Hastings-on-Hudson

Anaconda Wire and Cable Company, December 31, 2005.

    Hastings-on-Hudson, rarely confused with the central New York village of Hastings, offers up some prominent ruins. The Anaconda Wire and Cable Company site has been derelict for years and parts of the complex were recently demolished. The factory was one of the more notorious polluters of the Hudson River, and the redevelopment of this property has been a contentious issue in the village. The nearby Uhlich dye works was demolished in the early 2000's as part of the waterfront reclamation. Local residents wonder if they will ever see in their lifetimes a park, or affordable housing, or some other humane use of the waterfront, such as has been done in Irvington, two villages to the north. More likely, it will be a few years until work begins, and the result will be high-end condominiums. 

    Also at the Hastings waterfront can be found the hull of the Chesapeake Bay steamer Lancaster. Brought here in 1924, this boat was later used as a base for a shad-fishing operation. Shad fishing, historically one of the Hudson's great commercial ventures, once supported many local families but declined in the 1960s due to falling numbers of fish and oil-tainted catches. 

    Some of the large corporations responsible for polluting the Hudson are still doing business on this river and the days of steamboats and shad fishing, as they were, are long gone, but the ruins of the once-brilliant Lancaster still survive among the weeds and vines while the brick buildings of the Anaconda factory succumb to the wrecking ball.