Cohoes NY is located at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers, about ten miles north of Albany NY, the Capitol of New York State.

Starting in the mid 1800's and continuing into the early years of the twentieth century, Cohoes was the 'Knitting Capitol of the World', due to the incredible output of the Harmony Mills, which were situated along the banks of the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal, which was the major shipping facility back then. Cohoes was a company town, with company built worker's housing and the like.

I was born and raised in Cohoes. Although I stayed in the general area, I moved out of Cohoes in 1977. In the late 1950's and 1960's, when I was growing up, although the Harmony Company was long gone and the mills shuttered and wasting away, Cohoes was still a thriving town with two high schools and a fairly vibrant downtown. By the time I left, though, the suburban malls had done their damage and downtown was slowing down, one fire after another destroying once proud businesses.

In 1997 I moved my elderly parents back to an apartment in Cohoes so that they could be near their church and doctor and the stores where they had traded their whole lives. The changes I saw in the city were significant enough to convince me to spend time exploring what was left. These images are what I found.

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