A Vital Piece of Aqueduct History Rescued From Oblivion

It was 125 years ago when a remarkable piece of machinery made its debut as the controlling mechanism for the flow of water from the Croton Reservoir to New York City. Now this historic artifact, called an actuator, has found a new home at the Old Croton Aqueduct’s Keeper’s House at 15 Walnut Street in Dobbs Ferry.

Thanks to a collaborative effort between government entities and the non-profit Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct (FOCA), the actuator has been saved from the scrap heap and meticulously restored. It now proudly graces the front yard of the Keeper’s House.

A consortium including FOCA, the state’s Parks and Trails New York, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historical Protection successfully rescued one of three sluice gate actuators that that were scheduled to be scrapped at the New Croton Dam.

Tom Tarnowsky, a FOCA board member, approached the DEP and requested that FOCA obtain custody of one of them.  State Parks agreed to move the actuator to their Peebles Island Resource Center and the restoration process commenced.  Parks and Trails New York provided funding for installation. After the actuator’s components were de-rusted and refurbished, it was placed on a granite base outside the Keepers House.

An actuator is a piece of machinery that applies gear reduction to drive a sluice gate through its travel. The mechanism itself weighs approximately 1,000 pounds. Its iron casting stands three feet high and two feet in diameter and provides a housing for gears and rod connector. Two opposing hand cranks turn bevel gears which drive a threaded rod and its connector.  The rod, in turn, is coupled to the gate. The rod attached to the gate at the Dam extends eighty feet below the actuator. The gate is raised or lowered to control flow of water from the Dam. The original hand cranks used for manual operation reside in the Keepers House.

Built by the Coldwell Wilcox Company of Newburgh, NY sometime between 1892 and 1906, the actuator was one of three installed in the New Croton Dam and used until about 2014 when the DEP transferred custody to FOCA and State Parks. It was moved to the front of the Keeper’s House last December.

The actuator will serve as an educational tool, aimed at enlightening generations of New Yorkers and other visitors about the rich history and function of our water supply system. A benchmark for advancements in engineering and standardization, it serves as a reference point for understanding the evolution of materials, casting techniques, machining precision, assembly methods, stress analysis, and the integration of electrical and electronic controls. FOCA expects to present discussions about the acquisition of the Actuator and how it functioned in the Croton water systems.

Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct, a private, non-profit volunteer organization formed to protect and preserve the Old Croton Aqueduct in both Westchester County and New York City, works to raise public awareness of the Aqueduct and trail and to secure the resources that will enable this historic greenway to remain unspoiled in perpetuity. The Friends strive to act as a public voice for the Aqueduct as well as a source of information for those interested in its past and future.