Riverkeeper Volunteer Happy Hour at the Albany Pump Station

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We hope you'll come help Riverkeeper raise a glass in celebration at the Albany Pump Station of the 10,000 hours of dedicated support that you and over 2,000 volunteers like you have provided to Riverkeeper and the Hudson River in 2014.

Here are five reasons why you should join us at an upcoming volunteer appreciation happy hour:

1. You support Riverkeeper, please give us a chance to say thank you.

2. We can’t pay for your beer, but the appetizers are on us!

3· Meet other dedicated clean water advocates from your stretch of the river.

4. Learn more about what you helped us accomplish in 2014 and get the download on our goals for 2015, including in-person volunteer trainings happening throughout New York City and the Hudson Valley this winter.

5. Haven’t had the opportunity to volunteer with us yet? Want to increase your involvement? Have a friend who wants to get involved? All are good reasons to come out, bring your friends, and get to know us.

We are hosting events in Albany, Peekskill, Newburgh, Kingston and Manhattan. Please RSVP for the event in your region. We highly encourage all past and present Ambassadors, outreach volunteers, Sweep Leaders, Sweep volunteers, and volunteer-curious to attend.

Please email Jeremy at outreach@riverkeeper.org with any questions.

Please RSVP here.

Visit the pump station’s website to check out the menu and current beers on tap.

History
The Evans family was in the commercial brewing business for three generations. The original brewery was built in Hudson, NY in 1786. It continued production until prohibition in 1920. Its award winning ales were well known in the Northeast and were even exported to England and France. Production levels peaked in 1915 when 65,000 barrels of beer were produced at the Hudson Facility.

The brewery bottled its own beer in Hudson at one of the country’s earliest bottling facilities (1889) and later at a plant in New York City. The family also malted much of their own grain in their malt houses at the Hudson facility. Neil Evans revives this rich heritage here at the Albany Pump Station. Surviving C.H. Evans Brewing Company memorabilia is displayed in the new facility, as well as pictures of the pump station as it appeared at the turn of the century.

The Pump Station Building

The Albany Pump Station consists of two adjoining buildings. The first building was completed in 1874, the entire structure being completed and put into service in 1895. Total floor space is 8,000 square feet and the roof trusses are 40 feet above the floor.

The Pump Station drew water from the Hudson River and pumped it under Clinton Avenue to Bleecker Reservoir, which is now Bleecker Stadium. In 1927 the pump station moved over 7 billion gallons of water. In 1932 the Alcove reservoir was put into service and the Pump Station ceased operation.

There are two, massive, overhead cranes which are still in place today. These cranes, completed in 1906 and 1909 and used for pump engine repair, are each able to lift 20 tons. These cranes were used to install the fermentation and serving tanks in the brew pub establishment now located in the building.