Cohoes Visitors Center
On Saturday 18, 2019 the City of Cohoes re-opened the newly renovated visitors center that now includes exhibits that detail the city's indelible links to the original Eire Canal, which once had 10 locks that spurred the development of the knitting mills that put Cohoes on the map.
"The legacy of Cohoes and the heritage of the Erie Canal are forever intertwined." Said Brian U. Stratton, New York State Canal Corporation director. "This is the place where the Erie Canal's designers overcame some of their most formidable challenges and enable the Canal to transform New York and this nation into a dominating center of commerce and trade.
In many ways, the Erie Canal and Cohoes grew up together. The Erie Canal catalyzed businesses and encouraged people to move to Cohoes, which was incorporated as a city in 1870. The current version of the Erie Canal uses the Mohawk River and no longer travels through Cohoes. However, many remnants of the enlarged canal in Cohoes can still be visited.
Mayor Christoper M .Briggs states, "The long awaited renovations to the Cohoes Visitors Center will provide an entirely unique and high quality experience, showcasing the city's most recognized historical attribute, the Erie Canal."
The project had been awarded a $62,000 grant from the New York State Canal Corporation and a $65,000 grant from the New York State Council for the Arts, as part of funding from Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's Regional Economic Development Council.
The grant was made in conjunction with the celebration of the Erie Canal's bicentennial, which began in 2017 to mark the start of construction and will run until 2025, the 200th year from when the entire Erie Canal was opened.
The visitor center located on the lower level of the Cohoes Music Hall at 58 Remsen Street, an historic structure that dates back to 1874 and is the fourth-oldest operating music hall in the U.S.
*written by Steven Gosset NYPA
