South Glens Falls: Mills Below the Great Falls

The Hudson River drops sharply here, and that power attracted settlers almost as soon as the Revolutionary War ended. In seventeen sixty-six, the Daniel Parks family received eight hundred acres on the south side of the falls and built the area's first house and sawmill. Later, by the eighteen thirties, the settlement had sawmills, a grist mill, and a cotton mill all running off the same falls.

The Feeder Canal ran across the river, connecting the mills to the Erie Canal network and giving them access to markets across the state. Lumber, limestone, marble, and flour all moved through the village docks. The paper industry arrived later and became a lasting part of the riverside economy. The village incorporated in eighteen ninety-five.