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2009 SIA Fall Tour - Mid-Hudson River Valley, New York
Oct. 8, 2009 (starting Thursday evening) to Sunday Afternoon, Oct. 11, 2009
The Kilmer Lithograph of Newburgh is owned by the Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands. Used with permission.
Rosendale, NY
The region around Rosendale, NY is notable for its role as the nation’s major producer of natural cement throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Ideal for use as mortar for canal masonry due to its quality and durability, natural cement was in great demand by 1825 when William and Maurice Wurts began building the Delaware and Hudson (D&H) Canal to carry anthracite coal from Honesdale, PA to the Hudson River port of Rondout, NY. In looking for sources of natural cement close to the canal site, a rich supply of appropriate limestone was found in a 30-square-mile area along Rondout Creek in eastern Ulster County that became known as the Rosendale district.
Rosendale natural cement soon gained a reputation for quality among engineers and was used in the construction of many of the nation’s most important landmarks, including the Brooklyn Bridge, the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, Federal Hall, and one of the wings of the US Capitol building.
By 1898 Rosendale was home to 15 cement plants that employed 5,500 workers and produced 41.9% of all the cement manufactured in the nation. In 1899, there were 76 cement plants operating in the United States, 29 of them were in the Rosendale district.
The establishment of Portland cement mines, development of chemical cement additives and diminishing construction in the region led to a steady decline in the demand for natural cement. After several failed attempts to switch to production of Portland-style cement, the last cement plant closed in 1970, heralding the end of 145 years of cement production in the Rosendale district.
The Delaware and Hudson Canal, which ran through the Rosendale district, was a 108-mile long, man-made waterway built to transport coal from the hills of Pennsylvania to the Hudson River. From 1828 to 1898, mules pulled canal barges laden with anthracite coal along river valleys from Honesdale in northeastern Pennsylvania to Eddyville on Rondout Creek near Kingston. (Barges continued being pulled by mules along the adjacent towpath even after the development of steam engines, since the bow wave from a faster steamboat would have damaged the channel.) At Island Dock, a coal storage site near the mouth of Rondout Creek, the coal was loaded onto river barges and shipped on the Hudson River south to New York City and north to Canada.
On January 7, 1825 stock in the D&H Canal Company was oversubscribed within hours of its going on sale and the company became the first million-dollar private enterprise in the United States. The canal remained profitable for most of its existence. A dramatic slow-down in canal traffic began in 1858 with the completion of the Erie Railroad through the Delaware Valley. In 1898 the D&H Company was transformed into a railroad company. A Kingston businessman bought the canal and until 1904 used a portion of it to transport Rosendale cement and general merchandise to Rondout.
Construction of the D&H canal involved many examples of innovative civil engineering including a gravity railroad; the locomotive the Stourbridge Lion, the first locomotive to run on rails in the US; and John Roebling’s Delaware and Lackawaxen Aqueducts.
Kingston, NY
As the tidewater terminus of the D&H Canal, the village of Rondout (then separate from Kingston) emerged in the mid 1800s as the busiest port between New York City and Albany. Local industries included cement, bluestone, brickmaking, and ice. Shipyards lined the shores and built coal and ice barges, sloops, schooners and steamboats. In the late 1800’s the Cornell Steamboat Company, with a fleet of 60 towing vessels based in Rondout, was the largest towing company in the United States.
The closure of the D&H Canal in 1899 heralded the decline of Kingston’s fortunes. At the same time, other industries were suffering a downturn: the demand for local cement decreased as the faster-drying Portland cement became more popular; the demand for brick and bluestone decreased with changes in construction methods and increased use of concrete for sidewalks; electric refrigeration killed the market for natural ice almost overnight; shipping decreased as the amount of cargo decreased, and with that the need for shipbuilding and repair facilities was reduced. The deep channel that allowed ocean-going ships to navigate all the way to Albany was completed in 1932 and acted as the final blow to Kingston’s last thriving industry, commercial towing. By the 1930s, Rondout’s heyday had passed.
Newburgh, NY
Early settlements in Newburgh grew up around the many mills that utilized the water power from the areas creeks, especially Quasaaick Creek. There were woolen mills and grist mills, as well as a black powder manufacturing complex. Many grist mills sprang up to serve the farmers who brought their grain to be processed.
By the mid-1800s Newburgh had become a major hub of commerce in the mid-Hudson. Sailing sloops from Newburgh traded internationally, and steamboats stopped on the route between Albany and Manhattan. Turnpike roads, augmented by canals, brought more trade. Inventors thrived, and many new manufacturing businesses set up business in Newburgh to take advantage of the transportation network.
At the turn of the 20th century, Newburgh was a thriving manufacturing center with over 100 plants. Products manufactured here included: cottons, woolens, silks, paper, felt hats, baking powder, soap, paper boxes, brick, plush goods, steam boilers, tools, automobiles, coin silver, bleach, candles, waterway gates, ice machines, pumps, moving-picture screens, overalls, perfumes, furniture, carpets, carburetors, spiral springs, spiral pipe, shirt waists, shirts, felt goods and lawn mowers. Machine shops, foundries, shipyards, tanneries, plaster works and marine transportation concerns were also prominent in Newburgh’s commercial activities.
By the late 20th century, the same economic factors that spurred the decline of Kingston affected the industries of Newburgh. In response, they relocated operations south or to other locations with cheaper labor costs and lower taxes. The Hudson River, which previously served as the main means of transporting goods, lost much of its shipping traffic to trucking and manufacturing plants relocated to take advantage of the new transportation routes.
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