Built in 1900 on a thirty-seven-mile electrified route between Albany and Hudson, this interurban rail line connected those cities and the communities between them, bringing high-speed electric travel to Columbia and Rensselaer Counties where inland transportation had previously relied on horse-drawn travel on unpaved roads. Completed by the Albany & Hudson Railway & Power Company and later owned for its longest period by the Albany Southern Railroad from 1909 to 1924, the line ran hourly trolley service at speeds up to 60 mph, stopping at fourteen stations and taking about one hour and forty minutes between Albany and Hudson, while carrying as many as 1.4 million passengers annually and hauling freight such as milk, farm products, cotton, wool, and finished goods for local industries. It was the first US interurban line to power cars by an electrified third rail, drew electricity from a hydroelectric plant at Stuyvesant Falls, and provided the first electric service to communities along the route. The rail company also developed Electric Park at Kinderhook Lake to increase ridership, making it a popular recreational destination until it closed in 1923. The line shaped the development of the rural communities it served by encouraging economic growth and opening them to recreational and residential development, but after World War I automobiles and bus lines reduced ridership, and the final trolley ran on December 22, 1929, ending almost thirty years of fast intercity public rail transport in Columbia and Rensselaer Counties.