{"nrhp_refnum":"00000877","name":"Riders Mills Historic District","other_names":["Mosher Mills"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"NY 66, Bachus Rd., Riders Mills Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chatham","county":"Columbia County","state":"NY","lat":42.482315746500035,"lon":-73.55959892723665,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-08-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture","Industry","Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Community Planning and Development","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district in the hamlet of Riders Mills, Town of Chatham, Columbia County, New York, along Kinderhook Creek. It includes 20 contributing buildings, eight archeological sites and a bridge, dating from about 1780 to 1948.","why_significant":"The district is significant as an early to mid-nineteenth century milling community developed by Eseck Mosher and the Jonathan Rider family until a flood in 1869 destroyed the mills. It also retains intact nineteenth century houses and barns, and archeological sites such as mill foundations, a quarry and a covered bridge abutment.","narrative":"Riders Mills is a small hamlet in the Town of Chatham, Columbia County, New York, set along Kinderhook Creek where water power once drove several mills. Eseck Mosher developed the early dam and mills in the late eighteenth century, and Jonathan Rider bought land there in 1802 and expanded the operations. The Rider family dominated the community until 1948. The mills, including saw, grist, fulling and carding operations, were swept away in a flood in 1869 and were not rebuilt, and the hamlet turned to farming. What remains is a group of houses in late Colonial, Greek Revival and Italianate styles, a brick one-room schoolhouse, a former saloon, a blacksmith's site, and many nineteenth century barns. Eight archeological sites, including mill foundations, a stone quarry and a covered bridge abutment, add to the district. It is recognized for its milling history, its intact nineteenth century architecture and its archeological potential.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1800-1948","architect_builder":"unknown","architectural_style":"Colonial (late 18th century) Georgian; Greek Revival; Late Victorian Italianate","criteria":["A","C","D"],"status_note":"Most buildings are houses and outbuildings still in residential use; the brick schoolhouse, used as a school until the 1950s, is now used by the local historical society.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.338314-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/00000877.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000877/614d175cff-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000877/614d175cff-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"UtsukushiHikariNY","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Riders_Mill_School_(side).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">UtsukushiHikariNY</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Riders_Mill_School_(side).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317061","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riders_Mills_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7332618"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/columbia-county/riders-mills-historic-district-00000877/"}