Cohoes is a city in Albany County, New York at the junction of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. That geographic position and the water power generated by the rivers made it a crossroad in the 19th century for canals, railroads, multiple textile mills as well as immigrants from Quebec, Ireland, Italy, Ukraine, Armenia and Poland. It is also home to the Cohoes Falls.
The land and islands in the rivers beneath the mills, homes and downtown was once the home of the Mohawk people, Mahican people, and indigenous people. People in Cohoes were often told in 1609 Henry Hudson sailed the Half Moon all the way up the Hudson River to Cohoes and a replica used to have a place in a city park. The New York State Archives in Albany has has documents of Dutch colonists purchasing land for patents in the vicinity of Fort Orange and Cohoes Falls from indigenous peoples. The Dutch brought disease along with them and by 1628, native populations suffered and many died. Meanwhile the beaver trade was steady. The part of present day Cohoes that was on the west side of the Hudson played its part in the American Revolution. Native populations diminished, farms and logging moved in. The Schuyler family had timber plantations, with enslaved African laborers, upriver in what is now Saratoga county. Then came the Industrial Revolution, and Cohoes, relying on a continual source of cotton from southern plantations moved quickly from wool to cotton production. The the immigrants came to run the mills. In the 19th century, it was diverse. The engineers and factory superintendents comprised the educated upper class, the immigrants made up the working class.
By the 19th century, Cohoes had multiple churches to serve the diverse community. The Cohoes Library has attempted to enumerate them all here. Catholic churches were language based and there were many- 4 French (St. Joseph, St. Marie, St. Anne and Sacré Coeur), 3 Irish (St. Bernard, St. Patrick, St. Agnes) 1 Ukrainian Orthodox (Sts. Peter and Paul) , 1 Polish (St. Michael), 1 Italian (St. Rita). The Protestant Churches were multiple Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodists, Baptists, Dutch Reformed, Lutheran, Scandinavian Pilgrim and at least one synagogue.
For the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was a diverse community. It’s crown has always been the Cohoes Falls which doesn’t fail to awe observers, especially in spring when the Mohawk River floods.
Kusaywa’s Past and Present Map of Cohoes, New York is a very interesting map of past and present Cohoes
