The Poestenkill

Introduction

The Poestenkill is a creek that runs through the southern portion of Troy and empties out into the Hudson. Due to the changes in elevation the Poestenkill is not a good method of transportation. Instead, these elevation changes make it a great place for mills and factories.

Early Years

Once people started settling in what is today, Troy, the fast-flowing waters of the Poestenkill were quickly put to use for mills. It was recorded in April of 1667 that there was a sawmill built on the west side of the creek by Jan Barentsen Wemp. At the time that this was recorded, Wemp had passed away and his wife had remarried, meaning the sawmill had been in existence even earlier than that.

By the year 1789, the number of sawmills had increased along both the Poestenkill and Wynantskill as lumber was in high demand for new building projects as the town of Troy continued to grow. Three years later, in 1792, the first paper mill in Northern New York was built along the Poestenkill. It was owned by Mahlon Taylor who also had a gristmill and sawmill built. All three of his mills were powered by a flume that channeled water from the dam he also had built. In just another three years, Taylor alone had built another gristmill and sawmill, giving him a total of five mills along the Poestenkill.

Modern Uses and Ruins

When visiting the Poestenkill in present day, there is only one building that is still in use there. This is a Hydroelectric power plant owned by Ampersand Hydro LLC. Along with this, there are also many ruins from mills and factories that used to be in use. One such ruin was the Manning Paper Mill, which manufactured manilla paper. The mill was established along with the company 1846 under the name Manning and Peckham. The mill was abandoned in 1962 when the company moved to Green Island.

Just up the bank of the Poestenkill was another mill that doesn’t even have ruins left. This was a textile mill called the Marshall Mills, located on the southern side of Congress Street. It was built in 1825, and stood until around 1980, when it was demolished, and the Polytechnic dorms were built in its place.

References

“Manning Paper Mill, Troy, NY.” New York Heritage Digital Collections , October 24, 2014. https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll33/id/54/.

“Marshall Mills, Troy, NY.” New York Heritage Digital Collections, January 30, 2015. https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll33/id/82/rec/4.

Weise, William. Troy's One Hundred Years. Troy, N.Y.: William H. Young, 7 and 9 First Street. 1891.