Saw Mill River Daylighting - Moving Through Yonkers

Moving Through Yonkers

 

From Sail to Steam

In colonial times, the Dutch and English settlers in Yonkers moved their merchandise up and down the Hudson River under sail. In 1807 Robert Fulton invented the first practical steamboat, "Clermont," making travel and shipping by water far more efficient. Soon daily runs from New York to Albany were a reality. A large steamboat dock extending into the Hudson was built to take on and discharge passengers and goods. This dock became the appropriately named "Dock Street." The Hudson River was the highway that connected New York to Albany and beyond.

From Steam to Rail

In 1840s, a railroad following the eastern shoreline of the Hudson River was proposed by a group of investors interested in merging their smaller existing lines into one system. Construction of the tracks was interrupted by the bay at the confluence of the Saw Mill River with the Hudson. To avoid building an expensive bridge, the existing rocky bluffs (palisades) along the southern banks of the Saw Mill River were used to fill in the bay, irreversibly changing the path and ecology of the river. 

Interestingly, railroads were not immediately successful. They struggled to lure riders and were once considered a risky investment. On one landmark day in 1886, the Hudson River steamship "Chrystenah" was delayed by fog. Unhappy passengers got off and took the train for the rest of the ride from Yonkers to New York City, starting the movement away from steamboats to railways. 

As the trains made travel easy, wealthy families came to Yonkers and built mansions with views of the Hudson and the Palisades. The now successful New York Central Rail Road commissioned Warren and Wetmore, the architects who designed Grand Central Station, to build a new station on the site of the original Yonkers depot in 1911.

Submitted by @lampbane