Center of Operations

Center of Operations. . Guy Park, Guy Johnson's manor house, was built here because boats on the Mohawk River offered the best way to move goods and people during the 1700s. Successive waves of transportation improvements - Mohawk Turnpike, Erie Canal, railroads, and Barge Canal - reshaped Guy Park and its surroundings. The house was originally built facing the river, but the back door became the front when the turnpike and railroad passed by the opposite side., Manor House On The Mohawk , This site provided river access for the Johnson family's vast Mohawk Valley holdings and controlled the flow of goods between colonial traders and American Indians. , After the American Revolution, river improvements and turnpikes reinforced Guy Park's key location. The stone house became a popular inn along the Mohawk Turnpike. That role faded after the Erie Canal was built on the far side of the river., Guy Park Grows Wings , Utica and Schenectady Railroad trains first steamed by here in 1836. By 1853 that line was merged with others as the New York Central - a railroad reaching from New York City to Buffalo and later Chicago. This remains of the busiest rail corridors in the country. , James Stewart, a prosperous canal and railroad contractor, bought Guy Park in the 1840s, and later added wings and porches. Ironically, Stewart was killed by an express train while crossing the tracks in front of the house., Construction Headquarters , Guy Park served as construction headquarters for Barge Canal projects in this part of the valley from 1907 to 1918. Lock 11 took a big chuck of the yard and the rest was filled with derricks, boilers, and a blacksmith shop.