From the Executive Director

As our reputation grows, we are welcoming more and more visitors. And for the first time, they are able to tour the museum in the summer in air-conditioned comfort, thanks to the new heat-pump heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system installed over the winter. No more days when we have to close because the museum is too hot! We thank Peter and Susan Grimm again for their support of this project.

We continue to be a popular excursion for passengers on the American Cruise Line ships that call in Troy. We expect to host passengers from 10 ships in October during the “Fall Foliage” tour season.

And if you can’t visit us in person, Matt and Nicole from local PBS television station WMHT recently came to the Burden Iron Works Museum and produced a short video episode for their series "Field Trip." Watch it here (scroll down): www.wmht.org/fieldtrip/

We conducted another successful “Troy Tiffany Treasures” tour September 12. The sold-out event organized by Gateway Trustee Suzanne Spellen attracted visitors from as far away as Long Island. Because of the demand for this tour, we are considering offering a Spring tour as well.

Finally, we have recently learned that the Albany Institute of History and Art has plaster busts of Henry and Helen Burden made by renowned Albany sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer. We are in early discussions with the institute about loaning the busts to us.

2026 Gala Honors Sage Brothers

The Gateway was pleased to honor Sage Brothers Painting Co., Inc. at our annual Gala October 1 in Troy. The company is a third-generation, family-owned commercial and industrial painting contractor that has been active in the Troy region since its founding in 1945 by John J. Sage. The company is currently led by John’s son Bill and grandson Kevin. They have completed several interior and exterior painting projects at the Burden Iron Works Museum. In 1969 the company linked its legacy to Troy’s industrial heritage by purchasing the historic 1873 Troy Gas Light Company Gasholder House. After Bill and Kevin Sage received their award, Bill Sage remarked that while they initially regarded the historic structure as just a warehouse for their specialized scaffolding and equipment, they soon became dedicated preservationists of the landmark. For over half a century, they have generously opened the Gasholder to the community for arts installations, civic benefits, and cultural events, blending their successful commercial contracting enterprise with a profound commitment to local historian stewardship.

Gateway volunteer extraordinary Donna Done also received an award to acknowledge her many years of dedication to the Gateway. Among the Gala attendees were Henry Burden descendant Ada Gates and Duncan and Rowena Comrie from Scotland, where Duncan promotes Henry Burden’s legacy.

The Troy Gasholder House is one of the very few such structures still standing in the United States. The distinctive shape and construction of the structure led it to being chosen as the logo for the Society for Industrial Archeology. For the complete history of the Troy Gasholder House, see the article in the Fall 2021 Gateway Newsletter.

New Mural Completed

A new mural celebrating Troy’s industrial history was inaugurated September 10 at an event attended by City of Troy officials and Gateway friends. The mural was painted by local artist Kevin Clark, who also painted the Burden Water Wheel mural at the foot of Mill Street in Troy as well as several others around the city. The twelve-foot-high mural stretches nearly 180 feet along the wall separating the museum property from our southern neighbor. Gateway volunteers power-washed the wall to prepare it for painting. Like the Sistine Chapel ceiling, this work is so large it cannot be appreciated at one glance. The mural includes images of Henry Burden, his water wheel, and his horseshoe machine; Garnet Douglass Baltimore, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s first Black graduate and a prominent local engineer; the textile industry; Troy-made pianos; bell casting; Troy’s role in building the USS Monitor; a General Electric steam engine and dynamo rescued from the old Ludlow Valve site in Troy; and a steam yard engine used by Burden Iron Co. Funding from the mural came from the City of Troy through ARPA, the Capital Resource Corporation, Arts in the Capital Region, and private donors.

From Troy and Albany to the Moon

A space capsule built in Albany or Troy may not have really reached the moon, but a precision instrument made in Troy certainly did.

Apollo 8 was the first spacecraft to orbit the moon in 1968, but such a voyage had been foreseen by French science fiction writer Jules Verne just over one hundred years earlier in his novel From the Earth to the Moon. The novel was published in French in 1865; the first American edition was published in 1873.

Depiction of the moon capsule as imagined by Verne

In Verne’s novel, he imagines that in the years after the Civil War eventually ends, an enormous cannon is constructed near Tampa, Florida, to propel a space capsule containing three human passengers (and some animals) to the moon. Following is Verne’s description of the cannon and the capsule:

“The projectile should be a shell made of aluminum with a diameter of 108 inches and a thickness of 12 inches on its wall; and should weigh 19,250 pounds. Second, that the gun should be a Columbiad cast in iron, 900 feet long, and run perpendicularly into the earth. Third, that the charge should contain 400,000 pounds of gun-cotton, which, giving out six billion litres of gas in rear of the projectile, would easily carry it toward the orb of the night.”

The cannon was constructed on site, using special cast iron supplied by the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, New York, a real company with extensive experience casting artillery for the U.S. Army. But where was the capsule built? Here’s where things get a little confusing. In Verne’s original French text, he said that the aluminum capsule was cast by Breadwill and Co., a fictitious company, but one he located for some reason in Albany, New York. However, in the first American translation of the book, Breadwill and Co. becomes the Meneely Bell Foundry in Troy, New York.

Further research reveals that “The original 1873 English translation by Lewis Page Mercier and Eleanor E. King famously altered, Americanized, or outright localized parts of Verne's French text … to make the text relatable to 19th-century American readers…. [T]he translators explicitly credited the Meneely Bell Foundry (a real-world, famous industrial bell company operating out of Troy, New York) as the manufacturer of the bell-shaped spacecraft.”

Well, even if Meneely did not make the space capsule, it is interesting that the translators knew the company was widely renowned for skillful casting.

Man first reached the moon on the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Later Apollo missions carried scientific instrument packages to the moon. Included in these instrument packages were bubble levels made by Geier & Bluhm of Troy used to make sure the instrument package was perfectly level and plumb. A bubble level consists of a capsule filled with liquid, with a bubble of air injected into it and then sealed. So, it is true, as docents at the Burden Iron Works Museum tell visitors, “There is Troy air on the moon.” Geier & Bluhm is still in business today, operating as part of HJM Precision, Inc.

Piano Making in Troy and Albany

Through the early nineteenth century Americans imported their pianos and most other musical instruments from Europe. Around 1825, young piano makers began emigrating from England and Germany and started manufacturing pianofortes here. Almost immediately, they made significant improvements in piano manufacturing.

Piano manufacturing and sales were an important part of Troy and Albany’s industrial and musical legacy. Troy apparently had only one manufacturer, while Albany had dozens, but the two cities shared the same proximity to quality materials. English and German craftsmen settled in the area. Troy’s iron and steel industries could supply iron framing and metal wire, water power could turn the factory wheels, and the various species of wood could contribute to the casings, the interior hammers and parts, and even the veneers used by the cabinetmakers. And, importantly for both cities, the Hudson River and the Erie Canal made it possible to ship the pianos to various locations.

Newspaper ad for Gruner & Ossenkop pianos

Gruner & Ossenkop Piano Forte Manufacturers was Troy’s sole piano manufacturer. Its factory and showroom were located on River Street. They were active in the 1850s – perhaps earlier – through the 1860s. Unfortunately, not much is known about them. The first mention found in Troy newspapers was a Notice of Dissolution of Co-Partnership filed in November 1858 between Charles Gruner, William Behns and Charles Ossenkop, operating as Gruner, Behns & Ossenkop. Behns was out, and the company was re-organized by Gruner and Ossenkop (sometimes spelled Ossenkopp).

The Burden Ironworks Museum has an 1860 Gruner & Ossenkop square piano in its collection. It’s a beautiful instrument. To preserve it, no one is allowed to play it, but an existing recording reveals a rich tone. The case features several different wood veneers, especially on the signed burled wood fallboard. It has an ornate music stand and thick, sturdy legs needed to support this heavy instrument.

Albany had several piano manufacturers. Manufacturing began there in 1829, when John and Horace Meacham, whose store sold drums, woodwinds, and other instruments, became interested in the growing popularity of pianos. Iron frames had just been introduced, and the brothers hired a student of the inventor to come to Albany from Boston and build pianos for them. However, the Meachams lost their company to a creditor in 1832.

The same thing happened to another would-be Albany piano maker, I.P. Cole. In 1835 he contracted a company to build pianos for him. Unfortunately for him, he lost his business soon after in the financial panic of 1836, and it went to one of his backers, wholesale grocer William G. Boardman. He realized the potential of the piano business and hired James A. Gray of New York City to partner with him. Gray had made a name for himself for several innovations and improvements to both the sound and look of pianos. In 1837 the firm of Boardman & Gray was launched and within several years became known for their fine instruments, one critic writing that their instruments had “wonderful power and sweetness,”

Boardman & Gray were one of the most important and most successful piano manufacturers in Albany. They established several factories over the years, each one larger than the last. Their existing building at 883 Broadway is a contributing building in the Albany Industrial and Warehouse District for the National Register of Historic Places. It received individual designation in 2022 and is now residential.

Another manufacturer was John Marshall. Marshall was a piano maker for Boardman, as were his partners initial partners Amos C. James and Charles M. Travers. By 1857, they were advertising their pianos from their location at 589-591 Broadway. Their ads boasted that their pianos had a rich and sweet tone, with powerful resonating lower registers. Their pianos received awards from several important national and international exhibitions. They manufactured both upright and grand pianos.

By 1867, James was gone, leaving Marshall & Travers. A year later Marshall partnered with Harvey Wendell and incorporated as Marshall & Wendell Piano Forte Manufacturing Company Ltd. They built a factory at 911-923 Broadway. By 1897, however, the same location belonged to a new piano company – the Raymore Piano Company, which advertised that they produced their own named piano, as well as Marshall & Wendell’s lines. In 1900, a group of Rochester investors bought the plant, eliminating the line, but continued the Raymore name in Rochester until the 1950s.

Newspaper ad for Marshall & Wendell pianos

What about Troy’s largest music business, Cluett & Sons? They sold pianos but didn’t manufacture them. More on their impressive company at another time. The Capital region has a proud history of piano manufacturing and sales. It is one of the many industries and businesses that made this region a center of manufacturing and technology and contributes to the rich history of the area.

Material for this article was drawn from Gateway Trustee Suzanne Spellen’s “Spellen of Troy” Substack article “Tickling the Ivories in the Capital Region.”

Newsletter - Fall 2026