{"nrhp_refnum":"95000591","name":"Central Powerhouse","other_names":["Town of Moriah Water Department Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Jct. of Tracy Rd. and New Bed Rd., SE corner, Town of Moriah","address_restricted":false,"city":"Witherbee","county":"Essex County","state":"NY","lat":44.089655298000025,"lon":-73.53658342499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1995-06-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick industrial building at the southeast corner of Tracy Road and New Bed Road in the hamlet of Witherbee, town of Moriah, Essex County, New York. It was built in 1902 as a powerhouse, with a concrete cast stone addition in 1904-05.","why_significant":"Architecturally, it is a largely intact and rare surviving example of an early-20th-century utilitarian building type in the region. Historically, it was the main powerhouse for the Witherbee, Sherman and Company iron operations and helped bring electric power to the local iron mining industry. It is the only surviving structure in the town built to house electric generators, and one of only two industrial buildings left from the Mineville-Witherbee mining operations.","narrative":"Built in 1902 in the hamlet of Witherbee, this brick powerhouse once supplied electricity to the iron mining works of Witherbee, Sherman and Company. The gable-roofed building has corrugated metal roofing, brick pilasters, corbelled brickwork and segmental-arched openings, with a hint of Romanesque influence. A concrete cast stone addition from 1904-05 housed transformers and an ash hopper. Inside, the engine room and boiler room survive, along with exposed steel trusses and an original wood ash conveyor. Steam generation and power transformed from nearby water plants allowed the company to electrify mining, ore handling and concentrating operations. Most other industrial buildings from the Mineville-Witherbee mining era were later destroyed, leaving this as the only surviving structure in the town built to house electric generators. The Town of Moriah received it in 1962, and it now serves as the town water department building, with the original pumps still operating. It was listed for its industrial history and its rare architecture.","period_of_significance":"1902-05","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Industrial; Late Victorian/Romanesque","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Now used as the Town of Moriah Water Department building; the original water pumps are still in use. The building retains a substantial amount of its historic integrity.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.610203-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/95000591.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95000591/525a6f2312-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95000591/525a6f2312-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Alex Scrodin","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Site_of_former_Power_House_in_2014.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Alex Scrodin</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:Site_of_former_Power_House_in_2014.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75312948","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Powerhouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5061692"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/essex-county/central-powerhouse-95000591/"}