Towns and Nature: Schenectady, NY: Erie Canal

Saturday, January 20, 2024

Schenectady, NY: Erie Canal

(Satellite, it is now Erie Blvd. through town, Old River Rd through GE and a treeline west of town.)

Matt Korona posted
A flooded Erie Canal and Dock Street in Schenectady Ny

Daniel Cole: That [1914] flood damaged the Rexford Aqueduct and erased the Toll Bridge, and destroyed the almost brand new bridge at Crescent a few miles down river, and that bridge was never rebuilt

Tim Miller commented on Matt's post
There's a good article about the 1914 flood on the Grems-Doolittle page with loads of photos and details about the flood. This is the view facing the other direction showing a crowd of onlookers on the State St bridge and on the ramp down to Dock St on the right.

Tim Miller commented on Matt's post
Bruce Kawk Dock St ceased to exist when the canal was filled in, it ran alongside the canal from State St to Edison Ave. It's more or less under the sidewalk on Erie Blvd on the side where the Wendy's is.

Schenectady County Historical Society posted
Schenectady's section of the Erie Canal closed in 1917. Over the next 8 years, the canal was filled and Erie Boulevard was constructed. The first section of the new road opened to traffic in spring of 1924, but the final section wasn't opened until 1926. This photo from the Larry Hart Collection shows the dry canal bed, described in the papers as "a wilderness of weeds containing garbage, dead animals, and black stagnant water." Check out more before and after photos of the transition from Erie Canal to Erie Boulevard on the Grems-Doolittle Library blog:
https://gremsdoolittlelibrary.blogspot.com/.../from-erie...
Schenectady County Historical Society: For those of you wondering about the smell of the canal, we have a blog post about that too!
https://gremsdoolittlelibrary.blogspot.com/.../odors-of...
Adam Brooks: And to think that exact same train bridge is still there today 106 years later (from this photo). Also many don’t/ didn’t know that Erie Blvd was actually part of the Erie Canal before it was turned into a road. Take a gander at Ge power systems over the years, pretty awesome photos from the early 1900s to today.

DailyGazette (paycount 3) via Dennis DeBruler
General Electric commuters walk along the Erie Canal in downtown Schenectady in the early 1900s in this photo from the collection of the Efner History Center.
"General Electric’s history in Schenectady dates back to 1886 when inventor Thomas Edison set up the Edison Machine Works here."

Cori Willson posted

Erie Canal in Schenectady 1894

This is a pretty amazing photograph, the view is looking west down the towpath on the Erie Canal, from the Liberty Street bridge towards the State Street bridge in Schenectady. What really makes the photo so special though is that it was captured by the eye of a genius.

*Photograph by GE engineer Charles Steinmetz!

Matt Korona posted two photos with the comment: "Schenectady Erie Canal early 1900s."

Donald Maclutsky: Early start to G.E. sprawling campus in schenectady.

DailyGazette (paycount 3)
General Electric commuters walk along the Erie Canal in downtown Schenectady in the early 1900s in this photo from the collection of the Efner History Center.
"General Electric’s history in Schenectady dates back to 1886 when inventor Thomas Edison set up the Edison Machine Works here."

Matt Korona posted
Schenectady Ny Erie Canal 1887

Sarah Magistro Rosemyer: Sad to think they JUST tore down the right side of the picture for condos 🤮

Dennis DeBruler: Sarah Magistro Rosemyer What is the street and which way are we looking?

1898 Schenectady Quad @ 62,500

1930 Schenectady Quad @ 62,500

1954 Schenectady Quad @ 62,500

blog_erie_canal, 1 of many photos on this webpage
"In this photo, you can see the drained canal -- from State Street to the Liberty Street bridge -- partially filled in in preparation for the construction of Erie Boulevard. Image from Grems-Doolittle Library Photograph Collection."
[This one caught my eye because they not only had to fill in the canal, they had to lower Liberty Street after they removed the bridge to its height before the canal was built. Later photos on that page showed that State Street also had to be lowered.]

And this is when the canal had a lot more water. We are looking east from about a block west of State Street.