The Burden Iron Works Museum

The Burden Iron Works was an iron foundry and industrial complex along the Hudson River and Wynantskill Creek in Troy, New York. The area known as the Upper Works once housed the Burden Water Wheel, the most powerful vertical water wheel in history. It is widely believed that George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., inventor of the Ferris wheel, had occasion to observe the wheel while a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The iron works site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an archaeological site in 1977. The Lower Works site, the later operations dependent on steam power, includes the Gilded Age Burden Ironworks Office Building. The office building was listed on the National Register in 1972.

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2024 Interior Museum Tour

by Lisa Martinese

Museum Update:

The Museum will reopen on May 29th, 2026. We are currently working on the installation of our HVAC this spring. We are so excited to have air conditioning this summer and to now be entering the 21st century with our new heat pump system! This work was entirely possible through a generous grant made to us by Peter and Susan Grimm.

The interior work funded by the EPF grant is finished for the time being. Our application to NYS for a grant to address the cherry paneling and the floors was not funded for 2026. We will resubmit -fingers crossed- for 2027. In the meantime, we are hoping that private donations might make it possible to do some of the preliminary work for this part of the building restoration.

Recently we were awarded a grant from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation for an historic sign to be placed in front of our building. We will hold an unveiling celebration when it arrives from the foundry and is put in place.

Quick Links to

Troy’s Industrial Industries

Upcoming Tours and Events

Overview: Traditionally the Gateway has offered an annual tour program including visits to historic sites broadly related to the region’s industrial history, visits to current industries, and our famous “Troy’s Tiffany Treasures” stained-glass window tour.

We are planning a September 2026 Tiffany tour. More will be announced as we get closer to the date. However, we're pleased to be able to post a little history of the Tiffany window over the altar at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Troy. It was written by the late Jane Gale, a descendant of the man in whose memory the window was installed. We thank Miss Gale for allowing us to put this document on our website for the public to enjoy.