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Concept
Mechanicville, New York
Summary
Mechanicville is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 5,196 at the time of the 2010 census. It is the smallest city by area in the state. The name is derived from the occupations of early residents.
The city is located on the eastern border of Saratoga County and is north of Albany, the state capital. Mechanicville borders the towns of Stillwater (of which it was once a part) and Halfmoon in the county, and the town of Schaghticoke, Rensselaer County.
The first listing of a settlement on Shenendehowa Creek is in 1721. At that time, Cornelius Van Buren had a sawmill at the mouth of the creek where it emptied into the Hudson River.
The first documented occurrence of the name "Mechanicville" dates back to 1829. The name comes from the early settlers, who were independent mastercraftsmen such as millers, carpenters, or butchers, whose professions were commonly known as the "mechanical arts" at the time.
About 35 years later, small flour mills were already established. When the Champlain Canal reached the settlement in 1823, and especially when the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad laid a track through the area in 1835, Mechanicville became an important commerce interchange.
The community became an incorporated village in 1859, when it had about 1000 inhabitants. It grew rapidly as textile mills, factories, and a linen thread company came to Mechanicville.
The first conspicuous casualty of the American Civil War, Elmer E. Ellsworth, was buried in Mechanicville in 1861.
In 1878, additional railways came to the village, and it became an important center of papermaking.
In 1898, Robert Newton King built a hydroelectric power plant on the Hudson River. The Mechanicville Hydroelectric Plant is now the oldest continuously-operating hydroelectric plant in the United States and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
By 1900, Mechanicville was a major transfer yard and car repair center for the railways. In the 1920s, Mechanicville had a population of nearly 10,000.
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