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History
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Albany County's youngest and also smallest township—measured in both area and population—is Green Island, lying between Troy and the Maplewood shore of Colonie. The island is two miles long and its latest census figure was 2,693. If one inquires about the village of Green Island, the answers are the same, because the town and the village are identical in extent.
When this peculiar circumstance came to pass, it was unique in New York State. Since that time, three places in Westchester County, which are by no means islands, have followed the example by making a village and a township coextensive. These are Scarsdale, Harrison, and Mt. Kisko.
A sense of independence has motivated the people of Green Island ever since they became a community. They divorced themselves from West Troy in 1869—while the famed Eaton & Gilbert car works were booming—by becoming incorporated as a village in their own right. But Green Island was still a part of the large town of Watervliet.
When Colonie was detached from the town of Watervliet in 1895, the villages of West Troy and Green Island were not included in the new township, but were left dangling as tag-ends of the old one. Manifestly, this was because they had other ideas for their destinies. On May 21, 1896, the Legislature acceded to the request of Green Island to become a new and separate town within the framework of its village bounds. With this gambit, Green Island was relieved of paying town taxes for services which, as a village, it did not receive; while the village form of government, in handling certain services, was more flexible and efficient. This explains why a visitor today will find segregated village and town offices within less than a block of each other.
Green Island is the southernmost and largest of those islands which have been cut asunder by the "sprouts" of the Mohawk River seeking to reach the Hudson. Because its eastern frontage is along the Hudson in direct line with Van Schaick and Peebles Islands, it was a link in the riverside travel route to the north, so important during all the colonial wars and the Revolution.
The Dutch name, Greenen Eylandt, did not connote "green," but rather Pine Island, suggesting its original appearance. Loose English usage misinterpreted the adjective. Blanketed by a layer of good glacial soil, it was placed under early cultivation, and for a time was nicknamed the Turkey Farm, in probable reference to a population of wild turkeys. The farming land worked by tenants included Center Island, a smaller island just to the eastward in the Hudson River, in which the wells for village water supply are now drilled.
Bitter commercial rivalry existed between Troy and Albany, heightened by the Erie Canal. The first highway bridge across the navigable Hudson was built from Lansingburg (now North Troy) to Waterford in 1804. In vain, Albany had sought a charter for a bridge for many years. The islands of the Mohawk "sprouts" played into Troy's hands. The Mohawk & Hudson Railroad from Albany to Schenectady, soon followed by a rail line from Schenectady to Saratoga, was a heavy blow to Troy. Financiers of Troy determined to get a railway of their own across the Hudson and run it into the North Country. Their answer was the Rensselaer & Saratoga Railroad. For this they hoped to cross the Hudson at the same place as the highway bridge, but Lansingburg refused to have trains rumbling through its streets.
Lansingburg's hindrance made Green Island one of the earliest railroad centers of the nation. The Troy people put their bridges across Center Island to Green Island. On the west side of the river, they laid their rails north to Mechanicville, thence west to Ballston Spa, there tying in with the Schenectady & Saratoga. The first railroad train in history to cross the Hudson was on October 6, 1835. The Green Island bridge spanned 1,600 feet—"along, noble bridge"—resting on eight stone piers, but it was not trusted for the weight of locomotives. Horses hauled the trains across it until 1854. A roundhouse was placed at the Green Island end to shelter waiting locomotives, and this was the forerunner of extensive railroad shops and yards.
The Troy & Schenectady Railroad materialized in 1843. As a series of short rail lines across the state were pieced into the New York Central system, Green Island became, in effect, the eastern terminus for that giant railroad because it had the only bridge, giving the Central a connection to New York City. Albany did not get a bridge until 1866.
Indirectly, this status of Green Island gave rise in 1853 to the Eaton & Gilbert Car Works which bloomed into the major industry of the village, for its time. This firm, headed by Uri Gilbert, was internationally known for its manufacture of fine railway coaches. It turned out the first sleepers and parlor cars, the first eight-wheeled passenger coaches, electric trolley cars, and observation cars. A shipment of drawing-room cars to England were pronounced "works of art," with hand-finished mahogany and rosewood. A deluxe private coach was built for Dom Pedro II, the last emperor of Brazil.
Meanwhile, water transport was having its impact on the island. With the opening of the Champlain Canal, a state dam was built between Green Island and Troy, impounding the Mohawk Basin of the Hudson. A "sloop lock" alongside the island aided river traffic bound for the Champlain. In the forepart of this century, the old Erie Canal was supplanted by the Barge Canal system. Under the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1910, giving the Army Corps of Engineers jurisdiction over navigable rivers, it was decided to replace the old state dam and "sloop lock" with the Federal Dam, 1,000 feet farther upstream. The new federal lock, on the Troy side, large enough to serve the biggest of Barge Canal craft, went into operation in 1916.
The new Federal Dam had a striking repercussion for Green Island. A quartet of famous cronies, styling themselves the "Four Vagabond Gentlemen," had adopted the habit of motor-camping trips together to various scenic parts of the country, including the Catskills, the Adirondacks, and the Green Mountains. These personages were Henry Ford, Thomas A. Edison, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs, the naturalist. In August, 1919, they pitched their tents on the upper end of Green Island within view of the Federal Dam. Ford was impressed by the dam's potential for a hydroelectric station to power a new factory he had in mind. As a result, he purchased 145 acres of adjacent land on the island, then applied to the Federal Power Commission for a license to generate power for private use at the Federal Dam.
It took a special act of Congress, but Ford obtained the permission. The resultant Ford Motor Company plant, which has meant so much to the economy of Green Island, was completed in 1923. The "Four Vagabond Gentlemen" carved their initials into a flat stone which was encased in glass, and may be seen today as part of the plant's cornerstone. Down the years this Ford plant has manufactured a large variety of automotive parts, while also serving as a distribution center for the northeast. At present it produces radiators and heater cores for Ford vehicles.
Green Island still cherishes the memory of an artist resident, the late David C. Lithgow. A Scotsman born in Sheffield, England, Lithgow came to New York in 1888. On a trip up the Hudson he discovered Green Island and obtained a job with the Gilbert Car Works, doing art decorations for the rail coaches. In later life he maintained a studio in Albany, commuting from Green Island. Lithgow gained renown for mural paintings in such places as the State Bank of Albany, the old Ten Eyck Hotel, the State Museum. An example of his sculpture is the Spanish-American War soldier in Albany's Townsend Park. He was the official artist for the noted Iroquois life groups in the old State Museum. Dave Lithgow died in 1958.
