Dunsbach Ferry originated, as the name suggests, as a ferry crossing over the Mohawk River. The ferry was replaced for a short time by the Dunsbach Ferry Bridge, a bridge that had an unusual pier construction method involving cylinders with piles driven inside with heavy crib work outside. This bridge was constructed by the Dunsbach Ferry Bridge Company in 1898 in three spans, two were carried away by ice in 1903, and the third in 1905. When the creation of the New York State Barge Canal moved the Erie Canal to the Mohawk River in 1910 the hamlet became home to many barge captains and as a stop for provisioning the barges. A gauging station was established at Dunsbach Ferry in 1898 by D.J. Howell for measuring the discharge flow of the river and the record continued on at the West Troy Water Company dam and pumping station at the hamlet, it was located roughly 200 feet south (upstream) of the bridge. The dam was built in order to supply West Troy (later Watervliet) with water, and was partially removed in 1912.