Thomas Cornell and the Cornell Steamboat Company

Hudson River Maritime Museum Exhibit
May 5 through October 8, 2001

Exhibit Panel 1

THOMAS CORNELL
AND THE
CORNELL STEAMBOAT COMPANY

In the 1830s, Thomas Cornell came with a sailing sloop to Rondout to ship coal from the D & H Canal. A native of White Plains, NY, Cornell was just twenty-two years old. Until then, sailboats had done the work of carrying freight and passengers, but Cornell saw that steam-powered vessels were the future. In a few years, he became the owner and operator of steamboats running between Rondout and New York. Cornell settled in Rondout, where he established the Cornell Steamboat Company.

In those booming years of growth and construction, there was plenty of business for steamboats plying the Hudson. New York City´s thriving metropolitan area needed coal from the D & H Canal, ice that was harvested in winter from the frozen river, building material produced in the mid-Hudson valley -- brick, lumber, stone, and cement -- and agricultural products -- grain, livestock, dairy, fruit, and hay -- which came from near and far.

Rondout Creek offered the best deep-water port in the Hudson Valley and thus became the center of maritime activity between New York and Albany. The Cornell Steamboat Company made its headquarters in Rondout village, where many boats were berthed and repaired, and some were built. Between 1830 and 1900, few harbors of comparable size anywhere in America were as busy as Rondout Creek.

During a career of more than fifty years, Thomas Cornell built a mighty business empire and became a leading figure in New York and the nation. In addition to running the Cornell Steamboat Company and the Kingston-Rhinecliff ferry, he built and operated railroads on both sides of the Hudson, helped establish two banks, was a principal in a large Catskill Mountain hotel, and served two terms in Congress.