Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. 10 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1894.
From the record
“Central Powerhouse, also known as the Town of Moriah Water Department Building, was a historic power station located at Witherbee in Essex County, New York, United States. It was built in 1902 and was a massive brick building with a steeply pitched gable roof.”
Wikipedia article Central Powerhouse, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 114 National Register listings published here for Essex County · listed in 1995 · category: Building.
National Register reference number.95000591- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Then and now
1894 to 1999
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
105 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
18941999
Fires near this property
79 since 1994
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 79 fires within 5 miles of Central Powerhouse
between 1994 and 2020, burning about 92 acres in total. 11 started naturally. 9 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
30
Natural
11
Recreation and ceremony
10
Arson/incendiarism
9
Equipment and vehicle use
6
Smoking
5
Debris and open burning
5
Power generation/transmission/distribution
2
Misuse of fire by a minor
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
67 workings within 5 miles of Central Powerhouse: 42 past producers, 13 occurrences, 7 prospects, 4 producers.
5 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Phosphorus-Phosphates, REE, REE, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Witherbee, the town this property stands in, in 2 storm reports between 2023 and 2024: 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
Dept. of Highways and Emergency Management reported numerous roads closed and/or damaged due to flash flooding as a result of 3 to 5 inches of excessive rainfall. These included, but were not limited to Joyce Rd., Riddle Rd., Bridal Row Rd., the intersection of Witherbee and Tracy Roads, Pilfershire Rd. and Cheney Rd.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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