chosen to be the first elders of the church, and Maltby Howell was chosen as deacon. The church was organized in the house of Levi Silliman, in the northern half of the house now occupied by II. B. Silliman, on Saratoga street. That part of the house was not then finished as a dwelling, and could easily ac- commodate the infant church. The society then worshiped for a time in the building erected for a carpet factory which stood on the site of Gregory & Hiller's mill. The first church, a small wooden structure, was erected in the fol- lowing year, on the northeast corner of Remsen and Factory streets. The building, which has since been used
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