Cohoes has always held a special attraction for everyone--from the first settlers to the tourists of the twentieth century. Revolutionary War commanders, canal builders, boatmen, a schoolteacher who later became president of the United States, industrialists in search of fortune, mill workers seeking a living, and visitors looking for views of the spectacular falls have all come to this place near the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers. Cohoes traces the history of the city and its residents from the latter part of the 1800s through the 1940s. It captures the unique excitement of a canal town that exploded with industry and diversity in the nineteenth century. Cohoes had humble beginnings as a village on the original Erie Canal. Abundant waterpower provided by the Cohoes Falls, the largest cataract east of Niagara, made it a key industrial location. Massive mill buildings, including the largest cotton mill in the world, were built along the riverfront. With the mills came waves of culturally diverse immigrants, who stayed to give Cohoes its distinctive character.