Valley Falls, NY

Valley Falls is a Rensselaer County village split by the Hoosic River and a municipal boundary: most of the village lies in Pittstown, while the Village Annex sits north of the river in Schaghticoke. The river bends through the center, and older rail corridors follow it toward Johnsonville. By 1863, Valley Falls had a blacksmith, farrier, foundry, wainwright shop, cooperage, vineyard, three general stores, and two hotels. That cluster made the village a small industrial center before the largest mill arrived.

James Thompson built his textile mill on the south bank of the Hoosic in the early 1870s. The vertically organized mill spun yarn, wove fabric, and finished products such as buckram, netting, and twine. It became the village's major employer, with the mill whistle organizing the day for workers and schoolchildren alike. The factory closed in 1992, and a 2009 fire destroyed two of its three buildings. The village is now working through the old mill site's contamination and structural problems while considering a future waterfront use. The southern railroad line was dismantled in the 1970s, but the river, mill grounds, annex, and remaining rail corridor still give Valley Falls its unmistakable shape. The 2020 census counted 510 residents.