Cohoes

History

In the early years of 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 Canadians from Quebec and Irish, who first arrived as refugees in the 1840s from the Great Famine. The Harmony Mills Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the late 20th century. Around the start of the 20th century, daredevil Bobby Leach practiced going over the…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (11.79%) is water. Cohoes is situated at the confluence of the Mohawk with the Hudson River, where the Mohawk forms several channels and islands. Cohoes is named for its most famous landmark, the Cohoes Falls, a majestic waterfall first seen by the area's successive generations of indigenous peoples. In the historic era, these were the Mohawk Nation. The city includes Van Schaick Island, where the historic Van Schaick Mansion is located, and Simmons Island. Within Albany County, the city has the town of Colonie to its northwest, west, and south; with the town and village of Green Island to the south of Van Schaick Island. To the north across the Mohawk River is Saratoga County and the town of Waterford's hamlet of Northside. A bridge connects Cohoes to Waterford. To the east of Van Schaick Island across the Hudson River is Rensselaer County and the city of Troy's Lansingburg neighborhood. The 112th Street Bridge connects Van Schaick Island to Troy.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  27,384
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  27,273
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  26,623
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  24,756
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  22,537
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  22,320
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  22,111
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  20,786

Most recent

• M 3.1 — 2020-03-11
  0 km SSW of South Glens Falls, New York
• M 2.79 — 2015-09-27
  New York
• M 2.76 — 2011-08-27
  5 km WSW of Altamont, New York
• M 2.69 — 2011-08-25
  5 km WSW of Altamont, New York
• M 3.15 — 2009-12-13
  15 km N of Medusa, New York
• M 2.56 — 2009-12-13
  14 km N of Medusa, New York