Crescent was the northern terminus of an aqueduct which carried the Erie Canal over the Mohawk River.

[1] In the 1840s, the cheap transportation provided by the canal spurred economic development in Crescent.

This included a paint works, an iron foundry, and brickworks, located there, and businesses supplying the canal boats prospered.

[2] Grain was transhipped at Crescent; it was said "teams in a line half a mile long having been seen waiting for a chance to unload.

The Crescent Methodist Episcopal Church (now demolished), Noxon Bank Building, and Oakcliff are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.