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Delaware & Hudson Canal

One Not-So-Benign Influence Of The D&H Canal

January 26, 2021 by John Conway 5 Comments

canal boats unloading their coal at RondoutThe positive impacts of the Delaware & Hudson Canal on Sullivan County were indisputable. With its opening in 1828, the 108-mile-long waterway made it possible for the first time to easily transport goods in and out of the area, and directly led to the growth of the tanning and bluestone industries. Entire communities, such as Barryville, Wurtsboro and Phillipsport, owe their very existence to the D & H, and while the canal was in operation, each was among the largest communities in the county in terms of commerce and population. [Read more…] about One Not-So-Benign Influence Of The D&H Canal

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Western NY Tagged With: D&H Canal, Delaware & Hudson Canal, Delaware & Hudson Railroad, Medical History, Public Health, Sullivan County, Transportation History

Great Rivals: Lehigh Navigation and the D&H Canal

August 14, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Lehigh Coal Cos open pit Summit Hill mine on Mauch Chunk Mountain

The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, the great rival to the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, was built a few years before the completion of the D&H and carried a significant amount of anthracite coal to the tide-waters of the Hudson and Delaware Rivers.

[Read more…] about Great Rivals: Lehigh Navigation and the D&H Canal

Filed Under: Events, History Tagged With: D&H Canal, Delaware & Hudson Canal, Delaware River, Geology, Hudson River, Lehigh Coal, Neversink Valley Museum, Transportation History

Rondout National Historic District: A Walking Tour

July 2, 2015 by Olivia Twine 1 Comment

Church steeple with Mary Power steamship weathervane, seen from President's Place.A walking tour of The Rondout-West Strand National Historic District in Kingston, sponsored monthly by Friends of Historic Kingston, contrasts the results of a heartbreaking 1960’s urban renewal project with the gentrification that followed in an area that escaped the wrecking ball.

After the entire east side of Lower Broadway was demolished in 1967 vintage 19th century buildings on the opposite side stood empty, awaiting what seemed their inevitable fate. Luckily, federal funding ran out and what is today the Rondout – West Strand National Historic District was spared. New structures were built part-way up the east side of the hill. The restored neighborhood brings to my mind the painful image of a one-winged bird. [Read more…] about Rondout National Historic District: A Walking Tour

Filed Under: Events, History Tagged With: Cultural History, D&H Canal, Delaware & Hudson Canal, Delaware & Hudson Railroad, Historic Preservation, Hudson River, Industrial History, Kingston, Maritime History, NY, Transportation, Ulster County

Delaware & Hudson History On The Historians Podcast

January 30, 2015 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

The Historians LogoThis week “The Historians” podcast features an interview with Jim Bachorz, publisher of the Bridge Line Historical Society Bulletin, an extensive monthly newsletter that focuses on Delaware & Hudson Railroad (D&H) history and other rail topics. The D&H called itself the Bridge Line linking New York, New England and Canada. Today the railroad is a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Railway. Listen at “The Historians” online archive at http://www.bobcudmore.com/thehistorians/
[Read more…] about Delaware & Hudson History On The Historians Podcast

Filed Under: History Tagged With: D&H Canal, Delaware & Hudson Canal, Delaware & Hudson Railroad, Industrial History, Labor History, Podcasts, The Historians, Transportation

Roebling’s Wire Rope Modernized The D & H Canal

June 10, 2014 by John Conway 2 Comments

John A. RoeblingJohn Augustus Roebling celebrated two milestones in June of 1849, his 43rd birthday and the beginning of construction of the Neversink Aqueduct on the Delaware & Hudson Canal. It was the third of the four aqueducts he would design and build for the canal company, and followed the completion of the Delaware and Lackawaxen Aqueducts the previous year.

Roebling (his given name was actually Johann August) was born in Muhlhausen, in Prussia, on June 12, 1806, the youngest son of Christoph Polycarpa Roebling and Fredericke Dorothea Mueller Roebling. He grew up in a world of private tutors, learned the music of Bach and the poetry of Goethe, and according to some sources, built a model of a suspension bridge when he was nine years old that bore a striking resemblance to what would be his most famous work, the Brooklyn Bridge. He gained admission to the prestigious engineering program at the Royal Polytechnic Institute in Berlin, where he studied languages and philosophy as well as architecture, bridge construction and hydraulics. He graduated in 1826, and went to work for the state, as was the requirement at that time, serving three years building roads in Westphalia. [Read more…] about Roebling’s Wire Rope Modernized The D & H Canal

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Brooklyn Bridge, D&H Canal, Delaware & Hudson Canal, Delaware & Hudson Railroad, Delaware River, Industrial History, Maritime History, Neversink River, Sullivan County, Transportation, Ulster County

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