The Harmony Mills Historic District

The Harmony Mills Historic District. . , By the 1870s, the Harmony Mills had national significance as one of the largest and most technologically advanced cotton factories in the United States. Prior to 1870, no single mill operation in America equaled the Harmony Mills in scale or productivity. , The Harmony Mills Company advanced technology, developed innovations in factory operations and created an entire corporate community on what came to be called Harmony Hill. Harmony Hill included factory buildings, housing, shops, and places for education and recreation for workers and their families., The company ownership of the complex permitted a level of control over the workforce, predominantly women and children who also lived in company housing. Despite these constraints, workers protested against intolerable working conditions, most notably in the labor strikes of 1880-1882. , Eventually the cotton textile industry became less dependent on waterpower and moved to other regions, and the Harmony Mills Complex of housing and factories was sold in 1937., The Original Harmony Mill , The original mill was constructed one year after the incorporation of the Harmony Mills Manufacturing Company in 1837. Strategically placed along the enlarged Erie Canal (adjacent to Lock #16) it was four stories high, 165 feet long and 50 feet wide. Wheelhouses at each end with enclosed waterwheels powered the textile machinery with a driving pulley. A simple rectangular tower faced the Erie Canal, and three tenements for the superintendent and mill workers were built on the other side of the canal., Today , If you walk or drive up Vliet Street (at the north end of this park) you will see the mill on your right, near the intersection of Harmony Street., Harmony Mill #1 , From 1837 to 1850 the Harmony Manufacturing Corporation was never financially successful. In 1850 the original stockholders sold the mill property to textile merchants Garner and Company of New York City. Shortly afterward, the new owners placed the Cohoes operation under the supervision of Robert Johnston. Over the next 30 years, Robert and his son David John Johnston transformed the Harmony Mills of Cohoes into a highly sophisticated manufacturing complex producing cotton print cloth. Harmony Mill #1, the first of several factories built under the Johnstons' management to expand production capacity, was attached to the original 1837 mill., Harmony Mill #2 , The northern end of Mill #2 was completed in 1857 and the southern end in 1866. The building was in classic Second Empire design. The above photograph shows Mill #2 in the late 1930s. The mill was damaged by fire in 1995 and subsequently demolished., Today , Mill #2 was directly in front of you, as you stand in the former power canal for the mill. The stone arches mark the exits of the hydro tunnels that carried water released by the turbines at the back of the mill structure., Harmony Mill #3 , Harmony Mill #3 is an impressive example of 19th century industrial architecture, with elaborate and decorative Second Empire features. The entire building is 1,185 feet long and five stories high. The niche in the central tower contains a bronze statue of Thomas Garner, chief executive of Garner and Company, owners of the Harmony Mills. , Two of the Boyden turbines that powered the mill remain in their original location in the basement of the southern section of the mill. These high output-high tech turbines ensured that the Harmony Mills' production capacity was far ahead of the competition., Today , The water in this image is the power canal in which you are standing. Mill #3 is behind you to the right across North Mohawk Street.