The Gateway is moving ahead with additional projects at the Burden Iron Works Museum. The Tilley Ladder Co. was formerly a major presence in Watervliet. Two massive water turbines once powered Harmony Mills in Cohoes.

More Projects Underway at the Museum!

As we reported in our Spring Newsletter, just as we finished up the New York State Environmental Protection Fund-supported construction projects at the museum, we were the beneficiaries of a generous grant from Peter A. and Susan Grimm. These new funds allow us to plan the next chapter in our restoration work on the Burden Iron Co. office building.

The two most important projects that we plan to tackle over the rest of the year are the installation of a new HVAC system and the electrical upgrade needed to support this. Our electrical and mechanical contractors and National Grid agree that our best option for present and future expansion is to upgrade to three-phase/400-amp service. These projects will not only give us air conditioning for the summer but will also help to increase the building’s energy efficiency in spring and fall. While most of the expense of these upgrades are supported by the Grimms’ generosity, we have also been the recipient of a grant from the Howard & Bush Foundation.

New decorative iron for paymaster entrance

Decorative ironwork and a matching handrail for the paymaster step were recently completed and installed by Keicher Metal Arts of Cairo, New York, the same craftsmen who made the iron/brass railings and decorative ironwork for our front steps. Also, the great crew from Bunkoff General Contractors returned to address needed repairs to the exterior brick work. They have already made our building more secure and efficient; now they will make it more beautiful than ever.

Finally, we began working on just about the only space on the main floor that hasn’t been renovated yet. The “library,” which was used for storage, is being replastered and painted. The plaster work is being done by master historic plasterer Peter Poulin, who restored the plaster in the museum gallery space three years ago. Sage Brothers Painting Co. will return to paint the new plaster. This room will become the new Gateway office. The current office will be converted into an expanded library and research space.

Our May 1st opening has revealed our new Gurley instrument exhibit and a new Marvin Neitzel nursing uniform exhibit. Visitors have begun to come back and enjoy our place!

Watervliet’s Tilley Ladder Co. Was Once One of America’s Largest

The Tilley Ladder Co., founded in Watervliet, New York, in 1855, was a major manufacturer of wooden and aluminum ladders and scaffolding for almost 150 years. It marketed its products across the U.S. and exported to several countries. It operated at two sites in Watervliet (or West Troy as it was throughout most of the 19th century). One site burned. The second site was converted into upscale apartments after the company closed in 2004.

John Tilley, originally a cooper who made ladders as a sideline in Grafton, New York, moved to West Troy in 1855 where he began concentrating on manufacturing ladders. The business started as a shop located at First Avenue and Second Street. By 1903 it had become a small complex including a wooden factory as well as several lumber sheds.

Tilley’s son, John S. Tilley, received several patents in the late 19th century related to increasing ladder strength and making them easier to operate. A trade journal reported in 1907 that Tilley had doubled its manufacturing capacity due to increased demand for its product line, which at that time included ladders and scaffolding and their associated brackets and hooks, and flagpoles.

A catastrophic fire in July 1915 burned the original factory to the ground. Herman B. Gaffers, then the company president (and John S. Tilley’s son-in-law) soon announced plans to rebuild, and a new brick factory was built between First and Second Streets. An addition in 1924 doubled the size of the plant.

The Tilley catalog for 1929 advertised about 17 ladder models plus several types of scaffolding and parts such as ladder and gutter hooks. Many of these were made until the company closed in 2004. Gaffers was succeeded by his son-in-law Lewis S. Howland in 1941. He led the company to further growth, which included a second factory in Davenport, Iowa, and an expansion into making aluminum ladders. This required yet another addition to the Watervliet factory.

By the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, however, Tilley sales began to decline due to competition from cheaper imports. In addition, the litigious climate of the U.S. required the company to spend 30% of its revenue on liability insurance. Tilley filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2003, and the factory closed in January 2004.

While Tilley Ladder Co. is no more, its Watervliet factory found a second life as an apartment building. Local investors Redburn Development turned the factory into an upscale, energy efficient 62-unit apartment building which opened in 2015.

We thank Thomas A. Ragosta, Watervliet City Historian and President of the Watervliet Historical Society, for letting us adapt an address he made on the occasion of the opening of the Tilly Lofts apartments.

Water Turbines at Harmony Mills Were Most Powerful Ever Installed in Factory

View of one of the turbines installed at Harmony Mills

Our previous newsletter issue (Spring 2025) included an article on the Burden Water Wheel which powered the Burden Upper or Water Works in Troy. This famous water wheel – the “Niagara of Water Wheels” – was the most powerful vertical water wheel ever constructed. Less well known is that the most powerful water turbines ever used to directly power a manufacturing plant are located only a few miles away in Cohoes, New York.

In 1975 the American Society of Mechanical Engineers designated the two Boyden water turbines that formally powered Harmony Mill No. 3 in Cohoes, New York., a National Historic Engineering Landmark. A pamphlet printed in honor of the designation stated that with 102-inch intake tubes (“runners”), the two turbines “were probably the largest and nearly the most powerful water turbines ever built in the United States to supply direct mechanical power to a manufacturing plant.” (Later hydroelectric turbines were much more powerful.)

Uriah Boyden developed the water turbine technology that bears his name in 1844. The Boyden turbine was derived from the Fourneyron turbine, first used in France in 1827. The turbines, manufactured by the Holyoke Machine Company of Holyoke, Massachusetts, were installed in the basement of Mill No. 3 between 1871 and 1873. The water for the turbines was supplied by the Cohoes Power Canal, which routed Mohawk River water around Cohoes Falls to power industries in Cohoes. The turbines were of the outward flow type and generated 800 horsepower each. They drove the mill machinery on the upper floors through a system of leather power transmission belts.

It is interesting that Harmony Mills’ owners decided to use the Boyden turbine technology rather than the Francis turbine technology, developed by James Francis and extensively used at Lowell, Mass. The inward flow Francis turbine is more efficient, easier to control, and less expensive to manufacture.

The two large turbines replaced three smaller Boyden turbines installed at the other end of the mill. Those turbines were scrapped, but the later turbines still exist. The mill was converted to electric power in 1915, using power generated by the School Street hydroelectric plant in Cohoes. That plant, also powered by the drop in the Mohawk River around Cohoes Falls, is still in operation.

Newsletter - Summer 2025