GLENWOOD POWER STATION, IV

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Pt. 4 of 4

For the history of the Glenwood Power Station, please see Pt. 1 of 4.

GLENWOOD POWER STATION, III

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Pt. 3 of 4

For the history of the Glenwood Power Station, please see Pt. 1 of 4.

GLENWOOD POWER STATION, II

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Pt. 2 of 4

For the history of the Glenwood Power Station, please see Pt. 1 of 4.

GLENWOOD POWER STATION, I

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Pt. 1 of 4

With windchill temperatures dipping into the low single digits, exploring this once fantastic power station was a bit of a mental challenge. Add this to the fact that Glenwood was one of the most dangerous sites we've ever explored and I'm simply glad to be home, warm and safe. For more, go here.

THE HISTORY: "The New York Central Railroad began construction on the $2mn Glenwood Power Station in 1901. The plant went online in 1906 powering the mainline between New York and Albany and most of the city of Yonkers. Two coal-fired steam turbines were installed. In 1936, the NYCRR decided to get out of the power generation business and sold to the plant to Consolidated Edison Co of NY for $850,000. /// The plant ran into the early 1950s but was gradually backed down as newer, larger power stations plants were built and finally Glenwood was shutdown for good after sitting idle for years. After a failed attempt to sell the structure and the property to the City of Yonkers for a sum of $1, ConEd abandoned it completely, removing its steam turbines and machinery from the pit, and the boilers from their brick stalls. All that was left behind were the hydraulic circuit breakers, stripped switchboards, and 5 or 6 rotary converters, which occupied the 2nd floor of a smaller building, which sat to the north of the main powerhouse. Over the last four decades, the plant became somewhat of an urban legend, the subject of local folklore, and fell victim to more impromptu scavenging and vandalism as the neighborhood around it slowly fell apart. The site is being evaluated for landmark designation and adaptive reuse." – LostCityExplorers.net

BOYCE THOMPSON INSTITUTE

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Another failed attempt at saving something special, this time at the hands of the City of Yonkers. After leaving in 1978, the institute was occupied through 1997, only to be acquired by the city in 1999. After abatement was completed, the city decided not to use it as a school, several proposals for reuse came and went and in 2004, plans by a real estate company were brought to the table – which obviously did not come to fruition. Now, practically beyond reasonable budgetary repair, the building will surely see its demise in years to come.

Thanks to Hudson Valley Ruins for much of the information here.

THE HISTORY: "Thompson’s most significant achievement was yet to be realized. He stated at the time: 'There will be two hundred million people in this country pretty soon. It’s going to be a question of bread, of primary food supply. That question is beyond politicians and sociologists. I think I will work out some institution to deal with plant physiology, to help protect the basic needs of the 200 million. Not a uplift foundation, but a scientific institution dealing with definite things, like germination, parasites, plant diseases, and plant potentialities.' /// And so in 1919, he began to obtain property opposite his Yonkers home to house the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, created with an initial investment of $1 million dollars, an amount to which much more was added over the years. /// The Institute was formally dedicated on September 24, 1924. The original building had a total floor space of 85,764 sq. ft. There was an arboretum and greenhouse space of over 16,000 sq. ft. The Institute used to own more than 300 acres of rich agricultural land for field plots. /// William Boyce Thompson died of pneumonia on June 27, 1930, at the Alders. His health had been declining since 1926, and he had only recently returned to Yonkers from a long convalescence in Arizona. The funeral, on June 29, 1930, drew a virtual who’s who of American Society. /// The Boyce Thompson Institute later became a part of Cornell University and was moved to its Ithaca campus in 1978, after 54 years in Yonkers." – John D'Agnillo