Newsletter Spring 2021
Burden Iron Works Museum and Ladle Car
Welcome to our Spring Newsletter
Although the Burden Iron Works Museum is open only on a limited basis due to ongoing renovation work and COVID-19 restrictions, the Gateway has been very active.
Spring Tour Season to Become Lecture Series, With The Possibility of In-Person Tours for Late Fall
In view of continuing concerns about in-person tours, the Gateway has decided that instead of our normal pre-COVID-19 tour program, Executive Director Michael Barrett will present a series of virtual lectures on industrial history and local history topics. Planning is still underway, but our current idea is to offer two monthly programs from May through November. Each lecture will last approximately one hour in the evening. Some of the topics that Michael will cover are:
· Troy: The Silicon Valley of the 19th Century
· Henry Burden’s Horseshoe Machine: 51 Million Horseshoes a Year.
· The Bell Casting Industry
· Troy’s Gasholder House
· Erastus Corning, John Flack Winslow and the Albany Iron Works of Troy
· Capital Region Contributions to the Transcontinental Railroad
The lectures will be offered through Zoom. The Gateway will use Eventbrite for reservations and payments. The fee will be $5 for Gateway members and $10 for nonmembers – another reason to become a member! The final program and sign-up instructions will be posted on our web site and sent out via e-mail to our distribution list. If you would like to be added to this list, please email info@hudsonmohawkgateway.org.
Depending on developments, we may be able to schedule some in-person, outdoor tours as we did last year. Unfortunately, it looks unlikely that we will be able to offer our Tiffany windows tour again this year.
Front Steps, Burden Iron Company Museum
2021 Gala to be Virtual
The annual Gala honoring former Gateway Executive Director Tom Carroll and his wife Nan, postponed from last year, has been rescheduled as a virtual event for this fall. Further information, including Honorary Committee sponsorship opportunities, will be coming soon. This is our major fundraising event each year.
Gateway Acquires Steam Powered Generator Formerly Used at Ludlow Valve
In early May the City of Troy agreed to sell to the Gateway for $1 the remains of a steam engine, flywheel, and electric generator located at the now City-owned site of the former Ludlow Valve Manufacturing Co. and the earlier Rensselaer Iron Works on the Hudson River near the Poestenkill. We plan to move these artifacts to the grounds of the Burden Iron Works Museum for display. We are grateful to retired local businessman Peter A. Grimm who has offered to finance this project, and to Albany Engineering, which prepared plans for the installation of the artifacts at the museum. This Albany Times Union article has more information on the project:
Gateway Executive Director Michael Barrett and Board Member Allen Cluett with the Ludlow Valve steam engine, generator and flywheel.
Executive Director Search Continues
There was a gratifying initial response to our request for candidates to succeed Michael Barrett as Gateway executive director. A Search Committee is reviewing the remaining candidates. We hope to be able to introduce the new executive director at our fall Gala.
Conservation of Burden Patents
A collection of more than 50 U.S. and foreign patents primarily issued to Henry Burden and his sons was delivered to the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia. Included in this collection are the early patents issued to Henry Burden for his machine to make hook-headed railroad spikes and for his first horseshoe machine. CCAHA has prepared a conservation plan for the documents and has also given us an estimate of the cost for the work. We are currently reviewing this information prior to moving forward with the actual conservation work. We hope to be able to have CCAHA begin the conservation of at least some of the patents shortly. Our current plan is to display digital facsimiles of the key patents at the Burden Iron Works Museum.
“Donate” Button Added to Web Site
In order to make it easier for our friends to support us financially, we have recently added a “Donate” buttons to our web site.