Green Island is a coterminous

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in Albany County,

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, some north of Albany. Green Island is one of only five such town-village amalgamations in New York. The population was 2,934 at the 2020 census, and the ZIP code is 12183. While the town of Green Island was once an island, it was connected to the mainland on the west side of the Hudson River in the 1960s. Green Island is also the smallest town, by area, in New York, covering ; by contrast, the largest towns in the state by area are Brookhaven, which covers an area of (though much of that is water), and

Webb Webb may refer to: Places Antarctica *Webb Glacier (South Georgia) *Webb Glacier (Victoria Land) * Webb Névé, Victoria Land, the névé at the head of Seafarer Glacier * Webb Nunataks, a group of nunataks in the Neptune Range * Webb Peak (disa ...

, which has the largest land area at .

History

Today's town and village of Green Island is connected to the mainland on the west side of the Hudson River. However, it was once called Tibbett's Island and is situated on land that was, in the past, an island. The First (or South) Branch of the

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson R ...

delta once ran between the island and Watervliet, separating the island from mainland Albany County. The river branch was filled in during construction of

Interstate 787 Interstate 787 (I-787) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US state of New York. I-787 is the main highway for those traveling into and out of downtown Albany. The southern terminus is, per New York traffic data, at New York State ...

in the 1960s. Green Island was called by the Native Americans ''Pachanhanit'' or ''Nehanenesick'', and was owned by the natives Amenhanit, Aepjen, and Wanapet until they sold it in 1665. The island was part of the

Manor of Rensselaerswyck Rensselaerswyck was a Dutch colonial patroonship and later an England, English Proprietary colony, manor owned by the Van Rensselaer (family), van Rensselaer family located in the present-day Capital District, New York, Capital District of New Yor ...

begun by the

Patroon In the United States, a patroon (; from Dutch '' patroon'' ) was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th-century Dutch colony of New Netherland on the east coast of North America. Through the Charter of Free ...

Kiliaen van Rensselaer, whose great-grandson (Colonel Kiliaen van Rensselaer) sold the island in 1708 to Colonel Pieter Schuyler. The island was sold, in 1714, to Hendrick Oothout. In 1796, the northern part of the island was purchased by George Tibbits, after whom the island received its name of Tibbits Island; while the southern portion of the island was sold by the Oothout family in 1833 to Daniel Cady. The next year, Cady sold the land to the Tibbits family. Much like its larger neighboring cities; Troy, Watervliet, and Cohoes; Green Island was a major manufacturing and transportation center. In 1823, the Federal Dam was built between Green Island and Troy, allowing for year-round navigation north on the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

and Lansingburgh. In 1834, a terminal was built on the island by the

Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad The Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad was a railway company that operated in the states of New York and Vermont in the 19th century. At its peak it controlled a network. The Delaware and Hudson Railway leased the company in 1871 and formally ...

, which the following year built the first

Green Island Bridge The Green Island Bridge crosses the Hudson River in New York, connecting Green Island with Troy, passing through Starbuck Island. It opened September 12, 1981. History The original Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad bridge was a wood-truss cov ...

for railroad use from Green Island to Troy. The Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad built its locomotive and car shops in 1842 in Green Island. Even after the

Delaware and Hudson Railroad The Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H) is a railroad that operates in the Northeastern United States. In 1991, after more than 150 years as an independent railroad, the D&H was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). CP, which would it ...

(D&H) took over and consolidated operations to the Colonie Shops (just west of Watervliet), the Green Island Shops continued to be a repair shop and were frequently mentioned in trade magazines during the 1930s regarding their experiments with new methods and materials; such as light weight steel. Green Island, population 800, was incorporated in 1853 as a village in the town of Watervliet. In that same year the Gilbert Car Company had a

railroad car A railroad car, railcar (American English, American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and International Union of Railways, UIC), also called a tra ...

factory built in Green Island after their Troy location burned, it too would experience a fire in 1862, and finally went out of business in 1895. The town of Green Island was formed in 1896, which also created the city of Watervliet, a year after the division of the original town of Watervliet that created the town of Colonie. It was automobile manufacturing, and not the railroads, that would soon become important to Green Island when

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...

; whose

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

was located in nearby

Schenectady Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

and who frequently fished off the northern end of Green Island; introduced his friend,

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

, to the village. In 1919 Ford, Edison,

John Burroughs John Burroughs (April 3, 1837 – March 29, 1921) was an American naturalist and nature essayist, active in the conservation movement in the United States. The first of his essay collections was ''Wake-Robin'' in 1871. In the words of his bi ...

Harvey Firestone Harvey Samuel Firestone Sr. (December 20, 1868 February 7, 1938) was an American businessman, and the founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, one of the first global makers of automobile tires. Family background Firestone was born ...

, Harvey Firestone Jr., and the manager of Ford's

Upper Peninsula of Michigan The Upper Peninsula of Michigan—also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. or Yoop—is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula of ...

operations camped and fished on land in Green Island, that would, in 1922, become The Ford Motor Company's plant manufacturing radiators and springs. At one point the plant employed close to 1,000. The location was convenient because of the Federal Dam which was used to provide hydroelectric power to operate the plant. Edison also considered building a factory at Green Island as well, which Ford believed would use electricity generated at his hydro power plant. The Ford plant served as Green Island's largest employer until it was closed in 1989. Although the factory portion was demolished in 2004, the dam remains active and continues to produce electricity, now owned by the Green Island Power Authority (GIPA). The cheap electricity supplied by GIPA has lured many businesses to Green Island's north end, including Zak Incorporated,

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...

Friction Materials, Long Island Pipe Supply, General Control Systems, Crystal IS, the

New York State Department of Taxation and Finance The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (NYSDTF) is the department of the New York state government responsible for taxation and revenue, including handling all tax forms and publications, and dispersing tax revenue to other agencie ...

, Sealy Mattress Company, Reliable Brothers, and Case Window & Door Inc. The Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad: Green Island Shops and St. Mark's Episcopal Church are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

McNulty political dynasty

One of the Capital Region's most powerful political families first came to power in 1917 when John "Jack" McNulty Sr. was elected Green Island tax collector. He took over as head of the Green Island municipal Democratic Party in 1919, a position that he held until his death fifty years later in 1969. His son, John "Jack" McNulty Jr., was elected to the post as his immediate successor. He would be succeeded by his son Michael R. McNulty in the 1970s, marking the sixth decade the post had been held by a McNulty. McNulty Jr. won his first election as town supervisor in 1949, a position his son Michael would also hold. Jack Jr., his son Michael and his daughter Ellen McNulty-Ryan have each served terms as Green Island's mayor. Michael was also elected to Congress, representing

New York's 21st congressional district New York's 21st congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives that is represented by United States Republican Party, Republican Elise Stefanik. On November 11, 2024, President of the United St ...

from 1989 to 2009 (numbered as the 23rd for his first two terms).

Green Island Power Authority

The town/village has its own electric company in the form of the Green Island Power Authority (GIPA) which owns and operates a hydroelectric power plant in the Hudson River off the island. GIPA was created in 1986 by the state and used

eminent domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

to seize the former Ford Plant hydroelectric dam in 2000, from then-owner

Niagara Mohawk Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation was a New York State utility company, which was acquired in 2000 by National Grid plc. The Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation designation was retired, using variations of NationalGridUS (such as National Grid Buffa ...

. GIPA sells the electricity into the state's wholesale market, administered by the

NYISO New York energy law is the Statutory law, statutory, Regulation, regulatory, and common law of the United States, state of New York (state), New York concerning the policy, conservation, taxation, and utilities involved in energy. Secondary source ...

, and then buys from the

New York Power Authority The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is a public benefit corporation owned by the State of New York and is the largest state public power utility in the United States. It provides some of the lowest-cost electricity in the nation, operating 16 ge ...

cheaper hydroelectric power generated at

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

. This cheap power is credited with attracting manufacturers and high-tech industry to the island's historically industrial north end. The hydro plant on the Hudson River has four turbines and generates approximately six

megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...

. As of 2008, GIPA's rates are approximately 40% cheaper for the residents and businesses in Green Island than the traditional utilities in neighboring communities.

Geography

Green Island is located at (42.744178, -73.694219). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the village has a total area of , of which is land and (23.91%) is water. Green Island is located south of where the

empties into the

in Albany County, New York. To the west is the hamlet of Maplewood within the town of Colonie, to the north is the city of Cohoes, the city of Watervliet is to the south-west, and the city of

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 ...

Rensselaer County Rensselaer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 161,130. Its county seat is Troy. The county is named in honor of the family of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original Dutch owner of the ...

is to the east across the Hudson River. The village of Green Island, in addition to the former island of the same name, has two other islands, Center Island (also known as Starbuck Island) and McGill Island. Center Island is crossed by the

and directly east of the mainland and west of Downtown Troy. The River's Edge apartment complex lies to the north of the bridge. McGill Island is a small unpopulated island north of Center Island. It is frequently flooded.

Location

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 2,278 people, 1,073 households, and 580 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 1,188 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 96.88%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.32%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.13%

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

, 0.35% Asian, 0.09% from other races, and 1.23% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.75% of the population. There were 1,073 households, out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.9% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 14.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.9% were non-families. 38.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.12 and the average family size was 2.83. In the village, the population was spread out, with 21.2% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 32.1% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 15.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.9 males. The median income for a household in the village was $32,500, and the median income for a family was $38,011. Males had a median income of $31,403 versus $27,422 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the village was $17,795. About 10.8% of families and 10.0% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 13.3% of those under age 18 and 5.2% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Villages in New York (state) New York (state) populated places on the Hudson River Islands of the Hudson River Towns in Albany County, New York Towns in New York (state) Villages in Albany County, New York River islands of New York (state) Islands of New York (state)