Scott, R. and W., Ice Company Powerhouse and Ice House Site

On a peninsula along the Hudson River in Stuyvesant, the remains of the R. and W. Scott Ice Company complex preserve evidence of an industry that once lined the river. Robert and William Scott built the ice house and powerhouse in 1885. The ice house had twelve storage chambers and six elevators, and held more than 50,000 tons. A fire in the late 1930s destroyed the frame building and the powerhouse roof. What survives is a stone foundation measuring 300 by 200 feet, the four brick walls and an 85-foot chimney of the powerhouse, timber dock pilings and bulkhead cribbing. The powerhouse housed the steam engine that drove the elevators, and its walls and chimney carry elaborate brick banding, corbelling and diamond patterns. The site was recognized as the most intact ice industry site in the region, showing how these large riverside facilities were arranged and operated during the period when the Hudson supplied much of the nation's ice.