Cohoes, NY: Harmony (Cotton) Mills and 1915 42mw School Street Hydroelectric Plant

Mills: (Satellite and Satellite)

Powerplant: (Satellite)

Adam Dubec posted via Dennis DeBruler

Lock no. 17 Birds Eye View of Cohoes NY in 1859 showing Cohoes Falls Erie Canal & Harmony Mills

This postcard view of the Harmony Mills in 1859 shows the enlarged Erie Canal, with several canal boats traveling along it, in the foreground. Lock No. 15 of the canal is near the center of the image, and Lock No. 16 is on the left. Harmony Mill No. 1 is on the far left, directly behind Lock No. 16, with Mill No. 2 to the right. The bridge crossing the canal between Mills Nos. 1 and 2 is where Vliet Street is today. 

This image also shows one of the power canals for the mills, located between the Erie Canal and the Mohawk River. Note that Harmony Mill No. 3 had not yet been constructed at this time. The Cohoes Falls are in the upper left of the image. The bridge between Cohoes and Waterford can be seen downriver from the falls. The span at that time was a covered toll bridge.

TimesUnion, Cindy Schultz / Times Union
Because the millrace taps the river upstream and it discharges below the falls, the head is 92' (28m).

The first unit went online in 1915, and the plant reached its designed capacity of 42mw in 1925. The 16' (5m) high, 1,280' (390m) long diversion dam is 4000' (1.2km) upstream. The dam was built in 1831 because the "power canal" was originally used for hydropower by mills along the river. [hydroreform]

The waterfall itself has a 75' (23m) drop. [ErieCanalway]

TimesUnion, Cindy Schultz / Times Union
The fifth unit is out-of-frame towards the right foreground.

The mill building is now lofts.

GN B, Oct 2024

"Harmony Mill No. 3 was designed by D.H. Van Auken, the Cohoes architect and engineer who was also the engineer for the Cohoes Company, which supplied waterpower to various Cohoes mills including the Harmony Mill. The mill became popularly known as the "Mastodon Mill" after the skeleton of a mastodon mammoth was discovered during the excavation for the foundations of the north section of the building." [albany]

brownstoner

PhinneyDesign

lots of floorplans

Now I understand why the town has the nickname of "Spindle City." It was because of the cotton mill.

passageport, p1

passageport, p2

As the postcard at the top of these notes shows, before the powerhouse was built, the mill race used to go a lot further downstream to provide hydro power to the mills built along the river.

1893/93 Cohoes Quad @ 62,500 via Dennis DeBruler

hydro
Cohoe Falls is the second highest waterfall in the northeast. Second only to Niagara Falls.

EdisonTechCenter
"Water falls 60-90 feet depending on the season and width of water coverage as it is squeezed between two cliffs....The 1831 dam also powered Harmony Mills which became the largest cotton mill in the US at the time."