The Creation and Expansion of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad
- Date Range
- April 17, 1826 – 2021
- Title
- The Creation and Expansion of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad
- What occurred
- Mohawk and Hudson Railroad was the first built in the state of NY (April 17th, 1826) and is one of the first railroads in the United States. The purpose of the company was to take passengers traveling using the Erie Canal from Schenectady to Albany. The reason was to bypass the Cohoes falls entirely and cut down the time needed to travel in between these two cities from a whole day to under one hour. The company changed to Albany and Schenectady Railroad (1847), then the New York Central Railroad (1853). Just as many parts of the Erie Canal were shut down the railroad companies also shifted throughout the years but many of the tracks still stay in the general area in which they were built many decades ago. These tracks go through the heavy industrial part of Schenectady which creates industrial pollution as a byproduct of the train running and the potential contaminants that it carries. This was another site where I collected dirt samples because of the potential contamination in the soil.
- Location
- Railroad St Schenectady, NY 12305
- Image Citation
- https://archive.org/details/schenectadyancie01monr/page/n219/mode/2up?view=theater
- Student name(s)
- Julien Evans