Editing Mechanicville, New York (section)

==History==
{{more citations needed section|date=August 2015}}
The first listing of a settlement on [[Anthony Kill|Tenandeho]] Creek (Anthony Kill) is in 1721. At that time, Cornelius Van Buren had a sawmill at the mouth of the creek where it emptied into the [[Hudson River]].

[[File:Mechanicville, N.Y. LOC 75694795.tif|thumb|[[Perspective map]] and of Mechanicville and list of landmarks from late 19th century by [[L.R. Burleigh]]]]
The first documented occurrence of the name "Mechanicville" dates back to 1829. The name comes from the early settlers, who were independent mastercraftsmen such as millers, carpenters, or butchers, whose professions were commonly known as the "[[mechanical arts]]" at the time.

About 35 years later, small flour mills were already established. When the [[Champlain Canal]] reached the settlement in 1823, and especially when the [[Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad]] laid a track through the area in 1835, Mechanicville became an important commerce interchange.

The community became an [[Municipal incorporation|incorporated]] [[Administrative divisions of New York#Village|village]] in 1859, when it had about 1000 inhabitants. It grew rapidly as textile mills, factories, and a linen thread company came to Mechanicville.

The first conspicuous casualty of the [[American Civil War]], [[Elmer E. Ellsworth]], was buried in Mechanicville in 1861. His grave is located in the [[Hudson View Cemetery]] and is identifiable with a large eagle on top of his memorial.

In 1878, additional railways came to the village, and it became an important center of papermaking.

In 1898, Robert Newton King built a [[hydroelectricity|hydroelectric]] power plant on the Hudson River. The [[Mechanicville Hydroelectric Plant]] is now the oldest continuously operating hydroelectric plant in the United States and was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1989.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>

By 1900, Mechanicville was a major transfer yard and car repair center for the railways. In the 1920s, Mechanicville had a population of nearly 10,000.

In both the 1900 and 1910 censuses, Mechanicville was enumerated with the town of Half Moon, just to the south of Stillwater.

Mechanicville became a city in 1915. By 1932, it became the terminal of the first experimental [[High-voltage direct current|high-voltage direct-current]] (HVDC) scheme in the U.S.: the [[HVDC Mechanicville–Schenectady]] line.<ref>[http://www.ieee.org/organizations/pes/public/2005/may/peshistory.html IEEE History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524013821/http://www.ieee.org/organizations/pes/public/2005/may/peshistory.html |date=2011-05-24 }}, ieee.org; retrieved May 10, 2011.</ref>

With the decline of the railroads, Mechanicville suffered. The largest paper mill in the world, which Mechanicville had hosted since 1904, ceased operations in 1971, and the once thriving industrial city is today a quiet residential city, with most inhabitants working in [[Albany, New York|Albany]], [[Schenectady, New York|Schenectady]], and other nearby communities.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

[[File:Streetscene.JPG|left|250px|thumb|A typical residential street in Mechanicville]]
On November 1, 2001, Mechanicville was [http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=114332&title=everyone-has-a-story featured on the ''Daily Show''] with then-rising comedian [[Steve Carell]]. The [[Mechanicville Hydroelectric Plant]] and [[Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth Monument and Grave]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>

===Mechanicville-Stillwater tornado===
{{Main|Late-May 1998 tornado outbreak and derecho}}
On May 31, 1998, a large [[tornado]] tore through Mechanicville and the adjacent town of Stillwater. It was spawned by a series of severe storms in the late afternoon, causing major damage to the town's old industrial section located on [[U.S. Route 4 in New York|US Route 4]] and [[New York State Route 32|NY-32]], along the Hudson River. One of the two historic smokestacks (visible from two miles away) was knocked down by the tornado. In 2005, the other smokestack and the conjoined building were bulldozed. Houses on the Viall Avenue hill sections of Mechanicville and Stillwater were completely destroyed. The tornado was rated F3 on the [[Fujita scale]] (winds estimated at 200 MPH).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.saratogian.com/article/ST/20130530/NEWS/305309915|title=News|date=24 August 2000}}</ref>

===Rail yard===
In January 2012, a new [[Intermodal freight transport|intermodal]] and automotive terminal opened on the site of a former [[Boston and Maine]] rail yard. The new rail yard was built by [[Pan Am Southern]], a joint venture between [[Pan Am Railways]] and [[Norfolk Southern]].<ref>[http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Rail-yard-too-noisy-for-neighbors-3372116.php Rail yard too noisy for neighbors], TimesUnion.com, February 29, 2012.</ref>

The $40 million facility Is also used for ''filet-toupee'' operations, converting [[Double-stack rail transport|double stack]] container trains from the west to single stack by removing the top layer of containers. This allows the rest of the train to proceed east along track that lacks double stack clearance, particularly the 4{{fraction|3|4}} mile [[Hoosac Tunnel]]. The removed containers are trucked to local destinations. ''Toupee'' refers to the reverse process, where a single stack train coming from the east has additional containers placed on top for the rest of its trip.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Railyard-project-back-on-track-1346087.php|title = Railyard project back on track|date = 21 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://samayotte.com/PAR_Mechanicville_3.html |title=Photos of the new rail yard under construction (1) |access-date=2011-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426032503/http://samayotte.com/PAR_Mechanicville_3.html |archive-date=2012-04-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://samayotte.com/PAR_Mechanicville_4.html |title=Photos of the new rail yard open for business (2) |access-date=2012-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503200452/http://samayotte.com/PAR_Mechanicville_4.html |archive-date=2013-05-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Some 300 trucks a day visit the site. The automotive terminal opened in 2014.<ref>[http://www.saratogian.com/general-news/20120324/boom-ii-overshadowed-by-globalfoundries-new-rail-hub-could-spur-unprecedented-growth-along-route-67-corridor-in-stillwater-with-video "New rail hub could spur unprecedented growth along 67 Corridor in Stillwater (see video)], saratogian.com; accessed August 6, 2015.</ref>