From the Executive Director: Looking Back at 2024 and Ahead to 2025

This past year has been one of enormous work and tremendous renewal. The museum again opened to visitors, this time in mid-July, and we continued to welcome visitors to the museum until December 13th when we closed for the season. Over the late summer and fall we welcomed walk-in visitors, several group visits from various institutions and river cruise ships, and participated in the Hudson Valley Community College creative retirement program. Although we are now closed for the winter, we will reopen in the spring with new and renewed exhibits. At our annual Gala last fall we celebrated a milestone: the 50th anniversary of the Gateway’s founding in 1974. It has been exciting to see how far we have come from the days when the building barely escaped destruction to where we are now.

Notably in 2024, we were able to accomplish the much-delayed renovation work supported by a New York State grant awarded back in 2017. The project included restoration of the windows on the main floor and basement, doors, the grand stone steps that approach the east door, insulation in our attic, and restoration of the cover to the dispensary entrance steps. Unfortunately, we were not able to afford a new HVAC system, which is desperately needed for the summer months especially. We will have to raise $175,000 to complete the HVAC portion of the museum restoration.

While the main exhibits of the museum have not substantially changed this year, we were able to add to our exhibits in several exciting ways. First, we have been able to exhibit the 1857 model of Henry Burden’s horseshoe machine, which is on loan from the Albany Institute of History and Art. Secondly, through the hard work of four Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute students this fall, we have enhanced the Thompkins Brothers’ knitting machine exhibit, the 1860 Gruner and Ossenkop piano exhibit, and the Corliss steam engine. We have improved exhibit signage and will continue to refine and make good use of our collections to explore further exhibitions. We will be busy over the winter on ways to enhance and expand our exhibits for the 2025 visitor season.

We were pleased and proud to welcome over 600 visitors this season. We were also able to offer a walking tour of the water wheel site in November and we hope to build on that experience as we plan for the 2025 season. Watch for further information on our Facebook page and our webpage hudsonmohawkgateway.org.

Final Phase of Renovation Project at Burden Iron Works Museum complete

After nearly seven years of anticipation and a full year of construction, we are finally able to announce that work is complete on the planned renovations funded by the 2017 Environmental Protection Fund grant administered by the New York State Historic Preservation Office. Local firm Bunkoff General Contractors managed the project and Mesic Cohen Wilson Baker Architects was the guiding force as we completed this work. We are pleased and grateful for the Bunkoff crews who worked tirelessly here at the museum for a full year. The final finishing touch, the installation of the much-awaited decorative railings, has just been completed on the newly restored East Entrance. Come and see our beautiful new east face!

Burden Horseshoe Machine Patent Model Now on Display at Museum

Horseshoe Machine Patent Model on Display in Museum — Horseshoe machine patent model on display in Museum

Much of the story we tell at the Burden Iron Works Museum revolves around Henry Burden and his development of machines to make horseshoes. Burden secured three principal patents for horseshoe-making machines. His first patent, granted in 1835, required a series of three separate machines to make a horseshoe. By his 1843 patent the process required only two machines, and this was reduced to a single machine in his 1857 patent.

The Gateway is now able to display the patent model of the 1857 patent machine, thanks to the Albany Institute of History and Art, which has loaned us their model. Until 1880, the U.S. Patent Office required inventors to submit both a written application and a model to be considered for a patent. Judging by an illustration we have of this machine in operation, the model appears to be between one-quarter and one-third scale.

Henry Burden and his sons patented improvements to the 1857 machine in succeeding years. The application for the patent issued to Henry Burden in 1865 describes how the machine made horseshoes: “First, a portion of … [the heated rod], of suitable length to form the shoe, is drawn into the machine and cut off. It is then bent around a form into the shape of a letter U. It is next placed in its proper position between the swaging-dies. The heels of the shoe are bent still farther inward, while it next passes between the two revolving swaging-dies that compress and roll it into proper shape. Then it is creased and partially punched, and finally it is taken from the dies and flattened and dropped in a finished state upon a revolving chain that deposits it in the room where the punching is completed. While one shoe is being creased and punched, another portion of the rod is drawn into the machine, and thus it proceeds continuously.”

The machine had interchangeable dies to produce horse and mule shoes in 13 standard sizes.

It should be noted that while the machine may have produced one horseshoe per second, the horseshoe was not complete: it still needed to be punched for the nails that attached it to the horse’s hoof. According to contemporary reports, the Burden Iron Company Upper Works (where the water wheel was located) had five horseshoe machines and 42 punching machines to keep up with horseshoe production.

Henry Burden suffered an incident of intellectual property theft in the 1830s when his rival Erastus Corning copied his hook-headed railroad spike machine, resulting in a long and contentious patent infringement suit. Perhaps because of this experience, Burden did not license the 1857 patent machine; in the U.S. every horseshoe was made at the Burden Iron Company in Troy and then shipped around the country. (The patent was licensed in Great Britain and Europe, however.)

The U.S. Patent Office auctioned off its patent model collection in 1925 due to lack of storage space. The Albany Institute acquired its horseshoe machine model in 1992 from a collector. It was last on public display 2015-16 for the Albany Institute’s “New York’s Capital Region in 50 Objects” exhibit. The loan period is three years. Displayed with the machine is a reproduction of the 1835 patent – signed by President Andrew Jackson.

Waterford Fire Engine Finally Returns Home

The history of the legendary Waterford, New York, fire engine company L. Button & Son began with the migration of Connecticut native Lysander Button to Waterford in 1831. Waterford is uniquely situated at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. This positioned the town to become an industrial powerhouse. Around the age of 25, Button began working on fire engines for William B. Platt and Nicholas B. Doe. He soon took over the interests of both men and after several years he became the sole owner of the company.

Over the years, Button and his business partner Robert Blake improved the design of the engine which catapulted the business into international renown. By 1850 the company was operating out of a large steam-powered factory on Third Street and by 1860 they were making both hand-operated and steam-powered fire engines. Button & Blake engines were capable of shooting water over 100 feet; this ensured that even the tallest church steeples could be reached if they were ablaze.

However, the hand pumper fire engines weren’t just workhorses – they were true pieces of craftsmanship. In the early years of the company the engines were hand painted by beloved Waterford artist Robert Savage, whose scenic paintings are kindred of those of the Hudson River School.

By 1890 the company, eventually known as L. Button & Son, had merged with fire engine manufacturers Clapp & Jones, Silsby, and Ahearns to form the American Fire Engine Co., and all business relating to Button left Waterford.

In 2005 the former director of the Waterford Historical Museum & Cultural Center, Brad Utter, found an 1857 Button & Blake hand pumper for sale by private owner in Ohio. With support from the Board of Trustees, Utter purchased the engine, and after nearly 150 years, brought the engine back home. The engine was first sold under the name Union No. 3 to Union Engine Company No. 3 in South Bend, Indiana. From there it was sold several times before ending up in New York in1902 with the Malden (Ulster County, New York) Veteran Fireman’s Association. There it claimed its new name, the “Converse,” after Malden fire commissioner Colonel Harry Converse.

Over the next century, the Converse changed hands and travelled from Massachusetts to Texas before finally settling into private ownership in Ohio. By this time the Converse was no longer recognizable as the engine that left Waterford in 1857.

After purchasing the Converse, the museum faced the challenge of storing the 20-foot-long hand pumper. Through the generosity of the O’Connor family, the Converse was stored at the Mohawk Paper Mill in Cohoes. For another 20 years, the Converse sat in pieces until a dedicated volunteer made it his mission to finally restore the pumper. Barry Walsh took measurements and drew up plans to construct a storage building/workshop on the grounds of the museum. Unfortunately, he passed away before he could achieve his goals. However, his widow and museum volunteer, Cathy Walsh, pushed to see this plan through. With the help of project managers Mark and Barb Turpin, the Barry Walsh Memorial Building was completed in September of 2024.

The next phase of this project is to restore the hand pumper. Brad Utter and the team at WHMCC have been working to inventory the pieces, identify those that have been lost to time, and find an expert carpenter to rebuild the engine’s box. Additionally, the restoration of any 19th-century object is expensive; this project carries an estimated price tag of $100,000. For next year the museum will focus most of its fundraising efforts on the restoration of the Converse. The goal is not to restore the engine to working condition, but rather to have it look like it did when it came out of the factory. It will then be able to participate in Waterford’s numerous parades and shared with the community. The Barry Walsh Memorial Building will then transform into an exhibition space, proudly telling the history of the L. Button & Son.

This article was written by Elliot Gnirrep, Director of the Waterford Historical Museum and Cultural Center, located in the 1830 Hugh White Homestead at 2 Museum Lane in Waterford. For more information, check the museum’s website https://waterfordmuseum.com/

Changes at the Gateway Board of Trustees

At its December 2024 quarterly meeting, the Gateway’s all-volunteer Board of Trustees said goodbye to two members and welcomed two new members. Leaving the board were Rosemary Nichols and Lynn Momrow-Zielinski. Rosemary served on the board for several decades, and over the years she provided invaluable assistance on legal matters. Lynn will be hard to replace as chair of our Gala Committee. However, as Lynn leaves her husband Marl Zielinski joins the board. He just completed a graduate certificate in museum studies from the Harvard Extension School, and is working on a master’s degree in public history from SUNY Empire State University. Mark has agreed to chair our Collections Committee. Also joining the board is retired Troy firefighter Joe Reilly. Joe is a local history expert, and led our recent tour to the Burden water wheel site.

Newsletter - Winter 2025