At NY 32 on Hudson River, Mechanicville, New York. County/parish: Rensselaer.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places November 13, 1989. NRIS 89001942.
1 contributing building. 3 contributing structures.
Mechanicville Hydroelectric Plant is a 18.3-acre (7.4 ha) national historic district located at Mechanicville in Saratoga County, New York. The listing included one contributing building and three contributing structures. The district dates to 1897 and includes notable Queen Anne architecture.
The district includes the powerhouse, an earth embankment, a concrete non-overflow dam, and a 700-foot-long concrete gravity overflow dam. They were built in 1897–1898 by the Hudson River Power Transmission Company and span the western channel of the Hudson River between the Saratoga County shore and Bluff Island.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The station was designed to produce 5000 kilowatts from seven hydraulic turbine-generator units. Extensive renovations starting in 2003 have turned the plant into a working museum.
In 2021, the plant started mining bitcoin with a portion of the hydro-power energy. Because running a plant that still uses all of the original 1800s machinery, mining bitcoin has been three times more profitable than selling electricity back to the national grid.
(read more...)National Park Service documentation: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75321256