Thomas Cornell and the Cornell Steamboat Company
Hudson River Maritime Museum Exhibit
May 5 through October 8, 2001
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Exhibit Panel 2
THE LORD OF HUDSON RIVER TOWING
By the mid-1800s, the Hudson River had many sidewheel steamboats passing north and south, one grander than the other. They carried both freight and passengers, and speed was of the essence -- both for bragging rights and because passengers favored the fastest boats. In the 1860s, Thomas Cornell acquired Mary Powell, the Hudson River's fastest and most beautiful passenger boat.In this time, Cornell built a magnificent sidewheeler to ply the route from Rondout to New York. She was named in his honor -- Thomas Cornell -- and was one of the finest vessels operating on the Hudson.
Steamboats not able to compete in speed or luxury often were turned into towboats, hauling loaded barges that were lashed together to be towed up or down the river. Cornell began to develop a fleet of towboats, which in time would be replaced by tugboats, designed and built especially for towing on the river.
After the Civil War, Cornell was joined in the business by Samuel D. Coykendall, who became his son-in-law as well as a partner in the firm. The combination of Thomas Cornell and S.D. Coykendall soon would create the most powerful towing operation on the Hudson River. At its peak in the late 1800s, the Cornell Steamboat Company ran more than sixty towing vessels and was the largest maritime organization of its kind in the nation.
Early in 1890, after contracting pneumonia, Thomas Cornell died at home at the age of 77. In son-in-law S.D. Coykendall, Cornell had a worthy successor.
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