The community became a center of textile manufacturing; in 1836 the Harmony Manufacturing Company was founded, later famous as Harmony Mills. Cohoes became a mill town, and to an extent a company town. During the 1870s the mills were enormously profitable because of the Erie Canal, which flowed past them at that time. Mill #3, at over long, has been considered the longest continuous textile mill in the country at the time. Cotton textiles were shipped to New York City, England and Europe, where demand was high.