Today simplified spelling has it as “Peebles Island,” but this treasure of the Capital District was originally spelled “Peobles” back to the days of the original patroon. This 1891 Watson map doesn’t show any of the industry on the island, where the Cluett-Peabody company and its various iterations had a bleach and dye works. Nice to see names on the islands to the west, which only makes me wonder if the islands to the north felt slighted for remaining nameless. The hydraulic canal, which fed industry on the Waterford side, is gone now, but the old Champlain Canal remains. The path of the Cohoes and Waterford Horse Rail Road is now Saratoga Avenue, Route 32.
On the southwest corner, just at the edge of Cohoes, is an “Axe Fact. Foundry” I’d love to know more about. It may have been the Simmons Axe Company, or the Cohoes Axe Manufacturing Company, or perhaps they were the same. I’ll have to axe the Google.
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