1/3/2014
Troy, New York
Burden Iron Works Museum, Troy, New York
Troy played a key role in the industrial development of the United States. The towns of Troy, Cohoes, Green Island and Watervliet cluster around the Eastern terminus of the Erie Canal. Referred to as the Hudson Mohawk Gateway this area thrived in the mid to late 1800s becoming a center for a wide variety of manufacturing. The area is now home to a few interesting industrial history preservation projects, including The Hudson Mohawk Gateway project which is working on the Burden Iron Works Museum, Riverspark, an umbrella organization and New York State efforts via Peebles Island State Park. I passed through South Troy very briefly in summer 2013. The Burden Iron Works Museum is in the former iron works office building which is all that's left of the the plant. Key technology was developed at Burden and other iron and steel plants in Southern Troy, which helped the industry expand in the US in the late 1800s. There is very little left of those plants at this point. The industry largely left Troy for Western Pennsylvania, Buffalo and the Midwest in the late 1800s. Unfortunately the Burden museum was closed when I was in town. It does not apparently have regular hours.
Fortress of Shoddy, Troy, New York
The Northern and Central parts of Troy seemed to have more surviving industrial buildings than the Southern section. Those buildings like the fortress pictured above were textile related or used in the production of machinery and or a wide variety of other goods. The central and northern sections of Troy also have an incredible collection of 19th century commercial and residential buildings. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of those parts of town.
Troy, New York
Troy, New York
Troy, New York
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