Cos Cob Power Station

Cos Cob Power Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Cos Cob Power Station in 1977
Location:	Roughly bounded by Metro North RR tracks, the Mianus R. and Sound Shore Dr., Greenwich, Connecticut
Coordinates:	41°1′46″N 73°35′50″W / 41.02944°N 73.59722°W / 41.02944; -73.59722Coordinates: 41°1′46″N 73°35′50″W / 41.02944°N 73.59722°W / 41.02944; -73.59722
Area:	6 acres (2.4 ha)
Built:	1907
Architect:	Westinghouse,Church,Kerr & Co.
Architectural style:	Mission/Spanish Revival
Governing body:	State
NRHP Reference#:	90001096[1]
Added to NRHP:	August 2, 1990

Cos Cob Power Station is a historic district roughly bounded by Metro North Railroad tracks, the Mianus River and Sound Shore Drive in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Cos Cob Power Station

The Spanish Revival style station was built in 1907.

It is significant for its role in the first mainline railroad electrification in the United States. It was the largest component in an enormous scale experiment to implement AC power in railroad power. It was part of complying with a 1903 New York State law prohibiting steam locomotives in New York City. Projections indicated that electrification all the way up to New Haven would be necessary to avoid massive congestion in switching power sources at the New York City limits or at Stamford. Direct current (DC) was used in New York City subway systems and in electrification of a Hudson River railroad line, but involved massive losses in transmission over greater distances.^[2]:11

It was designated a National Historic Engineering Landmark in 1982 by the ASME and the IEEE.^{[citation needed]}

The power station was decommissioned in 1986. The 1989 listing includes two contributing buildings and four other contributing structures: two water tanks, a dock, and a coal conveyor.^[2]

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.^[1]

It is located on Long Island Sound.^{[citation needed]} It had a coal-fired steam turbine.^{[citation needed]} The plant was built by Westinghouse in 1907 with Mission Style^{[disambiguation needed ]} styling.^{[citation needed]}

Despite being listed on the National Register of Historic Places and local and national debate, the plant was decommissioned in 1987 and demolished in 2001.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Matthew Roth and Bruce Clouette (November 27, 1989). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Cos Cob Power Station". National Park Service. http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/90001096.pdf.  and Accompanying 14 photos, exterior and interior, from 1989