Welcome Guest!

Local HistoriesHolland Land Office Museum

Located near the intersection of Ellicott and Main Streets in Batavia, this building was the headquarters for the management of Western New York State when it was still a wilderness frontier. Today the building houses a museum open to the public.
Tags: holland land ellicott batavia
Added: 28th August 2007
Views: 132
Rating:

Posted By: Lowbridge

Historical MarkersOld Fort Johnson - Historic Marker

Old Fort Johnson is located on Route 5 in the Village of Fort Johnson in the south part of the Town of Amsterdam, just west of the City of Amsterdam, NY. The Fort was build by Sir William Johnson in 1749. As the largest single landowner and most influential individual in the settlement of the Mohawk Valley, Johnson had prestige and leadership which extended beyond the region. His genius in dealing and trading with the Indians had a lasting impact on their relationship with the English, and influenced England's victory in the struggle for control of North America. Today the Fort is a museum and more. While the fortifications no longer exist, the house remains and is owned and operated as a museum by the Montgomery County Historical Society. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1972.
Tags: Fort Johnson Sir William Johnson
Added: 8th September 2007
Views: 242
Rating:

Posted By: Ohlhous

Historical MarkersStillwater Blockhouse - Historic Marker

Stillwater Blockhouse: A history

Located in the Center of the Village of Stillwater, NY the Stillwater Blockhouse is historically unique. It was built in part with timbers from Revolutionary era structures once standing within what is now Saratoga National Historical Park, in Stillwater. It replicates the early 18th century blockhouses of the region, but was actually built in 1927 as New York State turned the site of the American Revolution’s 1777 “Turning Point Battles” into an historical park.

The “battlefield Blockhouse” as it was first known, was a popular attraction used primarily as a visitor center-museum. Later, a new and larger visitor center-museum was erected and park officials eventually decided in 1975 to donate the Blockhouse to the Town of Stillwater.

Today, the Stillwater Blockhouse, and the Historic Marker, stand in a small riverfront park (approx. 2 acres) on a notably scenic section of the Hudson River. The riverfront park rests at the heart of the Village of Stillwater, east of U.S. Route 4 & N.Y. Route 32.

Stillwater Blockhouse Website

Stillwater Historic Marker Video
The 57 second long video shows 13 Historic Markers in Stillwater, NY.

Tags: Stillwater Blockhouse Saratoga
Added: 18th October 2007
Views: 138
Rating:

Posted By: Ohlhous

Historical MarkersErie Canal - West Troy Weighlock

West Troy Weigh Lock

Thumbnail Image Courtesy Canal Society of New York State, www.canalsnys.org

The West Troy Weighlock Building, 1850-1915, a Greek-revival structure, was one of several weigh stations along the Erie Canal used to levy tolls for barges carrying merchandise and farm goods.

Until 1850 most freight cargoes were measured by the displacement theory, but the West Troy hydraulic type worked with scales rather than displacement. After a boat entered the lock the lock doors were closed, and then the water was drained out allowing the boat to come to rest on a wooden cradle. Certain rods transferred the boat's weight along a series of levers to the beam of the scales inside the Weighlock building. The Weight Master moved a center balancing weight along the beam which determined the weight of the loaded boat. The weighlock became obsolete after in the late 1800's because the state abolished tolls in order to compete with the railroads.

The first West Troy Weighlock of the Clinton's Ditch era was one of the first three weighlocks built, being erected in 1824. In 1834 this lock was completely rebuilt and overhead a "frame building was erected, with proper offices for the collector, weight-master, and inspector: The old scales, however, were reused. Designed for vessels weight only thirty to forty tons, they were clearly soon inadequate. Amazingly, they continued in use until the Weighlock was once again rebuilt, this time on a site further to the north and away from the crowded Upper Watervliet Sidecut. The new Enlarged Erie West Troy Weighlock with its new Fairbanks scale was in operation by 1851. While improvements were made to the scales in the years ahead, most of the official mentions of the Weighlock refer to the Weighlock house. It was fitted with gas lights in 1854. A "suite of rooms has been fitted up in connection with the Weighmaster's office" in 1868. By the late 1870s settling of the foundation was causing sever structural stress. Walls cracked and crumbled. In 1881 the north and south ends were rebuilt. The Weighlock itself was reported in 1908 to be out of commission for a number of years. Since tolls had been abolished several decades earlier, in 1883, this report should have come as no surprise. In 1919 the Great Eastern Storage, Transfer and Wrecking Company purchased the building and probably removed it soon thereafter. Of the seven weighlocks that once operated on the Erie Canal, the Syracuse Weighlock is the only one remaining, now home of the Erie Canal Museam.

The remains of the West Troy Weigh lock are in the Maplewood Historic Park beside Route 32 in the Town of Colonie, New York.
Tags: West Troy Weighlock Weigh Lock Watervliet Erie Canal Historic Marker Maplewood Colonie
Added: 8th November 2007
Views: 327
Rating:

Posted By: Ohlhous

	ManufacturingGlassblowing At The Corning Museum This sampler from the past of the art of glass blowing plays as an introduction to the live glass blowing show at the Corning Glass Museum at Corning, NY. Tags: glass blowing corning Added: 24th November 2007 Views: 130 Rating: Posted By: MarkHoward

Historical MarkersSchoharie Valley Railroads

Schoharie Junction, NY

Site of
SCHOHARIE JUNCTION
Schoharie Valley Railroad
Reg. Run 1-4-1867 - Last Run 9-17-19-1942
Length of Railroad - 4.2 Miles
Middleburgh & Schoharie Railroad
Firs Run 10-19-1868 - Last Run 9-24-1936
Length of Railroad - 5.7 Miles
Schoharie County Bicentennial 1995

Schoharie Junction was the point where the Schoharie Valley Railroad intersected with the main line railroad, Albany and Susquehanna (and later the Delaware & Hudson), near Central Bridge in Schoharie County, New York.

A little History of the

Schoharie Valley Railroad and Middleburgh & Schoharie Railroad

Schoharie is a Mohawk word meaning "Drift-wood." The settlement of Schoharie by white-Europeans began about 1712 by Palatine Germans. The farmlands of the Schoharie Valley were very rich and fertile. Valley agriculture prospered to the point where the Valley was known as "the Bread Basket of the American Revolution". In the fall of 1780 British forces with Tories (Johnson) and Indians (Brant) raided the Schoharie and Mohawk Valleys from Canada. The raiders fought skirmishes and battles, took hundreds of prisoners, burned forts, farms, and mills and destroyed one of the finest grain harvests in living memory.

After the Revolution farming continued, though transportation remained difficult. A farmer's 40 mile trip to Albany by horse and wagon was a three day affair at that time. The Erie Canal and its prosperity by-passed the Schoharie Valley by about 25 miles when it opened in 1825, and the Schoharie Creek did not lend itself to navigation. A number of early railroads were charted, including the Catskill & Canajoharie, the Schoharie & Otsego, the Unadilla & Schoharie; however they never came to fruition or reached the Schoharie Valley. Residents of the valley were probably a bit anxious by 1851 when the Albany & Susquehanna was chartered to build a line south from Albany to Binghamton. Towns of Schoharie County, including the Town of Schoharie, Bonded themselves to aid the Albany and Susquehanna with $225,000 by 1864. With the arrival of the A&S railroad in Central Bridge in 1863 the opportunity for a branch line from Schoharie to economic prosperity had presented itself.

In March of 1866 the Schoharie Valley Railroad received a charter to facilitate the construction of a 4.38 mile long railroad between the village of Schoharie and the Albany & Susquehanna railroad at Schoharie Junction. In May of 1867 the Middleburgh and Schoharie Railroad received a charter to build a 5.75 mile long rail line between the village of Middleburgh and the Schoharie Valley Railroad in the village of Schoharie. The two towns again bonded themselves and bought stock to support the two ventures. By early January of 1867 the SVRR was making scheduled trips, and by the end of October 1868 the first M&S RR timetable had been published. The early years of these railroads were a little rough, but once the wrinkles got ironed out there were prosperous years which lasted mainly between 1870 and 1909. Ticket sales show that in 1868 it cost $1.65 to go to Albany from Schoharie. Both railroads were very small branch lines, so for many years they shared the engine house at the end-of-the-line turntable in Middleburgh. For six months of the year the Schoharie Valley engine was used, and then the next six months the Middleburgh engine was used. One crew worked for both railroads. Both the SV and the M&S were originally built to a 6-foot gauge to interchange with the Albany & Susquehanna. This was converted to standard gauge, 4'- 8.5" (four feet, eight and one half inches), in May of 1874.

Spanning the SVRR, the "hump-back bridge" was a local landmark on NY Route 7 located one mile north of Central Bridge where the road passed over the railroad tracks of the SVRR. In 1867 when the contractor building the SVRR through that spot refused to lower the roadbed the state was forced to build the bridge high over the railroad. In subsequent years the bridge was built even higher to accommodate the height of taller railroad cars. The narrow wooden bridge was built with steep approaches on either side and a flat section on top above the railroad tracks. The bridge was not a problem for horses and wagons, but a scene of accidents and even fatalities for motorists. Due to growth of automobile traffic it was finally torn down because it was an increasing menace to public safety and replaced with a safer design of concrete in December of 1930.

The SVRR had to cross the Fox creek before coming to the Village of Schoharie. There was a wooden Howe Truss covered bridge built in 1866 which lasted until 1910 when it was washed out and destroyed. The new steel bridge not only served the railroad, but a whole generation of youth who used it as a diving platform at the old swimmin' hole in the creek below.

Railroad shipping records point out the following interesting information:

November 1878 - 1,600 barrels of apples shipped; average price paid, 75 cents a barrel,
August 1880 - 200 hop pickers arrive by train,
June 1882 - Shipped 1,318 bales of hops,
November - 1883 shipped 237 cases of honey.
September 1898 - 500 fruit baskets are being made daily at the Middleburgh Manufacturing Co. They have sold 31,000 baskets so far this season.
July 1903 - One train shipped seventy tubs of butter, each at 60 pounds, totaling 4,200 pounds.
June 1905 - Again several car loads of flagstone shipped from a new Schoharie Valley quarry in West Fulton.
March 1914 - 2 to 3 tons of casine shipped monthly from Borden Creamery. Casine used in piano keys, buttons, and toilet articles.

Prosperity started to diminish for both the railroads about the time of the First World War, especially when the federal government took over all the railroads in the country and forced them to operate under regulations and mismanagement from which they never seemed to recover. To make matters worst, about that same time the Middleburgh Plum was stricken by the Black Knot. New York had been the third largest grower of Hops to be used in brewing. After the hop plants were hit by the blue mold in the Schoharie valley that large industry began to fade away and dairy farming gradually took its place. Also at that time feed dealers and creameries began shipping by truck.

In 1906 the D&H bought all of the stock of the Schoharie Valley Rail road, but the Middleburgh and Schoharie remained in local hands. This probably contributed to the SVRR outlasting the M&SRR by a number of years.

By 1935 the Middleburgh & Schoharie had not been paying its taxes, and the absolute minimum maintenance had been performed on the roadbed and equipment. The tracks were in terrible shape and the Schoharie Valley Railroad wouldn't even risk running its engine on the M&S line. On September 24th, 1936 the Public Service Commission had ordered the M&SRR to stop operation until repairs were made. It had been estimated that it would cost $7,000 to $8,000 to return the track, crossings, and locomotive to good repair. The railroad would never be open again for business. In March of 1937 the railroad was auctioned off for $11,000 as scrap metal, with the 5.7 miles of rails bringing $18.65 a ton. A junk dealer, E.O. Friedman, of Albany outbid 13 others. The Right of Way of the M&SRR was purchased by the New York Power and Light Corp which had leased the right of way from the railroad to run its power lines 35 years earlier.

By 1942 the little Schoharie Valley Railroad no longer had enough traffic to justify continued operation. Application was filed with the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) to abandon the 76-year-old, 4.3 mile rural line and on September 16, 1942 its infrequent operation ceased.

Reference: J. Harra, Director, Schoharie Valley Railroads Museum
Reference: Pride of the Valley - Railroading in Schoharie County 1828 - 1942 , E.A.Hagan, 1973

Schoharie Junction in 2008
CPRail Engine 4651, an EMD model GP40-2, and CP7307 a GP38-2 (a former D&H Lighting Stripe Unit ) head train 515, a local freight between Binghamton, NY and Mohawk Yard in Glenville, NY through Schoharie Junction on June 12, 2008. The Schoharie Junction Historic Marker stands beside Junction Road in the foreground. CPRail currently has a MOW (Maintenance of Way) facility located here.

Schoharie Junction in Early 1930s
This is an early 1930's era valuation photo of the Schoharie Junction depot. The view is from across the main D&H tracks, with the Schoharie Valley tracks on the far side of the building. The sign on the station identifies the location as "Schoharie Junction Station". The small lettering on the left tells us the mileage to Albany, NY is 35.34 miles, and on the right, 107.25 miles to Binghamton, NY. On the building we can see a Western Union Telegraph and Cable Office sign and an oil lamp with a fanciful bracket on the corner of the building near the platform and canopy area. A photo similar to this one was published in the Delaware & Hudson Company Board of Managers Inspection of Lines :: June 7th to June 10th, 1928, however a note beside the photo stated that, 'The A.T.O. Committee on Roadway and Structures Report reads -- "Understand that this building is property of Schoharie Valley R.R." ' Photo courtesy of Bridge Line Historical Society

Schoharie Junction Station Plan-View Drawing
A 1931 plan-view drawing of the first floor of the Schoharie Junction Station shows that the station had an unusual shape with few right angles. This was due to its location on a triangular plot at the junction of two converging rail lines. One thing that makes this station unique is the placement of station agent's bay window on the second floor rather than the first floor. A later revision of this drawing dated 9-15-33 indicates that the single story addition on the left labeled "Office" and "Storage" in this drawing had been removed. Drawing courtesy of the Bridge Line Historical Society.

Schoharie Valley Station 2008
This is the Schoharie Valley Depot which is now part of the Schoharie Valley Railroads Museum. The two-story station was built in 1875 of brick to replace the original station that burned that year. A residence is maintained on the 2nd floor still. The light green object in the foreground is a cast iron "Man-Horse-Dog Fountain" which featured three drinking levels. Manufactured by the J. L. Mott Iron Works in an area called Motthaven in the Bronx, New York City, it once stood at the corner of Prospect and Main Street in the Village of Schoharie.

Schoharie Valley Station c. 1900
SV Railroad President Jacob Vrooman over-built this station after the previous station burned down along with the adjacent engine house in April of 1875. Here we see the station, and a SVRR Engine with a passenger car. A carriage is at the ready waiting to shuttle passengers to one of the nearby hotels, the Parrot House, whose name appears on the side of the carriage. This photo is on the wall inside the station house.

Schoharie Valley Depot in HO Scale
This is a view of a model railroad on display inside the boxcar at the Schoharie Valley Railroads Museum. These buildings were scratch-built by George Elston.

Schoharie Valley Engine House
This is D&H Caboose # 35842 which was restored and placed on display in the Schoharie Valley Railroads Museum's combination Engine House and Freight House. George Elston was instrumental in getting this project accomplished with the Bridge Line Historical Society. In the far end of the building beyond the caboose a cone-shaped sheet metal funnel still hangs from the ceiling. This was used to channel the smoke from the steam engine smokestack out of the building while parked in the engine stall. The caboose is open and used to display related memorabilia.

Middleburgh & Schoharie Yard
The Middleburgh & Schoharie Yard circa 1900-10; everything a small town needed: The Farmers Hotel and Cottage Hotel, a Flour and feed mill, a cement and salt business and coal business, lumber and ice, a wagon shop, and the Borst building for Hop Storage. The railroad had a hand-operated turntable, an engine house, a car shed, an old coach shed, and both a Passenger and a Freight house. This map is on display in the Old Stone Fort Museum.

The Middleburgh & Schoharie Yard in HO Scale
The Middleburgh & Schoharie Yard in HO Scale. We see the likeness of M&S #2 at the Middleburgh station. Engine #2 was built by the Schenectady Locomotive Works as #4281 in 1895 with 13" cylinders, and 56" drivers. This model railroad is on display in the Old Stone Fort Museum in Schoharie.

Middleburgh & Schoharie Station c. 1900
The Middleburgh & Schoharie Station in the Middleburgh yard. The first station was originally built circa 1868. A new station was built in 1880 but it did not have the larger canopy as shown here. The platform was improved and the canopy was extended and the ornamental wooden brackets were added through the private donations of a local Middleburgh resident in August of 1889. This postcard is from a private collection.

Middleburgh & Schoharie Station 2008
The Middleburgh & Schoharie Station was moved a short distance from where it was built to the corner of Wells St. and Maple Ave., and has been used as a private residence for many years. In 2003, the Village of Middleburgh was awarded a grant for $370,438 to restore its historic train station and develop it as a museum of railroad history.

Middleburgh & Schoharie Engine
The M&S Engine, "Middleburgh" and a combine, i.e. combination passenger / freight car. On November 21, 1872 this engine was damaged in a serious collision with an Albany & Susquehanna engine at Schoharie Junction. This photo originally appeared on a calendar distributed by The First National Bank of Middleburgh. This copy of the photo is on display at the Old Stone Fort Museum in Schoharie.

The "Schoharie Valley Railroad Complex" was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

The Schoharie Valley Railroads Museum is located in the Village of Schoharie on Depot Lane. The Museum encompasses a restored railroad yard consisting of a Station House, Freight/Engine House, Mill Bldg. and Weigh Station. There is D&H box car, flat car and restored D&H Caboose. The last Passenger Car, known as a Combine, was restored and displays artifacts from both the Schoharie Valley Railroad and the Middleburgh & Schoharie R.R. A scale diorama of the entire railroad from Middleburgh to Schoharie Junction is in the boxcar.

Google Maps Location of the museum, below:

View Larger Map

Tags: Schoharie Valley Railroads Museum Middleburgh and Schoharie Railroad
Added: 26th July 2008
Views: 502
Rating:

Posted By: Ohlhous

Pages: [1] of 1 | Random