Editing Cohoes, New York (section)

==History==
In the early years of [[Netherlands|Dutch]] colonial settlement, the majority of the city's territory was once part of the area of [[Manor of Rensselaerswyck]], a feudal-style manor or patroonship. The land north of a line crossing the Cohoes Falls (today Manor Avenue) was outside the Manor and was owned by the Van Olohde family between 1725 and 1750.<ref name=Masten/> Rensselaerswyck was established by [[Kiliaen van Rensselaer (Dutch merchant)|Killiaen Van Rensselaer]], the [[patroon]] and a [[Dutch people|Dutch]] merchant. In 1632, he had an agent pace off an enormous triangle-shaped area around the confluence of the [[Mohawk River|Mohawk]] and [[Hudson River|Hudson]] rivers, from the [[Peebles Island]] northwest to the Cohoes Falls and south to today's [[Watervliet, New York|Watervliet]];<ref name=phelancarroll>{{cite book|title=Hudson Mohawk Gateway|publisher=American Historical Press|author=Thomas Phelan and P. Thomas Carroll|isbn=1-892724-17-0|pages=14–15, 17, 22|year=2001}}</ref> this area was the core of the future city of Cohoes. Starting in the 1690s the Patroon began to issue leases for the area of Cohoes, reserving for himself a strip below the Cohoes Falls for the future site of mills powered by water.<ref name=phelancarroll/>

[[Image:UB Maastricht - Kalm 1772 - pt 2 p 61.jpg|thumb|left|Kohoes Falls, 1772]]
[[Image:VillageCohoes1866.jpg|thumb|left|Map of the village of Cohoes in 1866. North is to the right.]]

Though the area was not much settled for a time, it was known for the Cohoes Falls. One of the earliest descriptions of the falls was in 1642 by [[Johannes Megapolensis]], the first dominie (Dutch Reformed pastor) of [[Beverwyck]]. Another early description was in 1656 by [[Adriaen van der Donck]] in his ''Description of New Netherland''.<ref name=Masten>{{cite book|title=The History of Cohoes, New York|publisher=Joel Munsell|year=1877|access-date=2010-01-20|author=Masten, Arthur|url=https://archive.org/stream/historycohoes00mastrich#page/n13/mode/2up}}</ref> In the early-to-mid 17th century, a [[whale]] swam upriver in the Hudson, becoming stranded in the Mohawk River on an island just below the Cohoes Falls. The Dutch settlers could not easily get to the large carcass to remove it. As it rotted, the river became slick for three weeks. A settler commented that "the air was infected with its stench... perceptible for two miles to leeward." Beginning about 1646, settlers called this land Whale Island.<ref name=phelancarroll/>

During the various [[French and Indian Wars]] of the mid-18th century, [[Van Schaick Island]] was developed as part of a military road that came from [[Albany, New York|Albany]] north along the islands at the mouth of the Mohawk River. These islands allowed for easier [[ford (crossing)|ford]]s across the various mouths of the Mohawk and access to Waterford and points north. The islands were used for numerous military encampments during both the French and Indian Wars and the [[American Revolutionary War]].<ref name=phelancarroll/>
[[File:Historical marker for Van Schaick Island in the Albany County city of Cohoes.jpg|thumb|A New York State historical marker for [[Van Schaick Island]], part of the city of Cohoes. The marker is located near the intersection of Delaware Avenue and Ontario Street.]]

The Van Schaick Mansion on Van Schaick Island was built in the 1730s; it was one of the sites used as a military headquarters during the Revolution by the Americans under [[Major General]]s [[Philip Schuyler]] and [[Horatio Gates]].<ref name=phelancarroll/> Van Schaick Island was the first part of Cohoes to be settled and farmed; it was formerly known as Cohoes Island and Anthony's Island.<ref name=Masten/>

===Growth===
Until after the Revolutionary War, Cohoes was a small quiet hamlet with isolated farms. After the Mohawk and other Iroquois allies of the British were forced to cede their territory, New York encouraged new settlement. Thousands of Yankee settlers came from New England. Cohoes was linked to the larger settlements of [[Lansingburgh, New York|Lansingburg]] and Albany. In 1795 the first bridge across the Mohawk River was constructed at Cohoes. It was 900 feet long, 24 feet wide, 15 feet high, and was based on 13 stone piers. It cost $12,000 to build and was a toll bridge. This bridge provided access to Cohoes as one of the main routes north.<ref name=Masten/> The bridge was rebuilt in 1806 by the Cohoes Bridge Company, which raised the tolls to cover the cost.<ref name=phelancarroll/>

Another major transportation improvement, construction of the [[Erie Canal|Erie]] and [[Champlain Canal|Champlain]] canals were begun in 1817. The section in Cohoes was finished in 1823, stimulating trade for the city. Cohoes was known as Juncta because of being served by the two canals, which improved water traffic north to [[Lake Champlain]] and west through the Mohawk Valley. One or both of the canals crossed every farm in Cohoes.<ref name=Masten/> Even with the canals and the bridge bringing easier access to larger markets, Cohoes was a sleepy place prior to 1831. The nearest post office was at Waterford; fresh meat and produce were available mostly by residents raising their own. A United States post office was built in Cohoes in 1831.<ref name=Masten/>

===Industrial age===
In 1811 the Cohoes Manufacturing Company, owned entirely by men from Lansingburg, was incorporated and began a factory for making screws. This was the first large industry in Cohoes to use the power of the Mohawk River and Cohoes Falls.<ref name=phelancarroll/>

In 1831, a new Cohoes Company constructed a [[dam]] on the Mohawk River above the city's waterfall in order to better regulate water flow for industrial use. It was soon swept away by ice at the break-up in spring, and a new dam was built the following year. Two canals extended from the dam to provide water power for industry.<ref name=Masten/> Ironworks were the first main industry in Cohoes, as it was in Troy, [[Menands, New York|Menands]], and West Troy. Daniel Simmons' Simmons Axe Company was famous throughout the United States, and the Cohoes Iron Foundry was a large business enterprise in the 1830s.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Trade catalogs from Cohoes Iron Foundry and Machine Co.|url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/SILNMAHTL_11985|access-date=2020-06-05|website=National Museum of American History|language=en}}</ref>

===Textile industry===
[[File:Harmony Mill No. 3, Cohoes, NY.jpg|thumb|right|Harmony Mill No. 3 was the largest individual cotton factory in the world when it opened in 1872<ref>{{cite web |title=Old textile mill in New York  Harmony Mills, Cohoes New York |url=https://www.historic-structures.com/ny/cohoes/harmony_mills/ |website=Historic Structures |access-date=18 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518160552/https://www.historic-structures.com/ny/cohoes/harmony_mills/ |archive-date=18 May 2024 |date=21 March 2023}}</ref>]]
In the 1820s, the first cotton mill in Albany County was built in Cohoes. Egberts and Bailey was the first factory to use knitting machinery run by power, based on the Cohoes Company's power canals.<ref name=Masten/>

The community became a center of textile manufacturing; in 1836 the Harmony Manufacturing Company was founded, later famous as [[Harmony Mills]]. Cohoes became a [[mill town]], and to an extent a [[company town]]. During the 1870s the mills were enormously profitable because of the [[Erie Canal]], which flowed past them at that time. Mill #3, at over {{convert|1000|ft|m}} long, has been considered the longest continuous [[textile mill]] in the country at the time. Cotton textiles were shipped to New York City, England and Europe, where demand was high.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

In 1848, Cohoes was incorporated as a [[Administrative divisions of New York#Village|village]] within the [[Administrative divisions of New York#Town|town]] of [[Watervliet (town), New York|Watervliet]]. In 1869, it was chartered as a city.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

====Mastodon discovery====
{{Multiple image
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|image1= HarmonyMills HAER cropped.jpg
|caption1= Harmony Mill No. 3, in 1969
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|caption2= Cohoes Mastodon in the [[New York State Museum]]
}}
In 1866, during excavation work for construction of Mill #3 of the Harmony Mills, the bones of a [[mastodon]] were unearthed over a period of several weeks. This mammal ranged in this territory when humans were first settling here.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

The Cohoes Mastodon skeleton was long on display in the lobby of the [[New York State Museum]] in [[Albany, New York]]. Since the early 21st century, the skeleton has been moved to a new location away from the windows, where temperature and humidity fluctuations risked damaging the skeleton. A replica complete with fur is on display at the Cohoes Public Library.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Howell, G. R.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1061143171|title=Bi-centennial history of Albany : history of the county of Albany, N.Y. from 1609 to 1886|date=1886|publisher=W.W. Munsell|pages=79|oclc=1061143171}}</ref>

Upon their completion, in 1872, the Harmony Mills were the largest cotton mill complex in the world. The Harmony Mills are an excellent example of 19th-century mill architecture. During the 19th century, numerous immigrants came to Cohoes to work in the mills, particularly [[French Canadian]]s from [[Quebec]] and [[Irish people|Irish]], who first arrived as refugees in the 1840s from the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]]. The [[Harmony Mills|Harmony Mills Historic District]] was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in the late 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011-06-05|title=National Historic Landmarks Program (NHL)|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=-1568528353&ResourceType=District|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605234029/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=-1568528353&ResourceType=District|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-06-05|access-date=2020-06-09}}</ref>

Around the start of the 20th century, daredevil [[Bobby Leach]] practiced going over the Cohoes Falls in a barrel before he performed the same stunt at Niagara. Cohoes residents watched this feat from the lawn or the porch of The Cataract House, the Victorian hotel at the corner of North Mohawk and School streets. This site was later developed as the present School Street Power Station.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

===21st Century===
{{Multiple image
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| image2=  Cohoes Public Library in the former st johns episcopal church.jpg
| caption2 = The Public Library is housed in a former church
| image1= Cohoes, NY, city hall.jpg
| caption1 = City Hall
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From 2005 to 2013, the Harmony Mills were redeveloped and restored by real estate developer Uri Kaufman. Kaufman converted the Mills to luxury loft apartments, sparking a revival in the heart of the city.{{Citation needed|date=October 2017}}

On November 30, 2017, there was [[2017 Cohoes fire|a massive fire]] that destroyed and damaged 21 buildings that caught the attention of national media.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Flames-consuming-large-building-in-Cohoes-12395747.php|title=Mayor: Amateur bladesmith started massive Cohoes blaze|newspaper=Times Union|date=30 November 2017|access-date=19 January 2018}}</ref> An amateur blacksmith, attempting to mimic the show ''[[Forged in Fire (TV series)|Forged in Fire]]'', started a barrel fire to forge with before losing control of it. High winds stoked the flames which spread over the course of six hours. At one point smoke and fire collectively consumed three blocks of the downtown district, and a plume of smoke rose over the city large enough to be detected by weather radar.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/NWSAlbany/status/936331831200370689|title=Smoke from a fire in Cohoes, NY is visible on the Albany, NY WSR-88D Radar. See that plume of gray and blue colors in southern Saratoga county? That's the smoke from the fire in Cohoes.pic.twitter.com/PpQLEInc4M|first=N. W. S.|last=Albany|date=30 November 2017|publisher=[[Twitter]]|access-date=19 January 2018}}</ref> Twenty-one buildings were heavily damaged or destroyed, with two businesses and a garage being completely leveled.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newyorkupstate.com/capital-region/2017/12/cohoes_fire_ny_tv_show.html|title=Cohoes fire: Upstate NY man sparks massive blaze while imitating TV show (photos)|website=Newyorkupstate.com|date=December 2017|access-date=19 January 2018}}</ref>

===Improvements===
Starting around 2020 to 2023, Cohoes embarked on a citywide revitalization project focused on improving infrastructure, restoring historic buildings, and environmental sustainability.<ref name="Fisher" /> The city invested $35 million in infrastructure improvements, including improving sidewalks, planting street trees, redesigning city parks, installing public charging stations for electric vehicles, and creating a new waterfront park.<ref name="Fisher">{{cite web |last1=Fisher |first1=Gabby |title=A Conversation with Cohoes City Planner, Joseph Seman-Graves |url=https://gocapny.com/2023/10/29/cohoes-a-capny-city-the-nation-is-watching/ |website=CAP NY |publisher=Center for Economic Growth |access-date=15 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210000741/https://gocapny.com/2023/10/29/cohoes-a-capny-city-the-nation-is-watching/ |archive-date=10 December 2023 |date=29 October 2023}}</ref>

In 2017, West End Park was redesigned to become a memorial park honoring veterans.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cohoes is Proud of Veterans Memorial Created by Collaboration |url=https://www.labellapc.com/projects/city-of-cohoes-veterans-memorial-park/ |website=LaBella |publisher=LaBella |access-date=15 April 2024}}</ref> In 2020, historic Canal Square Park in downtown Cohoes was redesigned to host Farmer’s Markets, outdoor concerts, and receptions and other events.<ref>{{cite web |title=Reimagined Canal Square Park is Music to Cohoes' Ears |url=https://www.labellapc.com/projects/cohoes-canal-square-park/ |website=LaBella |publisher=LaBella |access-date=15 April 2024}}</ref>