Snyder Estate Natural Cement Historic District
Encyclopedia
The Snyder Estate Natural Cement Historic District is located in the Town of Rosendale
, New York
, United States
. It is a 275 acres (111.3 ha) tract roughly bounded by Rondout Creek
, Binnewater and Cottekill roads and Sawdust Avenue. NY 213
runs through the lower portion of the district, paralleling the dry bed of the Delaware and Hudson Canal
, where the product that gives the district its name was first discovered.
Within the district's bounds are 122 contributing properties
representing what remains of five plants that turned out Rosendale cement
, and the homes and dependencies of the Snyder family, who originally owned the land. They range in age from the bed of the canal, where the cement was first discovered in 1825 during construction, to some of the last factories built before production was ended in 1970. Included are not just homes, barns and factories but mines, reservoirs and a rail siding. After an aborted attempt to secure National Historic Landmark District
status in 1978, the district
was added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1992.
to the south, which rise to over 300 feet (91 m) in elevation, more than 200 feet (61 m) above the creek's waters to the south.
Between them in a narrow valley sit the remains of one the largest cement plants in it. An old Wallkill Valley Railroad siding runs from there to the northeast corner near where it once joined the main line at today's Binnewater Historic District
. Old mines and quarries are tunneled into the sides of both hills.
The property is mostly wooded save for the developed areas. Some of the areas along the road are old fields, today meadow
s.
on the creek. Known today as the Century House, it is the oldest extant building in the district whose age is precisely known.
Sixteen years later, Jacob ceded a portion of his land to John B. Jervis
of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, allowing it to be built across the property with the condition that the company build him a slip
so he could use it to ship his produce to market, and a bridge to reach his mill. Crews excavating the area a short while later found large deposits of dolostone
, an argillaceous mineral
that could be turned into natural cement
, which needed no additives once pulverized and mixed.
Since similar cement had made construction of the Erie Canal
possible, the company began setting up production facilities almost immediately. Not only would many of the finished canal locks use this new cement, it would guarantee the canal another customer besides the anthracite coal miners it was built to serve. In 1830 Snyder leased the southeastern corner of his property to Watson Lawrence, who had already built a cement plant on adjacent land. Other mines and cement plants opened up in the 32 square miles (82.9 km²) area along the Rondout as well, creating a virbant local industry.
He reinvested a lot of the Lawrence Cement Company's profits in improving its technical quality, and courted procurers for large, high-profile government projects like New York City's Croton Aqueduct and the docks at the Brooklyn Navy Yard
. This helped create a reputation for quality, and soon "Rosendale cement" became a generic term
for any such natural cement regardless of where it was produced. But it also strained the company's finances, and after several crises the company finally failed for good in 1858.
Lawrence retained control of the new Lawrenceville Cement Company, but after three years he was ousted and William Beach took over. He expanded the production facilities, in time for the rise in demand that occurred as the Gilded Age
saw a rapid increase in demand after the lull caused by the Civil War
. He died in 1881, and control passed to his son William N. Beach II shortly thereafter.
The younger Beach began taking advantage of the recently-constructed Wallkill Valley Railroad and its connections to the New York Central
network as a way to get product to market, building a siding to the plant. In keeping with a general national trend, this began a shift away from the canal that had spawned the cement works, and within two decades the canal would carry its last loads.
, an icon of the era. Beach built another new plant in the northeast corner of the property to handle demand. But the development of the cheaper Portland cement
during that time period eventually toppled the Rosendale variety, whose market share
dropped 90% in the first decade of the 20th century. Local industrial magnate Samuel Coykendall eventually tried to salvage the Rosendale industry through mergers, combining all the local companies save the ones on the Snyder property into one. The Consolidated Rosendale Cement Company was no more successful than any of its component companies had been, and was in receivership
by 1918.
In 1911 an Ulster County
court had forced the sale of the Snyder company from William Snyder to 21-year-old Andrew J. Snyder II after a disagreement over the sharing of profit
s. The younger Snyder dismantled one of the larger plants and built a smaller one in its place. He was able to continue production on a reduced scale through the 1920s, and later in that decade attracted the interest of an investor from Cleveland
named Kling, who leased a portion of the property from Snyder and started the Interstate Cement Company.
The Great Depression
soon put an end to that venture, and by 1935 it had become the Century Cement Manufacturing Co., wholly owned by Snyder. He was able to keep the company going through the later 1930s when he allowed mushroom growers
to set up shop in the abandoned Beach Mine. Eventually that would produce five tons (4.5 tonnes) per day before it stopped in 1960.
At the same time he also took advantage of a discovery that Portland cement could be made even more quickly and last longer when combined with natural cement in an 80-20 ratio
. This blend was particularly suited to highway
s, then being built at a great pace everywhere due to the combination of New Deal
public works
projects and increasing automobile use. By the start of World War II
production was again on the increase.
It fell during the war years, but rebounded afterwards to even higher levels as highway construction picked up again with the development of the Interstate Highway System
. In 1954 Rosendale cement was used for the nearby sections of the New York State Thruway
. However, it would be the last major public project in which it was used.
Snyder had been exploring the possibilities of making Portland cement as well. Geologists
found that there were significant reserves in the Hudson Valley of the type of limestone
needed, so in 1958 the copmpany bought a plant from the Swiss company Van Roll. Three years later it was built next to the existing facilities and began turning out cement. Around the same time, chemists
developed an additive
to Portland cement which eliminated the need for the Rosendale mix, and cut costs even further.
Snyder and the company's technical team tried to keep up with the changes, but they were as old as he was and had trouble getting the formula right. The market for the natural cement the property still produced was almost negligible, and in 1970 Snyder finally halted production almost a century and a half after Rosendale cement had first been discovered on the bed of the long-abandoned canal. He himself died five years later
in 1978 that was never completed. The Century House Historical Society (CHHS) acquired the 19 acres (7.7 ha) around the eponymous 1809 building where Jacob Lowe Snyder lived at the time of the canal's construction. It was chartered provisionally in 1992 and fully in 2000. It runs the property as a museum devoted to both the house and the American natural cement industry.
In the plant's last years, one of the few markets it had left was the restoration of historic buildings that had originally used it or similar materials. The factory's closure left those builders without any source of authentic material. In 2004 Edison Coatings, Inc., of Plainville, Connecticut
, trademark
ed the brand
Rosendale Natural Cement Products and began offering an authentic, historically accurate replacement.
The Century House Historical Society operates the site as a museum that is open to the public on Sunday afternoons in the summer season. The museum is also known as the "Century House Historical Society Museum" and the "Snyder Estate Museum".
The house features the Cement Industry Museum, with artifacts and photographs from the Rosendale cement
industry. Rosendale Natural Cement was used in the building of many historic buildings and structures, including the Brooklyn Bridge
, the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty
, the wings of the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Monument
, Grand Central Terminal
, the Croton Aqueduct
and dams and many other public works projects. There is also a display of horse-drawn carriages and sleighs.
, in 1950 the windows and roof were converted to a more standard gable
with dormers. It was also refaced in polychrome glazed brick imported from Leeds
. This drastic exterior redesign did not cost the house its historic status as its original framing
and interior layout remain intact.
next to it, and just west of Binnewater Road is a reservoir that was used to keep the canal full during dry stretches. The slip
that the company built for Snyder is also intact, and is possibly the only remaining slip from the original construction along the entire length of the former canal.
into one of the hillsides. It was constructed using the room and pillar technique, where pillars of dolostone have been left to support the overlying rock. The largest of the mines, it has been likened to an underground pillared room. It is currently mostly flooded with groundwater
, but that has not stopped musicians from recording in it to take advantage of the acoustics
.
Rosendale, New York
Rosendale is a town in the center of Ulster County, New York, United States. It once contained a village of the same name, which was dissolved through a vote. The population was 6,075 at the 2010 census.- History :...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is a 275 acres (111.3 ha) tract roughly bounded by Rondout Creek
Rondout Creek
Rondout Creek is a tributary of the Hudson River in Ulster and Sullivan counties, New York, USA. It rises on Rocky Mountain in the eastern Catskills, flows south into Rondout Reservoir, part of New York City's water supply network, then into the valley between the Catskills and the Shawangunk...
, Binnewater and Cottekill roads and Sawdust Avenue. NY 213
New York State Route 213
New York State Route 213 is a state highway located entirely in Ulster County. It runs from the eastern Catskills to downtown Kingston....
runs through the lower portion of the district, paralleling the dry bed of the Delaware and Hudson Canal
Delaware and Hudson Canal
The Delaware and Hudson Canal was the first venture of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, which later developed the Delaware and Hudson Railway...
, where the product that gives the district its name was first discovered.
Within the district's bounds are 122 contributing properties
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
representing what remains of five plants that turned out Rosendale cement
Rosendale cement
Rosendale cement refers to a type of natural cement produced in and around Rosendale, New York from argilaceous limestone. The fast-setting Rosendale natural cement mortars proved to be more efficient than the traditional mortars based on lime and sand...
, and the homes and dependencies of the Snyder family, who originally owned the land. They range in age from the bed of the canal, where the cement was first discovered in 1825 during construction, to some of the last factories built before production was ended in 1970. Included are not just homes, barns and factories but mines, reservoirs and a rail siding. After an aborted attempt to secure National Historic Landmark District
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
status in 1978, the district
Historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries, historic districts receive legal protection from development....
was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1992.
Geography
The district is shaped like a letter "r", solidly bounded by the roads and creek on three of its sides, but with its eastern boundary mostly following old roads between Route 213, Binnewater and Sawdust. Physically, it is dominated by two large hills, foothills of the Shawangunk RidgeShawangunk Ridge
The Shawangunk Ridge , also known as the Shawangunk Mountains or The Gunks, is a ridge of bedrock in Ulster County, Sullivan County and Orange County in the state of New York, extending from the northernmost point of New Jersey to the Catskill Mountains.The ridgetop, which widens considerably at...
to the south, which rise to over 300 feet (91 m) in elevation, more than 200 feet (61 m) above the creek's waters to the south.
Between them in a narrow valley sit the remains of one the largest cement plants in it. An old Wallkill Valley Railroad siding runs from there to the northeast corner near where it once joined the main line at today's Binnewater Historic District
Binnewater Historic District
The Binnewater Historic District is a national historic district located at Rosendale in Ulster County, New York. The district originally included nine contributing buildings built during the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
. Old mines and quarries are tunneled into the sides of both hills.
The property is mostly wooded save for the developed areas. Some of the areas along the road are old fields, today meadow
Meadow
A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants . The term is from Old English mædwe. In agriculture a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay...
s.
History
Almost as soon as it was initially discovered, production of the cement within the bounds of the district grew rapidly. That changed with the development of Portland cement at the end of the century. Production dropped as demand fell, and only through the creativity of one of the Snyder descendants did the company remain in operation to 1970.19th century
The property had been owned and farmed by the Snyder family since 1755. In 1809, Christopher and Deborah Snyder commissioned a house for their newlywed son Jacob Lowe Snyder, with an accompanying gristmillGristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
on the creek. Known today as the Century House, it is the oldest extant building in the district whose age is precisely known.
Sixteen years later, Jacob ceded a portion of his land to John B. Jervis
John B. Jervis
John Bloomfield Jervis was an American civil engineer. He was America's leading consulting engineer of the antebellum era . Jervis was a pioneer in the development of canals and railroads for the expanding United States...
of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, allowing it to be built across the property with the condition that the company build him a slip
Slipway
A slipway, boat slip or just a slip, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats. They are also used for launching and retrieving small boats on trailers and flying boats on their undercarriage. The...
so he could use it to ship his produce to market, and a bridge to reach his mill. Crews excavating the area a short while later found large deposits of dolostone
Dolostone
Dolostone or dolomite rock is a sedimentary carbonate rock that contains a high percentage of the mineral dolomite. In old U.S.G.S. publications it was referred to as magnesian limestone. Most dolostone formed as a magnesium replacement of limestone or lime mud prior to lithification. It is...
, an argillaceous mineral
Argillaceous minerals
Argillaceous minerals may appear silvery upon optical reflection and are minerals containing substantial amounts of clay-like components . Argillaceous components are fine-grained aluminosilicates, and more particularly clay minerals such as kaolinite, montmorillonite-smectite, illite, and...
that could be turned into natural cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
, which needed no additives once pulverized and mixed.
Since similar cement had made construction of the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
possible, the company began setting up production facilities almost immediately. Not only would many of the finished canal locks use this new cement, it would guarantee the canal another customer besides the anthracite coal miners it was built to serve. In 1830 Snyder leased the southeastern corner of his property to Watson Lawrence, who had already built a cement plant on adjacent land. Other mines and cement plants opened up in the 32 square miles (82.9 km²) area along the Rondout as well, creating a virbant local industry.
He reinvested a lot of the Lawrence Cement Company's profits in improving its technical quality, and courted procurers for large, high-profile government projects like New York City's Croton Aqueduct and the docks at the Brooklyn Navy Yard
Brooklyn Navy Yard
The United States Navy Yard, New York–better known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard or the New York Naval Shipyard –was an American shipyard located in Brooklyn, northeast of the Battery on the East River in Wallabout Basin, a semicircular bend of the river across from Corlear's Hook in Manhattan...
. This helped create a reputation for quality, and soon "Rosendale cement" became a generic term
Generic brand
Generic brands of consumer products are distinguished by the absence of a brand name. It is often inaccurate to describe these products as "lacking a brand name", as they usually are branded, albeit with either the brand of the store in which they are sold or a lesser-known brand name which may...
for any such natural cement regardless of where it was produced. But it also strained the company's finances, and after several crises the company finally failed for good in 1858.
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...
saw a rapid increase in demand after the lull caused by the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. He died in 1881, and control passed to his son William N. Beach II shortly thereafter.
The younger Beach began taking advantage of the recently-constructed Wallkill Valley Railroad and its connections to the New York Central
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
network as a way to get product to market, building a siding to the plant. In keeping with a general national trend, this began a shift away from the canal that had spawned the cement works, and within two decades the canal would carry its last loads.
20th century
As the century ended, the natural-cement industry dominated the market. The Snyder family was proud that their cement had been used in the Brooklyn BridgeBrooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...
, an icon of the era. Beach built another new plant in the northeast corner of the property to handle demand. But the development of the cheaper Portland cement
Portland cement
Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world because it is a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco and most non-specialty grout...
during that time period eventually toppled the Rosendale variety, whose market share
Market share
Market share is the percentage of a market accounted for by a specific entity. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 67 percent responded that they found the "dollar market share" metric very useful, while 61% found "unit market share" very useful.Marketers need to be able to...
dropped 90% in the first decade of the 20th century. Local industrial magnate Samuel Coykendall eventually tried to salvage the Rosendale industry through mergers, combining all the local companies save the ones on the Snyder property into one. The Consolidated Rosendale Cement Company was no more successful than any of its component companies had been, and was in receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
by 1918.
In 1911 an Ulster County
Ulster County, New York
Ulster County is a county located in the state of New York, USA. It sits in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 182,493. Recent population estimates completed by the United States Census Bureau for the 12-month period ending July 1 are at...
court had forced the sale of the Snyder company from William Snyder to 21-year-old Andrew J. Snyder II after a disagreement over the sharing of profit
Profit (accounting)
In accounting, profit can be considered to be the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market whatever it is that is accounted as an enterprise in terms of the component costs of delivered goods and/or services and any operating or other expenses.-Definition:There are...
s. The younger Snyder dismantled one of the larger plants and built a smaller one in its place. He was able to continue production on a reduced scale through the 1920s, and later in that decade attracted the interest of an investor from Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
named Kling, who leased a portion of the property from Snyder and started the Interstate Cement Company.
The Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
soon put an end to that venture, and by 1935 it had become the Century Cement Manufacturing Co., wholly owned by Snyder. He was able to keep the company going through the later 1930s when he allowed mushroom growers
Fungiculture
Fungiculture is the process of producing food, medicine, and other products by the cultivation of mushrooms and other fungi.The word is also commonly used to refer to the practice of cultivating fungi by leafcutter ants, termites, ambrosia beetles, and marsh periwinkles.- Introduction :Mushrooms...
to set up shop in the abandoned Beach Mine. Eventually that would produce five tons (4.5 tonnes) per day before it stopped in 1960.
At the same time he also took advantage of a discovery that Portland cement could be made even more quickly and last longer when combined with natural cement in an 80-20 ratio
Ratio
In mathematics, a ratio is a relationship between two numbers of the same kind , usually expressed as "a to b" or a:b, sometimes expressed arithmetically as a dimensionless quotient of the two which explicitly indicates how many times the first number contains the second In mathematics, a ratio is...
. This blend was particularly suited to highway
Highway
A highway is any public road. In American English, the term is common and almost always designates major roads. In British English, the term designates any road open to the public. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a...
s, then being built at a great pace everywhere due to the combination of New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
public works
Public works
Public works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...
projects and increasing automobile use. By the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
production was again on the increase.
It fell during the war years, but rebounded afterwards to even higher levels as highway construction picked up again with the development of the Interstate Highway System
Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...
. In 1954 Rosendale cement was used for the nearby sections of the New York State Thruway
New York State Thruway
The New York State Thruway is a system of limited-access highways located within the state of New York in the United States. The system, known officially as the Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway for former New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, is operated by the New York State Thruway Authority and...
. However, it would be the last major public project in which it was used.
Snyder had been exploring the possibilities of making Portland cement as well. Geologists
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
found that there were significant reserves in the Hudson Valley of the type of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
needed, so in 1958 the copmpany bought a plant from the Swiss company Van Roll. Three years later it was built next to the existing facilities and began turning out cement. Around the same time, chemists
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
developed an additive
Additive
Additive may refer to:* Additive function, a function that preserves the addition operation* Additive inverse, an arithmetic concept* Additive category, a preadditive category with finite biproducts...
to Portland cement which eliminated the need for the Rosendale mix, and cut costs even further.
Snyder and the company's technical team tried to keep up with the changes, but they were as old as he was and had trouble getting the formula right. The market for the natural cement the property still produced was almost negligible, and in 1970 Snyder finally halted production almost a century and a half after Rosendale cement had first been discovered on the bed of the long-abandoned canal. He himself died five years later
Preservation
Recognizing its historic importance not just to the region but the country as a whole, two staffers at the American Association for State and Local History prepared an application to have the district designated a National Historic LandmarkNational Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1978 that was never completed. The Century House Historical Society (CHHS) acquired the 19 acres (7.7 ha) around the eponymous 1809 building where Jacob Lowe Snyder lived at the time of the canal's construction. It was chartered provisionally in 1992 and fully in 2000. It runs the property as a museum devoted to both the house and the American natural cement industry.
In the plant's last years, one of the few markets it had left was the restoration of historic buildings that had originally used it or similar materials. The factory's closure left those builders without any source of authentic material. In 2004 Edison Coatings, Inc., of Plainville, Connecticut
Plainville, Connecticut
Plainville is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 17,328 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 9.8 square miles , of which 9.8 square miles is land and 0.1 square miles is water...
, trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
ed the brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
Rosendale Natural Cement Products and began offering an authentic, historically accurate replacement.
Significant contributing properties
Several of the many contributing resources to the district are notable in their own right. None have yet been separately listed on the Register, save the sections of canal bed, a National Historic Landmark.The Century House Historical Society operates the site as a museum that is open to the public on Sunday afternoons in the summer season. The museum is also known as the "Century House Historical Society Museum" and the "Snyder Estate Museum".
Century House
Jacob Lowe Snyder's 1809 frame house, renovated in the 1940s, is the core of the CHHS property and the oldest building in the district.The house features the Cement Industry Museum, with artifacts and photographs from the Rosendale cement
Rosendale, New York
Rosendale is a town in the center of Ulster County, New York, United States. It once contained a village of the same name, which was dissolved through a vote. The population was 6,075 at the 2010 census.- History :...
industry. Rosendale Natural Cement was used in the building of many historic buildings and structures, including the Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...
, the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
, the wings of the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Monument
Washington Monument
The Washington Monument is an obelisk near the west end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate the first U.S. president, General George Washington...
, Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal —often incorrectly called Grand Central Station, or shortened to simply Grand Central—is a terminal station at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States...
, the Croton Aqueduct
Croton Aqueduct
The Croton Aqueduct or Old Croton Aqueduct was a large and complex water distribution system constructed for New York City between 1837 and 1842...
and dams and many other public works projects. There is also a display of horse-drawn carriages and sleighs.
Andrew J. Snyder I House
Known also as the Ceramic Brick House. Originally built in 1887 as a Second Empire-style mansion complete with mansard roofMansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
, in 1950 the windows and roof were converted to a more standard gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
with dormers. It was also refaced in polychrome glazed brick imported from Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
. This drastic exterior redesign did not cost the house its historic status as its original framing
Framing (construction)
Framing, in construction known as light-frame construction, is a building technique based around structural members, usually called studs, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof comprising horizontal ceiling joists and sloping...
and interior layout remain intact.
Canal infrastructure
In addition to the canal bed, other aspects of the canal remain within the district. There is a waste weirWeir
A weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream. In most cases weirs take the form of a barrier across the river that causes water to pool behind the structure , but allows water to flow over the top...
next to it, and just west of Binnewater Road is a reservoir that was used to keep the canal full during dry stretches. The slip
Slipway
A slipway, boat slip or just a slip, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats. They are also used for launching and retrieving small boats on trailers and flying boats on their undercarriage. The...
that the company built for Snyder is also intact, and is possibly the only remaining slip from the original construction along the entire length of the former canal.
Widow Jane Mine
The oldest cement mine, a driftDrift mining
Drift mining is either the mining of a placer deposit by underground methods, or the working of coal seams accessed by adits driven into the surface outcrop of the coal bed. Drift is a more general mining term, meaning a near-horizontal passageway in a mine, following the bed or vein of ore. A...
into one of the hillsides. It was constructed using the room and pillar technique, where pillars of dolostone have been left to support the overlying rock. The largest of the mines, it has been likened to an underground pillared room. It is currently mostly flooded with groundwater
Groundwater
Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock...
, but that has not stopped musicians from recording in it to take advantage of the acoustics
Acoustics
Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
.