Thomas Cornell and the Cornell Steamboat Company
Hudson River Maritime Museum Exhibit
May 5 through October 8, 2001

Exhibit Panel 4

THE CORNELL STEAMBOAT COMPANY
IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Frederick Coykendall and the Cornell Steamboat Company faced adverse economic conditions that in many ways were beyond their control. Around 1930, the Hudson River was deepened to allow oceangoing ships to reach Albany and this ended the towing of grain barges. Railroads and trucks could transport most cargoes faster and more efficiently than shipping them by boat. Also, electric refrigeration ended the demand for natural ice, once a major commodity towed by Cornell -- as had been the Hudson Valley brick, cement, and bluestone no longer used in construction.

Assisting Frederick Coykendall was company vice president C.W. "Bill" Spangenberger, who had risen through the ranks since joining Cornell in 1933. When Frederick passed away in 1954, Spangenberger became president. Although company executives worked hard and with considerable success to rebuild Cornell, they were forced to sell out in 1958 when their largest customer, New York Trap Rock Corporation -- a producer of crushed stone -- offered to buy the company. Trap Rock retained Spangenberger as president of Cornell.

In 1960, the Cornell Steamboat Company built Rockland County, an innovative, push-type towboat -- the first of its kind in permanent service on the Hudson River. With Rockland County, a new age of towing began on the Hudson, but there would be no future for Cornell. Trap Rock soon was acquired by a larger corporation, and the towing company was no longer needed.

In 1964, the Cornell Steamboat Company finally closed its doors, after making Hudson River maritime history for an unprecedented one hundred and thirty-seven years.