XXV. CITY OF NEWBURGH…

XXV. CITY OF NEWBURGH

Newburgh, the chief city of Orange County, with a population of nearly 27,000, is also the largest commercial city on the Hudson between New York and Albany. It is located on the side hill of a bay, 57 miles from the river's mouth, has a deep and spacious harbor, with good docks, and its scenic views and contiguous territory are peculiarly attractive. The inviting bay and river are in front, and the mountains southward and westward have been characterized as "Nature's arm thrown lovingly about us." In the landward distance mountains are visible in several directions from the upper town, and adjacent are fruit and dairy farms on undulating fields, with a ten-mile plain known as "Highland Terrace." A recent local pamphlet says of the City of Newburgh: "As a home-city there is little to be desired. It is metropolitan and suburban. It has broad thoroughfares, good streets, and provision is now perfected for having $100,000 expended annually in new pavements. There are numerous breathing spots. One of the most magnificent views obtainable anywhere in the Hudson Valley is from Downing Park, where from the observatory the city appears to be almost beneath your feet. The Hudson River presents an unobstructed view for miles, and a half dozen ranges of mountains appear to view. The Catskills at the north, Fishkill and the Beacons on the east, Storm King and Crow Nest on the south, Schunnemunk at the southwest, and the Shawangunk range far to the west. At the north end of the city is LeRoy Place, one of the coziest and most inviting of the city's little parks. It is especially referred to as a resting place for those who find it convenient to take a walk to the famed 'Balm of Gilead' tree, one of the oldest monarchs of its class to be found for many miles around."

The near suburban villages tributary to the city have a population of nearly 50,000, as follows: Fishkill and Matteawan, 1 mile, 13,016; Cornwall, 1 mile, 4,258; Marlborough, 6 miles 3,478; Milton 10 miles, 1,500; Walden, 10 miles, 5,939; Highland Falls, 10 miles, 4,519; Cold Spring, 8 miles, 2,067; New Hamburgh, 10 miles, 500; Washingtonville, 10 miles, 1,118; New Windsor, 3 miles, 2,392; Newburgh Town, 3 miles, 4,246. The little hamlets in the vicinity probably have a population of 3,000 more.

THE EARLIEST DAYS.

The territory embraced in the town and city was a part of the lands purchased from the Indians by Governor Dongan in 1864, [sic] and conveyed by him to Captain John Evans in 1694. The conveying patent was annulled in 1699, and the district was afterward conveyed in small tracts at different periods, of which ten were included in the precinct of Newburgh as it was constituted in 1762. These were: No. 1, German patent, 2,190 acres, issued December 18, 1719; No. 2, Alexander Baird & Co., 6,000 acres, February 28, 1719; No. 3, Jacobus Kip & Co., 7000 acres, October 17, 1720; No. 4, Ricard Bradley and William Jamison, 1,800 acres, May 17, 1729; No. 5, James Wallace, 2,000 acres, January 25, 1732; No. 6, Bradley children, 817 acres, March 26, 1739; No. 7, Francis Harrison & Co., 5,600 acres, July 10, 1714; No. 8, John Spratt & Co., 1,000 acres, April 12, 1728; No. 9, Melchior Gulch 300 acres, October 8, 1719; No. 10, Peter Johnson, 300 acres, October 8, 1719.

The original settlement was in 1709 by a party of Germans from the Palatinate--a strip of German territory along the middle Rhine. In 1708 Louis XIV gave warning to the people of the Palatinate that it was to be devastated in order to cripple the enemies of France, and this caused a company of twelve families and two bachelors--fifty-three persons in all--to flee to London. Here Queen Anne interested herself in their welfare, and sent them to New York, with a guaranty of 9 pence each for twelve months, and of a grant of land on which to settle. From New York they were moved in the spring to "Quassaick Creek and Thau-hammer." Of the heads of families there were seven husbandmen, a minister, a stocking maker, a smith, a carpenter and a cloth weaver. One of the bachelors was a clerk and the other a husbandman. They were Protestants and of "good character." as certified by officials in the villages where they had lived. Their promised land patent was not issued until 1719, when it granted to each of the different families from 100 to 300 acres, with 500 acres set apart for the support of the minister. The settlement was generally called "The German Patent," but its official title was "The Glebe." The lands for each family extended from the Hudson River west one mile. No. 1 was bounded on the south by Quassaick Creek, and covered the present site of Newburgh.

The immigrants erected a church, cultivated portions of their lands and maintained their settlement several years. Then sales were made to newcomers, and there were changes in ownership and population. After twenty or thirty years the later Dutch and English comers were largely in the majority, and in 1747 elected trustees of the Glebe, closed the church to the Lutheran minister, and in 1752 obtained from the governor and council a new charter whereby the revenues might be applied to the support of a minister of the Church of England, with the title of "Palatine Parish of Quassaick" changed to "The Parish of Newburgh." At this time there were forty-three real estate lease holders in the settlement. Ruttenber characterizes as prominent among them the following: Alexander Colden, son of Lieutenant-Governor Colden; Duncan Alexander, brother of William Alexander, the Lord Sterling of the Revolution; James Denton, son of Daniel Denton, the first historian of New York; Jonathan Hasbrouck, from the Huguenot settlement of New Paltz. Colden, Denton and Hasbrouck erected grist mills, and in 1743 Colden obtained a charter for the Newburgh ferry. "The names of Hasbrouck and Colden have never been absent from the list of inhabitants since 1750," says Ruttenber.

The trustees elected in 1747 were Alexander Colden and Richard Albertson. When the first service was held after the Church of England was substituted, the Lutheran minister and his flock made public protest at the door, and afterward went away and had service in a private house. Tradition says that the Lutherans attempted a forcible entry, and there was a fight in which the church door was torn from its hinges and one Lutheran was killed. This was after the election of trustees in 1847, and previous to the receipt of the new charter.

The new trustees, Colden and Albertson, established a public landing, started agricultural fairs, took temporal charge of the church, erected a parsonage, a residence and school-house combined for the schoolmaster, and did much other work which contributed to the growth of the settlement.

In 1762 Newburgh was set off from the precinct of the Highlands and made a precinct by itself. In 1767 a petition was granted for licenses for more taverns, as being necessary "to accommodate the country people, travelers and passengers." In 1769 a petition asking for a charter of lands for the Newburgh mission, signed by missionary, vestrymen and wardens, was granted. In 1770 another petition to the governor for "a royal charter of incorporation of St. George's Church" was granted.

The old patent of the Highlands, after serving its purpose 50 years, had given way in 1762 to the precincts of Newburgh and New Windsor, the latter being constituted nearly as now, and the former embracing the towns of Marlborough and Plattekill in Ulster County as well as the present town and city of Newburgh.

In 1776 the Glebe hamlet comprised about a score of houses, and three boats owned in town made trips between it and New York.

TROUBLE AND REVOLUTION.

Passing to the events just preceding the War of the Revolution, when the bold and significant non-importation agreement was adopted by the Continental Congress, and a pledge of association in its support was opened in every town and precinct, supervised by committees, Wolvert Acker was chairman of the committee for the precinct of Newburgh. When the signing was finished he made return of 195 signatures and names of thirty-nine who had refused to sign. The names of the signers follow:

Non-Importation Pledge Signers of 1776.

Richard Albertson Caleb Chase Stephen Albertson Daniel Denton William Albertson Daniel Denton, Jr. Joseph Albertson Nehemiah Denton Daniel Aldridge Samuel Denton Isaac Brown, M.D. Nathaniel Denton Isaac Brown, Jr. Peter Donelly Joseph Brown Benj. Darby Abel Belknap John Donaghey Isaac Belknap Isaac Demott Isaac Belknap, Jr. Hugh Ferguson Wm. Bowdish Wm. Ferguson John Becket Elnathan Foster Solomon Buckingham Morris Flewwelling Richard Buckingham James Flewwelling Benjamin Birdsall Jonathan Hasbrouck Daniel Birdsall Cornelius Hasbrouck James Burns Moses Higby, M.D. Benj. Coffin James Harris Caleb Coffin John Nathan Hutchins Wm. Collard George Harding Nathaniel Coleman Thomas Ireland Henry Cropsey George Jackson Wm. Carskadden Wm. Lawrence Benjamin Lawrence Thomas Smith Aaron Linn Thaddeus Smith Solomon Lane Samuel Sands George Leonard Hugh Stevenson Silas Leonard Stephen Stephenson Robert Morrison, M.D. William Thurston John Morrel Burger Weigand Thomas Palmer Martin Weigand Thomas Patterson Monson Ward Harmanus Rikeman Richard Ward Thomas Rhodes William Ward Albertson Smith Timothy Wood Benjamin Smith Jeremiah Wool Henry Smith Charles Willett Leonard Smith John Wandel Leonard Smith, Jr.

The lists of those who signed and those refusing to sign embraced all males over 16 years old.

The "old town" was at this time a forlorn looking place, and the side hill was mostly covered by orchards. A tavern built in this year of 1776 by Adolph De Grove, on the southwest corner of Water and Third streets became Lafayette's headquarters.

When the war became a certainty the control of Hudson River navigation became important, and to this end Forts Montgomery, Clinton and Constitution were built. Two out of every five of the male population became militiamen, were almost constantly in service, and levies en masse were frequent. In 1779 Washington established his headquarters at New Windsor in the William Ellison house, and here they remained until the movement which resulted in the siege of Yorktown in 1781. After its surrender his army returned to the Highlands, and Washington then made the Hasbrouck house in Newburgh his headquarters, retaining them as such until August, 1783.

Before the beginning of hostilities in the Revolution two companies were organized in Newburgh for a regiment formed in the southern district of Ulster County, of which Jonathan Hasbrouck, of Newburgh, was colonel, and Arthur Smith and Samuel Clark captains of the companies. In the next December a regiment of minute men was organized, of which Thomas Palmer, of Newburgh, was the colonel. In the summer of 1776 a convention directed the general committee to organize three companies (201 men) of rangers to guard against and fight Indians. Of one of these Isaac Belknap, of Newburgh, was captain. At this time the aged and those who ordinarily would be regarded as exempts were pressed into the service. In 1778 the people were asked to form companies to repel invasions and suppress insurrections, and a company of this kind was formed, with Samuel Edmonds as captain. Figures show that the militia of Newburgh was not sleeping during the Revolution, for in 1776 they were called out on alarms twenty-seven days, and between that time and April, 1788, 305 days. Newburgh was made a general rendezvous for troops, and frequently the soldiers were billeted on the inhabitants. Although the precinct escaped direct devastation, many of the men were killed or taken prisoners in defense of the Highland forts.

When the British sailed up the river in 1777, and burnt Kingston, after capturing the Highland forts, the Newburgh women hid their valuables in the woods, nearly all the men having gone to the defense of the forts.

While Washington's headquarters were at New Windsor his main army was in and near the Hudson River forts, and in 1782, after the surrender of Yorktown, was again encamped along the Hudson, numbering about 8,000 men. Washington at Newburgh, meanwhile, during the progress of peace negotiations, kept careful watch of Sir Henry Clinton's movements. Many interesting stories have been told about Washington during his long stay at New Windsor and Newburgh. At Newburgh he battled with discontent, and even mutiny, in the army, and here he proclaimed the cessation of hostilities. This was on April 19, 1783, eight years after the beginning of the war, when general rejoicing followed. The first battalion marched southward June 5th, and the last June 23d. On July 12th Washington went up the Hudson to Albany, where he was joined by Governor Clinton and a small party. On August 17th he issued the last general orders from army headquarters, announcing his intention to depart and meet Congress at Princeton, and left West Point the next day. July 4, 1850, the ancient house that had been his headquarters in Newburgh was dedicated as a monument of the events of the war. General Winfield Scott was present to raise the flag, and Judge Monell made an address. The building is owned by the State and controlled by trustees appointed by the Governor.

For some time after the war the Newburgh people were almost poverty-stricken. Their Continental money was almost worthless; they lacked means for the cultivation of their lands, and business was at a standstill. In 1785 they petitioned the Legislature for relief, giving as reasons the supplies they had provided for the war, their many losses caused by the war, their large personal service, and the depreciation of the paper currency, all of which rendered it impossible for them to cultivate their farms or pay their just debts, while many families were reduced to want for the necessities of life.

Soon, however, the vigorous population recuperated, was increased by newcomers, and the period of prolonged prosperity began in earnest. From the position of the lowest in 1780 the precinct passed to the fourth in 1790, with a population of 2,365, and in a quarter of a century to the first rank in population.

LATER EARLY DAYS.

The charter of 1752 of the Glebe was complied with down to 1793. From 1793 to 1815 there was only a temporary church organization, and no regular minister. Then a legislative enactment was obtained dividing the income from the Glebe between the Newburgh Academy and such other schools as existed or might exist in the territory. It is remarkable that the early academy instituted by the Glebe served the community educationally for nearly a century.

The "old town," situated on a plot opened by Cadwallader Colden before 1730, was located between present Front street and Broadway, and named Newburgh. This was extended by Benjamin Smith in 1782, who laid out streets and lots from a part of his farm lying east of Montgomery street and between First and South streets. After the disbandment of the army in 1783 Newburgh's population increased somewhat rapidly by the settlement there of some of the soldiers of the dissolved army and of families who had fled from New York City when it was captured by the British. But up to 1790 it was a disjointed settlement, the three township plots of which it was composed having no connection except through Liberty street and a few cross-lot roads. None of the lateral streets intersected each other, and in 1790 other highway commissioners formally connected them. The general legislative act of 1788 changed the name "precinct" to "town."

Newburgh quickly became the first shipping point of importance on the west bank of the Hudson north of New York, because of its fine harbor, and of being the natural outlet for the trade of a vast section of country previous to the advent of the canals and railroads. South of the Highlands the Palisades and other mountain ranges were a barrier to easy access to the river. Therefore in the early days transportation became the most important business of Newburgh. The lumber business was especially heavy, and large quantities of ship timber, planks and staves were forwarded to New York. Shipbuilding was also carried on, and Newburgh ships entered into the Liverpool and West Indies trade. Ruttenber mentions many mills that were erected in Newburgh and vicinity after the war, and says: "Besides mills and hamlets there were many well-cultivated farms, and substantial dwellings which had supplanted rude log cabins."

The early millers and boatmen of Newburgh kept goods of various kinds to sell to the farmers. The first regular store was opened by Benjamin and David Birdsall, and the second, immediately after the Revolution, by John McAuley. Hugh Walsh opened a store about the same time. The other principal merchants up to 1801 were Wm. Seymour, Leonard Carpenter, John Anderson, Cooper & Son, George Gardner, James Hamilton, James Burns, Robert Gourley, Robert Gardiner, George Monell, Robert W. Jones, Denniston & Abercrombie, Wm. W. Sackett, Alexander Falls, John Shaw and John Brown. A considerable number of these were connected with the forwarding business, among them John Anderson, John Anderson, Jr., Hugh Walsh, Benjamin Case, Jr., Jacob and Thomas Powell, Jacob and Leonard Carpenter and George Gardner. Trade on the river was conducted by sloops until 1830, when the first steamer, the Baltimore, was purchased and started on regular trips by Christopher Reeve.

Before the war Great Britain would not allow the colonists to engage in much manufacturing, requiring them to import or supply themselves by domestic substitutes. Therefore, there was much spinning and weaving by wives and daughters, and making soap from refuse fats, and dipping for candles, while the farmer made his own sleds and carts and generally constructed his own dwelling and outhouses. These practices were continued to some extent long after the war for economical reasons.

Some of the first men to start things in Newburgh are here named:

John Haines, hat manufacturer, 1795; Richard and Joseph Albertson, shoe making, before the Revolution; Cooper, tailor, at the close of the war; Joseph Reeves, watchmaker, 1798, took up whip-making in 1804, and was followed in watch-making by George Gorden and Ebenezer Ayres; Hugh Spier, cabinet-maker and undertaker, 1798; Selah Reeve, earthenware manufacturer, 1799; James Patterson, tin plate worker and coppersmith, 1797; Mrs. DeGrove, baking, 1791, and succeeded by John and Joseph Hoffman; Peter Bannen, soap and candle making, 1804, preceded by Abel Belknap; Matthew DuBois, tobacconist, 1799; James Renwick distiller, 1790; John Cooper, father of the famous Peter Cooper, ale brewer, 1794; Benjamin Roe, saddle and harness maker, before 1800; Phineas Howell, tanner, before 1800; Sylvester Roe, painting and glazing, 1804; Henry B. Carpenter, iron and brass foundry, 1821; Richard B. Phillips, brush manufacturer, 1831, preceded by Daniel Berrian; Henry B. Ames, fancy and family soaps, 1852; stock company, with Hiram Bennett, president, cotton goods manufactory, 1844; George Gardner, Jason Rogers, William Seymour, Richard Hill, earliest ship builders, and Walter Burling, Daniel Bailey, Wm. Holmes, Samuel Wright, earliest ship carpenters; Drs. Isaac Brown and Robert Morrison, regular physicians in 1776; Phineas Bowman, first lawyer, settled in Newburgh at close of Revolution, and his contemporary lawyers were Thomas Cooper, Solomon Slight and Jonathan Fisk; Lucius Carey; first newspaper, Newburgh Packet, 1775, bought by David Denniston, and name changed to Mirror; E. W. Gray, first daily, News, 1856; Hezekiah Watkins, schoolmaster, 1752; John Nathan, teacher during Revolution and founder of "Hutchin's Family Almanac"; Rev. Jonathan Freeman and Sylvanus Haight, private school, 1801.

When the second war with England came, Newburgh was paying nearly one-fourth of the taxes of the county. Again she was prominent in zeal for the national cause. A convention was held in which it was resolved to resist "the attacks of domestic enemies and the insolent aggressions of foreign powers." Local military companies were ordered on duty at Staten Island, and later Newburgh was made temporarily the rendezvous for grenadiers, light infantry and riflemen of the 34th Brigade. Its citizens celebrated Perry's victory on Lake Erie with enthusiasm. The embargo act detained Newburgh vessels, among others, in foreign ports, and Newburgh merchantmen were captured and confined in Dartmour prison.

Colden's first dock was built in 1730. Isaac Belknap sailed a sloop from Newburgh before the Revolution which made trips to the West Indies. William Harding, Richard Buckingham and Lewis Clark also sailed sloops before the war, and later conveyed troops on them for the Revolutionists. As early as 1798 there were four lines of sloops from Newburgh.

In the thirties Newburgh's river and land trade was very large. The streets were frequently blocked for hours with farmers' loaded wagons. The completion of the Erie canal diverted the most of this trade, and later the Delaware and Hudson canal cut off another source of wealth. Then the construction of the Erie Railroad from Goshen to Piermont, and its subsequent extension in other directions, finished the old transportation business of Newburgh, and it has taken many years to bring about the present prosperity, with railroads extending from many directions, large and varied manufactures, superior public institutions and other conditions to correspond.

AFTER INCORPORATION.

The village of Newburgh was incorporated March 25, 1800, by an Act of the Legislature, and in May seven trustees, three assessors, three fire wardens, a collector and a treasurer, were elected. John Anderson was chosen president of the board of trustees. In 1801, the Newburgh and Colchester turnpike was incorporated, with a capital of $125,000. "Both measures," says Ruttenber, "were largely instrumental in influencing the prosperity of the village." The latter, by opening a new route of travel westward, brought a trade which in the main had previously reached the Hudson by way of New Windsor, as up to that time nearly all the wagon roads led to this place. The turnpike so reversed conditions, by giving to the western part of Orange County and Sullivan County a better and shorter route of travel, that Newburgh came up and New Windsor went down, and the merchants of the latter place moved their stocks of goods to Newburgh. Other turnpikes followed, and the village grew rapidly. From the close of the Revolutionary War to 1825 its population increased 1,100 in each decade, and its commerce was proportionately extended. Connecting turnpikes stretched to Canandaigua Lake, and were traversed by lines of stages, and a steamer on Cayuga Lake facilitated travel. Subsequently connections with Buffalo permitted a trip of sixty-five hours between that place and New York, and this was advertised as "the shortest and most expeditious route from the Hudson River to the western country."

INTERESTING PUBLIC EVENTS.

The city of Newburgh was incorporated in 1865. Of its patriotic celebrations two were of surpassing enthusiasm and interest. These were the Centennial celebration of 1876 and the Centennial celebrating the close of the Revolutionary War, of October 18, 1883. In the former there was a great nocturnal parade, and the noise and commotion were unprecedented in Newburgh from cannon firing, engine whistling, fireworks, band playing, songs and shouts. At Washington's headquarters the procession paused awhile and sang, "My Country 'tis of Thee."

The celebration of 1883 was less noisy, but more imposing. The memorial monument or "Tower of Victory," at Washington's headquarters, had been completed at a cost of $67,000, and the event was of national and State as well as local significance. Congress had appropriated $25,000, the State Legislature $15,000, the Common Council of Newburgh $7,500, and the citizens of Newburgh had subscribed $5,000. Many thousands of people came from far and near on railroads, steamboats and wagons. The river front was lined with steamers. The procession of the military, firemen, and societies was three miles long, and included quite forty brass bands and a score of drum corps. It was headed by a company of New York City police, and within it rode Peter Ward, mayor of Newburgh; Joel T. Headley, president of the Washington Headquarters Commission; Thomas Bayard, president of the day; William M. Evarts, orator, and William Bruce, poet. The inscription on the monument gives the sufficient reason for the parade and accompanying ceremonies:

"This monument was erected under the authority of the Congress of the United States and the State of New York, in commemoration of the disbandment under proclamation of the Continental Congress of October 18, 1783, of the armies by whose patriotic and military virtue our national independence and sovereignty were established."

Another noteworthy celebration was the unveiling of the statute of General George Clinton, October 6, 1896. The exercises consisted of a military and civic parade. The presentation address was delivered by Rev. William K. Hall, D.D. and Mayor Odell, in behalf of the city, made the address of acceptance. The statue stands in Clinton Gore, at the junction of Water and Colden Streets. It shows General Clinton resting on his sword, which he holds in his right hand. It was modeled by the late eminent sculptor, Henry K. Brown, and his nephew, Mr. Bush-Brown, had the statue cast and the pedestal carved. The cost to the people of Newburgh was only $3,000, raised by subscriptions undertaken by the local Historical Society, and finished by Mayor Odell. Upon the granite pedestal is this inscription:

GEORGE CLINTON Member of Continental Congress, 1775-1777. Brigadier-General Continental Army, 1777. Governor of the State of New York, 1777-1795, 1801-1804. Vice-President of the United States, 1804-1812. Cara Patria Carioe Libertas.

The Newburgh Municipal Centennial was fittingly observed May, 1900. The parade, in which about twenty-eight hundred persons took part, marched through the city's principal thoroughfares, after which the people assembled at Washington's Headquarters, and Mayor Wilson called the gathering to order. The Rev. W. K. Hall, D.D., eloquently reviewed the events of a century in this village and city. Benediction was pronounced by Rev. Father Salley.

Another event of unusual interest was the visit of Lafayette, in 1824, to Newburgh, the place of his headquarters in the Revolution. He was given a great reception, Francis Crawford, President of the village, presented him to the corporation in a brief address, and he was afterwards received with Masonic honors by Hiram Lodge, F. & A. M., where he replied eloquently to an address by Rev. Dr. John Brown. He was banqueted at the Crawford Hotel, with about 100 citizens at the table.

Newburgh's growth has been steady and healthy in recent years, in consequence of civic enterprise and better knowledge of the advantages and attractions of her location. Her compact buildings, mostly of brick, her charming suburbs, with fine country seats, the good and delightful roads extending into the country for carriage drives and automobiles, her excellent harbor and easy access to the Metropolis by rail and steamer, her good schools and churches and her busy manufactories, are enticements which are drawing many new residents. Apart from its population it is the center of trade for many thousands of people.

MANUFACTURES.

The following is a partial list of leading industries:

Newburgh Bleachery, bleachers and finishers of fine cotton fabrics; Sweet, Orr & Co., overalls and working-men's garments; Coldwell Lawn Mower Co.; Coldwell-Wilcox Co., iron founders and machinists; T. S. Marvel & Co., iron shipbuilding and engineering works; Newburgh Steam Boiler Works; Fabrikoid Company, imitation leathers; Newburgh Ice Machine and Engine Co.; Newburgh Lumber Co.; Newburgh Planing Mill Co.; Belknap & McCann, soap; Lackey Manufacturing Co., lace curtains; Harrison & Gore Silk Co.; Hudson River Woolen Mills; Staples & Hanford, wire goods; Newburgh Reed Co., reed chairs; Stroock Plush Co.; Stroock Felt Co.; Little Falls Paper Co.; Granite City Soap Co.; Newburgh Steam Mills, cotton goods; John Turl's Sons, iron works; Cleveland & Whitehill, overalls; Ferry, Weber & Co., hats; Abendroth & Root, spiral pipe, etc., automobiles; Muchattoes Lake Ice Co.; Higginson Manufacturing Co., cement; Newburgh Light, Heat & Power Co.; Pennsylvania Coal Co.

Of the industries which have been listed, some should be more fully noticed. The Newburgh Ice Machine and Engine Company was known at the time of its establishment, in 1824, as the Newburgh Steam Engine Works. The present company was organized in 1890 with a capital of $500,000 to manufacture Whitehill-Corliss engines and ice-making and refrigerating machines. Extensive shops were completed that year, to which additions have recently been made. Mr. Edgar Penney is vice-president and general manager.

The Muchattoes Lake Ice Company's business was started in the winter of 1859-1860 by James R. Dickson, and was bought in 1863 by Benjamin B. Odell, when he organized the company named. The officers are: B. B. Odell, president; B. B. Odell, Jr., secretary and treasurer; H. B. Odell, superintendent.

Sweet, Orr & Co. are the pioneers and most extensive manufacturers in the country of overalls and other working-men's garments. In 1876 their weekly product was about a thousand dozen pairs at their Wappinger's Falls factory, where they kept 250 employees busy. Seeking increased quarters they started another factory in Newburgh in 1880. The factory has a frontage of 150 feet on Broadway and 275 feet on Concord street. In 1882 they opened a factory in Chicago, and in 1900 another at Joliet, Ill. Sixty traveling salesmen cover the entire United States with their product. Mr. Clayton E. Sweet, head of this concern, resides in Newburgh.

To Captain Thomas S. Marvel is due the success of the immense shipyard of the T. S. Marvel Shipbuilding Company. Soon after the failure of Ward, Stanton & Co., Captain Marvel, who had been their superintendent, began business on his own account. The shipyard has been enlarged from time to time, and building after building erected for their business. Over 200 men are employed in the building and repairing of iron and wooden steamboats and other water craft. Among their notable products are the steamers Homer Ramsdell, Hendrick Hudson, numerous ferryboats, and fire-boats for the New York Fire Department.

The Higginson Manufacturing Company have a very extensive plant for the production of plaster, gypsum, etc., with steamers and barges to transport it to New York and other points. The business was begun by William R. Brown in 1868. Mr. Henry C. Higginson has been proprietor of the plant for many years.

The Newburgh Bleachery is owned and managed by Joseph Chadwick & Sons. It is one of the largest and best equipped manufactories of its kind. The Chadwicks in 1871 purchased the present site, and combined with it a factory which they owned in Rutherford, N. J., concentrating their whole business in the Newburgh establishment. They employ about 300 hands in bleaching and finishing various kinds of cotton goods.

The Fabrikoid Company's industry was moved to Newburgh in 1902. The plant covers about fifteen acres, and consists of twenty-eight buildings. The product is chiefly an imitation leather and the manufactory has a capacity of over 6,000 yards a day. Mr. John Aspinwall is president, and Mr. George H. May, secretary and treasurer.

Coldwell Lawn Mower Company, manufacturers of hand, horse and motor lawn mowers, is the largest concern in the world devoted exclusively to the production of these machines. The firm is composed of William H. Coldwell, president and general manager; E. C. Ross, treasurer; H. T. Coldwell, assistant treasurer, and A. W. Mapes, secretary. Mr. Thomas Coldwell, the parent of this industry, organized the company in 1891, and the plant was built on the most modern principles. Their annual output, shipped to all parts of the globe, exceeds one hundred thousand mowers, which is over one-fifth of the entire production in the country.

H. Powell Ramsdell, of Newburgh, is the proprietor of the Arlington Paper Mill at Salisbury's Mills, eight miles southwest of the city on Murderer's Creek and the Newburgh branch of the Erie. The mill is the principal industrial element of the hamlet. It is picturesquely situated on the edge of a rocky gorge. The oldest part of the mill was built about 1840, by Isaac K. Oakley. It forms but a small part of the present plant, the main building of which is 480 feet long and from one to three stories high, with capacity for the employment of 150 hands, and the production of over 24,000 pounds of paper daily. It is a progressive institution and up to date in its machinery and other equipment. There are several detached buildings in addition to a connected series of brick and stone buildings, and twenty or more cottages for the families of the employees. The Arlington Mill manufactures the best grades of book paper and French folios, white and colored. These go to the great publishing houses of New York and other American cities, and some of them to England and even to Australia.

EXTENSIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS.

Washington Heights, formerly the homestead of Captain Henry Robinson--a tract of nearly 100 acres in the southern part of the city--was made a valuable addition to the resident portion of the city by its purchase from the heirs, division into streets and lots and their improvements started twenty years ago. The part of the plateau east of Lander street, about forty acres, was purchased by Henry T. McConn, and he arranged with Colonel Charles H. Weygant for its development. The macadam streets are broad and straight, the houses must set twelve feet back from the sidewalk, which is lined with shade trees. A little later, in October, 1887, William D. and Joseph M. Dickey purchased the part of the Robinson farm west of Lander street, forty-two acres, and there inaugurated similar improvements. Many lots have been sold and houses erected on both plots.

The Newburgh Street Railway Company obtained a franchise early in 1886 to build a surface road from a point near the western end of the city to the Union depot, and then another to extend the line from the corner of Water and Third streets along Water street to near the northerly line of the city. On December 23d, of the same year, the road was formally opened between West Newburgh and the Union depot. Later the road was extended to Orange Lake, and the name was changed to the Orange County Traction Company. In 1906 it was purchased by Ex-Governor Odell, and desirable improvements in equipment were made.

On recommendation of Mayor Odell, in his annual message of 1887, the people voted $30,000 for the purchase of additional lands to the former Smith estate, owned by the city, to be improved and laid out into the beautiful and sightly Downing Park, in honor of Andrew J. Downing.

Of buildings for public use the Newburgh Academy of Music is conspicuous. It was projected in 1886 by J. P. Andrews and E. S. Turner, and the construction was commenced in the spring of 1887. It has a frontage on Broadway of 85 feet and a depth of 140 feet. The auditorium is 80 feet long by 45 feet deep, 40 feet high, and will seat 1,300 people. The stage is 80 by 35 feet, and there are 12 dressing rooms, 2 balconies and 4 boxes. In all its appointments it is thoroughly modern.

Of school buildings two deserve particular notice. The Free Academy was erected in 1885-1886, and cost $67,000. The material is brick with stone trimmings. It is 112 by 68 feet, and three stories high, with basement. It has an assembly room 88 by 64 feet, which will seat 700 persons, and 12 class rooms each 31 by 23 feet. There are 21 rooms in all. Without and within it is a good specimen of school architecture. Another is the Grammar School building, erected in 1891 at a cost of $30,000. This is 74 by 76 feet, with eight class rooms 28 by 23 feet each, and each containing desks for 40 pupils. The assembly room is in the third story.

Another noteworthy building is that of the Y. M. C. A., constructed in 1882-1883, and costing $24,000. It is 31 by 77 feet, three stories high, and has a seating capacity in its assembly room for 300 persons.

In 1896-1897 a handsome Government building was erected. Congress having appropriated $100,000 for this purpose, and this has since been the home of the post-office, the business of which has already almost outgrown it.

The water with which Newburgh is supplied is drawn from Washington Lake, three and a third miles from the Hudson and 276 feet above it. The lake is fed by internal springs and an artificial channel with Silver stream. Chemical analysis has shown that this water is so pure that it needs no filtering, and it is agreeably palatable, without any mineral flavors. It has been healthy Newburgh's drinking water for more than fifty years. The lake's area is about 140 acres, and it has a storage capacity of 300,000,000 gallons. Newburgh is now so thoroughly piped that the water is universally accessible to its citizens, and is an invaluable protection against fire as well as promoter of cleanliness, health and happiness.

PROTECTION AND EDUCATION.

Newburgh has been remarkably free from crime, which is in part due to the character of its citizens and in part to its uniformly excellent police force, which now consists of one marshal, two sergeants, two roundsmen and fifteen patrolmen.

The Volunteer Fire Department of Newburgh is one of the oldest in the State, and also one of the most efficient. Therefore there have been few very damaging fires, and the insurance rates are low. From its organization, over a hundred years ago, until now, it has had on its records of membership some of the leading business and professional men in the community, and they have promptly responded to the call for service when their service was required.

The department was started, by authority of an act of Legislature, in the spring of 1797. This was three years before the village was incorporated, and the five trustees which the act required to be elected annually for controlling managers were the first form of government in the village. Their power was transferred to the village trustees by the incorporating act. There were at first a suction engine and a bucket brigade to keep it supplied with water. In 1805 a company of "bagmen" was formed, whose duty it was to take charge of goods. The first engine house was erected about the same time, and a record of the two engine companies of 1806 furnishes the following names:

No. 1--William I. Smith, Enoch E. Tilton, Walter Burling, Henry Tudor, Ward M. Gazlay, Gilbert N. Clement, Minard Harris, John Carskaden, Caleb Sutton, George E. Hulse, John Coleman, John Hoagland, William Adee, Andrew Preston, Nicholas Wright, John Forsyth, Walter Case.

No. 2--John Harris, Jonathan Fisk, John Anderson, Jr., Leonard Carpenter, Selah Reeve, James Hamilton, Samuel I. Gregory, William Gardiner, Nathaniel Burling, Solomon Sleight, Jonathan Carter, Hiram Weller, Samuel Wright, Hugh Spier, Thomas Powell, Cornelius De Witt, Joseph Hoffman. Cadwallader Roe, Daniel Niven, Jr., Benoni H. Howell, Sylvanus Jessup, Joseph Reeve, John Richardson.

The interesting history of the department from its interesting beginnings cannot be followed here. Coming down to the present time its heads consist of a chief engineer and two assistant engineers, the foreman and assistant foreman of the various companies, and the trustees of the Fire Department fund. The names of the companies are: Highland Steamer Co. No. 3, Washington Steamer Co. No. 4, Brewster Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1, Ringgold Hose Co. No. 1, Columbian Hose Co. No. 2, C. M. Leonard Steamer Co. No. 2, Chapman Steamer Co. No. 1, Lawson Hose Co. No. 5, Washington Heights Chemical Engine Co. No. 3.

The city is divided into five fire districts, and thirty-two alarm boxes connect with the engine houses.

Newburgh is essentially progressive and modern in its educational system, now made free, from the primary to the end of the academic course. Its Board of Education consists of nine members. It has seven public school buildings and one public library building. Other officers besides the board, are its president, vice-president, clerk, who is also superintendent, librarian, counsel and attendance officer. There are also three Glebe trustees and three Glebe auditors. The courses of study are similar to those in other city schools, and the graduate from the Free Academy may be prepared to enter one of the leading colleges, while the Manual Training School is a physical safeguard as well as a means for harmonious muscular development. For reading helps apart from text-books the good library of nearly 35,000 volumes is an opening into general literature.

The reason for the Glebe trustees and auditors referred to dates back to ancient conditions which have been mentioned. The act to amend the charter of the Glebe passed by the Legislature in 1803, directed that $200 should be paid annually to the trustees of the academy, and that the remainder of the money from the Glebe income should be paid to the other schools on the Glebe lands, as the inhabitants should direct. It was applied to the juvenile school which was established in the old Lutheran church in 1803, the last teacher of which was John L. Lyon, who taught from 1843 to 1845, when the school was removed to the academy. In 1849, after the Clinton street school building was erected and became officially known as the Glebe school, it received the revenues of the Glebe above the sum required by law to be paid to the academy. The High school was incorporated in 1829, and opened the next year. The number of pupils registered in this 1851-1852 was 348, and the number in the Glebe school about 120. During the first year of the new order of things, provided for in the act of 1852, the number of pupils was doubled.

Besides the present public schools there are several parish and private schools, the former being under the care of the Roman Catholic Church. Of these St. Mary's Academy, founded in 1883, has become very prominent and useful.

The library, with its 35,000 volumes, is free to the people of Newburgh, and the building includes a teachers' reading room supplied with books adapted to the professional needs of the teachers, and may also be used by citizens and strangers for study and literary work. The library was started in 1852, and is among the oldest of the free circulating libraries. Previous to 1850 there were but four in the State, ten in the New England States, six besides these in the United States, and none in Great Britain, and but one of the libraries then organized has as many books or as large a circulation as the Newburgh library. In September, 1852, the Board of Education resolved that all the school libraries in the village should be consolidated and placed together in the academy room, then ready to receive them, and William N. Reid, first principal of the academy under the new system, was appointed librarian. There were 924 volumes from the high school, 737 from the Glebe and 418 from the academy. In 1862 the books of the Mechanics' Library Association were transferred to the Board of Education, which added 2,801 volumes to the library. Other donations and the purchases have brought the library to its present valuable condition in the number and quality of its books. The fine building which now contains them was completed in 1877.

CHURCHES.

Of Newburgh's churches the oldest is the First Presbyterian, whose legal existence began a few months after the close of the Revolutionary War, although its informal existence had started a score of years before, and been kept up in an irregular and feeble way. The formal organization as a Presbyterian society under the laws of the Slate took place July 12, 1884, with these trustees: Adolph Degrove, Daniel Hudson, Thomas Palmer, Joseph Coleman, Isaac Belknap. The first stated supply was Rev. John Close, who served from 1785 to 1796. His successor was Rev. Isaac Lewis, who continued until 1800 and was followed by Rev. John Freeman, and Mr. Freeman by Rev. Eleazer Burnet. Then came the long and very successful pastorate of Rev. John Johnston, which lasted from July 5, 1807, until his death, August 23, 1855. Nearly a thousand members were added to the church roll during his ministry.

The congregation of the First Associate Reformed Church was formed in 1798, and the society was legally incorporated February 7, 1803. The first pastor, Rev. Robert Kerr, was installed April 6, 1799. The first trustees were: Derick Amerman, Hugh Walsh, Daniel Niven, Robert Gourley, Robert Boyd, John Brown, Isaac Belknap, Jr., John Coulter and Robert W. Jones. The ruling elders were John Currie, Samuel Belknap, Hugh Speir and John Shaw.

The First Reformed Presbyterian Church was planted in Newburgh by several families of the Covenanter faith in 1793, who held services in their homes on Sundays, and, with others, organized a Covenanter society in 1802. This became a branch of the Coldenham congregation, and the connection was continued until 1824, when it separated, and James Clark, Samuel Wright and John Lawson were chosen elders and John Crawford, deacon.

Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1808, when Rev. Samuel Fowler became the first pastor.

St. George's Episcopal Church has been elsewhere referred to in the early history of Newburgh. The parish was reincorporated, after a long period of adversity, in 1805, and the minister who more than any one else built it up afterward in the early years of the nineteenth century was Rev. John Brown. He became its regular rector in the fall of 1815.

The African M. E. Church was organized in 1827, by Rev. George Matthews.

A Baptist Church was organized in 1821, and after a feeble existence, ending in dissolution in 1828, was formally reorganized in December, 1834.

Of the later churches the organizations were as follows:

American Reformed Church, September 24, 1835; St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, 1838; Union Church, July 13, 1837; Shiloh Baptist Church, 1848; St. John's M. E. Church, May 23, 1852; Westminstcr Reformed Presbyterian Church, November 12, 1854; Calvary Presbyterian Church, September 1, 1856; First United Presbyterian Church, December 6, 1859; Congregation Beth Jacob, about 1860; St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, May, 1860; Grace M. E. Church, April 25, 1868; Church of our Father (Unitarian), 1855; St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, May 19, 1875; Church of the Corner Stone (Reformed Episcopal), December 2, 1873; German Evangelical Lutheran Church, spring of 1876; Church of the Good Shepard (Episcopal), June, 1871; First Congregational Church, January 3, 1889.

OTHER HELPFUL ORGANIZATIONS.

A Young Men's Christian Association of Newburgh was organized September 17, 1858, and the next week officers were elected. The time of organization was less than six years after the Y. M. C. A. movement started. The association dissolved about 1861, and after the lapse of seven years the present association was organized. It did not have a vigorous existence for several years, and was reorganized in January, 1879. A few months later General Secretary J. T. Browne came to Newburgh and put new life into it, and it has been prosperous and progressive since. Its president, E. S. Tanner, was largely instrumental in raising the money for the new building, first occupied in 1883, and costing $17,000.

At a public meeting held April 24, 1888, after an address by the national secretary, Miss Nettie Dunn, Newburgh's Young Women's Christian Association was organized, and 105 members enrolled. The elected officers were: President, Mrs. Susan McMasters; vice-presidents, Mrs. Isaac Garrison, Miss Mary E. Gouldy and Mrs. Charles S. Jenkins; recording secretary, Miss Augusta Lester; treasurer, Mrs. M. C. Belknap. The association has been prosperous and useful.

St. Luke's Home and Hospital was incorporated in 1876. Its object is to provide for the care and medical treatment of the sick and disabled, and also a home for aged women. It has a training school for nurses, established in 1893, and a medical board of nearly a score of physicians and specialists.

There are two institutions under the care of Alms House Commissioners--the City and Town Home and Children's Home. The former is on a farm in the southwestern corner of the city, and the latter is a building in High Street. These are city benefactions, well managed and helpful to the aged and orphaned.

An office and employment bureau was organized in 1875, and reorganized in 1886. It is primarily an organization to help the poor to help themselves. Members pay $5 annually and agree to abstain from indiscriminate alms giving. The society is otherwise supported by voluntary contributions.

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Young Women's Christian Temperance Union labor to teach the boys and younger men the principles of temperance and morality, and have restrained and reformed many of them.

There are two military companies in Newburgh--the Fifth Separate and Tenth Separate Companies, originating in the Seventeenth Battalion, which was organized in 1878. Lieutenant Colonel E. D. Hayt, commanding. January 11, 1882, Companies B, C and D were mustered out and Company A, Captain James T. Chase, continued as Fifth Separate Company, and Company E, Captain James M. Dickey, continued as Tenth Separate Company.

The Lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows are Acme No. 469; Bismarck No. 420; Highland No. 65 and Mount Olive Encampment No. 65.

The Elks have Lodge No. 247, B. P. O. E.

The Grand Army of the Republic is represented in Newburgh by Ellis Post No. 52. and Fullerton Post No. 589. The Sons of Veterans have A. S. Cassedy Post No. 18.

The Knights of Pythias have Storm King Lodge No. 11, Olive Branch Lodge No. 133, Endowment Rank Section No. 206 and Charles T. Goodrich Division No. 25, Uniform Rank.

The Knights of Honor have Hudson River Lodge No. 1218.

The Ancient Order of Foresters has Court Newburgh No. 7256 and Court Pride of the Hudson No. 7718.

The Improved Order of Red Men has Muchattoes Tribe No. 54, and Orange Council No. 50, Degree of Pocahontas.

Of temperance societies there are Orange Council No. 186, Royal Templars of Temperance, Prohibition Alliance; Junior Prohibition Club, St. George's Company No. 62, Knights of Temperance, St. Paul's Company No. 62. Mission Lodge No. 639 I. O. of G. T., Newburgh Lodge No. 282 I. O. of G. T., and Victory Lodge I. O. of G. T.

Among the many other societies are United Friends, Sons of St. George, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Royal Arcanum, Order of United American Mechanics, Sexennial League, Knights and Ladies of the Golden Star, Knights of Honor, Orange Men, several Catholic societies, labor and trade unions, Newburgh Bible Society, Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Society for Instruction in First Aid to the Injured, and Horse Thief Detecting Society.

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.

Newburgh has solid financial institutions. Highland Bank was chartered April 26, 1834, with a capital of $200,000. In January, 1865, the capital was increased to $350,000, and the following April was reorganized as a National Bank with a capital of $450,000, which was reduced to $300,000 in 1888. The first president was Gilbert O. Fowler.

Quassaick National Bank was organized March 31, 1852, and began business with a capital of $130,000. The first president was E. W. Farrington, and the first cashier Jonathan N. Weed. In June of the year of organization the capital stock was increased to $200,000, and in June of 1853 to $300,000. In 1895 Mr. Weed was chosen president.

The National Bank of Newburgh is the successor of the Bank of Newburgh, incorporated March 22, 1811. The capital of the first bank was $120,000. The first president was Isaac Belknap, Jr., and the first cashier was John S. Hunn. In February, 1820, a branch bank was opened at Ithaca and continued till 1830, when its charter expired. The Bank of Newburgh was then reorganized under the Safety Fund law with a capital of $140,000. In 1851 it was again reorganized under the general banking law with a capital of $200,000, which was increased the next year to $300,000. July 3, 1864, the bank divided its capital and 60 per cent, profits among its stockholders, and closed business, and two days afterward the National Bank of Newburgh more than took its place in the business community, with the large capital of $800,000, the stock of which was promptly taken. June 3, 1890, the stockholders voted to reduce the capital to $400,000, and the additional $400,000 with 40 per cent profits was divided among them. The bank has continued to prosper.

The Newburgh Savings Hank was chartered April 13, 1852, and was opened January 1, 1853. Its present building was completed in 1868, and cost $115,527. It has been a helpful institution to the people of Newburgh and vicinity. Its first president was Robert L. Case. Joseph Chadwick is now its president.

The Columbus Trust Company began to do business March 1, 1893, at No. 82 Broadway, with a capital stock of $100,000 divided among 144 shareholders. Semi-annual dividends of 3 per cent, have been regularly paid since 1895. In 1901 the directors decided to purchase No. 78 Broadway for a banking house. The building was remodeled, and April 20, 1902, the company moved to its present quarters. This company has prospered beyond the reasonable expectations of its friends. The statement of December 31, 1893, showed $117,249.17 on deposit, and $20,238.36 surplus and undivided profits. June 29, 1907, deposits amounted to $2,941,587.13 and surplus and undivided profits to $121,527.26. The total number of accounts is 5,300. The present officers are: Joseph Van Cleft, president; David A. Morrison, first vice-president; Charles K. Bull, second vice-president; Henry M. Leonard, treasurer; Barclay Van Cleft, secretary; Walter C. Anthony, counsel.

The Board of Trade was organized February 22, 1882, Mayor A. S. Cassedy presiding at the meeting. Daniel S. Waring was chosen president and the other officers were: vice-presidents, William B. Brockaw and John Schoonmaker; treasurer, Jonathan N. Weed. This organization helped in many ways to advance the city's interests. It was succeeded by the Business Men's Association, organized October 16, 1900, with the following officers: Samuel V. Schoonmaker, president; James Chadwick, W. C. Belknap, Hiram B. Odell, vice-presidents; John F. Tucker, secretary: H. A. Bartlett, treasurer. It was incorporated March 30, 1904. Among the larger plants it has secured for Newburgh may be mentioned (1901) the Abendroth & Root Co., of Brooklyn manufacturers of spiral pipe, automobiles, etc.; (1901-1902) the Fabrikoid Co., formerly doing business in New Jersey, which purchased the property known as Haigh Mills at West Newburgh. Their products are shipped to all parts of the world; (1903) William C. Gregg Co., of Minneapolis, Minn., manufacturers of sugar plantation machinery. William Johnston McKay was chosen president of the association in 1907. This organization is in charge of Newburgh's portion of the Ter-Centenary celebration of the discovery of the Hudson River, and has already arranged for special exercises, September 25, 26 and 27, 1909.

TRANSPORTATION AVENUES.

The transportation facilities of Newburgh are almost unsurpassed.

In front is its fine harbor, bay and river, with steamship lines up and down and across. These lines are a restraint upon the tendencies of the railroads towards high freight rates. The river trade is large and within a few miles of Newburgh are about fifteen village ports which are more or less tributary to it. The local traffic of the Hudson is mostly by lines of steamers, some of which carry both freight and passengers and others only passengers. Sloops and schooners, which long ago did nearly all the carrying trade, still do service.

The Central Hudson Steamboat Company has two night lines of steamers to New York, which carry passengers and freight. Boats of this line leave Newburgh and New York in the evening and afford charming water trips to residents and others. The company also provides the Newburgh, Albany and Troy line, the steamers of which leave Newburgh for the upward trips every morning, except Sundays, and arrive from Albany in the evening. The captains of the boats on the Newburgh and New York lines are Zach Roosa, William Meakim, Weston L. Dennis and E. N. Gage. Those on the Newburgh, Albany & Troy line are Fred L. Simpson and Egbert Van Wagner.

The Newburgh and Fishkill ferry, for which a line of steamers was started in 1835, continues business, its steamers leaving Newburgh about every half hour between 5.45 a. m. and 10.45 p. m. H. Stockbridge Ramsdell is the agent.

Newburgh and Haverstraw Steamboat Company has the steamer Emeline, Captain D. C. Woolsey, which starts for Haverstraw and intermediate landings each mid-afternoon and Haverstraw for Newburgh in the evening.

Newburgh and Poughkeepsie line's steamer Hudson Taylor, Captain George Walker, leaves Newburgh for Poughkeepsie every morning.

Wappinger's Falls and Newburgh line's steamer Messenger leaves Newburgh forenoons and early evenings.

The West Shore Railroad, which extends north and west to Albany and Buffalo and south to New York, connects at Newburgh with the line and the New York and the New England systems, and at Buffalo with the Grand Trunk and the Lake Shore Railroads. Over thirty trains a day arrive and depart on this road. It has facilities for transporting cars across the river.

One Erie Railroad branch extends to a junction with the main line at Greycourt, eighteen miles distant, and affords a direct route to the Pennsylvania coal fields and across the southern tier of New York counties to the west. Another Erie branch connects with the main line at Newburgh Junction, fifteen miles distant, and passes through a number of Orange County villages. About twenty passenger trains a day arrive and depart over these branches.

The New York Central's Hudson River line of railroad across the river from Newburgh is reached by the ferry, the boats of which make close connection with all through passenger trains.

The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway extends from a junction with the Newburgh branch and the Erie's main line at Greycourt to Belvedere. The Newburgh branch is operated as a part of the system controlled by the Central Railroad of New Jersey.

There is also the line of the Orange County Traction Company, extending to Walden.

Newburgh is the principal gateway for the coal traffic between Pennsylvania fields and the New England States, which consume six million tons of coal annually. The loaded cars on reaching the river front are quickly ferried across to Fishkill on the transfer boat, and the roads coming to Fishkill distribute them. Much coal is also shipped from Newburgh by water to all parts of the northern country, and to the ports of Long Island and the New England coast.

CEMETERIES.

Newburgh has six cemeteries--the Newburgh, or Old Town, St. George's, St. Patrick's, the Hebrew, and in the suburbs, Woodlawn and Cedar Hill.

The Newburgh has many old headstones, and is in the block where stood the church of the old Palatine settlers.

St. George's is under the care of St. George's Protestant Episcopal Church.

St. Patrick's is for the remains of the Roman Catholic dead and the Hebrew for the Jewish dead.

Woodlawn Cemetery is controlled by the Newburgh Woodlawn Cemetery Association, which was incorporated October 22, 1870. It is in the town of New Windsor, a mile from the city, and is reached by a delightful avenue. It is an ideal location for a cemetery, with extended river and mountain views. Quassaick avenue, leading from the city to Woodlawn, is lined with elegant country residences in the midst of spacious grounds studded with fine trees and beautified in the warm season with wide lawns and varieties of beautiful flowers. The cemetery grounds contain fifty acres, laid out with excellent artistic taste and skill, and carefully looked after and kept in order by the superintendent, MacLeod Rogers, who has occupied the position from the beginning. Some of its features are a row of fine cedars along the northern boundary, a dense grove on the western side, scattered ancient oaks, also maples, pines, elms and other kinds of trees, varieties of shrubs and flowers, and a natural stream. There are several imposing monuments and many fine designs in sculptured marble and granite.

Cedar Hill Cemetery is about five miles north of the center of the city, and contains 100 acres in the midst of a picturesque landscape. It has about three miles of driveways through its park-like grounds, there is a stream of spring water which supplies a little lake of two and one-half acres, and there are many handsome monuments. The Cedar Hill Cemetery Association was organized in 1870.

THE CIVIL WAR.

Regarding enlistments from Newburgh and the money raised for the Civil War, the recapitulation in Ruttenber and Clark's History is here quoted:

"1. Company B. 3d Regiment, recruited in March and April, 1861. 2. Company B, 36th Regiment, recruited in May and June. 1861. 3. Company I, 71st Regiment Militia, recruited principally from Company I, 19th Regiment. 4. Companies A and B., and parts of C, D and G, 56th Regiment, recruited between July and October, 1861. 5. Seventh Independent Battery, in part, recruited with 56th Regiment. 6. Companies D, E, F, I and L, 19th Regiment Militia; miscellaneous enlistments prior to July, 1862, 111. Under the calls of July and August, 1862, 470 men were required from the town, and 501 furnished, 217 of whom were enrolled in the 124th and 106 in the 168th Regiments. The call of July, 1863 required 443 men, of whom ninety were furnished; but it was merged in the calls of October 1863, and of February, March and July, 1864, requiring 756; number furnished, 827, of whom seventy-one were not credited. The total of enlistments, including re-enlistments, was 2,250; the total of men required, 1,226. The public subscriptions and loans of the town, including at that time the village, for the promotion of enlistments and for bounties were: 1861, by individual subscriptions, $7,385; bonds of the village, $5,000; 1862, individual subscriptions, $17,512; 1864, town bonds, $175,100; total, $204,997. In addition to this sum the town expended for special relief--1863-1864--$1,075.50; expended by aid society, and in contributions to the Christian Commission, $12,387.31; raising the total to $218,459.81, and the further sum of $321,320 (partly estimated) for special income and internal revenue taxes to January 1, 1865--a grand total of $539.779.81."

POST-OFFICE.

The Newburgh post-office was the first to be established in this part of the State, and passed the centennial of its organization in December, 1895. Prior to that date letters and other articles which now go by mail were carried by post riders, who delivered and deposited letters at appointed stations. The first post-carrier station in this district is supposed to have been what was known as "the glass house" in the ancient village of New Windsor, where letters were addressed as early as 1755. One of the early stations was the tavern of Michael Wiegand on present Liberty street, and the regular accounting post-office of 1895 was its successor. At that time, we are told, the Newburgh office included in its deliveries Marlborough, Montgomery, Plattekill, New Windsor and other nearby settlements, and received mails by carriers on the established post roads, the main trunk lines being the old King's Highway, now Liberty street, the old road from Kingston to Goshen, running through Montgomery, from which a cross mail was carried through Coldenham to Newburgh, and there was a main cross mail running east through Fishkill into New England and to Boston, which intersected a cross line on the east side of the river extending from New York to Albany.

The Newburgh post-office had various locations in town until 1897, when it was moved into its permanent home in the new Government building, then just completed. The equipment here was modern and complete and the space sufficient, but the rapid growth of the city's industrial business and other changing conditions have been such that the building is already too small for the increased and increasing post-office business. Note the changes in five years. On March 1, 1900, there were connected with the office eight clerks, thirteen letter carriers and one substitute carrier, and in 1905 there were thirteen clerks, two substitute clerks, sixteen carriers, four substitute carriers, and four rural delivery carriers. The receipts of the office for the year ending March 31, 1901, were $52,263.12, and for the year ending March 31, 1906, they were $73,232.79, an increase of $20,969.37. or 40.12 per cent.

A list of postmasters from the beginning until now, with the dates of their appointment, follows:

Ebenezer Foote, appointed January 1, 1796; Harry Caldwell, October 1, 1797; Daniel Birdsall, October 1, 1802; Chester Clark, July 1, 1810; Aaron Belknap, March 26, 1812; Tooker Wygant, November 26, 1830; A. C. Mullin, May 23, 1833; B. H. Mace, November 23, 1836; Oliver Davis, June 11, 1841; James Belknap, May 18, 1843; Samuel W. Eager, August 6, 1849; Joseph Casterline, Jr., May 4, 1853; Ezre Farrington, May 22, 1861; James H. Reeve, November 1, 1866; Henry Major, May 7, 1867; Joseph Lomas, August 22, 1867; Ezra Farrington, July 19, 1869; John C. Adams, April 1, 1875; Joseph M. Dickey, March 21, 1883; William R. Brown, April 8, 1877; William G. Taggart, April 2, 1891; Joseph A. Sneed, February 1, 1892; Lewis W. S. McCroskery, March 1, 1896; Hiram B. Odell, March 1, 1900, reappointed 1904 and January, 1908.

CITY OFFICERS.

A list of the mayors, etc., of Newburgh with their terms of service since its incorporation as a city in 1865 are here given:

Mayors.

George Clark, four terms, from March 11, 1860, to March 8, 1870.

Robert Sterling, from March 8, 1870. Died April 30, 1870.

Alexander McCann, president of the common council, acting mayor the rest of term, to March 7, 1871.

William W. Carson, from March 7, 1871, to March 6, 1872.

Samuel E. Shutes, two terms, from March 6, 1872, to March 10. 1874.

Chauncey M. Leonard, from March 10, 1874. Died December 3, 1874. Nathaniel B. Hayt, acting mayor rest of term, to March 10, 1875.

John S. McCroskery, three terms, from March 10, 1875, to March 12, 1878.

Charles H. Weygant, two terms, from March 12, 1878, to March 8, 1880.

Abram S. Cassedy, two terms, from March 8, 1880, to March 13, 1882.

Peter Ward, two terms, from March 13, 1882, to March 11, 1884.

Benjamin B. Odell, six terms, from March 11, 1884, to March 11, 1890.

Michael Doyle, two terms, from March 11, 1890, to March 11, 1894.

Benjamin B. Odell, six terms, from 1894 to 1900.

Jonathan D. Wilson, six terms, from 1900 to 1906.

Charles D. Robinson, 1906 to 1908.

Benjamin McClung, 1908. Term expires March, 1910.

Treasurers.

Francis Scott, 1866-1868, 1870, 1873-1875.

Lewis M. Smith, 1869-1870.

James N. Dickey, 1872, 1879-1891.

Ring A. Smith, 1876-1878.

Jonathan N. Weed, 1891-1894.

J. N. Dickey, 1894-1906.

H. M. Leonard, 1906. Term expires March, 1909.

Recorders.

Joseph D. Shafer, 1866-1870.

Charles B. Titus, 1871-1874

John B. Kerr, 1875-1878.

Cornelius L. Waring, 1879-1890.

L. W. Y. McCroskery, 1891-1895.

W. H. Hyndman, 1895. Term expires December 31, 1910.

Corporation Counsel.

James W. Taylor, 1865-1869.

John H. Fenton, 1870-1871.

William D. Dickey, 1872, 1878-1880.

J. G. Graham, 1873-1874, 1885-1890.

Abram S. Cassedy, 1875-1876.

George H. Clark, 1880-1881.

Russel Headley, 1881-1884.

Eugene A. Brewster, 1890-1892.

C. L. Waring, 1892. Resigned 1907.

W. F. Cassedy, 1907-1908.

City Surveyor.

Charles Caldwell, 1866-1902.

Everett Garrison, 1902-1906.

William J. Blake, Jr., 1907 to present time.

Supervisors.

Supervisors from 1763 to inauguration of first city officers, March 12, 1866: Jonathan Hasbrouck, 1763; Lewis Du Bois, 1764; John Wandal, 1765; Benjamin Carpenter, 1766; Lewis Du Bois, 1767; Edward Hallock, 1768; Latting Carpenter, 1769-1771; Jonathan Hasbrouck, 1772; John Flewwelling, 1773; Samuel Prowler, 1774; Wolvert Acker, 1775; Morris Flewwelling, 1776; Wolvert Acker, 1777-1780; Thomas Palmer, 1781-1786; John Robinson, 1787-1788; Isaac Fowler, Jr., 1789; John Robinson, 1790-1791; Isaac Fowler, 1792-1795; Reuben Tooker, 1796-1807; Isaac Belknap, Jr., 1808; William Ross, 1809-1810; Jonathan Fisk, 1811; Leonard Smith, 1812-1818; Daniel Tooker, 1819-1820; Leonard Smith, 1822; William Wear, Jr., 1823; William Walsh, 1824-1831; Robert Lawson, 1832-1833; William Walsh, 1834; James G. Clinton, 1835-1836; Daniel Tooker, 1837; David W. Bate, 1838; Jackson Oakley, 1839; David W. Bate, 1840-1844: John W. Brown, 1842; David W. Bate, 1843-1846; Odell S. Hathaway, 1847-1849; Enoch Carter, 1850; Odell S. Hathaway, 1851; Enoch Carter, 1852; Samuel J. Farnum, 1853; Henry Walsh, 1854; Stephen W. Fullerton, 1855; Odell S. Hathaway, 1856; Albert Noe, 1857; Enoch Carter, 1838; Albert Noe, 1850-1860; Odell S. Hathaway, 1861-1863; William H. Beede, 1864; George W. Underhill, 1865; C. Gilbert Fowler, 1866.

A Few Briefs.

August 3, 1809, two acres were added to the grounds of Washington's Headquarters.

November 20, 1870, unparalleled rainstorm and destructive hurricane.

In 1870 population, 17,094.

November 4, 1871, Newburgh's contribution to Chicago's relief fund over $5,500.

January 1, 1872, Newburgh's first steam fire engine tested.

May 11, 1873, board of trustees created for Washington's Headquarters.

February 13, 1878, new public library opened.

May 30, 1878, first exhibition of the phonograph in Newburgh.

September 25, 1878, Newburgh's contribution for relief of yellow fever sufferers in the South, $2,613.

July 5, 1879, mastodon unearthed at Little Britain.

July 28, 1879, movement to erect poles for first Newburgh telephone.

June 25, 1880, armory opened.

In 1880 population 18,049.

May 30, 1881, soldiers' and sailors' monument at Woodlawn Cemetery unveiled.

June 4, 1883, first train on West Shore Railroad from Newburgh to New York.

October 1, 1884, beginning of free mail delivery.

October 31, 1885, Moody and Sankey evangelistic meetings.

November 24, 1885, West Shore Railroad sold at Newburgh courthouse for $22,000,000.

September 2, 1886, new academy dedicated.

December 23, 1886, street railroad opened.

March 12, 1888, unprecedented snowstorm and blizzard.

September 17, 1888, Academy of Music opened.

March 19, 1889, electric fire alarm system adopted.

July 1, 1889, Newburgh's contribution for relief of Johnstown flood sufferers, $5,164.

September 27, 1889, display of national flag over the school buildings began.

In 1890 population 23,087.

October 6, 1896, unveiling of General George Clinton statue.

May 9, 1900, centennial celebration of Newburgh municipality.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXVI. TOWN OF NEW WINDSOR

By Dr. C. A. Gorse.

Less than three centuries ago, to be accurate in 1609, Hendrick Hudson sailed up the beautiful river to which he gave his name, and anchored in the broad bay above the Highlands to trade with the aboriginal inhabitants, who then inhabited the primeval forests which lined its banks.

It is probable that he and some portion of his crew were the first men who set foot upon the virgin soil of New Windsor, but it was not until more than half a century later, in 1685, that a company of Scotch and Irish emigrants to the number of twenty-five families, with their servants, under the leadership of Colonel Patrick McGregorie, accompanied by his sons-in-law, David Foshack and Captain Evens, settled upon the extreme eastern extremity of the town, now known as Plum Point, an elevation of 118 feet above the river and consisting of eighty acres at the mouth of the Moodna Creek.

Here they erected a commodious cabin and established a trading post; this is the earliest recorded settlement in the county. Colonel McGregorie was appointed muster general of the militia of the province and after his death, in 1691, in an endeavor to suppress an insurrection by the Leister party, his sons-in-law and their families continued to reside here until 1789. The patent which the Colonel obtained to the land passed into the possession of his son, Patrick McGregorie, Jr.

The town is wedge-shaped, its sharp edge of about five miles in extent resting upon the river. There is but a small extent of comparatively level land along the river bank upon which the village of New Windsor stands, back of which there rises a steep bluff with a surface of sand and gravel, and a substratum of clay, which is used in the manufacture of an excellent quality of brick, which at the present time is the principal industry of the place. The township is bounded on the north by the city and town of Newburgh, from which it is separated by Quassaick Creek, an outlet of Washington Lake, formerly known as Little Pond, also a portion of the town of Montgomery; on the west by the towns of Montgomery and Hamptonburgh; on the south by Blooming Grove and Cornwall. From the latter town it is separated by Moodna Creek, near its mouth. On the east it is bounded by the Hudson River.

The soil is of a sandy and gravelly nature, interspersed in some portions by rocks and large stones, of a diversified surface, being rolling and hilly. After leaving the river the surface gradually ascends for a distance of two or three miles, interspersed with gentle elevations which have been utilized by retired business men of New York for sightly country residences, most of which command a magnificent view of the noble Hudson, and the picturesque Highlands in the distance.

On the northern edge of the town rises Snake Hill, or more recently called Muchattoes Hill, an elevation of 600 feet above the river. It lies north and south and is almost perpendicular on its eastern extremity, but slopes gradually on the west, from which the surface is again rolling and adapted to agricultural purposes. At the distance of about five miles from the river the town is crossed north and south by two ridges, rising in amphitheatre form, from whose summit is obtained a most elegant view of the surrounding country. The Highlands on the south, the Fishkill Mountains on the east, the Shawangunk Mountains on the north, and the Sugar Loaf and Schunnemunk Mountains on the west.

PATENTS.

The earliest recorded patent was issued to Patrick McGregorie in 1685. Others were as follows: 1,000 acres to William Chambers and William Southerland, September 2, 1709; 4,000 acres (in part) to Charles Huddy and Phillip Brooks, February 20, 1709; this included subsequently a portion granted to Mary Ingoldsby and her daughter, Mary Pinkhorn, August 12, 1720; 4,000 acres to John Haskell of the dates of April 9, 1719, and April 24, 1721; 800 acres to Vincent Matthews, June 17, 1720; 1,000 acres to John Johnson, February 3, 1720; 1184 acres to James Henderson, February 12, 1722; 1,000 acres to Vincent Price (in part), July 21, 1721; 2,000 acres to Andrew Johnson, July 19, 1719; 1,000 acres to Louis Morris, July 21, 1721; 2,000 acres to Patrick Hume, November 29, 1721; 3,292 acres to Cornelius Low & Co. (mainly), March 20, 1720; 1,000 acres to Richard Van Dam (in part), June 30, 1720; 2,000 acres to Phineas Mcintosh (mainly) April 9, 1719, and some portions of the patent granted to Cadwallader Colden, April 9, 1719, some portions of which and the Low & McIntosh patents were cut off in 1830, when the town of Hamptonburgh was created.

On the 7th of October, 1734, Dr. John Nicoll, of New York, purchased of John Waldron, Cornelius Van Horn and James Livingston 7,500 acres.

The Chamber and Southerland patents were divided November 7, 1723, into three equal parts. Chambers occupying the northern part, Matthews the central Part and Southerland the southern part, on the death of the latter in 1738, his portion passed to his two sons, William and John. On the death of William, without issue, John inherited and also obtained, in 1753, the water front from the village of New Windsor to Quassaick Creek. He sold this to Nathaniel Smith, of Kingston in 1738, together with a portion of the Ingoldsby patent, purchased by his father in 1726; also a portion of the German patent purchased by himself in 1742. Smith sold a portion to Robert Boyd, Jr., and another to George Clinton upon which the latter erected a house in 1769, and resided here until elected Governor in 1777, when he removed to Poughkeepsie. From him was purchased what is known as the Walsh farm on the Quassaick Creek, recently in the possession of his grandson, E. J. Dewitt Walsh. On this portion of the tract was Admiral William Chambers; Associate Judge John Chambers, 1751; Governor George Clinton, 1776; Captain Charles Ludlow, U. S. N. The central portion held by Matthews was purchased by John Aslop, 1724, whose son John Aslop, Jr., was prominent in the Revolution, and grandfather of Governor John Aslop King, in 1749. He also sold that portion on which the village of New Windsor stands to the company called the "Proprietors" of New Windsor, September 9, 1749. Their names were Vincent Matthews, Ebenezer Seely, Michael Jackson, Joseph Sackett, David Marvin, Evan Jones and Brant Schuyler.

The Southerlands tract came into the possession of Thomas Ellison in May, 1723, who erected a stone mansion on the bluff overlooking the river; also a storehouse and dock on the river, and conducted a prosperous business for over a century. His mansion was the headquarters of General Washington from 1779; until he moved to the Hasbrouck House in Newburgh.

He also purchased the Vincent Matthews patent, adjoining, at Vail's Gate, in May, 1724, upon which his son, Thomas Ellison, Jr., erected in 1754 the stone mansion and a mill, which subsequently came into the possession of his son John, and is now known as General Knox headquarters.

The fourth patent was on the Ingoldsby patent in 1726, by John Gate, who sold to Thomas Ellison in 1736. He sold a portion to James Edmonston in 1727, upon which the latter erected a stone house in 1754, just west of Vail's Gate, which figured conspicuously in the Revolution.

Dr. John Nicoll came into possession of a considerable tract, from one Peter Post in 1738, which extended from New Windsor village to the base of Snake Hill; his great-grandson now resides upon a portion of it on the river road.

David Mandeville purchased the Mary Ingoldsby patent May 1st, 1728, and sold to Samuel and Nathaniel Hazard who erected a mill which is still standing.

A patent was granted to Colonel John Haskell in 1719 of 2,000 acres and another 2,000 acres in 1721 upon which he settled in 1726. He erected a log cabin on what was known as the Dusenberry farm, upon which the army erected the Temple when encamped there. Other early settlers upon this tract were: Even Jones, Samuel Brewster, Elizabeth Stollard, Andrew Crawford and Neil McArthur.

The first settler upon the McIntosh patent was John Davis, July 5th, 1726; others about this time were Robert Boyd and the Dill families. Through his wife, Sarah McIntosh, Nathan Smith came into possession of a considerable portion of this tract and erected thereon a grist mill, a fulling mill and a store.

The first settler upon the Andrew Johnson patent upon which Little Britain now stands was John Humphrey, 1724; Peter Mullinder, 1729; also Mary McClaughry, John Read, Robert Burnett, in the same year; Charles Clinton, Alexander Denniston, John Young, Andrew McDowell, 1731.

The Mailler family were here prior to 1730, who sold to Robert Carscadden. Among others who settled here with the Clintons were the Armstrongs, Beatty, Barkly, Brooks, Denniston, Davis, Dunlap, Frazer, Gordon, Gray, Hamilton, Little, Mitchell, McDowell, McClaughry, Oliver, Nicholson, Thompson, Wilson and Young, whose descendants are numerous in the county.

The Low and Co.'s patent of 3,292 acres was granted to Peter Low, Garret Schuyler and John Schuyler and was divided among them. The third portion of John Schuyler passed by will to his nephews, Brant and Samuel Schuyler. Brant Schuyler eventually becoming sole possessor. Low and Garret Schuyler sold a considerable portion to Allen Jarrett, April 5th, 1720, Low sold 600 acres to John Vance, September 1st, 1734, and 200 acres to Jarvis Tompkins, May 22, 1738. Other settlers on this patent were: John Slaughter, 1720; Thomas Shaw, 1729; William Miller, 200 acres, November 12th, 1746: Charles Beatty, 200 acres of Brant Schuyler's, August 22nd, 1744, which he sold to James McClaughry, July 14th, 1749, the latter the colonel of the 3rd Regiment of Militia, who fought at the Highland forts in 1777. Beatty, the son of a sister of Charles Clinton, became a distinguished clergyman, some of whose descendants still reside at Salisbury Mills in this county.

James Gambell and John Humphrey purchased of the Hume patent 300 acres, April 6, 1730, and divided it equally between them. Gambell sold to Patrick Byrne, March 12, 1744, and Humphrey sold to Patrick McClaughry, February 22, 1769. The remaining portion of this patent was sold by James Ludlow, a nephew of the patentee, to James Neely, Henry M. Neely, William Young and Patrick McClaughry. William Young sold to Samuel Sly 233 acres, and Gambell and Humphrey sold their portion to William Tilford and Samuel Falls.

Cadwallader Colden became the owner of the John Johnson patent of 2,000 acres at the date of its issue. A portion of the Belknap family settled upon it in 1750.

The Van Dam patent of 5,000 acres passed into the possession of Jessie Woodhull in 1753, also a portion to Peter Gallatin, John Moffat and the Walling Brothers. This tract is now included in the present town of Blooming Grove.

The small Henderson patent early passed into the possession of John Wandel and David Edmonston.

The Lewis Morris patent of 1,000 acres was owned by Alexander Denniston, Francis Crawford, Thomas Cook and William Denniston in 1786, purchased from earlier settlers.

We have already mentioned under the head of patents, many of the early settlers. The earliest were those of Colonel McGregorie at Plum Point in 1685, and the Reverend Richard Charlton, sent out by the London Missionary Society in 1732, for the parish of New Windsor, which was connected with the Church of England. Among the names of the owners of the village were: Ebenezer Seeley, Brant Schuyler, Henry Case, Vincent Matthews, Michael Jackson, Daniel Everet, Even Jones, Hezekiah Howell, Joseph Sackett, Jr., James Tuthill, John Sackett, Jr., Colonel Charles Clinton, 1731; Dr. John Nicoll, 1734; William Ellison, 1732; John Ellison, Captain Jas. Jackson, William Jackson, Thomas Ellison, Isaac Shultz, Messrs. Logan, Bryam, Halstead, Denniston and others. At Little Britain, John Humphrey, 1724; Peter Mulliner, 1729, who gave it the name from Windsor Castle in England; Robert Burnett, John Reid, 1729; Charles Clinton, John and James McClaughry, Alexander Denniston and John Young in 1731. Among those who came from Ireland were James Edmonston, 1720; the Clintons, Alsop, Chambers, Lawrence, Haskins, etc., 1731, who settled in the eastern portion of the town, while the Coldens, Matthews, Wileman, Mcintosh, Bulls, settled in the more western portion.

NOTED RESIDENTS.

The most noted residents of this town were those of the Clinton family. Charles Clinton, the father of James and George, was a native of Langford, Ireland, of Scotch-English descent. He sailed with a company of relatives and friends in 1729, to escape persecution. Having espoused the cause of the Stewarts at the accession of the House of Hanover in 1689, he settled at Little Britain in 1731. He was a highly educated man and gave his sons a good education. He was a surveyor and a judge of the court of common pleas and fought in the French and Indian Wars, 1759 to 1763, was public spirited, had five sons and two daughters, lived to the ripe old age of eighty-three and died at home, November 19th, 1773.

One son and a daughter died at sea. Two of his oldest sons, Alexander and Charles, were physicians. James and George figured conspicuously in the early history of the Empire State. James, born in 1756, preferred the army to politics. He served with his father in the taking of Fort Frontenac in Canada, also in the invasion by the Indians of Orange and Ulster Counties, rose to major-general in the war of the Revolution, was in charge of the northern department, led an expedition against the Iroquois, cut a road from the Mohawk to Lake Otsego, dammed the outlet of the lake and floated the boats over the upper Susquehanna to reach the lower country with his command, was at the siege of Yorktown, member of the assembly, ratified the Constitution of the United Slates, and was a member of the convention of 1804 to amend the State Constitution; died at his home December 12th, 1812, 75 years of age; was buried in the family burying ground by the side of his father.

George Clinton, while a very young man, sailed in a privateer in the French War, was with his father and brother at the siege of Fort Frontenac, studied law under Judge William Smith, was clerk of Ulster County in 1759, member of the assembly in 1780, elected to the Continental Congress in 1775, Brigadier-General in 1776, first Governor of New York in 1777; commanded a brigade at the defense of New York City in 1776. He was in command of the forts in the Highlands which he nobly defended with 600 raw militia against 5,000 veteran British troops, and was overwhelmed and obliged to surrender in 1777; was Governor of the State for eighteen years, administering its trying duties with conspicuous ability; was president of the convention which met at Poughkeepsie in 1788; Vice-President of the United States in 1804; died soon after his re-election in 1808; has been designated as the father of the State. On the beautiful monument in the old Dutch Churchyard in Kingston, N. Y., is the following: "To the memory of George Clinton, born in the State of New York, 26th day of July, 1738, died at the City of Washington the 20th of April, 1812, in the 73rd year of his age. Soldier and Statesman of the Revolution, eminent in council, distinguished in war, he filled with unexampled usefulness, purity and ability, among other high offices those of Governor of his native State, and Vice-President of the United States. While he lived, his virtue, wisdom and valor were the pride, the ornament and security of his country, and when he died he left an illustrious instance and example of a well-spent life, worthy of all imitation."

DeWitt Clinton, a son of James, was born March 2nd, 1769, the exact place, being in dispute, some authorities claim at Fort DeWitt in Deer Park, while his mother was there on a visit; others claim at the home of his father, either at Little Britain or while he was residing in the village of New Windsor. Perhaps it doesn't matter so much where a man is born as what he may make of himself by strenuous efforts, as was the case with the illustrious Lincoln and the subject of this sketch. After graduation at Columbia College in 1786, he studied law with Samuel Jones; was admitted to the bar in 1789; became soon after secretary to the Governor, his uncle, and became devoted to politics; subsequently filled with great ability the following honorable positions: Member of the Assembly, State Senator, member of the council of appointment, United States Senator, Mayor of the City of New York, many times member of the council board, Governor of the State for two terms, candidate for President of the United States, being defeated by Madison, and was invited by Mr. Adams to serve as minister to England, and was the author of twenty-six acts which became incorporated in the laws of the State and nation. The following panegyric was given by William H. Seward, the political successor to the Clintons in New York State, in 1871.

"Only next after Alexander Hamilton, DeWitt Clinton was the wisest statesman, the greatest public benefactor, that in all her history the State of New York has produced." This was from the man who ten years after sat in his chair and persevered in carrying out his policies which established for New York the political leadership of the land.

Alexander Denniston came over with Charles Clinton and settled at Little Britain in 1731.

Robert Burnett came from Scotland in 1725, and purchased 200 acres at Little Britain in 1729.

Colonel James McClaughry, born in Philadelphia, when nine years old was brought by his uncle, John McClaughry, to Little Britain, all the way behind his uncle on horseback. He married Kate, a sister of Governor Clinton, received a colonel's commission at the commencement of the war, commanded a regiment at Fort Montgomery, 1777, where he was taken prisoner and sent to a hospital in New York, where he would have perished but for the extra care and comforts provided by his good wife, who ministered also to many others there. He returned to his farm at the close of the war and lived until 1790, dying at the age of 69.

Martin Dubois, a neighbor of Robert Burnett and General James Clinton, was an assistant quarter-master during the war.

Cadwallader Colden, Jr., of Coldenham, who married Betsy, a daughter of Thomas Ellison, of New Windsor, was a son of Cadwallader Colden, Sr. He was lieutenant-governor of the State from 1760 to 1770. He was arrested as a Tory in June, 1776, by the council of safety of the towns of New Windsor and Newburgh, and after due trial was confined in jail at Kingston, where he remained, for over a year, after which he was liberated on parole. The town of Coldenham is named after his family.

REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY.

This town is rich in Revolutionary lore. A portion of the troops of Colonel James Clinton were organized here in 1775. A battery of fourteen guns were mounted at Plum Point in 1776. The militia were rallied here in 1777, after the fall of the Highland forts and during the winter of 1779, 1780, 1781, 1782 and 1783, nine brigades under command of General Heath, were encamped at the foot of the ridge just west of Snake Hill and just south of the square at Little Britain.

Washington concentrated his forces here in 1779 and made his headquarters at the William Ellison house at New Windsor village, and remained there until 1782, when he removed to the Hasbrouck House in Newburgh and remained there until the army was disbanded in 1783. Other generals of the army were quartered at John Ellison's. Here were Generals Knox and Greene, while Gates and St. Claire were at the Edmonston House, Wayne at Newburgh and Baron Stuben at Fishkill, Lafayette at William Ellison's at the foot of Forge Hill. Other generals were quartered at the old Stone Hotel just west of Edmonston's. When Washington brought his army from New Jersey in 1779, he probably marched over the road from Goshen or Chester to New Windsor now known as the Vail's Gate-Chester State road, but which at that time must have been in a very rough and primitive condition, for a hill just west of Vail's Gate derives its name of Pork Hill from the fact that one of the commissary wagons loaded with salt pork was overturned on this hill, a conspicuous example how names will stick to places as well as to individuals. When Colonel Morgan marched through New Windsor with his three thousand riflemen to join Washington at Boston, a man preceded him who represented himself as Colonel Morgan to Mr. John Ellison, but when the Colonel himself arrived soon afterwards, the impostor was detected and was given over to his men for punishment, who gave him an effectual coat of tar and feathers.

At the camp grounds between Vail's Gate and Little Britain, the writer has traced the foundations of many of the huts in which the army was encamped from 1779 to 1782. The foundations were of stone, surmounted by hewn logs. A level meadow in front of the barracks was cleared for this purpose and utilized as a parade ground, but was of so marshy a character that for marching and drilling it required paving with flat stones, many of which are still in evidence. This must have been a labor of infinite difficulty and shows of what sturdy material these men were made. At the lower border of this parade ground was also constructed a causeway to the ridge opposite, upon which was erected a temple or public building, near which were also the barracks for some of the minor officers, a hospital, bakery, and a little further east the burying ground. To commemorate the site of this temple the Newburgh Revolutionary Monument Association has erected a rough stone monument on the farm of the late William L. McGill, now owned and occupied by his married daughter, Mrs. Richard Smith. It commands an uninterrupted view of the Hudson Highlands and the majestic river rolling between, offering exceptional advantages for watching the approach of any vessel on the river or of any considerable body of men from that direction.

NOTED BUILDINGS.

At Plum Point, formerly a portion of the Nicholl estate, still stands the stately mansion of the late Phillips Verplank. On the river side is the earthwork for the protection of the Chevaux-de-frise, one of five obstructions placed in the river at various points to prevent the ascent of the British fleet, but which proved ineffectual, as the ships of the enemy broke them all, and ascended the river to Kingston, which it burned.

Some portion of this boom and chain are now to be seen at Washington's Headquarters at Newburgh. A Scotchman by the name of McEvers, also located here, built a log cabin or tenement long prior to the Revolution; the excavation for the cellar, as well as the embankment, are still plainly visible.

The point is approached by a natural causeway from the river road, upon the opposite side of which stands the old-fashioned homestead of Dr. Nicoll, who purchased 500 acres of Peter Post and settled here in 1730.

On the bluff just south of the village of New Windsor stood the stone house erected and occupied by William Ellison and also by Washington as his headquarters from 1779 to 1782. This is now replaced by a modern Queen Anne building the residence of his grandson, Thomas Ellison.

Martha Washington is said to have visited the General while here. His estrangement from Hamilton also occurred here in 1781.

The Brewster House, known as Lafayette's headquarters, is situated just across the Moodna at the foot of Forge Hill.

The steep hill which ascends from this point to Vail's Gate derives its name from this circumstance. The iron used in its construction was transported on the backs of mules or horses from the forests of Dean Mines in Monroe. As you ascend Forge Hill just at its top you come to the most noted Revolutionary building now in existence in the town, known as General Knox's headquarters. It was built for Mr. John Ellison in 1735, and was in the possession of the Morton family for a number of years, who endeavored to change the name of the place to Mortonville, and for a time the post-office was known by this name, but on the death of the major it reverted back to the old name of Vail's Gate, from the toll gate stationed here, kept by the Vail family, father and son, for many years; this gate was still in existence in 1872.

Generals Knox and Greene, Colonels Riddle and Wadsworih were quartered here in 1779 to 1781 and General Rochambeau was also a visitor here to Washington.

The Edmonston building near the short cut crossing on the Erie at Vail's Gate, was built by James Edmonston in 1755. During the encampment of the Continental Army in this vicinity, it was made the headquarters of Generals Gates and St. Claire, and some of the other officers; also the hospital and military stores were kept here. When Washington arrived here with his army, he consulted with Edmonston as to the best place to locate his camp and was conducted over a bridle path by his son William to the Square which became their camp.

At the Square, so-called from being surrounded by four roads, is the Falls' House, occupied by the Widow Falls in 1777, when it was the rallying point for the scattered militia by General Clinton after the fall of the Highland forts. It is a wooden structure just opposite the Silver Stream school-house, now occupied by Mr. Charles Merritt. It was while General Clinton was here that the incident of the silver ball occurred. Major Daniel Taylor had been sent with dispatches concealed in a small silver ball by Sir Henry Clinton for Burgoyne. He was captured October 10th, 1777. After he had been conducted to the presence of General George Clinton, instead of Sir Henry, as he supposed, he swallowed the ball. Dr. Moses Higby, who was in the neighborhood, administered an emetic and it was soon disgorged. It contained the following on very thin paper:

Fort Montgomery, Oct. 8th. 1777.

"Nous y, voici, and nothing now between us but Gates. I sincerely hope this little success of ours will facilitate your operations. In answer to your letter of September 28th by C. C., I shall only say, I cannot presume to order or even advise, for obvious reasons. I heartily wish you success.

"Faithfully, yours,

"H. Clinton."

Taylor was tried, condemned and executed as a spy.

THE TEMPLE.

It was upon what was then known as the Dusenberry farm, formerly a portion of the General Haskins' estate, an English officer who settled 4,000 acres, during the old French War, that this building was erected under the supervision of General Heath, for the use of the army and for Masonic meetings.

It was here that General Lafayette was made a Mason by the American Union League, which accompanied the army. It was built of hewn logs, 80 X 40 ft., with a barrack roof, first known as the Temple of Virtues, but on account of a carousal of the officers after the departure of Washington, on the night of its dedication, it was afterwards known simply as the temple.

It was also used for public services on the Sabbath. At the close of the war, a proclamation by Congress of the cessation of hostilities was read from its door and a celebration on a grand scale was held. Here also was held the meeting to consider the Newburgh letters, written by a Major Armstrong, to determine, "whether the army should rise superior to the grievances under which it had long suffered, and precipitate a separation between the military and civil powers." It was a vital crisis in the history of the republic, and a tragic ending prevented by an address of Washington to the officers at this time, which is a lasting monument to his unselfish patriotism, profound wisdom, superior ability and marked discretion. The Society of the Cincinnati was founded here in 1783. "To perpetuate among the officers of the army and their descendants, the memory of their toils, trials, friendships and triumphs, for succeeding ages." The following were among the signers: Lieutenant Robert Burnett, Brigadier James Clinton, Lieutenant Alexander Clinton, Lieutenant Daniel Denniston, Lieutenant George J. Denniston, Captain James Gregg, Captain Jonathan Lawrence, Major Samuel Logan, Ensign Joseph Morrell, Lieutenant William Stranahan, Lieutenant William Scudder, many of whose descendants are residents of the county.

On the northern side of the monument spoken of as marking the site of the temple, is the following inscription: "Erected by the Newburgh Revolutionary Monument Association, 1891. E. M. Ruttenber, president; James M. Dickey, vice-president; A. A. McLean, treasurer; Russell Headley, secretary."

On the western face is the following: "Omnia reliquit servere rempublicam. On this site the Society of the Cincinnati was born May 10th, 1783, at the last cantonment occupied by the American Army, and it still lives to perpetuate the memories of the Revolution. Committee of the New York State Society of the Cincinnati, Fourth of July, 1802. T. M L. Christy, chairman, William Simm Keese, John Shayler."

On the southern face: "On this ground was erected the temple or public building by the army of the Revolution, 1782-1783--the birthplace of the republic. This tablet is inscribed by the Masonic Fraternity of Newburgh, and its Masonic confreres under whose direction and plans the temple was constructed, and in which communications of the fraternity were held, 1783."

The Clinton homestead was situated about two miles north of Washingtonville, on the road to Little Britain.

VILLAGES.

New Windsor, in its early history, was the scene of great commercial activity and the outlet by the river for the produce of the country for miles around and promised to be the site of a flourishing town, but the limited extent of land between the river and the high bluff, of about 120 feet in length, but a short distance from the river, precluded the possibility of building any large towns between. This high bluff is composed of clay which is utilized in the manufacture of a fine quality of brick. Mr. William Lahey, who has two brick yards, is the leading manufacturer. Mr. Hugh Davidson and the late Mr. Walsh each owned one. The remains of several docks on the river front are still in evidence of its former business activity. A ferry to Fishkill was maintained for a number of years and until Newburgh sprang up and superseded it in commercial life it was a flourishing town. At the present time there are some thirty houses, stores and saloons, scattered along the river bank, occupied by about two hundred inhabitants. The first glass factory in this country was also built here.

Moodna, formerly called Orangeville, situated at the mouth of the Moodna Creek, is a small hamlet of perhaps thirty houses. There are also two factories at this place, a paper mill, formerly that of Townsend, now owned by the Hemmingway Paper Co., and a cotton mill owned by Mr. John Broadhead, of Firthcliffe, which is now closed. Plum Point, of Revolutionary fame, juts out into the river just north of the village and is frequently visited by tourists.

Vail's Gate, four and a half miles from Newburgh, contains about thirty-five houses, a Methodist Episcopal church, three hotels, and a general store, where Mr. Thomas Gushing has a new building.

The General Knox headquarters, the Edmonston house, and the old hotel buildings of stone are the most noted Revolutionary relics. The population is probably about four hundred.

Little Britain, made famous as the home of the Clintons, extends from the Square to the Little Britain creamery. At the Square are a dozen houses, most prominent among which is the Alexander Falls house. Here General Washington was a frequent visitor during the encampment of the army just south.

Rocklet, a small hamlet in the extreme western part of town, has a store and post-office, kept by Mr. Frank Mulliner.

The Ontario and Western railroad intersects the township for a distance of seven miles and is taxed for $85,000; Erie, six miles, assessed for $42,000; West Shore, five miles, assessed for $22,000.

The schools are--District No. 1, New Windsor; No. 2, Moodna; No. 3, Vail's Gate; No. 4, Mount Arie; No. 5, Silver Stream; No. 6, Little Britain; No. 7, Alexander Neighborhood; No. 8, Rocklet.

CHURCHES.

St. Thomas.--By the will of Thomas Ettson, Jr., fifty-six acres of land and the sum of six thousand pounds, English money, was bequeathed to his brother, William, and nephew Thomas, to be held in trust for the maintenance of a Glebe and minister under the jurisdiction of the Protestant Episcopal Church at New Windsor, the interest of said lands and sum to be paid yearly to the minister when in active service; when there was no service the interest therefrom was to be added to the principal. When a religious organization should be effected, the said lands and sum were to be conveyed to it. Such an organization was established, April 18, 1818, under the title of St. Thomas' Church, and the Rev. John Brown, then a resident of New Windsor, also serving St. George's Church at Newburgh, became its rector and continued so up to 1847.

In 1844, the old church having been destroyed by fire, a new one was started in 1847, and the present church completed in 1849. The old rectory having been burned, a new one was built in 1849. The value of the church property is estimated at $13,000. Among the prominent members who have been here for a good many years are, Messrs. Aymar Van Buren, J. Abner Harper, John Harper, F. W. Senff, R. D. Jeffreys, W. C. Gregg, the Misses Morton, Mrs. Leonard F. Nicol and others.

New Windsor Presbyterian.--This church was organized in 1794. It was associated with Newburgh or Bethlehem churches. From 1828 to 1834 the Rev. J. H. Thomas, of the Canterbury Presbyterian Church, served also this church, and from 1834 to 1835 he served this church exclusively. The first building was used by the Continentals as a hospital. This was subsequently destroyed by fire and the present structure was erected in 1807.

M. E. Church at Vail's Gate.--This church celebrated the centennial of its existence in the fall of 1806. the present building having been erected in 1706, and is the oldest church edifice. Its society originated from a union class started by John Ellison in 1789, and was conducted in one of his tenements for a quarter of a century.

Little Britain M. E. Church was erected in 1853 and occupied in 1854, and has been associated with other churches mostly during its existence. Services were held here up to 1885, since which it has remained closed.

Little Britain Presbyterian Church was organized in 1760 as Associated Reformed by Scotch and Irish emigrants. The first edifice was erected in 1765, and rebuilt in 1826. Its first pastor, Robert Annan, was installed in 1768, and served until 1783. Rev. Thomas J. Smith was his successor in 1791, who served until 1812, when Rev. James Schringeour, a Scotchman, was installed, and served until his death in 1825.

CEMETERIES.

The two principal cemeteries in this town are "Calvary," at the junction of Quassaic avenue and the Walsh road, established within the last decade by the Catholics, and "Woodlawn," a half mile further west, which contains about thirty acres and has been in existence about twenty-five years.

In the ancient burying ground connected with the Presbyterian church at the village of New Windsor, are the graves of James Williams and wife, Abigale Brewster; John Yelverton, one of the original settlers, who died in 1767 at the age of 74; Joseph Morrell, one of the heroes of the Revolution. Other early settlers whose names are recorded on tombstones are the Moores, Walshes, Logans, Brewsters and others. In connection with the M. E. Church at Vail's Gate is also another old burial ground. Here are the Mortons, the Stills, the Vails and many others of the forefathers of the hamlet who "rest from their labors and their works do follow them."

James Clinton, the father of DeWitt Clinton, was buried in the family burying ground on the Clinton estate. When the patriotic citizens of Newburgh thought to remove his remains to Woodlawn and erect a monument to his memory, all that could be found was the coffin plate. The following epitaph to the memory of his father was written by his son, DeWitt: "He had filled with fidelity and honor several distinguished civil offices, was an officer of the Revolutionary War, and the war preceding, and at the close of the former was a major general in the army of the United States. He was a good man and a sincere patriot, performing in a most exemplary manner all the duties of life, and he died as he lived, without fear and without reproach."

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XXVII. TOWN OF TUXEDO

This triangular township is in the southeast corner of Orange County. It is bounded on the north by the towns of Monroe and Woodbury, on the east and south by Rockland County and on the west by the town of Warwick. Its area as given in the latest supervisors' report is 27,839 acres, and the assessed valuation of real estate is placed at $2,510,500. The title to the soil is derived from the Chesekook patent.

The general topographical features are invested with peculiar charm. The towering mountain crags and scattered bits of valley, the wildwood and forests primeval, are dimpled with beautiful lakes and threaded with purling streams. The Ramapo, which is made up wholly by the surplus waters of these lakes, has its head in Round Island Pond and flows thence southerly, through the valley which bears its name, into Rockland County.

The name Tuxedo is, undoubtedly, the corruption of one or more Indian words. In the language of the Algonquins, who occupied this region, it is found that to or tough mean "a place." A frequent habit of the Indians was to name a place after the chief whose tribe occupied it, and there was a sachem named P'tauk-seet, "the bear," who, in the seventeenth century, ruled over a tract of country including the present town of Tuxedo. Uniting his name with tough, the Algonquin for place, we should infer the original spelling to have been P'tauk-seet-tough, and its meaning "Place of Bears." The earliest mention of the name occurs in Sargeant's survey of 1754 where reference is made to Tuxedo Pond. In Chesekook's patent of 1769 it is written Potuckett. Erskine, in his survey of 1778-1779, writes it Tuxedo and Toxedo. In Eager's and Ruttenber's histories written respectively in 1847 and 1875 the name is corrupted to Duck Cedar, with the explanation that its margin is over-thrown with cedars and that it is a favorite haunt of wild ducks.

The first description of this region is written by the Marquis de Chastellux, a French officer who came to America with Lafayette, and who, on December 19, 1780, following the Continental road through the gorge south of the lake, then called "The Clove," presently came in view of Tuxedo. He mentions that at Ringwood he stopped to ask his way, and that at Erskine's house they gave him full information about the roads and wood-paths, and also "a glass of Madeira, in accordance with a custom of the country, which will not allow you to leave a house without taking something." Having been thus refreshed, he says: "I got on horseback and penetrated afresh into the woods, mounting and descending precipitous hills until I found myself at the edge of a lake so secluded that it is hardly visible from the surrounding thicket. Its banks are so steep that if a deer made a false step on the top he would infallibly roll into the lake. This lake, which is not marked upon the charts, and is called Duck Sider, is about three miles long and two miles wide (sic!), and is in the wildest and most deserted country I have yet passed through. My poetic imagination was enjoying the solitude, when, at a distance, I perceived in an open spot, a quadruped, which a nearer observation showed to be not the elk or caribou, for which I at first mistook him, but a horse grazing peaceably in a field belonging to a new settlement."

SETTLEMENT.

Following the grant of the Chesekook patent in 1702 there was no settlement in this territory for many years. The families who came were mostly of English ancestry and moved from Long Island and the Eastern States. The Smiths are supposed to have explored this region as early as 1727. The first settlement in the vicinity of Tuxedo Lake was made at the northern extremity of this body of water. Prior to 1765, a woodcutter named Hasenclever enclosed a ten-acre tract lying equally on both sides of the outlet. On a survey made in 1778 is shown his enclosure and the dam built by him, and also the position of the house, situated fifty yards northeasterly from the dam, and built by a man named Howard, who was probably "the original settler." During the Revolution, when the iron works on the Ramapo were liable to interruption by the British, Hasenclever's dam was raised several feet, and the overflow turned southwest to supply the Ringwood furnaces in New Jersey. During this period, Tuxedo Lake was the resort of a band of cowboys who at times found shelter among some rocks which they named after their leader, "Claudius Smith's Cave." (See general history.)

Vicent Helms was chosen constable in 1775. Phineas and Brewster Helms are also mentioned in the records of the old Town of Cornwall of which this locality was then a part. The hamlet Helmsburgh indicates the place where the families of that name lived before the Revolution. Moses Cunningham was a member of the first board of assessors of the town of Monroe erected in 1709. He lived at Greenwood Iron Works. Richard Wilkes, school commissioner in 1709, also lived here. Adam Belcher, school commissioner in 1800, lived at Southfields.

The survey and construction of the Continental road was performed by the military engineers of the Continental Army in 1778. It entered the park at the present south gate and followed the east lake shore at a somewhat lower level than the present road. From the Hoffman corner it continued up to the east slope of the Alexander place to the top of Tower Hill, where it crossed to the Coster place, thence to the Griswold place, which it crossed to the end of what is now the Wee Wah Lake and left the park near the present north gate where it joined the main turnpike road of the Ramapo valley. There was also a wood road from the present east gate to the Continental road at the Hoffman corner.

CHANGING CONDITIONS.

Up to 1864 the territory now embraced in the town of Tuxedo belonged to the town of Monroe. In the fall of 1883 a petition was sent to the board of supervisors requesting that the town be divided into three towns. The request was granted and the new towns were named respectively Monroe, Southfield and Highland. Monroe held its town meeting March 22, 1864, electing Chauncey B. Knight, supervisor. Southfield did likewise, electing Josiah Patterson, supervisor, while Highland chose its old favorite Morgan Smith. This piece of political surgery did not prove satisfactory, and in 1865 the Legislature overruled the action of the board of supervisors and restored to its citizens the old town of Monroe.

Again in December of 1889 the board of supervisors were prevailed upon to effect a triple division of the town. The reason advanced for this re-division was that the town was too large and its interests too diverse for harmonious government. It was resolved that the division should be made on the old lines, but that the names Tuxedo and Woodbury should be substituted for Southfield and Highland. This was duly passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. The lines were run so as to give Monroe 12,101 acres, Tuxedo 27,839 acres and Woodbury 23,839 acres. However, the boundary line between Monroe and Tuxedo had not been clearly determined or marked by monuments. When the Heine Club desired to build a road from Mombasha to Southfield, it became a practical question how much of this road must be paid for by each town. Hence the question as to the dividing line. The men who were with the 1863 surveyor said: "It crossed Mombasha Pond, but they did not know where." A survey was then made by F. J. Knight, who established a true line, demonstrating that the line of 1863 had been a trial or random line. This decision placed Mombasha in the territory of Monroe.

In January 1890, J. Spencer Ford represented the town of Tuxedo in the board of supervisors; in 1894, Paul Tuckerman was elected supervisor; Mahlon J. Brooks filled the office in 1896 and 1897, and Charles S. Patterson, the present incumbent, has served continuously since 1898. Daniel F. Clark, the veteran bookkeeper, has held the office of town clerk since 1890. Gillmore O. Bush, the present postmaster and captain of the park police, held the office of town collector in 1890 and from 1894 to 1899. The assessors for 1907 are M. J. Brooks, Joseph W. Conklin and Benjamin Moffatt. The highway commissioners are George Griswold, Benjamin Moffatt and William Viner. District schools are located at Arden, Southfields, Eagle Valley, Scott Mines, and in Tuxedo Village are the primary and union free schools. Of the latter institutions, Mr. James Cronon has been the efficient clerk of the board since 1891. A private preparatory school is conducted within the limits of the park.

Episcopal churches are located at Arden and Tuxedo, Methodist Episcopal churches at Southfields, Tuxedo and Scott Mines. The Roman Catholic church is in Tuxedo village.

The main line of the Erie Railroad parallels the Ramapo river through the entire length of the town, and was opened in September, 1841. In this valley are the hamlets that took part in the iron industry of a century ago. Augusta was the seat of the "Augusta Works" founded at the close of the Revolution, 1783-1784, by Solomon Townsend of New York, to make bar iron and anchors. It was an important enterprise but not permanently successful. In later years the works came into the ownership of P. Lorillard, who allowed them to remain idle. Thirteen thousand acres of land were attached to the works. Southfield was the name of the locality of the "Southfield" and "Monroe" works. These enterprises were established about 1805 to make pig iron. The early proprietors were William and Peter Townsend. Stirling Furnace, of which the Southfield plant became an important branch, was in operation a century and a half ago. (See Warwick). The Sterling Iron & Railway Company filed their annual report with the county clerk January 17, 1865. They purchased mines, manufactories and other property in southern Orange. Greenwood Iron Works was established in 1811 by the Messrs. Cunningham to make pig-iron. Mr. P. P. Parrott became the subsequent owner. The Parrott Iron Company was formed by a certificate verified June 23, 1880. It engaged in mining and selling of iron ore and the manufacture of pig iron and steel. The capital stock was stated as $500,000. The trustees named were Peter P., Edward M., and R. D. A. Parrott. The locality is now known as Arden, and is the headquarters of the Arden Dairy Farms, of which Mr. William A. McClellan is manager. A short distance northeast, bordering Echo Lake, is the home of Mr. E. H. Harriman, who owns vast tracts of land throughout this region. Helmsburgh is a rural mountain locality west of Southfields. Eagle Valley is a station on the Erie Railroad, in the extreme southern angle of the town, near the New Jersey line.

TUXEDO PARK.

The tract of land containing this park consists of 7,000 acres, and came into the possession of the Lorillard family in 1812. Shafts were sunk in various places in an attempt to find iron ore, but the property was otherwise undeveloped until the advent of the Erie Railroad in 1841. The locomotives burned wood in those days, and an arrangement was made to supply the railroad with fuel. The hills and valleys were covered with large forest trees, all of which were sacrificed, excepting a few along the Continental road. The station here was for years known as the "Wood Pile."

About 1860 Tuxedo Lake was stocked with black bass, and from that time the fishing was carefully preserved for the Lorillard family and their friends. Up to 1885 no better bass fishing could be found anywhere than that afforded by this beautiful lake. This suggested to Mr. P. Lorillard (deceased, 1901), the idea of establishing here a shooting and fishing club. He bought out the other members of the family, and acquired a clear title to the whole tract. Five thousand acres were enclosed in a wire fence eight feet high. Deer were bought and turned loose. English pheasant eggs were procured in large quantities and several pheasant hatcheries were located. A fine trout hatchery was also built.

Having made a start on the preserve, Mr. Lorillard proceeded to organize the club. He gave a dinner to his sporting friends at the Union Club, New York, and his idea met with an enthusiastic reception. Twenty gentlemen were appointed a board of governors. Invitations to join the club were sent out, and temporary headquarters secured in New York.

The foundations of the clubhouse were laid, and about 1,800 men were employed in road-making. Before the new work was begun there was but the Continental road through the park. The first park road constructed was the Station road. The construction of the road around the lake was then undertaken. As the work progressed Mr. Lorillard decided, instead of a mere game preserve, to lay out a residential park. This plan involved enormous expense. Many roads were required to develop the building sites. A complete sewer and water system was constructed. A village for shops and employees and a large livery stable were built. An office in the village for the transaction of the park business was opened. At the same time Mr. Lorillard formed a stock company called the Tuxedo Park Association, to which he turned over all the lands and other assets of the park. The officers chosen were: Mr. P. Lorillard, president; P. Lorillard, Jr., vice-president; George D. Findley, treasurer, and William Kent, secretary. This company leased the clubhouse and grounds to the members for twenty-one years, and guaranteed the new club against loss for the first ten years of its existence and subsequently during the term of the lease. Fourteen houses were built and advertised for sale or rent. Twelve were located on Tower Hill and two across the dam at the foot of the lake.

The first sale of park property to a resident was made in February, 1886, when Dr. Morris H. Henry, Mr. Lorillard's personal physician, purchased Lot No. 101 on the map of Tuxedo Park. This was followed in March, the same year, by the purchase of Lot No. 120 by Allen T. Rice, the editor of the North American Review, and the same year Lot No. 121 was sold to William Waldorf Astor, Lot No. 123 to Pierre Lorillard and Lot. No. 103 to Travis C. Van Buren, all of which persons are now deceased, the land having in every instance passed into other hands.

That same year, Francis D. Carley, James L. Breese, Josephine Lee Price, James Brown Potter, Margaret S. E. Cameron and Mary L. Barbey also purchased land in the order named. Of these Mrs. Price, Mrs. Barbey and Mr. Potter still hold interests in the real estate.

The first person actually to take up his residence at Tuxedo with his family was Mr. Grenville Kane, who leased the cottage he subsequently purchased and is now the oldest resident of the park proper. Mrs. Price and William Kent, in the order named, being the next arrivals.

Thus the park as a place of residence became an accomplished fact, through the indomitable pluck and energy of Mr. Lorillard. Each year has shown a steady and substantial gain in residents. The present officers of the association are: P. Lorillard, president; George Griswold, vice-president; George D. Findley, treasurer; and William Kent, secretary.

As an organization the Tuxedo Club is very strong. The club book of 1908 shows a membership of 374, of which seventy-seven were resident members. Among them are found the family names of those not only prominent in business and financial circles, but also who have been identified with the society of the State since the earliest periods. The club is self-supporting, has renewed its lease with the Tuxedo Park Association for a term of years, and bids fair to become a great center of social life.

TUXEDO VALLEY.

So comprehensive was the scope of the original plan of development, that a whole village was created at the time of the founding, near the entrance gate, containing stores, cottages, and subsequently a town hall, schoolhouses, churches, library, and a $30,000 hospital now in course of construction.

The Tuxedo Stores Company was organized March, 1894. Each resident of the park was invited to subscribe to the stock, and the company began business April 1, 1894.

The Tuxedo electric light plant was organized in 1899, and is owned and controlled by the residents of Tuxedo.

St. Mary's-in-Tuxedo.--In 1887 Mr. Henry T. Barbey obtained from the association a grant of land, on which he erected the first church building at Tuxedo, since which time it has been greatly enlarged by additions from time to time including a large parish house--until it had grown into the present beautiful church edifice. It was consecrated October 14, 1888, and the Rev. Mr. Colston placed in charge. The present rector is the Rev. William Fitzsimon.

Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.--The cornerstone of this church was laid June, 1895. The edifice cost $7,000. Rev. James Quinn was the first pastor. In July, 1899, the church and rectory were completely destroyed by fire. A year later it was rebuilt, and on September 23, 1900, was solemnly dedicated by the Most Rev. Archbishop Corrigan.

The Tuxedo police force was organized May 1, 1886. John Pederson was captain until 1891, when he was succeeded by Gillmore O. Bush. The residential part of the park is patrolled regularly day and night.

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XXVIII. TOWN OF WALLKILL

By William B. Royce.

The town of Wallkill is the second largest town in the county of Orange, and, exclusive of the area in the city of Middletown, contains 38,030 acres, as shown by the equalization table of the board of supervisors for the year 1906. This area would be considerably increased if an accurate estimate could be obtained of the amount of land not included in farm and lot descriptions and being used for church, cemetery, school and road purposes.

The town is bounded northerly by Crawford and Montgomery, easterly by Hamptonburgh, southerly by Goshen and Wawayanda, and westerly by Mount Hope and the Shawangunk Kill, which separates it, for about half the distance, on its westerly border, from the town of Mamakating, Sullivan County. The Wallkill River forms part of its easterly boundary, dividing it from the town of Hamptonburgh. This stream also passes through the southeast corner of the town, and is the only large stream flowing within its borders. Both the Wallkill and Shawangunk Kill flow in a northerly direction and find their way into the Hudson River at Rondout. The other streams in the town of Wallkill are small; the principal ones being Monhagen Creek, flowing through the city of Middletown; the Bullhack, rising near Circleville and emptying into the Wallkill near Phillipsburgh; and the Mayunk, flowing through the easterly portion of the town and emptying into the Wallkill in the town of Montgomery. Notwithstanding the fact that there are no important streams, the town is well watered by small streams and springs, so that there is never danger to agriculture from this source.

The topography of the town of Wallkill is very irregular, varying in elevation from 335 feet above sea level in the easterly portion of the town along the Wallkill to 1,035 feet in the westerly, about three miles west of the city of Middletown and about half a mile north of the old Mount Hope turnpike. All the principal ridges and valleys of the town run in a northerly and southerly direction.

EARLY CHANGES AND GOVERNMENT.

The precinct of Wallkill, of which the present town is the legal successor, was erected December 17, 1743, by an act of the Colonial Legislature. The three towns of Crawford, Montgomery and Wallkill, and portions of Mount Hope and Hamptonburgh, were embraced in the area of this precinct. In 1772 the precinct of Hanover was erected, or set off, from the precinct of Wallkill, and included the towns of Crawford and Montgomery and a portion of Hamptonburgh, and, while it was generally supposed that Wallkill became a new precinct, legally Hanover was set off from the old precinct, and the statute directed that the rest of the territory "should remain" the precinct of Wallkill. It is also a fact that the town records of the precinct of Wallkill were left with, and became a part of, the records of Hanover, and, from the date of the separation, the precinct of Wallkill opened a new record, which is still preserved. Up to the time of the erection of the precinct of Hanover, the town or precinct meetings were held for the whole precinct, including all territory originally forming the precinct of Wallkill.

The first town meeting in the precinct of Wallkill, after the division, was held at the house of Samuel Watkins, April 7, 1772, and the following is the record of the officers chosen:

William Dunn, clerk and supervisor; Benjamin Booth, James Wilkins, Elijah Reeve, commissioners for regulating and laying out public highways; Stephen Harlow, William Watkins, David Moore, commissioners for laying out the money raised by act of Assembly on the highways; David Crawford, Moses Phillips, assessors; John McGarrah, John Patterson, constables and collectors; Abel Wells, George Booth, poor-masters; Jonathan Smith, Esq., Isaiah Vail, John Ketchum, Benjamin Vail, Jr., fence viewers and damage appraisers. Fences were to be four and one-half feet high, staked and ridered; five rails high or otherwise equivalent as the fence viewers shall judge.

Many items of interest could be gleaned from these old records, one of the principal being the fact that many of the persons in Wallkill to-day, occupying prominent social, business and official positions, are the direct descendants of these sturdy pioneers of earlier days.

The construction and care of the roads then, as now, seemed to be one of the principal subjects in which the people were interested. In order to demonstrate this, and at the same time preserve the names of many of those who then assumed the long-enduring business of road building in Wallkill, we make the following quotations from the records:

"Precinct to be divided in three districts, viz: The east side of the Wallkill, one; the west side, two, to be divided by the new northwest line."

"Samuel Watkins, from the Widow McBride's corner to Thomas Simeril's, and thence along the road to Campbell's bridge."

"William Bodle, from Esquire Smith's to the Minisink road, and from the schoolhouse on the road to Hezekiah Gale's; from thence to John McGarrah's, and thence to the schoolhouse; to work also on David Crawford's road to the bridge one day."

"John Hill, from Esquire Smith's road along the Minisink road to the middle of Connor's bridge; also a piece of road leading from the Minisink road to Orange County."

"James Rogers, Jr., from the precinct line to the Widow McCord's north gate."

"Captain William Faulkner, from his own house to Thomas Simeril's."

"Henry Savage, from the Widow McCord's north gate to Arzuble McCurdy's house."

"Daniel Tears, from the precinct line to John McHenry's house."

"Edward Campbell, from the John McHenry's to Arzuble McCurdy's, and Peter McLaughlin, from the corner of Edward McNeal's lot to Phillips house."

"Tilton Eastman, from Connor's bridge to the Pine Swamp."

"Stacy Beakes, from Minisink road to Dunning's road that leads to Pine Swamp."

"George Smith, from the middle of the white-oak bridge to the top of the round hill beyond Corey's."

"John Ketchum, from the top of round hill to the west end of the precinct."

"Abraham Taylor and John Daily, Jr., from the white-oak bridge by Elijah Reeve's to the precinct line."

"There was raised by direct taxation for the following purposes:"

"L. S. D. "For the poor 10 0 0 "For highways 46 16 0"

For the year 1906 there was raised by direct taxation in the town of Wallkill, which contains only about one-third of the acreage of the precinct of Wallkill, for the support of the poor, $1,000, and there was expended in the town for road purposes, exclusive of the care of State roads, and exclusive of the territory embraced in the City of Middletown, about $4,500. Presumably many of our taxpayers would prefer the olden days so far as taxes are concerned.

SOME EARLY HISTORY.

Very little is known of the aboriginal days of the town of Wallkill. While various tribes of Indians occupied different parts of Orange County, from the names of certain of the streams in the town of Wallkill, it is evident that they made their home, at least part of the time, in this town. However, outside of tradition and a few individual cases of contact with them, which had very little, if any, influence on the future history of the town, nothing reliable is known that would be of interest at the present time.

The earliest record of the patenting of lands, now included within the town of Wallkill, was some time before the year 1724, and seems to have been embraced in two patents, one known as the Minisink Angle, and the other a part of what is known as the John Evans patent. The latter tract was subsequently re-patented at dates commencing December 14, 1724, and ending May 13, 1761. The actual settlement of the town did not occur until about the close of the period mentioned, and therefore, Wallkill was not settled as early as a number of the other towns in the county.

It is only necessary to refer to the assessment roll of the town of Wallkill of to-day to find many property owners whose names are the same as those of their ancestors who subdued the wilderness and made Wallkill one of the most attractive and wealthy towns in the county. When we mention such names as Bull, Harlow, Borland, Wisner, Houston, Carpenter, Reeve, Mills, Green, Wickham, Connor, Mapes and Horton, taken from the assessment rolls of to-day, we could almost imagine we were reading a roll call of the names of the sturdy pioneers who subdued the wilderness and caused the valleys of this town to blossom as the rose.

Previous histories of this town and the numerous writings of other persons have made all these facts so familiar that it would seem idle to burden these pages with any repetition of the history of the early settlement of the town and its inhabitants.

From the time of settlement, during the entire Colonial period to the Revolutionary War, there was little of moment that happened here. The settlements gradually progressed in different directions, but, as before stated, not as rapidly as in some other towns. During the Revolutionary War, a number of its citizens were with the army at various times, but the town, by its location, was far removed from the din and strife of participation in any events of the struggle; no battles occurred within its limits, and it is not known that any organized bodies of the British or their allies ever set foot within its borders. From the close of the Revolutionary War until 1803, there was a steady growth in population, so that the assessment roll for that year contained 462 names of those who were assessed for either real or personal property, or both.

On March 29, 1799, the State Legislature passed an act for the gradual abolition of slavery, and a number of citizens recorded a formal act of freeing Negroes held by them. The first one of these seems to have been made in 1800, and is in the following form:

"I do hereby certify that I have manumitted and set free my Negro slave, Otis, as fully and amply as I am authorized by the act of the Legislature entitled, 'An act for the gradual abolition of slavery,' passed the 29th day of March, 1799."

"Given under my hand and seal this 1st day of November, 1800."

"Tabetha Borland."

Similar acts of manumission were entered by Jonathan Smith, Stephen Smith, Henry G. Wisner, John Wilkin, William Phillips and Israel Wickham, and it is a fact that the descendants of these people, bearing in many cases the identical names, were the strongest opponents of slavery, and the most loyal supporters of the government during the Civil War.

As early as 1828, the temperance question began to agitate the people of the town of Wallkill, possibly more thoroughly than it is doing in the present day, for the reason that, in 1824, there were just three times as many taverns (as they were called in that day) within the limits of the town as there are hotels at present (1908). Many of the questions involved in the temperance agitation of that time are the chief object of argument at present, and we have only to quote a resolution passed at a meeting of the town of Wallkill, held in that year, to show this fact conclusively:

"Whereas, pauperism has increased in the town of Wallkill to an alarming extent; and whereas intemperance is one of the greatest progressing causes, inasmuch as more than three-fourths of the paupers emanate directly or indirectly from that source, and whereas tippling-houses, dram-shops, and groceries have a direct tendency to increase the evils; therefore,

"Resolved, (as the sense of this town meeting), That the board of excise be requested to refuse granting licenses to those persons whose principal object is to retail intoxicating liquors and not having suitable accommodations for public entertainment."

"Resolved, that the foregoing be entered on the records of said town and published in two newspapers printed in Goshen."

"Dated Wallkill, this 1st day of April, 1828."

The town of Wallkill continued to grow steadily, without any change in territorial boundaries, until 1848, when the village of Middletown was incorporated within its limits, but, outside of certain local matters, such as schools, streets, police, and a few other minor matters, the village continued to form a part of the town until the erection of the city of Middletown, in 1889. All the town officers were elected to represent the village and town in all things, excepting the purely local matters, applicable especially to the village.

IN THE CIVIL WAR.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, in 1861, the fires of patriotism seemed to burn as brightly in the town of Wallkill and village of Middletown as in any corresponding section of the country. Meetings were called, resolutions adopted, and steps immediately taken to form a company for the defense of the Union. Aid societies were established by the women, supplies sent forward to suffering soldiers, and everything was done that love and patriotism could suggest for the care of those in the army and for the preservation of the Union.

As near as can be estimated, Wallkill and Middletown combined sent to the front some 787 soldiers. Liberal bounties were paid to those who went, either as volunteers or substitutes, and the best of care was taken of the families of the absent soldiers. When we take into consideration the fact that, at the beginning of the war, the population of the town of Wallkill and village of Middletown, combined, was less than 7,000, it will be seen that more than, 10 per cent. of the entire population proved its loyalty by going to the front, and the percentage who went and never returned was far greater than the proportion, in comparison to population. That Wallkill proved its loyalty by devotion and blood, this record most amply proves.

In the year 1879, the citizens of Wallkill and Middletown erected to the memory of the soldiers of Wallkill, a most graceful and impressive monument. It was first located at the junction of North and Orchard streets, but subsequently removed to Thrall Park, on the corner of Wickham avenue and Grove street, which is a much better location than the original. Mrs. Thrall, who generously donated and bequeathed the money for the erection of Thrall Library and Thrall Hospital, also gave the city the land for Thrall Park, which is situated north of and adjoining the hospital.

HAMLETS.

The present town of Wallkill contains no incorporated village, and only four hamlets, which might be dignified by the name of village, as follows: Circleville, Howells, Scotchtown and Mechanicstown. The rest of the town is entirely devoted to agriculture, and, since the erection of the city of Middletown, has not shown any increase in population. Its farms are largely occupied by the owners, in many cases heirs and descendants of original and colonial possessors, and it possibly shows a less number of farms under rental than do many other towns in the county.

CHURCHES.

There are three churches and one chapel at present in the town of Wallkill. A Congregational church is located at Howells, and was incorporated under its present name on July 6, 1847. This church had existed for many years previous to this, under other names, and at different locations.

The Presbyterian church at Scotchtown was organized some time before 1798, but the precise date seems to be unknown. The first official record that a church was regularly organized seems to be in the minutes of the Presbytery of Hudson, when, on April 19, 1798, Jacob Mills and George Houston appeared as commissioners from the Presbyterian church in the town of Wallkill and requested that said church be taken under the care of the Presbytery, and that supplies might be appointed them. This request was granted and the services of the church continued, under supplies, until June 30, 1803, when Rev. Methuselah Baldwin became pastor. Previous, however, to the appearance of the commissioners before the Presbytery, a meeting had been held, on December 24, 1795, at the house of George Houston, apparently for the organization of a church, and at this meeting it was resolved that a subscription be opened for building a meeting-house at the corner of the roads above the house of George Houston, and that the new congregation should be under the care of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. This church was erected, enclosed and painted in 1797, and thus remained, without plastering, pews, pulpit or stoves, until 1806, when it was finished, at a cost of $515. This building was used for about fifty-seven years, when it was succeeded by the present church edifice. The church was, for many years, a leading one in the Presbytery of Hudson, and is still doing active work.

The Circleville Presbyterian Church was organized on January 4, 1842, and became a part of the Presbytery of Hudson. Its house of worship was erected in 1842, and a large part of the expense of such erection seems to have been contributed by donations in the way of labor, timber, lumber and mason work. The land, consisting of five acres, was donated by Samuel Bull, who, in addition to his gift of land, contributed much in labor, material and money, and to him the community is largely indebted for benefits derived from this church through its past years and at the present time.

The chapel previously referred to was erected near Rockville through the liberality of Robert A. Harrat and his neighbors in the immediate vicinity, and is used for Sunday-schools and special church services by clergymen from any denomination who desire to preach within its walls.

RAILROADS.

Wallkill has excellent railroad facilities. The Erie runs through from Howells Depot, passing out at its southern border. The Ontario & Western comes in at the northwesterly end of the town, running thence in a general southeasterly direction to the city of Middletown, thence easterly through the town of Wallkill, passing out into the town of Hamptonburgh near Stony Ford. The Middletown & Crawford branch diverges from the Ontario & Western Railroad about two miles north of Middletown, passes through the town in a northeasterly direction to the town of Crawford near Bullville and runs thence to Pine Bush. The Susquehanna & Western Railroad passes into the town from the southerly border of the city of Middletown and runs in a southwesterly direction in the town of Wawayanda. In addition to the above, the Erie & Jersey Railroad Company is now building a low-grade road which enters the town near Howells and runs in a general easterly direction through the town, passing about one mile north of the city of Middletown, thence leaving the town and passing into the town of Hamptonburgh in the vicinity of Stony Ford.

There is also a trolley line owned by the Wallkill Transit Company, which is operated in the city of Middletown and extends from the city, through the town of Wallkill, to the town of Goshen, and thence to the village of Goshen.

An example of the enterprise of the town of Wallkill was manifested when the question of raising money for the construction of the New York & Oswego Midland Railroad came up in 1867. Its citizens, under the wise leadership and guided by the excellent judgment of Senator Henry R. Low, Captain James N. Pronk, Elisha P. Wheeler, William J. Groo, and others, was induced to bond the town for the sum of three hundred thousand dollars and subscribe to the stock of the new road for that amount. The bonds were issued for a period of twenty years, with interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum, payable semi-annually, with a provision that after ten years an annual sinking fund of five per cent, of the total issue of bonds should be raised. Within a few years the New York & Oswego Midland Railroad Company went into the hands of a receiver, and its stock became comparatively worthless. The three-hundred thousand dollars of stock owned by the town was sold for $15,000. When the bonds matured in 1888, William B. Royce, the sole railroad commissioner, had accumulated from the sinking fund, sale of stock, interest and other sources, the sum of $180,000, with which bonds to that amount were paid. To provide for the payment of the balance of said bonds, amounting to $120,000, the railroad commissioner issued, under authority of law, bonds to that amount, payable in installments, the last of said bonds maturing on April 1, 1907, with interest payable semi-annually, at the rate of three and one-half per cent, per annum. As provided by the bonds, the last installment of principal and interest was paid April 1, 1907, the town and city of Middletown having paid the whole of said principal sum by direct tax, excepting the $15,000 for which the stock was sold. The New York, Ontario & Western Railway Company was organized and took over the property of the old New York & Oswego Midland Railroad Company. As a result of the construction of this road, to which the town of Wallkill and city of Middletown have contributed so largely, the railroad shops were located at Middletown, which brought a very large influx to the population of the town and city, and added largely to their taxable value. It also resulted in building the road from Middletown to Cornwall, and the extension of what was known as the Middletown, Unionville and Water Gap Railroad through to New York under the original name of the New Jersey Midland Railroad, which subsequently became the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad, thus giving Middletown three direct lines of railroad to New York City, and making northern and western communications, which largely added to its transportation facilities.

HIGHWAYS.

The highways of the town of Wallkill are in fair condition, and are maintained under the money system. The town has a portion of three State roads; one branching off from the Middletown-Bloomingburg plank road, about three miles north of Middletown, and running in a general northerly direction to the town line of Crawford and thence to the village of Pine Bush. Another road starts from the southern corporate limits of the city of Middletown and runs in a southerly direction to the town line of Wawayanda, and thence to the village of Goshen. This road branches off in a southwesterly direction in the town of Wawayanda and extends to Unionville, and by another branch is being extended to Port Jervis. Another State road, known as the Middletown-Cuddebackville road, starts from the northwesterly line of the city of Middletown and runs through the town to the line of the town of Mount Hope, thence through Mount Hope and Deer Park to Cuddebackville. Under existing laws the State roads are in the first instance maintained under direction of and at the expense of the State.

SCHOOLS.

The town of Wallkill has seventeen school districts, in which are maintained the usual form of district schools under the State law. These are being gradually improved under the efficient system of State supervision, but are not yet at the standard to which they should be raised.

MIDDLETOWN.

The precise time when the first settlement was made in this village is uncertain, though it is believed to have been shortly after the erection of the town. John Green purchased some land of Delancey, a patentee under the crown of Great Britain, and that purchase included land in the southern part of the village and the ground where the First Congregational church now stands. Mr. Green donated the lot for the purpose of having a house of worship erected. When the citizens assembled to put up the frame of the old Congregational church, it was concluded that the locality should have a name. "What shall it be? There is Dolsontown on the south, Goshen on the east, Scotchtown on the north, and a locality not defined, on the west, called Shawangunk. We will call it Middletown, it being the center." In 1829, the name of the village was changed to South Middletown to prevent confusion in the transmission of mail matter, there being another place styled "Middletown" north of Newburgh, but in 1849 the prefix of "South" was left off.

The Minisink road which passes through the city of Middletown is mentioned by a Mr. Clinton, a surveyor employed by the owner of lot No. 35 of the Minisink Angle, as early as 1742, and the second store in Middletown was started by Isaiah Vail at a place called Monhagen, opposite the white oak bridge on the old Minisink road, near the westerly limits of the present city of Middletown. The first store in Middletown was kept by Abel Woodhull, previous to the place being called Middletown.

The western portion of Middletown was included in lot No. 36 in the Minisink Angle, owned by Delancey, and as he espoused the Royalist cause his land, except what was sold to Mr. Green before the Revolution, was confiscated by the State of New York. Three appraisers were appointed by the State to put a value on the land, two of whom were Israel Wickham and Henry Wisner. It is stated that an earnest debate occurred on the subject of valuation, whether to call it six shillings or a dollar per acre. Mr. Wickham insisted that it would never be worth a dollar, so it was put down at six shillings an acre. The land confiscated takes in the western portion of the village and present city, and includes the real estate formerly owned by John B. Hanford, Henry Little and George Houston. Part of this land could not now be bought for $10,000 an acre.

The New York & Erie Railroad seems to have been built on the installment plan in the county of Orange; first to Monroe, then to Chester, then to Goshen, and finally by large contributions from the people of Middletown, it was extended to that place. The building of this road seemed to give an impetus to the business of the village and induced manufacturers to locate there, which soon made it one of the most flourishing villages in southern New York.

The actual incorporation of the village did not occur until April 7, 1848, when the preliminary proceedings in regard to the incorporation were approved by Judge D. W. Bates. The first president of the village was Stacey Beakes, and associated with him as trustees were Coe Dill, William Hoyt, Israel Hoyt, Israel O. Beattie and Daniel C. Dusenberry. John B. Friend was clerk. Of the above named trustees, Daniel C. Dusenberry is still living (1908).

The growth of Middletown has always been gradual, and it has never been what might be called a "boom town." In 1807 the population was forty-five; in 1838 it had increased to 433; in 1848, at the time of its incorporation, it had increased to 1,360; and in 1857, to 2,190. At the time of its incorporation as a city, in 1888, its population had increased to 11,977, and at the close of 1907 it was about 16,000.

The post-office in the village of Middletown was first established on the 22nd of October, 1816. Stacey Beakes was appointed the first postmaster and held the office for about ten years. The first quarter's receipts in 1817, as rendered by the postmaster, were $0.69; in 1826, the receipts had risen to $16.12 a quarter; and in 1854, to $257.79. The annual receipts of the Middletown post-office are now upwards of $50,000.

The citizens of Middletown were always ambitious for its growth, and in all that was done, the future as well as the present, interests of the village were carefully looked after. Manufacturers were induced to locate there, and the village, and afterward the city, has always been recognized as a manufacturing center for this part of the State. Some of the largest manufactories in the old village of Middletown were the Monhagen Saw Works, Eagle File Works, Matthews Brothers' Carpet Bag Factory, Draper's Hat Factory, Babcock's Hat Works, and a large tannery, which was afterward merged in the leather manufactory of Howell-Hinchman Company. As before mentioned, the New York, Ontario & Western Railway Company located its shops here, and from that time, the village and city have had a steady growth.

CHURCHES.

Middletown as a village and city has always been well supplied with churches.

The first, the Congregational Church, was organized June 10, 1785, and incorporated August 12, 1786, and so far as organization and incorporation are concerned, it is the oldest church in Middletown.

The first Presbyterian Church of Middletown, as such, was organized March 31, 1828.

The Methodist Episcopal Church of Middletown effected a legal organization on July 11, 1838.

Grace Episcopal Church was incorporated on February 18, 1845.

The First Baptist Church filed its certificate of incorporation October 28, 1849.

The Second Presbyterian Church (now Westminster church) was incorporated December 5, 1854.

The Primitive Baptist Church of Middletown was incorporated May 29, 1871.

The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was incorporated November 20, 1861.

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church was established in 1866.

Calvary Baptist Church was incorporated in 1902.

North Congregational Church was incorporated in 1890.

Christ Church (Universalist) was incorporated in 1897.

St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church (German) was incorporated in 1897.

Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church was incorporated in 1875.

Faith Mission was incorporated in 1889.

The Christian Science Church was incorporated in 1903.

It will be seen from the above that the churches of Middletown average one to every 1,000 people of the present population.

SCHOOLS.

The school system of Middletown was originated by the holding of a meeting April 6, 1813, to take steps to comply with the statute of 1812, for the organization of the common school system of the State. The first commissioners elected were William Hurtin, Jacob Dunning and Benjamin Woodward. In 1844 a system of supervision by town superintendents was inaugurated. Previous to that several citizens were selected who decided upon the qualifications of the teacher. John G. Wilkin, afterward county judge of Orange County, was the first town superintendent of Wallkill, which included the village of Middletown. About the year 1856 a law was passed providing for the election of superintendents for assembly districts, thus doing away with the town system, and this system has ever since been continued.

On the 30th of January, 1841, a meeting was held to initiate the work of founding Wallkill Academy. It was started as a private enterprise, stock to the amount of $3,656.75 was subscribed by 115 stockholders, the shares being $5.00 each. Application was made to the Legislature for an act of incorporation, which was passed in May, 1841. The building was completed in October, 1842, and soon thereafter school sessions were opened, the first teacher being Rev. Phineas Robinson, who remained in charge for two years. For a number of years Wallkill Academy was continued under the plan of its first incorporation, but subsequently passed over to the village of Middletown as a part of its school system. The school system of the village of Middletown was always well managed and excellent results were attained. This system was afterward merged in the city school system upon the incorporation of the city of Middletown in 1888.

The management is now under a board of education consisting of nine members, with superintendent of schools. There are now eight schools in the educational system of Middletown. The high school was erected on the site formerly occupied by the Wallkill Academy, and is a very imposing building with all modern facilities and conveniences. It employs thirteen teachers in the academic department, and eight in the grammar grades. The seven primary schools are located in various parts of the city, so as to accommodate the pupils, but upon graduation in the primary grades all of the pupils are promoted to the high school in its various grades.

The free public library of Middletown, known as the Thrall Library Building, is architecturally an ornament to the city, and is fitted up in the most modern style for library purposes. The lot was formerly used as a location for the village school. Mrs. S. Maretta Thrall left a legacy of $30,000 to the city, with which the library was built. Mrs. Thrall, by her liberality, provided Middletown with a library of which its citizens are justly proud, and erected for herself a monument in our city and in the hearts of its people which will be as enduring as time. The library at present contains 10,500 volumes. The legacy bequeathed by Mrs. Thrall was to be used exclusively for the building, and was so used.

CHARITABLE AND BENEVOLENT ORGANIZATIONS.

In the year 1880, the matter of establishing a Children's Home for Orange County was brought up in the board of supervisors. A committee, consisting of the Hon. William H. Clark, Selah E. Strong and William B. Royce, was appointed to take the matter under consideration and report. After a careful investigation and examination of a large number of properties, the committee reported that in its judgment the property known as the Israel O. Beattie property in the village of Middletown was better adapted for the purpose than any other property that had been brought to the notice of the committee. The property, at the time, was owned by the Mutual Life Insurance Company of the city of New York, and after negotiations, a price was fixed by the company at $8,000. The price was approved by the board and the committee was ordered to purchase the property, which was subsequently done. The sum of $2,000 was appropriated for the use of the committee in making such necessary repairs and changes as might be deemed necessary to fit the property for immediate use. The committee, having completed its duties, reported to the board on the 21st of November, 1881, that its work was completed and that there had been expended $9,910.05, leaving a balance of $89.95 in the hands of the committee.

Previous to the making of this report, the property had been turned over to the county superintendent of the poor, and it was formally opened on February 7, 1881. On the first day of January, 1882, forty-four children were being cared for in the home. This number has fluctuated during the intervening years, sometimes the number of children being as low as sixteen, and at other times approximating the original number reported.

The Orange County Home for Aged Women is located at No. 27 South street, in the city of Middletown, and like the Children's Home, is not limited to the city of Middletown with regard to the territory from which its inmates are received. It was incorporated in 1884, the idea emanating from the fertile brain of Dr. Julia E. Bradner. The home now has become a well-known institution, not only in the city of Middletown, but in the county of Orange.

It is difficult to realize that Thrall Hospital, so much an integral part of the civic life of Middletown to-day, was not dreamed of a quarter of a century since. It is not an easy matter to make plain to the lay mind just what is behind the bald statistic, "One typhoid--discharged." Statistics may number the bandages and weigh out the drugs, but they never take reckoning of the anxieties, the heartaches, that broad utilitarianism which under the name of the Middletown Hospital Association began its beneficent work.

It was twenty years ago last November (1907) that Dr. Julia E. Bradner called together, at her residence, a few of the women of Middletown to discuss the project of having a hospital in their own home town.

At the first informal meeting in November, 1887, nine women, led on by the indomitable spirit of Dr. Julia E. Bradner, voted to have a charter legally drawn and to meet again at her home, on Orchard street, on the 22nd of November.

The charter was presented at this second meeting and signed before Notary Henry W. Wiggins by the following women: Julia E. Bradner, president; Ella S. Hanford, first vice-president; Lutie M. Clemson, second vice-president; Clara S. Finn, treasurer; Harriet L. Clark, secretary; Sarah Orr Sliter, Jennie E. Prior, Frances W. Wilcox, Florence Horton.

The organization effected on this November day and incorporated December 6, of the same year, was named "The Middletown Hospital Association," its object "to build and maintain a hospital in the village of Middletown."

The day of the second meeting was big in history, for not only was the matter of the charter settled, but an advisory board of physicians was elected, consisting of William E. Eager, M.D.; William H. Dorrance, M.D.; Selden H. Talcott, M.D.; Burke Pillsbury, M.D.; and Ira S. Bradner, M.D.--all of whom have passed away.

In the spring of 1891, seeing the need and the opportunity to supply that need, Mrs. S. Maretta Thrall gave to the association the lot on the south side of what is now Thrall Park. Plans were made for a building to cost over $13,000, but their execution would have been put off indefinitely had not Mrs. Thrall come forward with a gift of money sufficient to cover the cost of the planned building, making, with the estimated value of the lot, a total gift of over $16,000. Work on the foundation was begun immediately.

The association, which in various ways, during the four years which elapsed after the foundation was laid, had raised $5,000, now used that amount to furnish and equip the building in a practical and up-to-date manner. On the tenth day of May, one year after the gift of the lot, the hospital, having a capacity of twenty-six beds, was thrown open for the reception of patients.

MIDDLETOWN STATE HOMEOPATHIC HOSPITAL.

Nearly forty years ago, or, to be exact, in 1869, several of the citizens of what was then the village of Middletown decided that a hospital for the insane was needed in this vicinity. Funds were collected and a farm was purchased on the western border of the village for a site for an asylum, as such institutions were then called. Dr. George F. Foote endeavored to raise money by subscription for a private asylum. To this end $75,000 were subscribed, the amount expended for a site and to build part of the institution, all of which was finally accepted by the commonwealth as a free-will offering from a comparatively few generous subscribers.

The first appropriation by the State for the institution was made in 1870. The original board of trustees numbered twenty-one, appointed by the Governor. The first superintendent, Dr. Foote, having resigned, Dr. Henry R. Stiles was appointed in his stead. He served until February 9, 1877, and then resigned. He was succeeded by the late Selden H. Talcott, who served until his death in 1902, when the present incumbent, Dr. Maurice C. Ashley, was appointed to succeed him, and is now in charge of the institution.

Among the early trustees, who were residents of Orange County, may be recalled the well-known names of Daniel Thompson, John G. Wilin, Moses D. Stivers, James G. Graham, Henry R. Low, Elisha P. Wheeler, Dr. Joshua A. Draper, James B. Hulse, James H. Norton, Nathaniel W. Vail, and Uzal T. Hayes.

The hospital was incorporated in 1869, opened for the reception of patients on the 20th of April, 1874, and the first patient was admitted May 7, 1874.

To give an idea of the present magnitude of this great public charity, it seems fitting that a few figures should go on record where they will be permanently preserved.

The farm and grounds comprise nearly 300 acres, on which there are thirty buildings; the value of the real and personal property is over $1,500,000; the present annual expenses for all purposes, excepting the new building, are about $245,000, of which nearly $60,000 are received from private and reimbursing patients; about $110,000 is required for salaries and wages. Since the opening of the institution, over 7,000 patients have been received and treated. Of this number 2,600 have been discharged recovered and returned to their homes and to society, and 900 others have been sufficiently restored or improved to enable them to return to their families. The number of patients under treatment at the present time is 1,350.

The present normal capacity of the hospital for patients is 1,222. Buildings are now under construction for about 550 more patients and the necessary employees, making a total capacity for 1,850 patients and 450 employees.

The hospital district comprises Orange, Sullivan, Ulster and Rockland Counties, but those desiring homeopathic treatment are received from any part of the State.

During all the years, the hospital has been conducted upon homeopathic principles, following strictly the practice and principles of homeopathy in the selection of medicines and treatment of patients. This is a compliance with the law under which the hospital was first incorporated, and the results, in all respects, would seem to warrant the continuance of the present form of treatment and management.

In compliance with the law, a training school for nurses and attendants has been established and maintained for some years with the most satisfactory results.

A few years since all the asylums were placed under State control, and a board of local managers with modified duties took the place of the old boards of trustees.

The board of managers of the asylum, as at present constituted, consists of William H. Rogers of Middletown, N. Y., president; Ira L. Case, of Middletown, N. Y., secretary; Newbold Morris, of New York City, N. Y., Miss Alice Larkin, New York City; Mrs. Harriet A. Dillingham, New York City; George B. Adams, Middletown, N. Y.; and James B. Carson, Middletown, N. Y. The attorney for the hospital is William B. Royce, of Middletown, N. Y.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The city of Middletown is located on the Erie, the New York, Ontario & Western and the Susquehanna & Western railroads, about sixty-seven miles from New York City, and is the legal successor of the village of Middletown, in the county of Orange. The city was incorporated by an act of the Legislature of the State of New York, known as Chapter 535 of the Laws of 1888, and John E. Iseman became its first mayor. The city, as now incorporated, contains 2,330-1/2 acres.

The city is divided into four wards. The general city officers are: A Mayor, Robert Lawrence, now holding the office; president of the common council, two aldermen from each ward, city clerk and collector, city treasurer, corporation counsel, city engineer and surveyor, superintendent of streets, recorder, two justices of the peace, and three assessors. Each ward also elects one supervisor, the duties of whose office are the same as those of town supervisors.

Middletown has a most excellent and efficient fire department, of which Charles Higham is chief. The force, as now organized, consists of one hook and ladder company, truck drawn by horses; five hose companies, two of them having chemical wagons drawn by horses; one engine company, new steamer drawn by horses. The city has a complete system of electric fire alarms, with forty-two boxes in service.

Middletown has about forty-seven regularly organized charitable, benevolent, fraternal and social organizations and clubs, exclusive of labor-organizations, societies and organizations connected with its railroads. Of the latter there are nine, and of the labor organizations, twenty.

A fine State armory is located here, which is the headquarters of the First Battalion, First Regiment, N. G. N. Y., A. E. Mclntyre, Major, commanding. This armory is also the home of Company I (24th Separate Company), First Regiment, N. G. N. Y., of which Abraham L. Decker is captain.

There are two Grand Army Posts in Middletown, viz: General Lyon Post, No. 266; Captain William A. Jackson Post, No. 301.

Middletown has a very efficient Business Men's Association, which was incorporated November 20, 1902.

The banking interests of Middletown are represented by the following banks: First National Bank, capital $100,000; Merchants' National Bank, capital $100,000; Orange County Trust Company, capital $100,000; and the Middletown Savings Bank. These institutions are all in a healthy and prosperous condition and have, in the aggregate, deposits amounting to about the sum of $8,000,000.

There are, in addition to the above, thirty-five incorporated companies in Middletown, representing manufacturing, mercantile, mechanical and financial enterprises. The largest employers of labor are the Borden's Condensed Milk Company, the New York, Ontario & Western Railway Company shops, Howell-Hinchman Company, and the Union Hat Company.

The cemetery grounds of the Hillside Cemetery Corporation, formerly Hillside Cemetery Association, are located in the southwest part of the city. The cemetery had many natural advantages from contour of the land, virgin forests and running streams. To these have been added about twelve miles of macadamized roads and drives, with gracefully curving paths and winding walks. A great deal of shrubbery and many flowering plants have been set out and in the summer the scene is a most lovely one. Surely Hillside Cemetery is a beautiful resting place for the dead.

Middletown has a most complete water system supplied by three reservoirs, located in the towns of Wallkill and Mount Hope, and named respectively, Monhagen, Highland and Shawangunk. All water for domestic use is thoroughly filtered before being conveyed to the city.

The city has several miles of well paved streets, and is lighted by both gas and electricity.

The telephone system consists of two companies. The Orange County Telephone Company has about 1,600 telephones in use, and also does the long-distance business in the city for the Hudson River Telephone Company. The Middletown Telephone Company has about a score of subscribers in the city. It also has connection with several outside independent companies.

With its location, financial ability, numerous business enterprises, its many social, benevolent, charitable and religious associations and institutions, its splendid school system, and with the enterprise, energy and business ability of its citizens, the Middletown of to-day is only a beginning of the greater Middletown which will occupy this central part of Orange County in the years to come.

To sum up the history of the town of Wallkill were an easy task, and so saying is to speak in the highest praise of the town. Its course has been peaceful, quiet, serene; its politics have never been infected by scandal and corruption; the red glare of warfare--aboriginal or otherwise--has not shone athwart its pages; it has been a history in which the husbandman has dominated the scene and has been the central actor. Agriculture has been the mainstay of a people pious and God-fearing, the descendants of those sturdy New England and Long Island ancestors, who built the meeting-house and the school as soon as ever the settlement was made.

We dwellers in the Wallkill of to-day have every reason to be thankful that our history has been what it has; if it has lacked romance or excitement, it has likewise abounded in a peace that has meant prosperity.

Of late years the flood of immigration has sent its waves to our thresh-olds, and we find in our villages, on our farms, and toiling along our railroads the children of Italy, of Hungary, of Austria, of Russia and the more remote East. What the picture will be a century hence, what sort of an amalgamation will have taken place, we cannot foresee. Certain it is that, if he is to remain with us, we must educate the alien, teach him our ways, prepare him for citizenship, and do all we can for him morally and intellectually, and that will surely involve amalgamation. At any rate, this is a force that is bound to change our town's history, in the next hundred years, from anything that has gone before it. We should face the problem--meet it with those most forcible of weapons, Education and Law.

For the rest, acting the role of prophet is not difficult. Wallkill's lines have been cast in pleasant places and will probably so continue to be cast. We anticipate nothing marvelous, look forward to naught phenomenal, expect no revolutions. Our townspeople will pursue the even tenor of their way on their pleasant farms and in their quiet villages; they will know neither the bleak necessities of poverty nor the anxieties of extreme wealth; all will be medium, which is the happiest state of all. We are content with that. Our Wallkill is well beloved; we would not trade it for anything different or more brilliant; we would have it as it has been, not meaning stagnation, of course, yet not longing for the "boom" which newer and less firmly established and less well-grounded communities are forever invoking.

Wallkill, in many ways, realizes one's ideal of a rural township--well governed, knowing neither financial extreme, and with a people contented, and at peace.

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