USA > New York > Dutchess County > Dutchess county > Part 3
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By 1813 the industrial development of the county was well under way, and sloop-freighting had assumed large proportions. Of paramount im- portance was the commerce in flour. During the first third of the nineteenth century Dutchess County ranked first among New York State counties in wheat production, supplying one third of all the flour produced in the State. Spafford's Gazetteer (1813) lists 14 gristmills in the town of Pough- keepsie alone. Iron mines were in operation at Amenia, Deep Hollow,
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Sylvan Lake, and Clove Valley. Nails were manufactured in Poughkeepsie as early as 1805. The next year saw the first of the Vassar breweries. In 1811 began the development of the textile industry. In 1814 the first iron works were founded in Poughkeepsie, ore being transported by mule teams from the mines at Sylvan Lake. (See Tour 3, p. 134.) Fluxing lime came from Barnegat, and charcoal from various neighboring pits. The pre-Revolutionary shipyard at Poughkeepsie has been mentioned; others sprang up at Wap- pingers Landing in 1812 and at Chelsea in 1828. In the former, several United States gunboats were built, in the latter several of the early steam- boats. In 1812 a slate company was formed in the town of North East for the production of flagging and slate roofing. Marble quarries thrived in the town of Dover. But brickmaking at Fishkill Landing (Beacon), which was well supplied with the necessary clay and sand, is the only important early manufacturing industry of the county that has continued to the present. (See Beacon, p. 64.)
The Harlem Valley Railroad, the first in the county, was constructed in 1845; the Hudson River Railroad followed in 1849; both are now included in the New York Central system. Later came the Poughkeepsie & Eastern and the Dutchess & Columbia (later the Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecti- cut), both now a part of the New York, New Haven & Hartford lines.
The Civil War put an end to many county enterprises. In contrast to their forefathers of the Revolutionary period, in the 1860's the men of Dutchess were wholehearted supporters of the Union. Men and money were supplied freely. The 150th Infantry, mustered into service October 11, 1862, was entirely recruited in the county, and many more local men joined other units.
In the period following the Civil War industrial development in Pough- keepsie and Beacon was intensified. Dutchess turned to the manufacture of agricultural implements for the rest of the State, with Adriance-Platt har- vesters, Moline plows, and DeLaval separators. Other special types of in- dustries developed. Beacon became a center of hat manufacturing. A cotton
Van Kleeck House, built in 1702
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bleachery was established at Wappingers Falls. Recently a trend to garment manufacture has appeared in Poughkeepsie. A number of small establish- ment, have located over Main Street stores, and several large concerns are scattered throughout the city.
Agriculture
Parallel with the rise of industry came a decline in grain production, chiefly as a result of improvements in transportation. The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 made competition with the West impossible. The change that of necessity took place was, however, accomplished gradually. By 1860, although agriculture still led industry, Dutchess had fallen to third among New York counties in the cash value of its farms and fifth in cultivated area. Not until 1880 at the earliest, however, can it be said that wheat prac- tically disappeared as a cash crop, and even today an appreciable amount of grain is grown for local consumption.
Meanwhile, as in industry, Dutchess turned to specialized agriculture, with the trend determined by available markets and local variations in soil. In dairying, which replaced wheat in the position of first importance, the Harlem Valley towns quickly assumed leadership. Since earliest times isola- tion from the river had turned them to cattle raising; and the very rail- roads which rendered them unable to compete with western beef encouraged them in the production of milk and milk products for New York City. By 1860 Pawling and Dover had become milk centers for the New York market, and are said to have been soon afterward the most important milk- producing section in the State.
The river counties especially, with Red Hook as a center, turned to the raising of apples. (See Tour No. I.) In the northwestern section of the county the cultivation of violets was put on a commercial basis.
Thus with the diversion of land to these purposes, the last quarter of the 19th century saw the peak of agricultural expansion in Dutchess in terms of land area, accompanied, however, by a rapidly accelerated decline in relative value. In 1880 farm land, including wood and swamp sections con- nected with farms, amounted to 95 percent of the total area of the county.
In the 20th century, rapid refrigerated transportation exposed the Dutchess dairy industry to upstate and western competition, which it found difficult to meet because of high overhead costs. As a result dairying has in recent years suffered a marked decline, though it still holds a place of importance in the county. In 1930 the total area of farm land in the county had de- creased to 65.5 percent.
With their decline in agricultural importance, the fine river lands and attractive farms were subjected to an active movement of conversion into country estates and summer homes. In the case of Hyde Park, long a fash- ionable New York summer resort, between 1800 and 1900 a quarter of the land came into the hands of 13 men and was developed into river estates averaging 482 acres each. This trend established itself in other sections of the county a generation later. With improved roads and a steady decrease in the relative value of farm products, New Yorkers are yearly taking over
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more of the rustic and now easily accessible lands and homesteads. It ap- pears that the gradual suburbanization of Dutchess is in progress.
Population
In 1930 Dutchess County, with a population of 105,462, ranked nine- teenth among the 62 counties of the State. This figure showed an increase of 13,715 over 1920. In the former year, 82.5 percent of the population was native-born white, 14.5 percent foreign-born white, and 3 percent Negroes. Of the foreign born 5,859 reside in Poughkeepsie and 2,138 in Beacon. Of the remainder, Milan and Hyde Park have the largest percentage, while Fishkill, Pawling, and Amenia have the lowest. Approximately 16 percent of the farm population is foreign born, mainly of Italian, Austrian, Polish, and Czechoslovakian origin. There are a few Dutch, British, French, and Russians, and, more rarely, Scandinavians. Italian groups have concentrated in the industrial centers, particularly in the cities of Poughkeepsie and Beacon and in the village of Wappingers Falls. The Slavic nationalities are found chiefly in Milan, Red Hook, Pleasant Valley, Hyde Park, and Stan- ford.
While the population as a whole is increasing, the density of population per square mile is decreasing, indicating a trend toward urbanization. In 1920, the township of Milan had a population density of 28; in 1930 the index had fallen to 17: 10 percent of the farms were abandoned during the decade.
Political Organization
Dutchess County is divided into 20 townships, the first of which were formed in 1788 from the original wards (later precincts) into which the county had been divided. They are Red Hook, Milan, Pine Plains, North East, Rhinebeck, Clinton, Stanford, Amenia, Hyde Park, Pleasant Valley, Washington, Poughkeepsie, LaGrange, Union Vale, Dover, Wappinger, Beekman, Fishkill, East Fishkill, and Pawling. Fishkill, the smallest, has an area of 24.4 square miles; Washington, the largest, 56.5 square miles. The eight incorporated villages, scattered throughout the county, are Fish- kill, Millbrook, Millerton, Pawling, Red Hook, Rhinebeck, Tivoli-Madalin, and Wappingers Falls. Pleasant Valley was an incorporated village until 1926, when its charter was dissolved and it became a part of the township.
The townships are governed by the County Board of Supervisors, com- posed of 32 members, one elected from each township and one from each ward of the two cities (Poughkeepsie, eight, and Beacon, four wards). Dutch- ess County is represented in the State legislature by two members of the as- sembly. One senator is elected from the 28th senatorial district, which in- cludes Dutchess, Putnam, and Columbia Counties.
Education
Education in Dutchess County was concentrated in private schools until late in the 19th century. Poughkeepsie had at one time more than a dozen,
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Old Brewery at the River Front
and Beacon was the home of several. With the development of the public school system, these schools gradually disappeared. To-day in the two cities of the county there are a few business institutes, and parochial schools arg connected with the larger parishes of the Roman Catholic Church. Out- side of the cities, however, private schools have continued to flourish, espe- cially colleges and preparatory and elementary schools, such as Vassar and Bard Colleges, Bennett, Fox Hollow, Pawling, Millbrook, Oakwood, and Manumit schools.
The county public school sytsem is to-day undergoing a movement toward centralization, with transportation for students to the new central schools. Large, well-constructed buildings with modern equipment and up-to-date teaching techniques are supplanting the old one-room "little red school- houses." There are, however, many of the latter still in use scattered about the county.
In the rural schools 60 percent of the enrollment is made up of chil- dren from farms, 40 percent from villages. Although the farm is so heavily represented, the Pine Plains High School is the only one in the county which offers courses in agriculture and homemaking. Supplementing the training offered in the rural school system are 25 4-H Clubs (Heart, Hand, Head, and Health) under the sponsorship of the Dutchess County Farm Bureau, with a total membership of 615 school children. With the aid of these clubs the children study scientific methods of farming and stock raising, canning, and many handicrafts.
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Religion
The early settlers of Dutchess County showed a tendency to sectional segregation of religious sects. The Dutch Reformed Church was concen- trated in the southwest, the Palatine congregations (Lutherans and German Calvinists), with a sprinkling of French Huguenots, in the northwest, the Society of Friends (Quakers) in the central and southeastern sections.
The Dutch, who then composed the majority of the population, were the first to establish church congregations. These occurred simultaneously in the three wards into which the county was then divided. The first church building to be erected, however, was the old German Church in Kirchehoek, town of Rhinebeck, which edifice had been built in 1716 as a union church for Lutherans and Calvinists. Dutch churches followed in Poughkeepsie in 1723 and in Fishkill in 1731, and the Presbyterian Church in Brinckerhoff in 1747. The Methodist and Baptist churches were organized shortly after 1800. A Roman Catholic missionary visited the county in 1781 and ministered to Acadian refugees banished from their homes in Nova Scotia. There was no Roman Catholic organization, however, until 1832, when an association was formed to raise funds for the erection of a church, Saint Peter's, in Poughkeepsie.
The younger church organizations, formed after the beginning of the 19th century, have developed rapidly and have in large part supplanted the older denominations in leadership. Union churches, in the sense of one church building serving two congregations, have with one or two exceptions ceased to exist, although it is commonly the case that suppers, parties, and enter- tainments for the benefit of one sect are strongly supported by all, and union services are regularly held on special days like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. This is done to promote the attendance of larger congrega- tions than any individual church can draw. The dearth to-day is not of church edifices but rather of supporting members.
The Catholic, Methodist, and Baptist Churches, established in Dutchess after 1800, maintain organizations throughout the county. The Dutch Re- formed, German Lutheran, Episcopal, and to a lesser degree the Presbyterian, hold to the sections in which they were first established. The Society of Friends has in most part been displaced, and all but seven of their meeting- houses have either been removed or are utilized for other purposes. Oakwood School, a coeducational boarding school, is maintained in part by endow- ments of the New York Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends.
The Church of Christ Scientist, first established in Poughkeepsie in 1898, now maintains two churches in that city.
The Jewish congregations maintain synagogues in Poughkeepsie, Beacon, and Amenia, and elsewhere hold services in private homes.
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Social Life
The social life of rural and suburban Dutchess County centers in the public schools, the village church, the village grange, and the veteran or- ganizations, and finds expression in such activities as clambakes, portion suppers, food sales, school plays, dancing, sewing bees, and horseshoe pitching contests. The 25 grange units in the county hold general meet- ings twice a month and frequent group meetings. While the primary ob- ject of the grange is to promote the economic interests of the farmer, it is also the center of his social life.
Sunday afternoon, formerly spent in neighborhood visiting, is now us- ually devoted to automobile riding or listening to the radio. The younger generation depends largely upon movies and roadside taverns for amuse- ment. The older generation of farmers has not contracted the "movie" habit.
It has been found that in church and grange social gatherings there is a noticeable split between the farmers and the villagers, though the new centralized school system is gradually uniting the children and eliminat- ing social distinction between these groups.
The larger towns, while clinging to many of the pleasures and customs of the countryside, have a larger variety of organizations, such as are associated with the more complicated town life. Service clubs and commer- cial, social, and educational societies have arisen in response to the charac- teristics and needs of the population groups. With the improvement in transportation facilities throughout the county, the differences between the social life of the towns and that of the country are slowly being obliterated, especially in the case of the young, who can only with more and more diffi- culty be kept on the farm.
Architecture
The oldest houses now standing in Dutchess date back to the days of the first settlement. They are built of rough stone, of which the settlers found an abundance on their lands. The same type of house continued to be built for about 100 years, and remains in considerable numbers, though often greatly altered and increased in size in later periods. Frame houses were built somewhat later than stone, and brick was little used be- fore 1750. The reason for this choice is obvious. Stone was to be had for the labor of picking it up, lumber could be cut on any farmer's land but demanded more skill in its use, while brick must be either bought and transported, or else made locally, involving time and equipment. However, brick was more highly esteemed; as the country became more prosperous its use became more general, and by 1800 the practice of building in stone had almost ceased.
The early stone houses were generally one and one-half story high, with roofs of moderate pitch. The high-pitched roofs and crow-stepped gables of Albany County do not occur in Dutchess. Gambrel roofs are
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rarer here than in other parts of the Hudson Valley, and are found mainly on brick or frame houses built after 1750; less often on stone houses. Hip roofs are almost unknown, the plain gable being the usual type, with the roof carried over the gables, not stopped against them, as is the case in many examples in Albany and New York City.
About the middle of the eighteenth century brick and stone came to be used in combination, sometimes with brick in front and stone in the rear, some- times with brick gable ends topping stone walls. Houses built entirely of brick were rare until after the Revolution. Frame houses were occasionally built at an early period, but until about 1750 their use was not general.
Most of the early building was done by the settlers themselves, the county then having few artisans. The stone walls are usually about 2 feet thick. Lime kilns are known to have existed in Dutchess before the Revolu- tion, one group having been located near the present Camelot station, at what was then called Barnegat (Dutch for firehole) in the town of Pough- keepsie. A sawmill existed at Poughkeepsie as early as 1699, and there were no doubt others of not much later date. The first frame houses had thick walls filled with clay between the timbers, but brick filling was soon generally used. They were covered with wide clapboards, with shingles, or with shakes, often with rounded ends, as may still be seen in the Teller house in Beacon.
It is a matter of record that a carpenter was hired for the work on the Teller house and lodged by the owners until it was completed. For the brick houses of the post-Revolutionary period, expert masons were evidently employed, for we find many houses of this date built with a degree of skill that plainly shows the trained artisan; while others were evidently built by the settlers or by country carpenters of ability.
The first houses were small and simple. Many had but two rooms, usually with a hall between. Others had four rooms, two on each side of the hall, the front rooms usually larger than those in the rear. There were other variations, including a type with no hall, each room having its own outer door. L-shaped and T-shaped plans are represented, but these are generally the result of later enlargement. Many small old houses have been extended by the addition of larger buildings, the original house serving as a wing.
A distinctive feature of Dutchess houses is the Dutch door with its horizontal division, which was almost universal in the county from the earliest days to the nineteenth century. The style, of course, varies: the earliest doors are of the batten type, while the later are paneled, often with con- siderable elegance. Bull's eyes were often introduced, and later, sidelights and overdoor panels with leaded glass. Casement windows were probably used in the older houses, though few remain. The first houses had few windows, and these were small, for glass was expensive and heating difficult.
After the Revolution the county became one of the most prosperous in the Hudson Valley, and its population increased rapidly. Many handsome frame and brick houses were built in the last quarter of the eighteenth century and
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the early part of the nineteenth, and many older houses were improved or en- larged. Adam mantels characterize this period, usually with composition ornaments. In many cases they have been added to older fireplaces and paneling. Another type of mantel, found also at this time, has Dutch sun- bursts and reeding, cut in the wood with gouges and molding planes. Much of this work was done by country carpenters in a rather crude imitation of the designs from the popular pattern books, but some of the work done between 1790 and 1820 is equal to that in the cities. About 1820 the Empire influence began to be felt, and about 10 years later the Greek Revival became the fashion, though some good Colonial detail of later date is still extant. From the Greek Revival period on, Dutchess has followed the popular fashions in architecture, few of which have had any special merit.
With the improvement in transportation, many old estates along the Hudson have become the summer homes of wealthy New Yorkers. Some of these estates preserve old houses, usually much enlarged. Others have new houses, palatial in scale and in all manner of current styles.
In addition to dwellings, each village had one or more churches. Built of the same materials as the dwellings of the time, these were of the usual Colonial type, simple and dignified, commonly with a square tower or belfry at one end. The Lutheran stone church, built by the Palatines north of Rhinebeck on the Post Road, was of the same general type. The Quaker meetinghouses, of which several still remain, form an exception. They differ from the usual church type in being broader than deep, and in the extreme simplicity of their lines, unbroken by towers and belfries. . They have separate entrances for men and women, with separate stairs leading to a balcony. The body of the church and the balcony are divided by a partition, usually with sliding panels.
The farmhouses that were used as taverns differed little, if at all, from other dwellings. A few barns and mills of the early days remain, but they are naturally simple and utilitarian, though with much charm and character.
Recent years have produced many large buildings in Dutchess County, including factories, hotels, State hospitals, churches, and government offices, but few of them have such architectural merit as to make them noteworthy. An exception is Vassar College, the buildings of which have been designed of a century, though some of them, taken individually, are decidedly better than average. The heterogeneous styes and materials are saved from discord by capable architects. As in the case of most of our American colleges, Vassar buildings present a history of architectural taste during the past three-quarters by the magnificent trees and lovely gardens that adorn the college grounds.
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POUGHKEEPSIE
Railroad Stations: New York Central, Hudson River Division, entrances near foot of Main St. and at foot of Mill St. New York, New Haven & Hartford (freight only), Cottage St., near Smith St.
Bus Station: New Market St .; all lines for all points.
Airport: Poughkeepsie Airport, 5 m. SE. of city on State 376; taxi to port, $1.25; time, 15 min.
Steamboat Docks: All at foot of Main St. Poughkeepsie-Highland Ferry (R), con- nections with New York Central R. R. (West Shore) ; Central Hudson Steamboat Co. (L) ; Hudson River Dayline, N. of ferry slip.
Taxis: At R. R. station, 5oc; all others, 25c within city limits.
City Busses: Fare IOc, 3 tokens 25c; to Wappingers Falls, 25c.
Traffic Regulations: Speed limit, 30 m. p. h. No turns on red light. Full stop at inter- sections with Stop signs. Parking limit in business section one hour.
Accommodations: Nelson House (E), $2.00, Market St .; Campbell Hotel (E), $2.50, Cannon St .; Windsor Hotel (E), $1.50, Main and Catharine Sts .; King's Court (E), $1.50, Cannon St.
Information: Chamber of Commerce, 57 Market St .; Nelson House, 28 Market St.
Street Order: Main St., running E. and W., divides the city into "north side" and "south side." Market St. (Albany Post Road) runs S. and Washington St. (Albany Post Road) runs N. from Main St., bisecting the city.
Theatres and Motion Picture Houses: No legitimate theatre; six motion picture houses on Main, Market, Cannon, and Liberty Sts.
Baseball: Butts Memorial Field, Church St. and Quaker Lane; Twilight League and county championship games in Eastman Park.
Horseshoe Pitching: Free municipal courts in Butts Memorial Field. Ice Skating: Eastman Park.
Golf: College Hill Park municipal course, North Clinton St., nine holes, 40c-$1.00 greens fee; Dutchess County Golf and Country Club (see Tour 3, p. 125), 18 holes, $2.00 greens fee.
Tennis: Free municipal courts in Butts Memorial Field, College Hill Park, Eastman Park, and King Street Park (Corlies Ave. and King St.) ; Poughkeepsie Tennis Club, 137 S. Hamilton St., admission by invitation.
Swimming: Open air pool at Wheaton Park, children only, foot of Mill St. Popular swimming holes at Greenvale Park, admission 5c, 3 m. SE. on State 376, and Morello's Pleasure Park, admission IOC, 21/2 m. NE. on Creek Road, continuation of Smith St.
Riding: Rombout Hunt Club, 21/2 m. SE. on State 376, scene of Vassar Horse Show in May, and the Hunter Trials in October, admission by invitation; Greenvale Riding Academy, at Rombout Hunt Club, by appointment, $1 per hour with instruc- tions; Vassar Riding Academy, 10 Raymond Ave., by appointment, $1 per hour with instruction.
Annual Events: Intercollegiate Regatta, on the Hudson, late in June. Concerts of the Dutchess County Musical Association during the winter. Concerts of the Euterpe Glee Club (male voices), Orpheus Glee Club (male), Germania Singing Society (male and female), and Lyric Glee Club (female), end of winter.
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HUDSON
31
30
SOUTH
JOHN
PROSPECT
STREET
TO NEW YORK
VASSAR HOSPITAL
STREET
GROVE
LANE BROS.
GA
YOUNG 31
COLUMBIA
33
PINE
CENTER
LAUREL
46
LINCOLN
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