The Troy Gas Light Company was a

gas lighting Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a fuel gas such as methane, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly by ...

company in

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The Troy Gasholder Building is one of only ten or so remaining examples of a type of building that was common in Northeastern urban areas during the 19th century. It was designed by Frederick A. Sabbaton, a prominent gas engineer in New York State. Originally sheltering a telescoping iron

storage tank Storage tanks are containers that hold liquids or compressed gases. The term can be used for reservoirs (artificial lakes and ponds), and for manufactured containers. The usage of the word "tank" for reservoirs is uncommon in American English ...

for

coal gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...

, the brick

gasholder house A gasholder house is a type of structure that was used to surround an iron gas holder, also known as a gasometer, in which coal gas was stored until it was needed. There are approximately a dozen of these structures—most constructed of brick in ...

is an imposing structure from a significant period in the history of Troy. For twenty-seven years the company held a monopoly on the manufacture of illuminating gas in the city.

Troy gasholder

The Troy

gasholder A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas (coal gas or formerly also water gas) is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows t ...

was a telescoping two-lift type. Its top section had a diameter of and a height of . The lower section of the telescoping lift had a diameter of 101 feet, 6 inches, and a height of . Its storage capacity was of gas. The gasholder's weight provided pressure for the distribution of gas in the supply mains. The gasholder pressure was 4½

inches of water Inches of water is a non- SI unit for pressure. It is also given as inches of water gauge (iwg or in.w.g.), inches water column (inch wc, in. WC, " wc, etc. or just wc or WC), inAq, Aq, or inHO. The units are conventionally used for measurement o ...

column. The pressure was measured in inches, in terms of a height of column of water, as it was too low to measure in the more conventional pounds per square inch.

Troy Gas Light physical plant

The gasholder house was one part of the complex comprising Troy Gas Light's physical plant. The main elements of the production facilities were two blocks north of the gasholder house, in a block bounded by Liberty Street, Fifth Avenue, and Washington Street, bounded by the tracks of the

New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

, the former site of the Little Italy Farmers Market. Extending along Fifth Avenue to Liberty Street was a rectangular brick coal shed, by , with iron doors along Fifth Avenue and a wooden cornice measuring . Adjoining the south end of the coal shed was the retort house, trapezoidal in plan, measuring by , with its longitudinal axis running east to west. A brick structure with iron roof beams, it measured to the cornice. The retort house, the core of the operations, was where coal was burned to produce a crude form of the gas. Fronting Hill Street and adjoining the retort building at its southwest corner was the condenser building. This small rectangular building was 10 by with a brick façade. The condensers separated coal tar from the crude gas. Adjoining the condenser building on the north was the exhauster building, which housed exhausters (pumps) that forced gas through the system into the holders. A 12-horsepower engine drove the exhausters. Off the north side of this building was another small building housing a 75-horsepower steam boiler. Both of these buildings were single-story. In the open space in the middle of the block north of the retort house, and west of the coal shed, were two iron gas holders, each in diameter, neither contained in a gasholder house. At the northwest corner of the property was the purifying building where sulfur was removed from the gas. It was a two-story brick structure measuring 35 by . Adjoining it on the south was a two-story building containing the meters and steam-heated offices. At the south end of the property was another coal shed, built of brick and high. A tar well was also located here. The company also had coal on a dock at the foot of Division Street, seven blocks away; and there was an additional coal shed, by , to the north of the gasholder house. In the 1870s, the company burned gas coal supplied by Freeman Butts of Cleveland, Ohio.

Frederick A. Sabbaton, engineer of the Troy gasholder

Frederick A. Sabbaton (1830–1894), was a specialist in the construction of

gas works A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...

, and was the superintendent of the Troy Gas Light Company, from 1862 to 1890. Sabbaton worked extensively in New York State, and came from a family of engineers. His father, Paul A. Sabbation, was a close friend of

Robert Fulton Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the (also known as ''Clermont''). In 1807, that steamboat ...

, prepared plans and specifications for

The Clermont The ''North River Steamboat'' or ''North River'', colloquially known as the ''Clermont'', is widely regarded as the world's first vessel to demonstrate the viability of using steam propulsion for commercial water transportation. Built in 1807, t ...

. Frederick Sabbaton's two brothers, and two sons were all employed as gas engineers. Sabboton supervised, constructed, and owned

in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and throughout New York State. He was also involved in the manufacturing of

aniline dye Aniline (From , meaning ' indigo shrub', and ''-ine'' indicating a derived substance) is an organic compound with the formula . Consisting of a phenyl group () attached to an amino group (), aniline is the simplest aromatic amine. It is an ind ...

, made from

coal tar Coal tar is a thick dark liquid which is a by-product of the production of coke and coal gas from coal. It is a type of creosote. It has both medical and industrial uses. Medicinally it is a topical medication applied to skin to treat psoria ...

, and designed a gas governor valve.

Troy Gas Light Company

The Troy Gas Light Company first supplied

illuminating gas The history of gaseous fuel, important for lighting, heating, and cooking purposes throughout most of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, began with the development of analytical chemistry, analytical and pneumatic chemistry i ...

in 1848. They maintained a monopoly on the manufacturing of gas until 1875, when the Troy Citizens Gas Light Company was founded. Ten years later, in 1885, additional competition from the Troy Fuel Gas company was created by the founding of this company. On October 11, 1889, these three companies were consolidated to form the Troy Gas Company. In about 1893, the Troy Electric Light Company (founded 1886), was merged into the Troy Gas Company. Additionally, in 1908, the Beacon Electric Company was merged into the company. In the 1926, the Troy Gas Company, joined with the Mohawk Hudson Power Corporation, which in turn joined with the Niagara-Hudson Power Corporation in 1929. The gasholder house was in operation in 1912, and taken out of service during the 1920s when a new central plant was built in

Menands, NY Menands is a village in Albany County, New York, United States. The population was 4,554 at the 2020 census. The village is named after Louis Menand. The village lies inside the town of Colonie and borders the northern city line of Albany. ...

. In the 1930s, the gasholder was removed and sold as scrap metal. The gasholder house has been used for storage by a circus manager, and for marching practice by local bands. It is currently used for storage and a garage, as well as occasional music and arts presentations.

Half-Elevation and truss details

Gallery

File:Troy gasholder building.JPG, The Gasholder Building in 2010 File:Troy gasholder building historical marker.JPG, The historical marker in front

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Troy, New York Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Historic American Engineering Record in New York (state) Gas holders