{"nrhp_refnum":"04000350","name":"Valley Paper Mill Chimney and Site","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"NY 143 at Cty Rd. 111","address_restricted":false,"city":"Alcove","county":"Albany County","state":"NY","lat":42.47342023600004,"lon":-73.92296736399999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-04-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A less-than-one-acre site at NY 143 and CR 111 in Alcove, town of Coeymans, Albany County, New York, holding the 1844 brick chimney and the former site of the Valley Paper Mill, a straw paper mill.","why_significant":"The chimney is one of the few surviving features of the many mills that once lined the Hannacroix and Coeymans Creeks, and it serves as a landmark and symbol of the hamlet of Alcove. The mill site has been largely undisturbed since a fire destroyed the mill in 1891. It could yield information about the straw paper industry, mill construction, hydro engineering and workers' daily lives.","narrative":"A tall brick chimney and an open, mostly undisturbed lot mark the place where the Valley Paper Mill once operated in Alcove, in the town of Coeymans, Albany County. The chimney dates to 1844 and is a tapered rectangular brick structure about 110 feet high on a coursed stone base. Its top is decorated with corbeled brick and a square stage pierced by Gothic arched openings. The mill began as a cloth dressing and carding mill, was converted to straw wrapping paper in 1848, and later added steam power and a cylinder paper machine. By 1885 it could produce several tons of paper a day. Fire destroyed the mill in 1891, and the site was leveled and filled. Little has happened there since, apart from a creamery and tavern later built on part of it. The property was listed because the chimney is a rare, well-known survivor of the town's milling heritage, and the site may still hold information about the straw paper industry.","period_of_significance":"1844-1891","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Gothic Revival inspired chimney (Architectural Classification listed as n/a)","criteria":["A","D"],"status_note":"Listed as vacant/not in use. The site is an open area with a raised concrete slab left from a later creamery and tavern that was demolished in the mid-twentieth century. Ownership is passing to the Open Space Institute, which plans a passive park with historical interpretation.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:54.126574-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/04000350.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000350/7e27b10167-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000350/7e27b10167-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Upstate New York","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Valley_Paper_Mill_Chimney_and_Site_May_10.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Upstate New York</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Valley_Paper_Mill_Chimney_and_Site_May_10.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75316363","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Paper_Mill_Chimney_and_Site","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7912161"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/albany-county/valley-paper-mill-chimney-and-site-04000350/"}