Support our Sponsors
Sleepy Hollow Tarrytown St. Patrick's Day Parade - Gullotta House
Historic Rivertowns

A Vital Piece of Aqueduct History Rescued From Oblivion

• Bookmarks: 711


February 3, 2024

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.

Support our Sponsors
Gym Cats - gymnastics in Westchester County

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.

Actuators in their original setting

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.

Read or leave a comment on this story...


Support our Sponsors
  • Piccola Trattoria open for brunch - Dobbs Ferry
  • Newington Cropsey Birds 2025 art show
  • Andrea Martone - Sleepy Hollow real estate

Art Will Imitate Life When Chazz Palminteri Brings His Heralded One-Man Show To Music Hall

By W.B. King -- Leaders of the free world, titans of industry and notorious gangsters often share a common interest—subscribing...
Read More

Dobbs Ferry Resident Nominated for Television Academy Award

By Rick Pezzullo--- A 2020 Dobbs Ferry High School graduate has been nominated for the Television Academy Foundation’s 44th College...
Read More

County Hands A Big Check To The JCC On The Hudson

This past week, the Shames JCC on Hudson, which is located in Tarrytown but serves communities all along the lower...
Read More

Jenkins Wins Special Election for Westchester County Executive

By Rick Pezzullo--- Ken Jenkins will continue as Westchester County Executive for at least the rest of the year, easily...
Read More

America the Odditorium

AMERICA THE ODDITORIUM: Oh beautiful for spacious skies and penis bones By Krista Madsen Desperately seeking some comic relief, I thought I’d...
Read More

SH Wrestling Program Grappling to Return to Glory Days

By Tom Pedulla--- A wonderful memory of an extraordinary accomplishment has given way to a wrenching turn of events for...
Read More

Condition of Hudson River Focus of Irvington Forum

By Jeff Wilson--- The educated audience came to the Irvington Library to inquire about the health of Mother Nature’s beautiful...
Read More

Legislation Proposed to Extend SH’s Stewardship of Kingsland Point Park

By Rick Pezzullo--- Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins introduced legislation last week to extend the Inter-Municipal Agreement (IMA) with the...
Read More

Handmade Snowflakes Bedeck Sleepy Hollow’s Beekman Ave.

By Elizabeth Tucker—           When artist Kersten Harries was cleaning out the house she had just...
Read More

Elmsford Woman Sentenced for Loan Fraud Scheme

By Rick Pezzullo--- A nurse practitioner from Elmsford who stole the identities of 12 medical doctors and orchestrated an $11.2...
Read More
711 recommended
2327 views
bookmark icon