Benson Lossing discusses Greenbush's history as it evolved from a site for army barracks in the War of 1812 to a railroad center in The Hudson From the Wilderness to the Sea:
"The peaceful pursuits of agriculture have taken place of the turmoil of the camp, and instead of the music of the shrill fife and the sonorous drum that came up from the river's brink, when battalions marched away from the field, the scream of the steam-whistle, the jingle of bells, and the hoarse breathings of the locomotive are heard-for at Greenbush are concentrated the termini of four railways, that are almost hourly pouring living freight and tons of merchandise upon the vessels of the Albany ferries. Buildings of every description for the use of these railways are there in a cluster, the most conspicuous of which is the immense many-sided engine-house of the Western Road, whose great dome, covered with bright tin, is a conspicuous object on a sunny day for scores of miles around."