Enlarged Erie Canal Historic District (Discontiguous)

Running through the City of Cohoes, this discontiguous district preserves pieces of the Enlarged Erie Canal, the widened and deepened version of the original canal built between 1836 and 1862. Five numbered units each center on surviving locks between historic Locks 9 and 18, along with berm walls, towpath, prism and a buried stone culvert. Lock 9 and Locks 14, 15 and 17 keep chamber walls and center piers built of coursed limestone ashlar. Other locks are reduced, buried beneath streets or buildings, or incorporated into later structures such as a 1966 firehouse. The canal replaced single-chamber locks with larger double-chamber locks, and engineers including Holmes Hutchinson, John Jervis and William McAlpine shaped the work in this area. The district was recognized for its role in transportation, engineering and commerce, and for the way its surviving features allow the canal's route through the city to be followed.