The Birth and Growth of an Old Village
'THE BIRTH AND GROWTH OF AN OLD VILLAGE"
WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y., 1707-1977
by
EDGAR A. POPPER
HISTORIAN AND COMPILER
Resident and Businessman.ofthe Village 1895-1980
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IN MEMORY OF ELAINE DEDERER ODELL WHO SPENT ENDLESS
HOURS, HELPED BY HER FRIENDS, TO BRING THIS BOOK TO PRINT-
ABLE CONDITION. SHE PASSED AWAY BEFORE FINAL EDITING AND
PUBLISHING OF HER UNCLE'S BOOK THIS DOCUMENT IS DONATED
IN HER NAME TO THE W APPINGERS HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
JULY, 1990
KENNETH C. ODELL
26 G~~I~ELL LlBfARY
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In completing the history of the Village ofWappingers Falls, I wish to acknowledge with thanks
those persons who helped me in any manner in compiling this information.
I would also like to thank my typist, Mrs. Rita J. O'Leary, for her work in translating several hundred
pages of my handwriting of history and dates and typing them into legible and readable form.
I have endeavored throughout to write the history as completely and accurately as possible, relying
on the dates and information taken from old maps, newspapers, pamphlets and clippings written by others
in the past century and augmented by my own records and memory of the present century.
1977
Edgar A Popper
The year 1991 marks the 250th anniversary of our own pre-Revolutionary Mesier Homestead.
Situated on a grassy knoll in the center of Wappingers Falls, the Homestead looks out over the Village whose
growth and development Edgar Popper has herein recounted. It seems most appropriate that, with the
publication of this history, we salute our prized Homestead which, since 1741, has been a silent witness to
an these events happening around it.
In publishing this work, we have chosen to minimize editing and to present the story in the original
form, just as Edgar Popper, our business man turned.historian, wrote it.
The Wappingers Historical Society gratefully acknowledges its indebtedness to Edgar Popper, Mrs.
Marie Popper, and Elaine and Kenneth Odell for the gift ofthis manuscript, and also to the following who
generously helped us finance the publication.
International Business Machines
Gannett Foundation
Central Hudson Gas and Electric
Rotary Club ofWappingers Falls
Drs. Gordon and Winona Brannan
Elmer Carlson
Mildred E. CoIter
Hank and Dolores DiMarco
Frances Drace
Newton and Helen Erickson
J. Leslie and Winifred Hadden
James and Catherine Lyons
John and Mildred Milkovich
Paul and Elizabeth Nedwell
Ann Peragino
Frances Reese
Josephine Riley
Doris C. Simons
John P. Simons
Ethel Popper Sorensen
Donald and Janet Springer
Bob and Betty Strang
Daniel and Elizabeth Takacs
Gerald and Mary Trabucco
Wappingers Business and Professional Association
1991
Catherine O. Lyons, President
Wappingers Historical Society
Artwork of the Village Seal by Elizabeth Lyons Stroter.
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PREFACE
THE BmTH AND GROWTH OF AN OLD VILLAGE
In my latter and retired years, I have often felt that I would like to write and relate a history ofthe
Village ofWappingers Falls in Dutchess County, New York. Born in the old homestead located on lower
Market Street which was directly across the street from the Falls and Creek Gorge and the old Garner Print
Works, near the beginning of the Twentieth Century, I have always been interested in the beauty and
op~rations ofthis location. Also, the parks, library, factories, churches and other noteworthy buildings which
very few other Villages possess.
***
In a total of sixty-seven business years in the Village, it has given me a further insight and connection
with the people, residences, businesses and manufacturing in and around the Village. With this information,
memory, old maps and pictures, some dating back to 1800, newspaper clippings, and historical records in my
possession, and some information compiled and written in the old Wappingers Chronicle by the Historian,
Clinton W; Clapp, who was the son of Benjamin Clapp, one of the early settlers of the Village, I feel prepared
to proceed with a further history of the Village ofWappingers Falls to the present time.
This history of the Village would not be complete unless the names of the men and women who
contributed so much of their time and efforts in the past were mentioned.
I will endeavor to cover each subject in several chapters such as the birth of the Village, the pioneers
and early settlers along with the bridges, factories, fire departments, utilities, roads and streets, recreation,
the churches and several chapters on the Dutchess Print Works and its successors. This complex started in
1832 and closed in 1955, a period of 123 years, contributing so much to the growth, prosperity and
employment in the Village. Without it we may not have had the Village as it is today.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Rombout Patent and Birth of the Village .........................................................1
First Settlers - The Brewer Families ........................................................................1
First Land Owners. ....................... ..... ........... .............................................................3
Mesier Family ..... .............. ...... ....... .................... ...... ..................................................4
Thomas Goelet Family ............ .........................................~........... ...... ........ .......... ......5
Benjamin Clapp Family......... .................................. ....... .... ........................ .............. 5
Naming the Village ....................................................................................... ......... .... 7
Creek Bridge . .................. ............ ....... ...... ...... ............ ..................... ...........................8
Early Factories............. .... ........ ................................. ........ ..................... .................... 8
Old Yellow Mill... ............ ........ ........ ............ ..... ..................... ................ ................... 11
Dutchess or Garner Print Works ............................................................................11
Hyper Mill ....... ..... ....................... ..... ........... ............................ ................................. 17
Independent and Brown Comb Companies ............................................................17
Clintondale Mill.............................................. ......... ................................................ 18
Franklindale Manufacturing Co. ............... .................... ............... ........ ........ ......... .19
The Franklin Cotton Factory Fire - October 1885 .................................................21
Eagle Foundry.................... ..... .... ...... ................... ....................................................23
Sweet-Orr and Company Factory ................................... ............... ....................... ..23
Clayton A. Sweet - Founder of the Sweet-Orr Factory ..........................................26
New Gamer Print Works and Bleachery and Former Print Side .........................26
New Dutchess Bleachery ............. ...... ............... ....................................................... 29
B.N. & A. Realty Co. ....... ............................ ........................ ..................................... 34
The Wappingers I..ake ............................................ ............................... ....... ............35
The Wappingers Falls Post Offices ................................ ......................................... 38
The First Gas Manufacturing Plant .......................................................................39
The First Village Water System ............................................................................. 40
The First Filtered Water Supply System ...............................................................41
The First Modem Sewer System ............................................................................42
The First Municipal Electric Lighting Plant..........................................................42
Electric Utility 1910-1960 ................... ........................... ............................ .............44
The First Telegraph Office ..... ...................................................................... ...........47
The Village ~elephone Service ....................................... .......................... ...............47
TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.)
Village Police Department..... ............... ................ .................. ................................. 65
The Village Schools ..............................~................................................................... 66
The Wappingers Savings Bank ............... ............ ..... .... ............ .................. ........... ... 69
The National Bank of Wappingers Falls ...................................................... ...........70
Zion Episcopal Church ........ ............... ..... ...... ...... .......... ............ ...............................72
The Franklindale Baptist Church ..... ........... ............... ..... .............;.... ......... ............76
The First Presbyterian Church. .......... ..... ....... ......................... ....................... .........77
First Methodist Church..... ............ ........ ....... ............ .................. ................... ........... 79
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church ........................................... ..............................80
Transportation................. ...................... ..... .......... ......... ............. ...................... ........81
The Wappingers Rural Cemetery..... ....... ..... ........ ......... ......... .................................84
The Residential and Business Growth ofthe New Village ....................................85
Brief Activities of the Incorporated Village ............................................................89
Wappingers Falls Chamber of Commerce ............................................................... 94
Village Physicians ....... .................. ....... ...... ............. ............ ................... ..................95
Village Lawyers........................ ....... ............. ................... ............................... .......... 98
Construction of New Apartments and Shopping Plazas ........................................99
One-Hundredth Anniversary Celebration ofthe Incorporated Village ...............101
Village Social and Civic Clubs ............. .............. ........ .................................. ..........101
Fraternal Lodges in the Village... ............ ..... .............. ......................... .................. 103
Village Veteran Organizations ..... .................. ....................... ............... ................ .104
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THE ROMBOUT PATENT
AND BIRTH OF THE VILLAGE
In order to go back to the beginning ofthe history
of the Village ofWappingers Falls, may we go back
to the time when the Hudson Valley was first discov-
ered by Henry Hudson in 1609. He took possession
of this country and land in the name of Holland, as
he was employed by the Dutch East India Company.
Fur trading expeditions came from Holland to the
new land in the following years but no systematic
attempt to promote colonization was made until
1628. However, few settlers came to New Nether-
lands and the Hudson Valley until 1638 when more
liberal benefits were given to emigrants. It was not
until 1664 when the English took over the Dutch
territory that the white settlers appeared.
In 1654, Francis Rombout, a Hugenot, sailed to
the new world and landed in New Amsterdam, now
New York City. He became a successful merchant
and in 1667, he became associated with Gulian
Verplanck, a trader. Their similarity of interest,
both political and commercial, led the two men to a
firm friendship. They finally formed a partnership
to secure lands in the Highlands of the Hudson. On
February 8, 1682, they received a license from the
Governor of N ew York, Thomas Dongan, to pur-
chase a tract of land from the Wappinger Indians.
This grant ofland was one of the first public acts of
the newly appointed Governor and was called the
Rombout Paten t.
The Rombout Patent embraced about85,000 acres
of forest land and included the present towns of
Fishkill, East Fishkill, Wappinger, the westerly
part of LaGrange and 9,000 acres within the south-
ern limits of the Town of Poughkeepsie. For all this
land, the Patentees were required to pay to the
GQvernor and the Indians an amount of grain and
other useful items with a total value of about $1,250.
Copies of the Indian and English agreement appear
in the deeds to this territory and a map drawn in
1689.
In 1707, the heirs of Rombout and Verplanck,
consisting of the Brett descendants and Jacobus
Kipp, representing the Verplanck heirs, instituted
proceedings in Supreme Court to effect a division of
the Rombout Patent lands. For the interest of the
Verplanck children, Stephanus Van Cortland had
been admitted as a co-partner, so the original grant
of 85,000 acres was divided among the three part-
ners.
This immense tract ofland was divided into three
long, narrow parcels, each containing a stretch of
river front on the West and water privileges on the
Wappingers Creek and extending East for about
twelve miles. The land now occupied by the Village
ofW appingers Falls is in part of Lot No. 1 containing
about 28,000 acres on the southern end and con-
trolled by the Roger Brett family who built the Brett
Homestead in 1709 which still stands in the City of
Beacon. This land is located on the east and west
sides of the Wappingers Creek along a deep Gorge
and Falls which was about in the center of the
territory and about two miles from the Hudson
River. This land was occupied by a tribe of Indians
known as the Wappinger Tribe, who found excellent
fishing on the Creek and an abundance of game
consisting of bear, wolves, deer, panthers and bea-
vers roaming the territory.
Entirely speculative is the theory that the Indi-
ans came to this land from Tartan in N.E. China,
across the Bering Strait and filtered down through
the Country, now the United States. There were
many Indian Tribes settled around N ew York and
the Finger Lakes and in the Hudson Valley.
In 1740, Daniel Ninham was made Chief Sachem
ofthe Wappinger Tribe and was later killed in battle
in 1778 at Cortland Ridge in Westchester County.
In 1937, the State of New York erected a stone
monument in his memory at the intersection of
Routes 52 and 82 in Brinkerhoff, New York. The last
tribes of the Wappinger Indians lived in Wiccopee
V alley until 1790 when they migrated to Stockbridge,
Massachusetts, and later on, to Stockbridge, New
York.
THE FIRST SETTLERS
THE BREWER FAMILIES
In 1738, the first of the early settlers were
Adolphus Brewer and his brother Nicholas Brewer.
These two brothers were millers who came from
Holland and brought milling machinery with them.
They purchased about seven-hundred, fifty acres of
land from William Skinner and his wife, formally
Catherine Van Cortland, on October 9, 1741 for a
price of 600 lbs. or about $3,000 or less than four
dollars per acre. This land is now occupied by the
Village of Wappingers Falls - on both sides of the
Wappingers Creek at the Falls front. They, no
doubt, saw the great possibilities of the Falls for
water power available for grist and saw mills which
were so important for the new settlers' survival.
There being a drop of about fifty feet in the fall of
water at the Falls created water power not available
in any other location alongthe Creek. The only other
power available to operate mills was by horses or
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Copy of an original map surveyed by John H olwell, a surveyor in 1689 of the land purchased from the
Wappingers Indians Comprising about 85,000 acres for a total price of about $1,250 and known as
the Rombout Patent, by the heirs of Francis Rombout and Gulian Verplanck who had formed a
partnership in 1667. This large tract of land was divided with three long narrow strips each
containing a part adjacent to the Hudson River on the West and extending to the East about twelve
miles. The number one portion of about 28,000 acres was controlled by the Roger Brett family and
is where the Village of Wappingers Falls is now located.
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other animals.
After the death of Adolphus, his brother, Nicho-
las, became the sole owner and operator. In 1765,
the Mill was sold to Cornelius Van Sickelyn and
again in 1795, the Mill was sold to Peter Mesier who
employed as a miller Cornelius Brown, who was
succeeded by millers known as Mr. Kackamyer and
Mr. William Hughson.
Mr. Hughson was the miller when Benjamin
Clapp located here in 1828 and purchased the prop-
erty from Peter Mesier.
They built a wooden house on land just to the
north ofthe present Marine Midland Bank building
on Mill Street. This house was tom down about ten
years ago for an addition to the Bank and a parking
lot. The third building they constructed was a
wooden structure located near the junctions of the
present Market and East Main Street and in later
years, housed the original Grinnell Library.
In 1742, Adolphus Brewer was struck and killed
by lightning. He was the first white man to be buried
in a plot of ground and cemetery which is now
located at the rear of the Zion Episcopal Church.
Adolphus Brewer left no will and the property
was taken over by his daughter, Mrs. Catherine
Lawrence, who in turn, signed over her rights to the
brother, Nicholas, who became a prime mover in the
future of the Village known as Wappinger Creek.
He built a house of stone near the northwest
comer of the present ruins ofthe old Clinton's mill
which was later dismantled for the new Clinton mill
built in 1846.
In the year 1741, Nicholas Brewer built a small
stone and frame house on land which is now Mesier
Park and later known as the Mesier Homestead. In
a few years, he added a large frame addition on the
south side which has not been altered to the present
time. This addition became the main part of the
house and was constructed over an excavated cellar
used; not doubt, for the storage of vegetables and
other herbs.
On the main floor, it had a large central hall
flanked on each side by large living rooms, each
equipped with large tile. decorated mantels and
fireplaces. Other small rooms connect to the rear
and large kitchen and the original house in the rear.
A rear stairway leads to the second floor bedrooms
with dormer windows. All the floor boards of white
pine are very wide - some of which are 16" wide and
1 1/4" thick.
Nicholas Brewer also built a two-story frame
house at what is now the comer of East Main Street
and Market Street and which was later used as the
first location of the Grinnell Library.
He also constructed a flour mill known as the Red
Mill on a high ridge of rock on the East Bank ofthe
Creek, now lower Market Street. The Mill was later
torn down for the erection of the engraving shop for
the Dutchess Print Works.
A wooden dam was constructed across the Creek
about 700 feet south of the Falls to impound water
power which was transferred to the Mill by an open
wooden flume constructed along the east side of the
gorge along Market Street and mounted on a shelf of
rock cut into the vertical surface of the gorge.
After the Dutchess Print Works acquired the
property, the Red Mill was torn down and the old
wooden flume was replaced by a four-foot steel pipe
mounted on two masonry piers on the Creek bottom
to cross the Creek. This penstock supplied water
power to the new buildings constructed by the old
Dutchess Print Works. Part of this steel pipe and
one of the piers was washed away during a spring
freshet in 1902 and was replaced within a few
months. It was later dismantled with the dam in
1909 when the property was sold to the new Dutchess
Bleachery.
Nicholas Brewer also constructed and operated a
ship yard on about three acres of land on the East
Bank of the lower Wappingers Creek, near where
McKinley Street is now located.
Nicholas Brewer, as a resident of this new com-
munity, contributed much of his ability to it for
nearly fifty years. He passed away in 1787.
THE FIRST LAND OWNERS
In the year 1800, the only landowners who had
settled around the Falls were the Brewer Brothers,
a Mr. Bates and Peter Mesier who controlled all the
land embracing the hamlet ofWappingers Creek.
The only road passing through the hamlet was
the Albany Post Road which came through Fishkill
hamlet from the south; and New York City, crossed
the Wappingers Creek on the wooden bridge at the
Falls and continued north to Poughkeepsie and
Albany. The only other roads, one of which was now
Market Street, branched off the Post Road and ran
along the east ~ide of the Creek south to the small
stream originating behind Hughsonville and later
called Harcourts Pond Creek. The second road now
known as Givens Avenue also ran south from the
Post Road along the west bank ofthe Creek ending
where the Bleachery buildings now stand.
Erected and operating around the Falls at the
time were six saw or grist mills located on both
banks of the Falls owned and controlled by the three
landowners.
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There were no roads leading from the hamlet of
Wappingers Creek to the Hudson River, now known
as New Hamburg, but at that time, known as
Wappingers Point. The only road branching south
from the Post Road in front of Mesier Homestead
was named the StonykiJJ Road passing through
what is now HughsonviJJe named from the three
Hughson families residing there: namely, W.
Hughson, I. Hughson and a second I. Hughson,
together with H. Howard and S. Barker. .
At that time, the fanners and land owners living
in the hamlet of Hopewell east of the Wappingers
Creek desired a new road to be built from the
Middlebush hamlet to the Hudson River in order to
transport their farm products and livestock to Mar-
ket by boat to the river towns and New York City.
On January 14, 1800, at the request of Mesier,
Brewer and Bates, a surveyor was engaged to draw
up a map of the proposed road to find the best
location for a road to the Hudson River either on the
east or the west side of the Creek. Eventually, both
roads were constructed to the Hudson River, one on
a west bank terminating at the Drake and Bogardus
General Store at Wappingers Point and the other
running through Hughsonville on the east bank to
the Creek tenninating at Drakes Dock on the lower
Wappingers Creek where the present draw bridge is
now located and also to Crugers Store and Landing
Dock several hundred feet south on the Hudson
River.
The above information was obtained from an old
map and survey made in the 1800's, or one-hundred,
seventy-seven years ago.
THE MESlER FAMILY
In 1776, Peter Mesier, a Loyalist, weJJ-to-do tea
merchant and native of New York City fled with his
family during the Revolutionary War, just before the
British soldiers took over New York City, to the
vicinity of Fishkill. Mr. Mesier was a descendant of
a Huguenot family who fled to America on the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 to escape
the bitter persecution to which they were subjected
in their native France under the reign of Louis XIV.
He purchased a tract ofIand ofnearly seven hundred
acres on both sides of the Wappingers Creek which
now comprised the Village ofWappingers Falls from
Nicholas Brewer in 1776 or a few years before Mr.
Brewer's death. The purchase included the house
now known as the Mesier Homestead and two flour
mills, one of which occupied the side of the Clinton
Mill and which was later dismantled at the close of
the Revolutionary War.
Peter Mesier settled down to what he thought
would be a peaceful life and opened a small store in
the homestead. This, however, was not the case for
in May 1777, a number of people who had com-
plained of the high price Mr. Mesier was charging
them for tea, broke into his home, struck him and
raided his cellar. Property that Mesier had in New
York City was destroyed by British forces and he
never returned to New York City.
Peter Mesier was the son of a citizen of New
Amsterdam and in 1764, married Catherine Sleight,
a daughter of a Dutch family from Esopus. They had
a son Matthew Mesier who became a County Judge
and later took over the Mesier Homestead after the
death of his father in 1806. Matthew Mesier and his
wife Joanna had two sons, Henry and Abram Suydam
Mesier and two daughters, Johanna and Maria
Mesier, all of whom were the last own:ers of the
Mesier Homestead.
No doubt the Mesier family members were all
buried in the old burial grounds and cemetery on the
land which they owned and what is now in the rear
of the Zion Episcopal Church. According to records
taken from a marble monument in this old cemetery,
Joanna Mesier, daughter of Joanna Mesier, was
born December 27, 1802 and died March 29, 1887, at
the age of85. The second daughter, Maria, was born
January 16, 1808 and died April 19, 1890, at age 82.
On the reverse side of the monument is recorded
the death of Matthew Mesier who died September
27, 1858, at age 69 years. Also, his wife Joanna, who
died February 28, 1857, at age 73.
There are many other names of the early settlers
buried in this old burial ground and recordeclin flat
gravestones -- many of which are hardly readable-
-as follows: JobMassey,died 1817;JohnMcKinnon,
died 1815; Michael Brower, died 1850; Sam Bowden,
died_;John Forman, died 1848; Nicholas Ganse,
died 1866; John Bell, 1832; William Woolsey, 1849;
John Reese, 1866; James Stanford, 1847. Also
Laura Worden, Lane Inghram and many others on
gravestones unreadable from age and weather. Some
of the old gravestones and graves were moved and
relocated when the Zion Church was built and later
when the parish house building was added to the
church in the late 1800's.
In these pioneering days when the early settlers
had to construct houses for shelter, lumber was very
plentiful -- cut from the virgin forest and sawed into
lumber at the local saw mills powered by the water-
falls. Building-stone from local quarries and sand
were available within a few miles for masonry con-
struction.
As there were no known iron ore or ore furnaces
available locally for the manufacture ofnaiIs, hard-
ware, hinges and other metal products, the early
4
settlers had to travel back and forth to Wiltwyck,
which is now Kingston, N.Y., a distance of about fifty
miles to procure these metal products. So a black-
smith shop was set up in a frame building on Market
Street by a blacksmith named Coe. In 1795, this
blacksmith shop was acquired by Peter Mesier and
later by his son Matthew in 1806.
In 1891 the heirs of the Mesier family sold the
Mesier Homestead with five acres of land to the
Village of Wappingers Falls for $2,500 with the
understanding that this parcel of land and building
would be forever known as the Mesier Park and
Homestead.
THOMAS GOELET FAMILY
cA'nother prominent family of the early set-
tlers of the Village was the Goelet family who also
escaped from France because of the persecution
against the Protestants. Some reference should be
made of Mr. Thomas B. Goelet as he became related
. to the Mesier family. He also had two brothers,
'Christopher and BiIIip, who became men ofweaIth
and whose descendants became millionaires in New
York City.
About 1820, Mr. Goelet married Eliza Mesier, the.
daughter of Peter Mesier and the sister of Judge
Matthew Mesier. She inherited six thousand dollars
from her father's estate and in settlement of that
claim, in 1820, Judge Matthew Mesier deeded to his
daughter, Mrs. Eliza Goelet, 46 acres of land on
which they built their residence and 40 acres of land
at KIumps Corner. This 40 acres was sold to Cornelius
Brewer, who was a millwright and at one time,
operated the Mesier flour mill. Before completing
their new home, the Goelets lived in the wooden
house at the corner of Market and Main Streets later
occupied by the original Grinnell Library and which
was later destroyed by fire in 1892.
This new home of the Goelets was constructed
between 1822 and 1824 in the 46 acres ofIand which
now divides Upper and Lower Henry Street by Mr.
James Pelham. It was 40 feet long and 38 feet wide,
constructed of wood siding and hewn oak timbers,
two-stories high with a brick masonry lining be-
tween the inside and outside walls and with wide
board flooring. A barn and coach house was also
built near the south end of the house.
The Goelet family occupied this house only for a
short time when Mr. Goelet died April 1, 1832, at the
age of 45 years and was buried in the Christ Church
Cemetery in Poughkeepsie, New York. He left a
daughter, Elizabeth, about ten years old and a son
Billip, about eight years old, both of whom were
cared for by Dr. and Mrs. Cornelius Remsen. The
son died in 1834 and daughter Elizabeth in 1848, at
the age of26. After the death of his wife Eliza, Mr.
Goelet returned to New York City for a few years
when he died an early victim of Asiatic Cholera
which was a scourge of New York City.
On September 4, 1852, his son Christopher B.
Goelet of New York City conveyed to Mr. Benjamin
Clapp the Thomas B. Goelet estate of 46 acres and
the residence, for the sum of$8,000. Mr. and Mrs.
Benjamin Clapp occupied this property until Mr.
Clapp's death, which occurred September 19, 1872.
THE BENJAMIN CLAPP FAMILY
One of the most progressive and industrious
men of the first settlers ofthe Village was Benjamin
Clapp who, with his wife, first visited the Village in
1828. He was so impressed with the Falls and its
great possibilities for water power for mills that he
became interested in the Village and purchased 200
acres ofland on both sides ofthe Creek at the Falls
from Peter Mesier.
Mr. Clapp was born in Norton, Massachusetts on
October 31, 1789, the son of Eleazer Clapp of
Uxbridge, Massachusetts, who had been a member
ofthe First Provincial Congress in 1774. Mr. Clapp,
when a youth in his early twenties, established and
operated a cotton factory in Lowell, Massachusetts
until the War of 1812 ruined the market for cotton
goods due to the flood of foreign products. He left
Lowell and went to N ew York City in 1816 where he
learned cabinet making. In 1827, he established his
own cabinet manufacturing business in New York
City which he operated u.ntil 1844 together with his
new ventures in the Village ofWappingers Creek.
When Benjamin Clapp came to Wappingers Creek
in 1828 there were several saw and grist mills, seven
dwellings and no stores, churches or schools.
In 1846, when Mr. Clapp acquired possession of
the Yellow Mill from Mesier, this grist mill was torn
down and in its place was erected a new four-story
masonry building forty feet by fifty feet, called the
Clintondale Mill. He operated a wood veneer mill on
the first floor and rented the second floor of the mill
to the Cook and Low Comb Factory and later, this
company took over the third and fourth floors. His
business and the Comb Factory business became so
large that he constructed an additional masonry
building to accommodate them.
Again in 1844, at the age of fifty-five years, he
sold his New York City business, probably to acquire
more funds, and purchased 200 additional acres of
5
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land south of the present stone bridge and began
construction and operation of the Franklindale Cot-
ton Factory. He also built many of the existingframe
houses on MilI Street and lower Market Street as
housing for his miJI workers.
According to the Gazetteer of New York State,
published in 1860, the Franklindale Manufactury
Company was incorporated with a capital of$150,000.
They employed 250 men and women and turned out
$150,000 worth of cloth each year.
The Civil War began and it was almost impos-
sible to get raw cotton to the North. Many of the
employees had to be laid off and the MiJI was prac-
ticaUy at a standstill. Had he been a younger man,
he might have ridden out the War; but he was weU
over 70 years old and decided to seIJ out his interest
in the Frahklindale Company to the Gamer Print
Works Company for $45,000, which wiIl be covered
further in another chapter on the Mill.
Mr. Clapp built a new store building on lower
Market Street that was occupied for many years,
until about 1906, by the Dawson Company as a
general and grocery store. In a few years, the
Wappingers Creek Post Office was also located in
this store.
Mr. Clapp was one of the three men who orga-
nized and built the Zion Episcopal Church in 1833,
which wiU be outlined in another chapter. He also
contributed the stone from his quarry on Fulton
Street for its erection.
He also gave the land and built the pipe organ for,
the present Franklindale Baptist Church on South
Avenue and he bequeathed the sum of$2,500 to the
Church Society toward the construction of a parson-
age.
In 1840, realizing that the water power from the
upper Wappingers Creek was not sufficient in the
dry season for operating the water wheels of the
several MilIs near the FaIls, Mr. Clapp built the first
masonry dam across the upper Wappingers Creek
near what is now lower High Street to impound the
waters to form the Wappingers Lake. It has been a
great asset to the ViIIage both for business, pleasure,
water supply and fire protection.
Before 1830, the ViIIage belonged to the Oak
Grove School District. Mr. Clapp felt that many of
the children of the ViJIage were not receiving the
proper education on account of the long distance
they had to travel to school. He therefore built a new
school on the East Side of Market Street in 1836 and
supplied a teacher at his own expense for one quar-
ter. The new school proved so successful for the
children that Mr. Clapp succeeded in having a new
school district formed in the Village known as Dis-
trict No.1, on the West Side, and No.2, on the East
Side.
On September 4, 1852, Mr. Clapp and his wife,
Ruth, purchased from the Thomas B. Goelet Estate,
the house and 44 acres of land that now divides
upper and lower Henry Street in the Village, for the
sum of$8,000. The entrance to the property was by
a driveway which entered the estate near what is
now South Avenue and Academy Street. The en-
trance was flanked by two square granite columns
each with a round granite baIl on the top. These two
granite columns were later moved to the entrance of
Zion's Episcopal Church where they stilI remain.
Mr. Benjamin Clapp sold his home and property
on Henry Street in 1871 to the Gamer Print Works
for the sum of$30,000. The Gamer Company cut up
thirty acres of the land to create what is now known
as Franklindale Avenue, Clapp Avenue, West Acad-
emy Street, Fulton Street and West Henry Street, on
which they built new homes to house their e~ploy-
ees. The large home was used for many years after
the Gamer Company purchase as a residence for the
several general managers and superintendents of
the Garner Print Works and its successor, the
Dutchess Bleachery.
Mr. Clapp died the foIlowing year, 1872, at the
age of 83 and was buried in the family plot in
Wappingers Rural Cemetery.
Mr. Benjamin Clapp had a brother, George H.
and a son, Clinton W. Clapp.
Mr. Clinton W. Clapp built the beautiful Victo-
rian home of brick and stone construction, four
stories high on a part of the estate on South Avenue
which was one ofthe most outstanding homes in the
ViJIage.
The living rooms contained several large paiRt-
ings of the older Village buildings which were painted
by Mr. Clinton W. Clapp. These paintings were later
restored and given to the GrinneIJ Library by the
Clapp Estate, where they are now displayed for
viewing. Mr. Clapp built a large pipe organ in the
rear living room. This large home was one of the first
buildings in the vicinity to have a steam heating
system with radiators in each room in each of which
the heat could be controIJed by a valve on the steam
boiler in the basement.
Mr. Clinton W. Clapp was a businessman and
historian. He also wrote and published many ar-
ticles of historic value about the early Village from
his own memory and recorded county records. They
were published in the old issues of the Weekly
Wappingers Chronicle which was published in the
Village in the early 1900's.
Mr. Clinton W. Clapp married Miss Charlotte
Croze, and they had one son, Irving, who was born
May 14, 1894. Irving Clapp married Miss Anna
Blythe, the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Rowland Blythe
on June 20, 1917.
6
Large brick home built by Clinton W. Clapp on South Avenue in later part of 19th century. For the past several
years it has been made into an apartment house.
They in turn had two daughters, Mrs. William E.
Rowe and Mrs. Harold Rubin, and one son, Irving H.
Clapp, all ofwhom were born and lived in the Clapp
Mansion on South Avenue until they were married
and moved from the Village. Soon after Irving
Clapp's death, the Clapp Mansion was sold and
made into four modern apartments.
Mr. Irving Clapp was a graduate of River View
Military Academy of Poughkeepsie and received an
engineering degree from Pratt Institute of Brooklyn,
New York and was a Veteran of World War 1. Mr.
Clapp was born May 14, 1894, and died June 23,
1961. He was one of the last surviving members of
this prominent family who did so much to promote
the early growth of the Village. His wife Anna still
survives him at this writing.
NAMING THE VILLAGE
'I:..e early settlers had adopted the name of
Wappingers Creek for their new settlement on both
sides of the Wappingers Creek -- adopting the name
"Wappingers" from the Wappinger Indians from
whom the land was originally purchased under the
Rombout Paten t.
However, in 1844, when John Givens acquired
property on the West side or bank of the Creek and
erected several buildings and a school, now known
as Givens Avenue and West Main Street, this ham-
let was named Ednamville. As the buildings and
residences were extended further North, this part of
the Village was known as Channingville. The people
on the East side ofWappingers Creek favored the
name Franklindale from which was named the
Franklindale Cotton Mill, Franklindale Avenue, the
Franklindale School on Reservoir Place and the
Franklindale Baptist Church.
In 1849, during Mr. Sweet's term as Postmaster,
under President Zachary Taylor's administration,
he wrote the President requesting that the name of
the Wappingers Creek Post Office be changed to the
Wappingers Falls Post Office because the "Falls"
were local and the Wappingers Creek extended for
about forty miles. The Mesier family also had a
great influence with the President to make the
7
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change. The letter was approved by the President
and the Senate, and the name was officially adopted
as Wappingers Falls.
THE CREEK BRIDGE
~e first settlers around the Falls on both sides
of Wappingers Creek had to have some means of
travel across the Creek just above the Falls as they
had interest in both lumber saw mills and grist mills
on each side of the Falls. To afford a crossing for
people, horses and wagons, in the late 1700's, an
open wooden bridge was constructed across the
gorge between the east and west banks. It was
supported in the bridge center by vertical wooden
supports to the small rock island about in the middle
of the Creek.
This bridge was also used as the Creek crossing
for the Kings Highway, a road between New York
City and Albany, also called the Albany Post Road
and now known as the Route 9 by-pass.
This original bridge was destroyed and carried
away by flood waters in February 1819. A new and
larger roof-covered bridge with wooden sides con-
tainingwindows was immediately built. It was also
destroyed and carried away by flood waters in the
late 1840's. Both of these early bridges were evi-
dently not constructed high enough above normal
water flow to contend with flood waters in the spring
freshets.
-. In 1852, this bridge was replaced by a grey stone
masonry bridge with two large arches supported in
the center by the small rock island. Both arches
were built high enough above normal water to ac-
commodate flood waters to the present time. The
east arch is wider than the west arch.
Thirty-two years later; in 1884, this bridge was
widened to sixty feet with the original masonry
bridge arches retained in the center. The two new
outside walls were constructed with large rectangu-
lar, red sand stone blocks extending from he rock
fOWtdation to about five feet above the roadway,
thereby providing a substantial wall along each
sidewalk on the inside of the bridge. On each end on
both sides of the bridge, a stone pedestal was built
into the inside wall on which was mounted a lighting
fixture. The first fixtures were about four feet high
on which was mounted a glass lantern which burned
illuminating gas and had to be lighted and extin-
guished each day. When the municipal electric
power plant was erected in 1900, these four bridge
fixtures were changed over to use the new electric
service. Each fixture was equipped with a large
round frosted globe on top instead of the gas lantern.
About 1915, these four electric fixtures with the
uprigh t ball globes were replaced by a vertical goose-
neck pipe fixture from which was suspended a down-
ward type fixture with higher candle power lamp
and frosted globe. Again, a few years later, the four
fixtures were removed from the bridge and the
bridge was lighted by two steel pole fixtures -- each
about thirty feet high on which was mounted the
new high efficiency Mercury Vapor lamp. One pole
fixture was at the northeast corner and the other at
the southwest corner of the bridge.
The bridge had sidewalks paved at first with
flagstones and later with concrete on each side of the
bridge. The roadway was of dirt and gravel until it
was first paved with concrete about 1915.
This bridge being constructed of red sand-stone
masonry has stood the constant pounding of auto-
mobiles and truck traffic and the flood waters all
these years. It has never required maintenance
such as painting and very little pointing-up of the
masonry walls since its construction.
About 1914, a concrete tunnel was installed across
the top of the two arches of the bridge to carry the
water and sewer pipes between the west and east
sides of the Village.
No other masonry bridge int he State is as large
or attractive as this bridge which is hardly noticed
by the thousands of people passing over it each day.
This stone bridge was the only means of crossing the
Wappingers Creek from the Hudson River, which
was two miles south to a small bridge to the north at
Red Oaks Mill.
About 1808, a draw-bridge was erected across the
lower Wappingers Creek to afford a crossing be-
tween the Hughsonville Road and New Hamburg.
This bridge was destroyed by a flood in 1819 and was
replaced by a new bridge in 1842. The present bridge
is a steel structure mounted on a masonry pier in the
middle ofthe lower Wappingers Creek. The bridge
is turned in the direction of the Creek to allow the
passage of large boats. It is opened and closed by
hand by an attendant who lives in the small house
adjacent to the bridge on the east shore.
THE EARLY FACTORIES
'During the eighteenth and nineteenth centu-
ries, several manufacturing plan ts and mills were
constructed around the Falls on both sides of the
Creek that contributed to the development of the
Village ofWappingers Falls. Over the years, these
factories drew employees and their families to me
Village which in turn established small stores and
8
View of the double arch stone bridge spanning the Wappingers Creek on East Main Street
showing part of the Falls, the rear of the Roy Drug Store building established in 1848 and the
old hardware store building erected in the 1860's which was remodeled in 1952 by Popper
Electric Co. In the front foreground are the remains of the Franklindale Manufacturing Co.
main building which was destroyed by fire in 1885.
Lower right shows small dam and falls where water power was diverted to the
Franklindale Manufacturing Company Cotton Mill.
9
businesses and the construction of homes for living
quarters. This, in turn, lead to the development of
two banks, five churches, two free schools, two fire
companies, a library, several fraternal lodges and
the future development of new streets with water,
sewer, gas and electric utilities.
Perhaps the first mill constructed in the Village
was the Yellow Mill by Nicholas Brewer in 1747.
About 1820, Mr. John Givens built a cotton fac-
tory on the west side of the Creek but most of it was
destroyed by a freshet on January 3, 1841.
The Independent Comb Co. was organized in
1828 and was succeeded by several other names over
the later years.
In 1830, Mr. James Ingham established a calico
dye and printing company, later known as the
Dutchess Print Works which became the largest and
longest operated factory in the Village.
In the 1830's, Mr. Benjamin Clapp purchased the
Old Yellow Mill which he dismantled and in its place
constructed a large masonry four-story building
which was named the Clintondale Co. This building
was destroyed by fire in 1855 and was never rebuilt.
In the 1840's a four-story stone masonry factory
building was constructed on the West bank of the
Falls under the direction of Mr. Benjamin Clapp,
known as the Hyper Mill and was used as a flour
mill, comb factory and later a dye wood mill. After
several years, the businesses were discontinued and
the property was taken over by the Dutchess Print
Works.
In 1844 Benjamin Clapp erected several stone
masonry buildings on the East side oftheFalls for a
cotton factory known as the Franklindale Manufac-
turingCo. This factory was later sold to the Dutchess
Prin t Works in the 1870' s and was later destroyed by
fire in 1885.
The Disbrow Foundry located on the north side of
East Main Street in 1852 was for the man ufacture of
iron castings and was also destroyed by fire in 1873.
A factory known as the Sweet Orr Co. was estab-
lished on the second floor of the building at the
corner of East and West Main Street, in 1871, for the
manufacture of men's overalls. A year later, it
moved to larger quarters to a building on Mill Street.
This factory became one of the largest employers of
female help in the Village. It gave steady employ-
ment to the Village residents for over 87 years, when
it ceased operations in 1958.
During the early part of the 20th Century, the
sale of the Dutchess Print Works in 19Q8 to the
Deering-Milliken Company, owners of the Garner
Print Works and Bleachery brought many changes
to the Village. Several of the old Dutchess Print
Works' buildings were destroyed and manufactur-
ing was discontinued. A new modern bleachery
operation in a complete new brick building replaced
the old buildings on the north side of the Creek
during 1910 and continued operations and employ-
ment for many Village people until it was sold in
1955 to the RN. & A. Co., headed by Mr. Norman
Kanor. Since then, the buildings have been occupied
by several small factories and used for storage rent-
als. The old South or Print side of the old Dutchess
Print Works will be covered under another chapter
of the Dutchess Print Works.
Oldest Known Photograph of Village Taken in Early 1860's
10
THE OLD ''YELLOW MILL"
One of the earliest grist mills erected at the
Falls was called the "Yellow Mill" and was erected
around 1787 by the Brewers on the East bank ofthe
Creek just north of the present stone bridge. This
Mill was two stories high with a pitched roof and was
constructed with a frame of heavy oak timbers with
stone exterior walls. Water power was obtained by
three overshot water wheels mounted outside the
foundation of the west wall. Water for operating the
wheels was fed from the upper Creek by a wooden
flume located over the water wheels. Power was
transmitted to the inside of the Mill by a series of
wooden gearwheels and shafting. These gearwheels
were made of oak with hickory teeth and were made
by men called millwrights. It was said that this Mill
had a capacity of 100 barrels offlour per twenty-four
hour day as it worked day and night.
In 1789, this Mill as transferred with 102 acres of
land to Cornelius Van Sickelyn and was then known
as the Van Sickelyn Mill. InJune 1795, Van Sickelyn
sold the Mill to Peter Mesier, the father of Abram,
Peter Jr., and Matthew Mesier. Peter Mesier died in
1805 and left the Mill to the three sons. On a deed
of Partition, Matthew Mesier became sole proprietor
ofthe Mill. He died in 1838 and left the Mill property
to his wife Johanna.
In 1846 the property and Mill was purchased
from the Mesier family by Benjamin Clapp. It was
leased to the Clinton Co. for twenty-one years and
the Old Yellow Mill was destroyed and gave way to
me new Mill of the Clinton Co. After nine years of
operation as a mill, the building took fire and burned
out the interior and roof in June 19, 1955, and was
never rebuilt In 1867 the property and ruined
building was purchased by the Gamer Print Works
to add to their land and water rights holdings. Most
of the stone masonry walls of this building could be
seen just a few feet north ofthe present stone bridge
until 1909 when most ofthe walls were removed for
the installation of the nine-foot steel penstock by the
new Dutchess Bleachery for their future hydro-
electric power plant. The west side foundation walls
can still be seen along the Creek.
THE DUTCHESS OR GARNER
PRINT WORKS
In 1830 a new factory for the manufacture of
printed and dyed cotton goods was organized by Mr.
James Ingham and a Mr. Leslie, both of whom came
from Stockport, New York. This company, later
known as the Dutchess Print Works and later the
Gamer PrintWorks, continued its operation for a
period of seventy-eight years and was the first calico
print works in America. This new manufacturing
company was very successful in its operation and
was destined to bringnew business and employment
to the adjoining Village with the result that many
new homes, stores and businesses were created for
the fast growth of the future Village of Wappingers
Falls.
This new plant was originally located on the
North bank of the lower Wappingers Creek about
one-thousand feet below the Falls. It later occupied
filled-in land on the South side of the Creek. This
location was, no doubt, selected on account of the
water power available from the Falls for operating
the machinery and for water for processing the cloth.
Also, the lower Wappingers Creek being navigable,
raw and manufactured products could be shipped by
boat about two miles to and from the Hudson River
docks at New Hamburg for further shipment to the
New York City markets.
In 1835, Mr. Thomas Garner, who had been a
selling agent in New York City for the Ingham
Company, purchased and took over ownership ofthe
Print Works under the name of the Dutchess Print
Works which was later changed to the Garner Print
Works.. Associated with Mr. Gamer were Messrs.
R. Mangan and L.M. Thorn.
In the winter of 1856, the entire Print Works
buildings were destroyed by fire and immediate
plans were taken for the reconstruction of the fac-
tory. During the reconstruction period in 1856, Mr.
William Bogle joined the company as a color mixer.
He contributed many suggestions for improving the
working and production conditions in the rebuilt
plants. Previous to this time, all the calico printing
was done by hand, which was a slow process.
In 1866 Mr. Samuel W. Johnson became a part-
ner in the business in place of Messrs. Mangam and
Thorn.
In 1868 Mr. Thomas Garner died and left the
business to his son, William T. Gamer. Nine years
later, in 1877, Mr. William T. Garner died and the
business was operated by Mr. Samuel Johnson and
the trustees of the Garner Estate.
During these past few years, in 1867, a Mr. J.
Faulkner was the superintendent. He lived in and
occupied the large brick mansion and estate owned
by the Print Works on lower Market Street near
Hunters Creek.
Mr. Faulkner was succeeded by Mr. William
Bogle and Mr. John Hunter became Assistant Su-
perintendent. Upon his promotion to Superinten-
dent, Mr. William Bogle, in cooperation with the
owners, made vast improvements and changes in
modernizing the plant: a new boiler house was
constructed for new boilers to generate steam to
11
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H
operate the new stearn-driven printing machines
and large stearn driven engines to power the new
machinery for dyeing and finishing the cloth. In
fact, the entire plant was driven by stearn engines as
this was the age of stearn and before the advent of
electric power.
Under Mr. William Bogle's supervision, the
Dutchess or Gamer Print Works was at the heigh t of
its operation and activity in the late 1890's. Also, at
the turn of the century when they employed approxi-
mately twelve-hundred employees, many of the
employees were considered in high pay jobs such as
the printing roll engravers, the machine calico print-
ers, the finishers, mechanics and department super-
visors. Some of the names of the department super-
visors were as follows: Mr. Edward Buckley, bleach-
ing; Mr. James Hun ter, machine printing; Mr. George
Booth, engraving of printing machine rollers; Mr.
Harry Lambert, dry-can room'; Mr. Johnson, dyeing
and washing; Mr. Thomas Crane, finishing; Mr.
Albert Hibbard, receiving and shipping; and Mr.
William Halli well was Master Mechanic in charge of
all building construction and machinery mainte-
nance.
During the late 1800's, much of the manufactur-
ing which was originally started in buildings on the
north side of the Creek was transferred to the newer
and more modern buildings on the south side of the
Creek. Several of the older buildings on the north
side were then used for the manufacture of acids and
chemicals used for the processing of the cloth. 1'his
operation was under the direction of Mr. Daniel
Ashworth and his son Irving. Mr. Ashworth owned
several hundred acres of land and a large home
along the upper east bank of the Wappingers Lake.
Some acreage is now incorporated as residential and
shopping center developments in the Village of
Wappingers Falls. The new Route 9 by-pass of the
Village also passes over this property and many
acres are now occupied by the Scenic Gardens Apart-
ment complex.
In 1893 Mr. William Bogle resigned as superin-
tendent and his son, Mr. John Bogle, who had been
well trained in the operation of the business, as-
sumed the job as superintendent of the entire plant.
He held this position until 1908 when the entire
manufacturing plant with its huge acreage and
residential property under the name of the Gamer
Print Works was sold to me Deering-Milliken Co.
under the new name of the Dutchess Bleachery, Inc.
This new operation will be covered in a separate
chapter.
The Dutchess or Garner Print Works was estab-
lished for the printing, dyeing and finishing of rough
cotton cloth from the Mills in New England and the
South. This rough cotton cloth was received in large
rough bales from the looms in a rough grey color.
After the bales were opened, the rough cloth passed
through the singeing machines over red hot rollers
to remove the seeds, lint, and fuzz and then through
a washing process. The cloth then entered a large
steel tank called a kier where the cloth was boiled
under stearn pressure with chemicals, including
lime, to whiten it. After emerging from the kier, the
cloth was washed in clear water and passed through
large wringer rolls to extract the water. The cloth
then went through the dry-can room where it was
dried and ironed over hot stearn rollers ready to be
printed or dyed. After it was printed or dyed, the
cloth passed througp stearn tanks for making the
colors permanent and the tenter machines to stan-
dardize the width ofthe cloth. Again, it went to the
finishing room where it was run through a series of
dry-cans and a callendar machine to put on the
finishing or ironing touch. It was then sent to the
packing room where it would be cut to length, folded
into a package, labeled and packed for shipping.
However, if the cloth had to be printed, it involves
a much more complicated process. In the early days,
all the cloth was hand printed by stencil or silk
screens on long flat tables the entire length of the
room. In the latter years, printing machines using
up to twelve different colors for one pattern were
installed, each driven and controlled by a steam
engine which could produce several hundred yards
of printed cloth per hour. The Dutchess or Gamer
Print Works had about twenty-four of these ma-
chines for which copper engraved rollers for the
different patterns, color boxes and colors had to be
furnished.
The copper rollers were engraved in the erigrav-
ing shop where a design was etched in each roller by
an acid for each color used. When the rollers were
installed in the printing machine, each roller, when
rotated, had to by synchronized with each other
roller to form the required pattern or print. Each
copper roller had its own color box and a steel blade
to allow just enough color to cover the copper sur-
face. The printed cloth would emerge from the
printing machines which were located on the ground
floors and passed to the second floor where the cloth
would pass over a series of three dry-cans heated by
stearn for drying the color. The cloth would then
pass through a stearn box machine with other chemi-
cals for setting the color and making it permanent.
Each man in charge of a printing machine had to be
highly skilled in the setting up of the different colors
and rollers, as also did the men who engraved the
copper rollers and produced the colors in the large
color shop.
There were several buildings set up for dyeingthe
cloth with solid colors such as blues, blacks, reds,
12
,
greens and yellows -- either by vat or gig dyeing.
The Dutchess or Garner Print Works became a
self-supporting organization owning several hun-
dred acres of land on both sides of the Wappingers
Creek and entire Wappingers Lake with land as far
as Red Oaks Mill. Over the years, they purchased
the old Clintondale and Hyper Mill properties. About
1865 they purchased the Franklindale Cotton Mill
and other buildings from Benjamin Clapp. Most all
the houses which were built by the Clintondale and
Franklindale factories for housing their employees
situated on Mill Street and Spring Street were
acquired by this Company. They also purchased
many acres ofland from Benjamin Clapp on what is
now Clapp Avenue, Henry Street, Franklindale
Avenue, Lower Henry Street and Fulton Street; and
constructed many two-family houses to further house
their employees. Later, several houses were con-
structed on McKinley Street, Dutchess Avenue,
Dutchess Terrace and Market Street for the same
purpose.
In the 1900's the rent charged by the Company to
its employees was very low and was deducted each
\veek from the employees' pay. The monthly rental
for the best ofthe two-family houses was ten dollars
($10) per month and consisted of a basement, a first
floor with an entrance hall, large living room, dining
room and large eat-in kitchen and a second floor'
with three bedrooms and two rooms in the attic.
Every house owned by the Company was painted
white and had a yard which was enclosed by a white
wooden-picket fence. There was no running water or
sewer systems in any of the houses with the excep-
tion of a few of the larger houses occupied by the
officials ofthe Company. Wash water was available
in the kitchen at a sink by a hand-operated water
pump which pumped rain water from an under-
ground cistern fed by the rain water collected on the
house roof. Some of the older houses which were
built on solid rock did not have cisterns, so collected
the rain water from the roof in a series of large
wooden barrels located on the outside of the house.
When the water was required for washing, it had to
be carried by pails from the outside barrels to within
the house, which was very inconvenient in the freez-
ing weather.
All houses were heated and cooking done with
stoves burning anthracite coal, coke or wood which
created ashes that had to be carried out ofthe house
each day. Sanitary facilities were provided in small
wooden outhouses located at the rear of each yard
and, sometimes, serving several families.
Water for drinking and cooking had to be carried
by pails from the several public water pumps located
on the Village streets.
Electricity was not available for lighting so kero-
sene oil lamps were used for this purpose. The above
conditions also prevailed in the other privately owned
homes in the Village.
Around 1900 the Dutchess or Garner Print Works
owned and rented to its employees about forty-three
single houses, about fifty-five double houses and
twenty four-family houses which totalled approxi-
mately two-hundred twenty-five families. In order
to keep these houses in good condition, the Company
employed several carpenters, masons and other men
of trades in steady positions. (In addition, there
were several large one-family houses with both
running water, central heat and gas for cooking that
were available for the supervisors of the Company.)
In order to build the factory buildings along both
the north and south sides of the lower Wappingers
Creek, the Company constructed heavy masonry
stone retaining walls about ten feet high along both
shores of the Creek; forming a channel or canal for
controlling the tide waters of the lower Creek and
the flood waters from the upper Creek. Behind these
walls, the land was filled in for the construction of
the plant buildings. Access to the property was
down lower Market Street to level land and the
property. Over the years, much of this land was
filled in from the coal ashes froin burning coal in the
steam boilers over several decades.
For receiving raw materials and shipping fin-
ished products to the railroad and boats at New
Hamburg, this Company built and maintained sev-
eral flat-top barges, or scows, that were towed by a
small steam-operated tug boat, named the
"Dutchess", up and down the lower Creek when it
was not frozen over in the winter. In severe winter
weather, the products were carted either by horse-
drawn trucks or sleighs down the Creek Road, which
was a distance of about two miles. This Creek Road
was a continuation oflower Market Street and was
constructed about 1870 along the east bank of the
lower W ~ppingers Creek. Prior. to this time, all
transportation to New Hamburg was either via
Hughsonville or around through Channingville Vil-
lage.
In order to acquire water for both power and
processing the cloth, a wooden dam was built across
the lower Creek just below the Falls to form a large
reservoir of water. At first, awooden sluice-way was
constructed from this dam along the Creek bank for
power and water for the factory buildings on the
South shore. This was later replaced by a steel pipe,
four feet in diameter, moun ted on two masonry piers
across the lower Creek where the tide water ends. In
the spring flood of 1902 this pipe and piers were
destroyed and washed away -- the result of which
closed down the plant for several weeks until tempo-
rary repairs were made. After several months, the
13
. .J'"
steel pipe and piers were replaced. During this flood,
the entire plant was covered with water to a depth of
about five feet.
In order to provide steam power for the engines,
bleaching and processing the cloth and heating the
buildings, four boiler houses containing about forty
steam boilers were installed. These boilers, operat-
ing at about 60 pounds pressure, were vented to six
brick square chimneys that were from one-hundred
to one-hundred, seventy-five feet high and which
were destroyed by the new owners when the Print
Works was sold.
These boilers consumed a huge amount of coal
which created a great amount of ashes each day.
Coal was hand-shoveled into four wheel-swivel
mounted horse drawn trucks from a huge coal shed
located on he lower Creek and hauled to the boilers
each day. The resulting ashes had to be shoveled
into two-wheel horse-drawn dump trucks and carted
out to dispose as fill around the plant yard or for fill
in the Village streets. The south end of Clapp
Avenue was made from this fill across the Valley
from Franklindale Avenue. These coal ashes con-
tained a lot of unburned coal and each day, children
of the poor people could be seen sorting and picking
over the ashes to retrieve the unburned coal for use
in their own houses.
In order to have a constant supply of coal on hand
throughout each year, two huge coal sheds were
built on the bank of the lower Wappingers C,reek
where thousands of tons of coal would be stored. The
coal was brought from the mines in Pennsylvania by
coal barges down the Hudson River from the Dela-
ware and Hudson Canal and up the lower Creek to
the plant.
The Dutchess or Garner Print Works maintained
its own machine and carpenter shops, boiler making
and pipe shops, masonry and construction men for
maintenance and construction of its buildings and
property. Many horses had to be kept for their
trucks, coal and dump carts in a series of barns
located in lower Market Street and McKinley Street.
The Company made and repaired all the wagons,
trucks and carts and shod, fed and bedded all the
horses on the property. In order to supply and store
all the feed and bedding for the approximately thirty
horses, they planted and harvested wheat, oats and
hay each spring on the acres off arm land which they
owned in the surrounding country.
In order to ship the manufactured textile goods to
markets, wooden boxes or cases had to be made as no
cardboard or paper cases were made at that time.
These cases, measuring about four-feet high, three-
feet long and two-feet wide, were manufactured by
the Company in a brick building along the Creek in
lower Market Street. Rough sawed lumber from the
mills was transported to the lumber storage shed on
lower Market Street by boat each summer and
stored until needed. The rough lumber would then
be planed smooth and sawed into proper lengths for
different sized boxes, nailed together and trans-
ported to the packing room of the Print Works. This
shop employed about twelve men through the year.
The building was sold about 1958 to me Village of
Wappingers Falls for use as a garage for the High-
way Department.
In order to protect their factory buildings from
being again destroyed by fire, the Company, in about
1902, installed a complete new automatic water
sprinkler system throughout their buildings. They
erected a steel water tank. on top of the ground on
Roy's Hill just at the rear of the plant for the storage
of water for the systems which was pumped from the
lower Creek by a huge 1000 gallon per minute
steam, reciprocating pump, located in a small brick
building just West of the steel bridge crossing the
Creek.
All during the operations of the Dutchess or
Garner Print Works, electricity for lighting and
power was unknown and no electric service was
available in the village until 1901. In order to supply
some illumination for their factory buildings and
operation of some machinery, the company build a
small illuminating coal gas plant at the end of
McKinley Street just south of the factory complex.
This gas was manufactured from coal in the gas
plant and was stored in two large, steel tanks,
typical of all large city operations, so that sufficient
gas pressure would force the gas through steel pipes
throughout the plant. They also supplied gm; to the
business section of the Village, including the four
churches, Grinnell Library, Sweet-Orr Factory, sev-
eral lodge rooms and stores. This was another
service rendered to the Village by the Dutchess Print
Works. This gas plant and its pipes, due to obsolete
and worn out conditions, was discontinued in 1913,
leaving the Village without any gas service. How-
ever, natural gas service was supplied to the Village
about 1930 when the Central Hudson Gas and Elec-
tric Company extended their gas pipes from
Poughkeepsie along Route 9 to Wappingers Falls
and then to Beacon.
The Dutchess or Garner Print works had a very
large and powerful steam whistle that could be
heard for miles around, mounted on one ofthe boiler
houses that was used each working day to summon
their employees to and from work. The hours were
6:20 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with one hour for lunch each
day, except Saturday, when work stopped at 12:00
noon. Perhaps halfofthe employees had their lunch
delivered to them in dinner pails or baskets at their
place of employment in the mill by their children and
14
thus earned a half-ho.ur extra pay each day. This
whistle was also. used as a fire signal far a fire within
the plant and its use was co.ntinued under the new
o.wners far several years.
In the fall o.f 1908, when Mr. Jo.hn Bo.gle was
general manager, news was received in the Village
that the Garner Print Wo.rks has been saId to the
Deering-Milliken Co.. and that all manufacturing
wo.rk wo.uld be suspended until further no.tice. This
was very bad news far all their emplo.yees and the
residents and businesses in the Village since it
meant the lay-o.ff o.f abo.ut 1,200 emplo.yees in the
winter who. had to. seek emplo.yment elsewhere. This
was almo.st impassible since the emplo.yees had no.
auto.mo.biles o.r transpo.rtatio.n to. lo.o.k far and ac-
quire wo.rk at ather lo.catio.ns. Many o.fthe families
o.f the emplo.yees with trades and higher paid po.si-
tio.ns had to. mo.ve to. ather lo.calities far wo.rk. Others
co.mmuted by train each day o.r week to. new emplo.y-
ment.
Far co.mmo.n labar, the emplo.yee receivedabo.ut
ten do.llars ($10) per week far a sixty-ho.ur week with
no. vacatio.n pay o.r unemplo.yment insurance or paid
ho.lidays. Skilled labo.r such as machine printer,s
engravers and mechanics received as high as twenty-
eight do.llars ($28) per week, which was co.nsidered
high pay. The peo.ple survived the winter until new
jabs co.uld be o.btained fro.m the new Print Wo.rk
o.wners an their reco.nstructio.n pro.gram which is
co.vered in ano.ther chapter.
In relating the activities o.f the aId Dutchess o.r
Garner Print Wo.rks at the turn o.fthe century, it is
well to. no.te that Mr. William Bo.gle, who. was super-
intendent o.f the entire o.peratio.n, was assisted by
Mr. J o.hn Hunter, who. had his o.ffice at the fo.o.t o.fthe
hill just beyo.nd the factory gates and was in charge
o.f all internal o.peratio.ns in the plant. Mr. Hunter
lived with his family in a large ho.me an lo.wer
Market Street, o.ppo.site Dutchess Terrace.
Mr. Hunter, far his recreatio.n, maintained a
table o.f fine fast ho.rses and carriages and co.uld be
seen evening and Sundays driving aro.und the vicin-
ity and making a fine appearance.
When the Wm. T. Garner Steam Fire Engine Co..
was fo.unded in 1869, Mr. Hunter was the first
charter member, the first president o.fthe co.mpany
and the first fo.reman.
Mr. Hunter had three grandso.ns o.f which the
o.ldest, R. Malco.me Hunter, was, far several years,
o.ffice manager o.fthe New Garner Print Wo.rks and
Bleachery. He also. served far years as treasurer o.f
the new Wappingers Central Schaal District and
was Past Master during the Eisenho.wer Adminis-
tratio.n o.f the lo.cal Past Office. He also. served as
vestry man in Zio.n Episco.pal Church and as a Bo.ard
Member o.f the Grinnell Library.
Mr. Jo.hn Bo.gle, who. was superintendent o.fthe
Garner Print Wo.rks far its last fifteen years, lived
with his family in the farmer Faulkner Estate,
awned 'by the Garner Co.. an lo.wer Market Street.
The Bo.gles had a san, Ro.nald F. Bo.gle, who. lived
with his wife, Julia, in the farmer Sweet Estate an
Pro.spect Street and who. was a pro.minent lawyer
wi th o.ffices in Wappingers Falls and Po.ughkeepsie.
Also., a daughter, Alice, who. married A. Seaman
Hunt, Jr. who. resided in a new ho.me an Spo.o.k Hill
Ro.ad. Mr. Hunt o.perated the Hunt Tire and Hard-
ware Supp ly business in the Village fo.r several years
when it was saId to. the Hacker Hardware Co.. After
Mr. Bo.gle's retirement in 1910, due to. health, Mr.
and Mrs. Bo.gle mo.ved fro.m the Faulkner Estate an
lo.wer Market Street and purchased and remade led
the large ho.use an the carner o.fPro.spect Street and
So.uth Avenue where they lived far several years.
The ho.use was purchased later by Dr. and Mrs. Jo.hn
Kerrigan as their ho.me and o.ffice.
15
Looking north up through the'
gorge toward the Falls and
Market Street buildings. A
wooden dam constructed
across the gorge in the fore-
ground impounds water feed-
ing the four feet diameter steel
pipe at the left for operating
parts of the Garner Print Works
in the early 1900's. The pen-
stock and dam were removed
in the 1910's by the new own-
ers, the Garner Print Works
and Bleachery when they con-
structed the hydroelectric
power plant.
The Smith Building and Meyers Building located on Market Street with Zion
Episcopal Church in the right background taken in the early 1900's.
.
.,
The Dutchess Print Works - taken about 1906. In its heyday it was located on both sides of the Creek.
Seueral additional large buildings and two tall smoke chimneys to the left rear are not shown. In the
foreground, is the four-foot diameter steel penstock supported on two masonry piers crossing the Creek to
feed water and power to the buildings on the left side of the Creek.
16
THE HYPER MILL
~e Franklindale Cotton Mill on the east bank
of the Creek of which Mr. Benjamin Clapp was a
stockholder and owner had no rights to the water
which flowed through the west arch of the stone
bridge. In order to get control of the water, they
bought the lease of Mr. Henry Hughson thus pre-
serving the right of the control of the water in times
of drought. Mr. James Ingham, then also a stock-
holder of the Franklindale Co., was appointed to
arrange this agreement with Mr. Hughson at a
yearly rental of $400 per year. He also agreed to
erect a four-story masonry building on the west side
of the Creek, just south of the bridge, for Mr.
Hughson's milling business and also for the comb
industry of Nicholas and Shields who were the
successor of Cook and Low. Mr. Hughson was to
have the first and second stories and basement and
the comb factory was to have the third floor and attic
and also the lean-to brick building on the east side
which contained the water wheel for power.
. This main building was constructed of stone
masonry of stone from the quarry of Mr. Cornelius
Remsen, now located at the west end ofFranklindale
Avenue. This wheel was later replaced by a water
turbine. A dam about four feet high was constructed
along the top of the Falls from the small rock island
which supported the middle arches of the bridge to
the brick building, to divert the Creek water coming
through the west arch of the bridge by a masonry
open flume to the water wheel. The water from the
wheel was returned to the lower part of the Falls
through an opening in the bottom part of the build-
ing.
Mr. Hughson carried on the milling business for
a number of years and was succeeded by a Mr.
Brinkerhoff. After several more years, the flour
milling ceased operations due to competition from
other local mills, and it was converted to a log-wood
dye mill with Mi. Hughson in charge.
The comb factory of Nicholas and Shields, later
became Sweet, Nicholas, Shields and McKinley and
they continued a business in the Hyper Mill building
for several years, which was later discontinued.
About 1864 Mr. Benjamin Clapp sold the mill and
his interest in same, together with his interest in the
Franklindale Co. and other Village property to Gar-
ner Print Works Co. for $45,000.
This stone factory building stood idle for many
years and due to the deterioration of the roof, win-
dows and cracked walls, the second and third stories
and roof were removed about 1905 by the Garner
Co., leaving only the first story remaining without a
roof.
"~h----l
When the new owners, the Garner Print Works
and Bleachery, installed the nine-foot steel water
flume for their new power plant in 1909, they re-
moved the remaining first story of the building to
form an operations platform for the derricks, for
assembly of the flume sections and construction of
the steel bridge across the Creek which still remains
unused in 1977.
The roof and about ten feet of the rear brick
building, housing the water wheel, was removed and
the entire inside of the building was filled with
concrete and stone to form the west abutment of the
steel bridge which was to support the new steel
flume. The east abutment which is about 40 feet
high was constructed of reinforced concrete with two
arches on a rock ledge adjacent to the foot of the
Falls.
The foundation and basement of the old Hyper
Mill located on the east side of Givens Avenue to the
rear of Lemar Pharmacy was filled in with earth
after the completion of the flume work and is now
occupied by several wooden garages for personal
use.
THE INDEPENDENT AND
BROWNCOMBCOMP~ES
~e Independent Comb Co. was formed in 1828
by Levi Cook and Emory Low for the manufacture of
combs. This factory, which occupied factory space in
the Hyper Mill building, was later acquired by Ni-
cholas and Shields. It later became known as Sweet,
Nicholas, Shields and McKinley. Seven years later,
the business was moved to a new wooden building
near the site of the Clintondale Mill. Again, in 1848,
the business was moved to the upper floors of the
Clintondale Mill.
In 1854, this business was discontinued and was
sold to Elias Brown, Abel Gray, Thomas Stevenson
and John Barlow, who moved the business to a
wooden building owned by the Franklindale Cotton
Mill. This building was located on a small island of
rock located below the lake dam with the raceway on
the east side and the Wappingers Creek on the west
side.
This building and one other small building used
as a machine shop were later occupied as a carpen ter
shop by the Dutchess Print Works as a headquarters
for the repairs required on their tenement and
employee houses.
These two buildings were probably built in this
location on this small rock island to take advantage
17
of the water power from the raceway about ten feet
away to operate a water turbine for operation of the
machinery. These buildings were vacated when the
Garner Print Works was sold in 1908. The buildings
were totally destroyed by a fire believed set around
9:00 p.m. in the 1915's.
After a year's operation, Mr. Brown purchased
the interest ofthe other three owners and was sole
owner. Mr. Brown again moved the Comb Company
to a new building on the corner of Prospect and
Fulton Streets. This building was destroyed by fire
on January 26, 1868, but was rebuilt within three
weeks. In 1879 the building was enlarged to 150 feet
by 30 feet with a 40 foot wing on each end.
Mr. Brown was succeeded in the business by his
two sons, Joseph and Samuel Brown, who, after a
few years, discontinued the business due to the
competition of cheaper combs made in Germany and
imported to this country. The north end of the
factory building, which is three stories high and still
standing, was remodeled for several apartments.
The south end of the factory containing the steam
boiler and engine was dismantled about 1910.
Elias Brown built a large, beautiful three-story
brick home on the east side of Broadway, now known
as South Avenue, directly across the street from the
Clinton Clapp Mansion. Around 1915 this home was
sold to Clarence W. Knight for his residence and
three apartments. He later constructed a large
garage for car sales and repairs to the rear of the
home and apartments. Mr. Knight, with his two
sons, established the Studebaker Car Agency for
several years, together with a Gulf gasoline service
station. The business was continued by the two sons
after Mr. Knight's death until 1971 when the busi-
ness was discontinued. The business property and
large apartment building in the former Elias Brown
home was sold to the Datsun Car Agency, who
dismantled the large home for a car sales lot and
retained the car repair shop in the rear.
THE CLINTONDALE MILL
In 1846 Mr. Benjamin Clapp, who had pur-
chased the Yellow Mill from the Mesier family, tore
this Mill down and in its place erected a new ma-
sonry four-story building with a pitched roof, which
was known as the Clintondale Manufacturing Co.,
and was leased for twenty years to this company.
The first floor was occupied as a wood veneer lumber
mill. The second floor was rented to the Cook and
Low Comb Manufacturing Company, who later took
over the third and fourth floors. The veneer and
comb factories expanded so rapidly that an addi-
Old photo taken in 1860 of the. Clinton dale Factory fire ruins.
18
tional masonry building was constructed nearby to
accommodate them.
The Mill was activated by a series of three over-
shot-type wooden water wheels mounted along the
lower west side of the building. Water for operating
the wheels was fed from the east branch of the
Wappingers Creek just north of the mill by an open
wooden flume terminating over the three wheels.
Power was transmitted to the Mill machinery by a
series of wooden gears, pulleys and belts.
This Mill continued operations until June 19,
1855, when it was destroyed by fire and never
rebuilt. Some of the masonry walls may still be seen
within eight feet of the northeast corner of the
present stone bridge.
This property and water rights were purchased
later by the Dutchess Print Works which, at that
time, was acquiring adjoining land and water rights
of the Wappingers Creek to add to their holdings.
This same property was acquired in 1908 by the New
Garner Print Works and Bleachery over which
theyconstructed the nine-foot steel penstock for the
new hydroelectric plant.
_ A large oil painting of the Clintondale Mill, done
by Mr. Clinton W. Clapp, a son of Benjamin Clapp,
is displayed in the office room on the first floor of the
Grinnell Library.
THE FRANKLINDALE
MANUFACTURING CO.
In 1844 Mr. Benjamin Clapp, at the age of fifty-
five years, sold his New York City interest and
business, probably to acquire more capital, and
purchased two-hundred additional acres of land
south of the present stone bridge and began con-
struction and operation of the Franklindale Cotton
Mill. He also built many of the existing stores and
houses on Market, Spring and Mill Streets for hous-
ing of the mill workers.
According to the Gazetteer of N ew York State,
published in 1860, the FranklindaleManufacturing
Co., owners of the cotton factory complex, was incor-
porated with a capital of $150,000. They employed
200 men and women and turned out $150,000 worth
of cotton cloth each year.
This new mill, five-stories high with a peaked
roof, was constructed on the east side of the gorge
along the shore line adjacent to the Falls of the
Wappingers Creek. This allowed them to take ad-
vantage of the water power available for driving the
machinery. It was of stone masonry construction
about 300 feet long and was bounded on the east by
Market Street. A wooden belfry was constructed on
the roof of the main building to house a large bronze
bell used for the purpose of calling their employees
to and from work. Around the perimeter of the
building on each of the five floors were wood-framed
windows with small panes of glass to afford light and
ventilation. For night lighting, oil lamps and gas
jets supplied by coal gas from the Dutchess Print
Works' systems was used. Evidently, it was heated
in the winter by stearn coils with stearn supplied by
a boiler located in a brick building just west of
Market Street.
The main building was constructed for use as a
cotton textile manufacturing plant and was solidly
built to withstand the weight and operation of the
heavy looms. Several smaller masonry buildings
were connected to the main building.
The machinery was operated by a water turbine
supplied by water impounded by a horseshoe shaped
darn about four-feet high constructed on the rock
formation just south of the present stone bridge. It
has been partially destroyed due to the penstock
installation.
The company erected a two-story wooden office
building about twenty-feet square just north of the
factory buildings and close to the present stone
bridge. This building is still standing and was
purchased and occupied by Kelly's Meat Market
during the last generation. In the later years, an
auxiliary stearn engine was installed to supplement
the water turbine during low water supply.
In these early days, the employees worked long
hours and the pay was small. The bell in the belfry
was rung by the watchman, Mr. William Sheeren, at
5:00 a.m., calling all hands to work and at 8:00 p.m.,
to discharge them. They started work at 5:30 a.m. to
12:00 noon and again at 12:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. with
time out for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Much of
the work was done by women and child labor, who
earned $6.00 and $1.50 per week, respectively. The
men earned $6 to $8 per week for a 65-hour week.
When the Civil War broke out between the States,
it became impossible to get the raw cotton from the
South and the factory was forced to cease operations
and lay off many of the employees. Had Mr. Clapp
been a younger man, he might have ridden out the
end of the War, but he was over seventy years old
and in 1866 he decided to sell out his interest in the
Franklindale Cotton Manufacturing Co. to the Gar-
ner Print Works for $45,000. Mr. Peter McKinley
was the new superintendent and after his death was
succeeded by Mr. Matthew Cottam.
The factory continued operations at a very busy
rate under the new ownership after the close of the
Civil War -- employing as many as 400 employees.
In the month of October 1885, the main building
19
I
....
t.:>
o
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'"
,.,;
" ..
-
Rare photo taken in the late 1870's. In foreground are ruins of the Clintondale Manufacturing Company destroyed by fire in June 1855 and the
original stone bridge constructed in 1852 and later widened in 1884 to sixty feet. The Franklindale Cotton Mill with its belfry is seen at right center
beyond the bridge. In upper center is the original Brewer Building, which later housed the original Grinnell Library. The original Manning
Building, now the remodeled home of Marine-Midland National Bank, is located in the center. (Photo courtesy ofCarolvn Wixson)
of the Franklindale Cotton Manufacturing Co. was
destroyed by one of the most spectacular fires to
occur in the Village,throwing all of the 200 employ-
ees out of work. The factory and machinery were a
total loss to the Company and the factory was never
rebuilt. This fire was such a big loss to the Village
that I am reproducing a newspaper eyewitness re-
port by the Old Wappingers Chronicle Newspaper
on that date. This old issue of the Chronicle was
obtained by Carolyn Wixson, the Village Historian,
from the Mary Hicks family.
FRANKLIN COTrON FACTORY FIRE
OCTOBER 1885
,,~
-.J. he worse fire in the Wappingers Falls history
was last night. About 5:30 p.m., the fire bell rang
(Garner Engine Co.). The bell in the tower joined in.
Puffs of smoke and fZames came from the Franklindale
Mill. S. W. Johnson Co. got to plug in square and in
five minutes laid their hose and had two streams
played on the fire -- eight minutes from the time they
left the fire house. The engine capacity is three
streams but for lack of suction, the hose was able to
use only two.
The Garner Hose Company took ten minutes to get
to the fire. They set the engine at the Dawson plug,
but the hydrant was not able to supply the needs, and
they had to plug into the fZume above the old cotton
mill. The distance was so great that they could lay
only one line of hose.
InfZammable material in the factory saturated
with oil, oil-soaked fZoors and woodwork caused the
fire to spread with rapidity. Fifteen minutes from the
time the alarm sounded, fZames were bursting through
the roof and eating into the very heart of the building.
The fire was caught in the mule room in the fifth
story; and at the first alarm, the building was quickly
emptied of employees with no accidents or loss of life.
Some of them were said to have escaped through the
windows. Employees stood around watching with
sad faces and tearful eyes. A large crowd gathered to
watch the fire.
Firemen could not save the building and devoted
all their efforts to save the adjoining building and
buildings across the street which were more than
A rare photograph ofpart of the Franklindale Cotton Mill located on the west side of Market Street just south
of the stone bridge. It is of stone masonry construction, built by Benjamin Clapp in the late 1840's. It was later
sold to the Garner Print Works in 1866, and was destroyed by fire in October 1885. Note the large number
of boys and young female employees. (Photo courtesy of Carolyn Wixson, Village Historian)
21
-
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once in imminent peril. Frequently the flames leaped
to other buildings but with steady work of the firemen
and citizens, they were put out. Ravages were con-
fined to the cotton factory. The bell tower fell down
about 7:00 p.m. and at 8:30 p.m., the elevator made
its las trip down. At 8:30 p.m., the wall in the street
part began to crumble and fell piece by piece into the
street, increasing the flames and sending sparks up
in shadows. The second floor on the south side fell- .,
in about 9:00 and one-by-one the floors fell in and
parts-by-parts of the building gave way until a little
past 9:15 one lone rafter remained on the south gable.
Between 12:00 and 1:00 a.m. the ruin was com-
pleted. The major portion of the crowd leaving the
fire companies and their volunteers to watch the fire
during the rest of the night. Between 1:00 and 2:00
a.m. flames broke out and an alarm was sounded
Hoses were played on the blazing ruins and the
flames were subdued. Only those running the Gar-
ner steamer remained. Joseph Jones, engineer; James
Gilmore, assistant engineer; and Samuel Temple
were on duty from the time the fire broke out until
9:00 a.m. the next morning, when just enough hose
was left to reach the fire. At 3:00 a.m. the weather
changed to bitter cold, which greatly facilitated its
work.
The mill will not be rebuilt before spring, if then.
There were 10,000 spindles and 240 looms with 130
hands on the payroll. The loss is estimated at
$150,000. The amount of the insurance is now.
known as the business is done in New York City. The
greatest number of hands were girls and women who
may find employment in the print works and overall
factory, all of which need more help.
The history of the building extends far back into
the memory of the oldest inhabitants. As a mill, it
was one of the oldest in the county. The first mill built
on the site of the one just burned was erected in the
later part of the last century and burned some years
after its erection. A part of the mill was rebuilt in
1828 and was burned in 1832. The same year, the
south end ofthe mill, directly in back of Simmon's
Jewelry Shop was built by Benjamin Clapp and was
about 75 feet long, 45 feet wide and five-stories high.
In 1824 the eastern part of the building next to the
bridge was built 100 feet long and in 1845 the two
were connected by intermediate building, 60 feet long
-- making the whole structure about 235 feet long and
six stories high.
Prior to 1844, it was occupied by the Ingham Print
Works, the comb factory run by Nicholas and Shields
and a saw mill run by Benjamin Clapp.
In 1844, a stock company with a capital of$l00, 000
was formed for the purpose offorming a cotton mill
to be known as the Franklindale Company, and the
building was devoted to that business exclusively --
being rented from Mr. Clapp for $45,000 including a
number of buildings on Market Street which prop-
erty is still in possession of the Company.
The Harcourt Store was well emptied of its goods
which were removed to a place of safety. Hot coffee
was served to firemen in the S. W. Johnson Engine
House and in Scofield's Store. Showcases and most
valuables of the goods in A Peacocks' Drug Store
were removed to Smith Brothers Store at the corner
of Main and Market Streets. James Ambery, mer-
chant-tailor, fearing the sparks might ignite the
building, moved his entire stock across into the
Manning Block.
Messrs. B.S. Wilbur a'nd SA. Simmons, the jew-
elers, put their stock in their safes. Henry Cunliff,
proprietor of the gent's furnishing store, moved his
entire stock across the street. The building was in
close proximity to the Mill. .
It will be a big job to dig the old iron out of the
ruins. Several workers have already left town to seek
employment. The steam engine is still playing on
embers of the fire as we go to press on Thursday.
Chief of Police Dalton and Chief McCaun did
yeoman duty at the fire. A number of girls who
worked at the cotton factory have already made
application for employment at the overall factories. "
The phrasing and spelling of this newspaper
account ofthe fire was not written by the compiler of
this history but was taken from a typewritten copy
by others from the old "Chronicle" newspaper pub-
lished the following day after the fire.
Many of the observers of the fire have reported
that during the fire, the belfry on the roof of the main
building was destroyed and the large bronze bell
mounted therein toppled into the deep hole of the
Falls below. This deep hole was, apparently, caused
by the constant pounding of water in one spot drop-
ping from the Falls over the past centuries. It is so
deep that in the summer boys can be seen from the
stone bridge diving off a rock cliff, ten-feet high, into
this hole without any fear of striking the bottom.
There has been no record of anybody finding or
retrieving the bell.
The old masonry walls remaining of the factory
building can be seen on the left side of the Falls from
the south side of the stone bridge. When the nine-
foot penstock was installed in 1909, much of the
ruins of the factory were further destroyed by the
new penstock passing through them.
After the fire, the small office building which was
not burned and is still standing at the southeast
corner of the bridge on Market Street as a landmark
has been used for several different activities. From
1885 until 1910 it was used as an office by the Garner
Print Works for the collection of rents and the
reporting of repair work in the many employee
~
t
r
r
22
houses and property which they owned locally.
For the next few years, it served as a meeting and
. club room for the supervisors and overseers of the
new Garner Print Works and Bleachery.
About 1918 the building was rented by the Vil-
lage for a Police Station with Mr. Daniel Laffin, the
Chief of Police and Mr. Edward Eagan as his assis-
tant. Several iron bar cells were installed in the
basement for temporary holding of prisoners until
they could be transferred to the County Jail in
Poughkeepsie.
About 1924 the building was occupied by the AC.
Smith Plumbing and Heating Co. managed by Mr.
Francis Travis, who also had branch shops in Bea-
con and Newburgh. In 1927 this company ceased
business in the Village and Mr. Travis established
the local shop of Shaker, Travis and Quinn in the old
Rush Hotel building on East Main Street, which
they purchased.
The building was later purchased by the Thomas
Kelly family who remodeled the building by install-
ing a commercial new glass window and entrance on
e first floor front for their meat market business
~ which they planned to relocate from their West Main
Street location. An outside open stairway was built
on the south side as an entrance to a new second floor
apartment. The market was continued and owned
for a number of years by the Kellys, but in the last'
decade has been operated by several other tenants.
This old original office building constructed of
wood has stood as a landmark at the comer of East
Main and Market Streets for over a century and a
quarter.
THE EAGLE FOUNDRY
In the year 1852 a new industry moved to
Wappingers Creek Village from Poughkeepsie and
was named the Eagle Foundry. It was owned by
Nicholas Disbrow and Edward M. Goring. This
foundry was located on the north side of the High-
land Turnpike, now lj':ast Main Street, just above
Mill Street at a point where the Shaker, Travis and
Quinn building and the adjacent Main Street build-
ings are now located.
This firm made iron and brass castings for agri-
cultural equi pment and their famous Disbrow water
pumps. Their other specialty was the iron castings
of the legs or supports for the desks for school
furniture.
In 1869 the firm's name was changed to Disbrow
and Halliwell. Mr. Halliwell had a financial and
advisory interest only in the business as he had a
full-time position as Master Mechanic in the Dutchess
Print Works.
In 1873 the Foundry building took fire and burned
down. The fire started about 10:30 p.m. in the
engine room and spread very rapidly throughout
the wooden structure. The fire occurred very close to
other wooden buildings where stores were located
along Mill Street and especially the new Sweet Orr
and Company factory which had recently opened. In
a newspaper report it recounts where the new Gar-
ner Steam Fire Engine acquired its water from the
water reservoir at the rear of the Zion Church and
the Johnson Engine Company, with its hand pumper
was connected to a large cistern at the rear of the
Sweet Orr building. At times it looked as though the
entire block of buildings would be consumed by the
fire but due to hard work of the firemen and civil-
ians, the fire was brought under control. All the
buildings, patterns and other equipment of the
Foundry were a total loss. A curious sequel to the
conflagration was that the newly organized Sweet
Orr factory lost its power which had been furnished
from the Foundry engine room and had to close down
for several days until new facilities were provided.
The Foundry owners moved their foundry loca-
tion about two miles from the Village to the New
Hamburg Road, adjacent to the lower Wappingers
Creek on tide water. The new location, a short
distance from the Hudson River boats and the Hudson
River Railroad, afforded better transportation fa-
cilities for their raw manufactured products.
This Foundry business was sold later to the R.J.
and T.H. Stuart Company of New Hamburg who
continued the Foundry and a new machine shop
business until about the 1920's when it was closed
down due to the death and poor health of the Stuart
brothers. The land and buildings were acquired by
Mr. W. Willis Reese whose large and beautiful estate
adjoined the Stuart estate. The Stuarts had built
several large homes wherein they lived on the New
Hamburg-Hughsonville Road, which was called
Stuartville, which Mr. Willis Reese later acquired.
THE SWEET-ORRAND
COMPANY FACTORY
In the year 1871 a factory known as the Sweet
Orr and Company began operations in a small way
on the second floor of the brick building located on
the west bank ofthe Creek about ten feet north ofthe
Stone Bridge wall in what was later the Popper
Electric Company building.
Mr. James Orr and his two nephews, Clinton and
Clayton Sweet, established the factory for the pro-
duction of men's denim overalls which were very
popular for carpenters, mechanics and especially for
23
.1
'i
rl
l
d
railroad men. At first, six young women operating
foot-operated sewing machines under the supervi-
sion of James Orr produced the first output. So
popular did these overalls become, due to their
superior quality and workmanship, that the de-
mand exceeded the supply, and it was found neces-
sary to move to a larger location and increase pro-
duction.
Ayear later, in 1872, the expanding business was
moved to the second floor of a brick building on Mill
Street, which they later purchased and is still known
as part of the Sweet Orr Co. complex. The first floor
of this building was then a blacksmith shop.
The sewing machines were then operated by a
steam engine with steam, at first, obtained from the
Eagle Foundry. Several years later, as the business
expanded, the Company erected a three-story brick
factory building on the east, adjacent to the original
location on Mill Street. The first floor of this build-
ing, which was about 150 feet long and 60 feet wide,
was used for shipping and receiving and the storage
of raw and manufactured goods. The second floor
was occupied by the cutting department and the
third floor was the operating room which contained
all the sewing machines.
On the extreme northeast corner of this building
was erected the steam engine and boiler room build-
ing with a brick chimney about six feet square and
fifty feet high. A storage building for coal was
adjacent to me engine room on the north.
This company expanded by the manufacture of
men's work and dress trousers and blue denim
overall jackets. About 1890 the company erected a
three-story brick building adjacent to the north side
of the existing and original factory. The top floor was
devoted to the additional sewing machine opera-
tions and the second floor to the finishing and press-
ing department. A large, new office and shipping
room occupied the first floor.
Up to this time, the entire factory was operated
by a large steam engine with a hand-fired anthracite
coal burning boiler which also heated the factory in
the winter. This steam engine delivered its power
throughout the entire plant by long lines of steel
shafting, belts and pulleys. Coal for the boiler was
received from the coal mines by coal barges on the
lower Creek and transported by horse-drawn wag
ons to the coal storage bins each fall to cover the
winter season. A steam whistle summoned the
employees to and from work each working day from
7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with one hour out for lunch.
Mr. John O'Connell was the engineer and fireman
for many years, working a full twelve hour day
When twenty-four hour electric service b(;came
available in the Village in 1911, the Sweet-Orr Co.
changed from steam power to electric powe~ and
installed one 20-horsepower and one-7 1/2 horse-
power electric motor belted to the existing line shafts
and using the boiler for winter steam heating.
A few years later the Company discarded the long
lines of drive shafts, pulleys, belts and the old belt-
drive sewing machines and in its place installed new
tables, each equipped with twelve sewing machines
and each table with its own motor drive, thereby
saving power.
When natural gas became available int he Village
around 1927, the Sweet-Orr Co. installed automatic
gas unit heaters throughout the factory thereby
eliminating the old steam heating coils and steam
boiler. The boiler, chimney and steam engine were
no longer needed and were destroyed. About this
time, an automatic water sprinkler system was
installed throughout the factory for fire protection.
Later again about the 1930's, all the above tables
and sewing machines were removed and replaced by
individual tables equipped with a sewing or other
type machine with its own motor drive arranged on
he operating room floor for a streamline operation in
order to reduce labor and meet stronger competition
from other firms.
The Sweet-Orr and Co. had the reputation of
manufacturing the strongest and finest men's gar-
ments. They established and advertised a trade-
mark by having six strong men in a tug-of-war,
trying to pull apart at the crotch, a pair of men's
overalls.
In the early part of the century, the demand for
their products was so great that they established
other factories in Newburgh, New York; Joli.et, Illi-
nois; and New Orleans, Louisiana.
Tne machine operators were mostly women. The
cloth cutting was performed by skilled men by laying
out the cloth on tables about two-hundred feet long
and forming about twenty layers of cloth. Patterns
were laid on the cloth and outlined by crayon and the
several layers of cloth were cut by an electric knife
machine.
The Sweet family or owners lived in a large home
on Prospect Street. It was later occupied by Mr.
Thompson E. Goring who was General Manager of
all the plants. Mr. Daniel Walker was the superin-
tendent of the local plant in the late 1890's to about
the 1930's, when he was succeeded by Mr. Charles
Hallis, and later by Mr. Harold Hicks, when the
plant ceased operations in 1958.
The Sweet-Orr plant was one ofthe two main and
oldest indu.stries in the Village operating over a
period of78 years and giving steady employment to
about 300 people, mostly women, over these years.
Most all of the employees lived within walking
dish"~e of the plant, which was very necessary
before the automobile became so popular.
24
After the closing, a Grand Union Food Store
occupied the first floor of the new wing for about
three years before moving to the Dutchess and later
Imperial Plaza. For about three years a coin-oper-
ated laundry occupied the first floor of the older
building. The entire factory buildings were sold to
new owners, who rented space to others for storage
and small retail operations.
In the early 1900's, in order to improve the out-
side appearance oftheir building, the Sweet-Orr Co.
placed large tubs of palms and flowers along the roof
edge of their buildings along Mill Street. The small
plaza, at the front entrance to the factory, was also
planted with palms and flowers -- all of which im-
proved the general outside appearance of their fac-
tory.
The Sweet-Orr Factory was first establis'hed in 1871 on the second floor
of the building above which, in 1952, was purchased by the Popper
Electric Co. and remodeled for their Electrical Appliance business.
- '1'-~'
It .1 <'"
Photo of last Sweet-Orr building taken about 1970, now under new
ownership since 1958, most of which is now unoccupied.
25
.
._:;?S:,....'.-
CLAYTON E. SWEET
FOUNDER OF THE SWEET-ORR
FACTORY
~e history of the Village would not be complete
without outlining the life and history of one of its
most prominent and active citizens, Mr. Clayton E.
Sweet. Mr. Sweet was born in Wappingers Falls on
June 16, 1834, when the Village was young and had
just taken roots. His early education was obtained
at the public school and at the Dutchess County
Academy in Poughkeepsie. In his early years he was
employed in the establishment of Levi Cook and Co.
merchants on Broadway, New York City.
Returning to Wappingers Falls, he entered his
father's store and soon was made a partner. For
years he was one of the leading businessmen ofthe
Village, being in partnership at various times with
J. D. Harcourt, J.R. Barlow and R.W. Nelson in the
grocery and dry goods business so long identified
with the Manning building, which at that time was
the leading general store in the Village.
Mr. Sweet was one of the first trustees of the
Wappinger Savings Bank and was later a Vice Presi-
dent. He was a Post Master for seven years under
President Grant's administration.
For many years he was a Director of the Fallkill
National Bank in Poughkeepsie and a Vestryman of
Zion Episcopal Church.
Mr. Sweet was prominentamongthose who advo-
catedand forced the construction of the new stOne
bridge across the Creek in the Village and was
greatly interested in the establishment and im-
provement of the Wappingers Rural Cemetery.
Mr. Sweet was married in 1860 to Miss Chattie
Louise Manning and of their three children, two
daughters survived.
In 1871, in conjunction with his brother Clinton
and his Uncle James Orr, he established and was
senior partner in the new firm of Sweet Orr and Co.,
a new men's overall factory which was located on the
second floor of the brick building on the corner of
East and West Main Street, the history of which is
related in a chapter of same.
The business soon outgrew the limitations ofthe
Village and Mr. Sweet moved with his family from
his Prospect Street home to Newburgh, New York,
where he could personally direct the new factory
which he established there.
So successful was their operation that branch
factories were established in New Orleans; Port
Jervis, New York and Joliet, Illinois.
While residing in Newburgh, Mr. Sweet was a
trustee of the N ewburgh Savings Bank, a Vestryman
of St. George's Episcopal Church and a member of
several local clubs.
Mr. Sweet's wife died on May 16, 1909 and was
followed by Mr. Sweet's death in his Newburgh
home on June 8, 1909. His burial was in the family
plot in the Wappingers Rural Cemetery
THE NEW GARNER PRINT WORKS
AND BLEACHERY
AND FORMER PRINT SIDE
cA' fter the purchase ofthe Garner Print Works
in 1908, by the Deering-Milliken Co., and the comple-
tion of the new Dutchess Bleachery building and
hydroelectric power station on the north side of the
lower Wappingers Creek, several major changes
were taking place on the south side of the Creek,
which had been the busy complex.
Several changes had been made to the 'original
brick office building on lower Market Street.
Two of the large vat dye house buildings and the
large twin-cylinder steam engine with its building
had been torn down. This steam engine of about
2,000 horsepower occupied its own brick building
and powered the machinery in several buildings by
long-drive shafts, pulleys and belts. The flywheel
located on the engine between the two pistons and
cylinders was about fourteen feet in diameter and
four-feet wide, driving a thick leather belt about
three-feet wide. Large steam engines of this type
were used for driving heavy machinery at the turn of
the century before the age of electric drive.
The new Company started to modernize the old
Garner Print Works on the south side by cha.nging
the locations of some ofthe calico printing machines,
the color-mixing shop and finishing machines. After
a few years of operations, they ceased the calico
printing business due to the start of World War I in
Europe in August, 1914. They leased the property
and buildings to an aniline dye manufacturing com-
pany.
This company was the Standard Aniline Dye
Company with New York City officers. This com-
pany was set up to produce aniline dye products
formally made in Germany which, due to the war,
were not available. This new Company grew very
rapidly, taking over several of the other unoccupied
buildings in the complex. They employed many
additional men from in and outside the Village who
were attracted by the high rate of wages the Com-
pany was paying for this type of work, which also
brought prosperity and much business to the Vil-
lage.
As this chemical plant worked around the clock,
the Village was very active and lots of money changed
hands due to the high rate of pay. However, it had
26
several drawbacks -- one of which was the fumes and
odor given offfrom the chemicals operations. In the
winter, the fumes would turn the white snow a
yellow color. Some of the operations could not be
handled by white men as their skin would be broken
out with soars and rashes, and they would have to
receive treatment in the local hospital set up on the
premises. For this reason, many black people were
hired for these particular jobs, as they were not
affected by the chemicals. Many black people were
brought up from the Southern states by agents
attracted by the high wages paid. The tenement
houses on McKinley Street were turned into board-
ing houses to accommodate these men -- all of whom
returned to the south at the end of the war.
Mr. Herbert Linge, a former resident of the Vil-
lage and a former employee of the Gamer Print
Works, who was employed in the Company's New
York office, was general manager of the new
Wappingers Falls Company, headed by a Dr. Wallock
from the New York office. Dr. and Mrs. Wallock
made their local home in the former Dr. Phinney
residence on East Main Street, which was later torn
~down for the construction of the Imperial Plaza.
Several Swiss and German chemists were em-
ployed in a laboratory set up in the old engraving
shop building ofthe old Gamer Print Works.
After about two years' operation, the Standard'
Aniline Company was transferred to the National
Aniline and Chemical Company with the same man-
agement. Several more of the old buildings and land
ofthe old Garner Print Works were acquired and the
business expanded. About this time, in April 1917 ,
the United States entered the war and chemicals for
ammunition were made for this country and our
allies.
An incident happened one evening about 9:00
p.m. at this plant when a terrific explosion occurred
blowing the roof and sides from one of the main
buildings. The roof was blown high into the air and
fell in a pile of wreckage over the existing equipment
causing a fire and breaking steam and water pipes
and electric power lines. Two men were killed due to
the explosion which wa~ caused by a build-up of high
pressure in one of the autoclaves. The building was
rebuilt and put in operation.
Prosperity and employment continued in the Vil-
lage until November, 1918 when the war ended. As
there were no further use for chemicals and ammu,
nition, the Company gradually closed operations
and dismantled the plant. Several of the original
buildings had to be torn down due to the chemical
operations in them. The remaining unoccupied
buildings were then leased or put up for sale by the
Deering-Milliken Co.
A. Realty Company, headed by Mr. Russell
Aldrich, purchased the brick office building on Lower
Market Street and made it into a three-apartment
building. They also purchased the large two-story
brick building that was formally used for many
years by the Gamer Print Works as the finishing
and packing room. This building was leased to the
Hand Prints, Inc. in 1921 for the printing of table-
cloths, napkins and other linen products. This
company was owned by Mr. O.K Sherwin, who lived
on a large estate on Wheeler Hill Road just south of
Hughsonville. This estate, named Deerfield Acres,
was formally the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H.
Platt. Mr. Platt was a partner of the industrial firm
of Adrianco-Platt Co. in Poughkeepsie. when Mr.
Sherwin died the Hand Print Co. was discontinued
after operating for several years.
In the late 1930's the P.V.M. Corp. from New
Jersey took over the two large brick store house
buildings and the first floor of the former Packing
Room building and established a new cloth-dyeing
business. The initials P.V.M. represents Payet,
Volta & Miller -- the three officials ofthe Company.
Mr. Payet was the manager for dyeing the cloth. Mr.
Volta was the manager for finishing, and Mr. Miller
was superintendent. This company did a large
textile vat and gig dyeing business -- employing
about 75 people. It continued operations until after
World War II when it ceased operations and moved
the machinery to New Jersey.
These three buildings and several other vacant
buildings were taken over by a company from Bea-
con, New York, named the Three Star AnodizingCo.,
Inc. Mr. Samuel Ianone, who resides in Beacon, is
the owner and General Manager.
The business specializes in the weatherproof fin-
ish of aluminum products such as ornamental utility
lights and flagpoles. It also produces and has the
patents for copper-plating stainless steel tubing in
order that it could be used and soldered to copper
tubing fittings for use in the plumbing industry.
In the early 1960's a separate branch department
was set up in one of the Three Star Anodizing
buildings for the plating and finishing of parts for
the IBM Corp. This operation continued for about
five years when it was discontinued.
The Three Star Anodizing Co. eventually pur-
chased and took over all the buildings and land
previously owned by the Garner Print Works and
Bleachery on the south side ofthe lower Wappingers
Creek and which was the former site of the original
and industrious Garner Print Works.
About 1963 the Three Star Anodizing Co. con-
structed a new one-story concrete brick building
where once stood the large coal shed of the Gamer
Prin t Works, along the south side of the lower Creek.
It was first occupied by Axton-Cross Company, a
27
manufacturer and distributor of chemical products.
It was later divided into two sections after the
above company leased the western end of the build-
ingto Float Co. Corp., a manufacturer of gymnasium
mattresses.
Later, the western end of the building was remod-
eled for the Marine Midland National Bank of South-
eastern N ew York a~ a warehouse and supply depot
for printed matter and bank forms, to supply their
system of banks throughout the area.
During this period several small factories were
located in the former old boiler house building, each
of short duration. One was Cal-Cod Co. of McCoy
Laboratories, who manufactured cod liver oil pills.
After a few years, they were replaced by the John L.
Rie Co., a plastic manufacturer in 1921. This com-
pany was succeeded by a felt hat manufacturer.
. In 1938 the Davis Box Toe Co. started the manu-
facture of leather products for shoes under the su-
pervision of its president, Mr. Michael Karet. In
1955 this Company moved their factory to property
they had purchased in Beacon, New York.
In the 1960's Mr. John Woodside purchased the
building east of the steel bridge and bordering the
Creek, which was originally a vat-dye house and
later manufactured a varnish cambric-electrical tape.
He established a printing business under the name
of Page Print Inc., for the printing of construction
sheets and manuals, mostly for the IBM Corp. and is
still in operation.
From the year 1908 to the present time of 1978,
a period of seventy years, the once prosperous south
or Print Side of the old Garner Print Works has had
many changes. In seventy years this property has
witnessed the establishment of about 17 different
manufacturing companies -- each employing, at the
most, about twenty-five to fifty people with the
exception ofthe national Aniline and Chemical Co.,
which employed perhaps 400 people, compared to
the old Garner Print Works, employing over 1,200
people in its 78 years of existence. The average life
ofthese small plants was about ten years each.
Picture was taken in 1909 showing the demolition of many of the old brick buildings that had been removed
from the north side of the old Garner Print Works for the erection of the new four-story brick building for
the new Garner Print Works and Bleachery.
28
,.
Dutchess Bleachery complex
THE NEW DUTCHESS BLEACHERY
During the following winter after the purchase
in 1908 ofthe old Garner Print Works complex, the
new owner planned to demolish several of the old
brick buildings on the north side of the Creek for the
erection of a new building to be known as the Dutchess
Bleachery. On the south side of the Creek, where the
once active printing and dyeing complex was brought
to a halt the previous fall, the new company started
dismantling and destroying the large steam en-
gines, boilers and other machinery and several of the
large brick factory buildings.
The new Garner Manager was Mr. Charles Fish
and the Superintendent of Construction was Mr.
John W. MacDonald, both of whom were from the
New England states. . Mr. MacDonald moved to
Wappingers Falls with his family and held the
position with the Bleachery for many years until his
retirement. He was active in the affairs of the
Village and was elected Village Mayor for several
terms. These men brought with them many skilled
mechanics such as machinists, carpenters, masons,
pipe fitters and painters, several of which made
their homes in the Village.
A drafting and engineering office was set up in
the old engraving ship buildings where plans were
I drawn up for the new construction. The new owners
planned to change the power supply from the old
stearn age with its huge batteries of steam boilers
and engines with their long line of pulleys, belts and
shafting to me new electric age of motors and direct
drive machines.
As no electric power was available with the excep-
tion of the small municipal plant located on the
Creek Road, the new company planned to build a
new hydroelectric plant in one ofthe old buildings on
the north side of the Creek at tidewater to take
advantage of the water power available from the
Wappingers Lake. The supervising of this new
power plant was under the direction of Mr. Lester
McKenna, an electrical engineer, also from the New
England area. Mr. McKenna was also in charge of
the electrification for the new bleachery buildings. .
This old building formally used as a vat dye house
for the dyeing of cloth was remodeled for the power
plant in which a 2000 horsepower water turbine
with a 1200 K V.A General Electric generator and a
500 horsepower water turbine with a 300 K V.A
General Electric generator were located together
with a General Electric switchboard. The plant was
attended by three operators, each working an eight-
hour shift, each day, on a twenty-four hour basis.
The water power for driving the two turbines was
furnished from the Wappingers Lake by a nine-foot
steel flume or pipe extending from the set of water
gates at the Lake on the east side of the gorge,
through the stone East Main Street bridge, crossing
the gorge on a steel bridge above the Falls and
29
--"
continuing down the west bank of the gorge into the
power plant. This waster produced a pressure of27
pounds per square inch at the turbines.
The construction ofthe electric generating plant
and the nine-foot steel flume leading to it from the
lake was, no doubt, the largest engineering and
constructionjob ever carried on in the Village. It was
also the introduction of the use of concrete for foun-
dations and piers as all previous work of this type
was done with native stone or brick masonry con-
struction. All the concrete required for supporting
the flume, bridge piers, dam and gate construction
was mixed on the job sites by a portable steam-
driven concrete mixer. All sand crushed stone and
cement was hauled by horses and dump carts to the
mixer site from barges in the lower Creek.
For assembly of the steel sections of the steel
bridge, which was to carry the steel flume over the
Creek just below the Falls and for the assembly of
the 1/2 inch thick steel, 180 degree sections of the
flume into the completed sections, the contractor
removed the old remaining first floor of the old
Hyper Mill on Givens Avenue. A large wooden
platform was assembled on the remaining founda-
tion on which the above steel was assembled. A large
rotating derrick operated by a stearn-driven hoist-
ing engine was used to assemble the sections of the
bridge and flume and lower them to positions for
further assembly along the banks of the Creek.
A fatal accident occurred on July 29,1909 when,
in the lowering of a complete side section of the steel
bridge to its final location on the concrete pier, one
of the steel guy cables on the mast of the derrick
broke loose from its attachment allowing the com-
plete derrick and part ofthe steel bridge to fall into
the Creek gorge. This allowed the derrick mast to
..J
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This photo taken about 1911 of some of the members of the Dutchess Textile Association who had a part in the
construction and operation of the new Gamer Print Works and Bleachery from 1909 to 1911 are left front row,
Jacob Hasbrouck, paymaster; Arthur Dunwoodie, bookkeeper; Harvey Pollock, bookkeeper; Albert Hibbert,
shipping clerk; Patrick McGinnis, pipe installation; Lester McKenney, electrical engineer; James Handley,
foreman of grey-room; Thomas Kirkman, foreman of Bleachery; Parker Blythe, timekeeper; Top row left:
Patrick Macklin, yardmaster; Alfred Brown, foreman of masons; Heber Mills, foreman of painting; John W.
MacDonald, Chief Engineer of construction; Thomas McTaggert, foreman of construction; Fred Sadler,
foreman of Carpenter Shop; Edward O'Brien, draftsman; William Sanders, foreman of machine shop; Roland
Blythe, housing supervisor; Clarence Ray, Boss Machinist. The new bleachery building is in the background.
30
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swing around suddenly, pinning the operator of the
hoist engine against this machine and crushing him
to death.
Mr. Fish, the general manager, who was observ-
ing the operations near the hoist engine of lowering
the bridge section, was also pinned against the
engine but not killed. His face and body were badly
scalded with escaping steam from the damaged
hoist engine and boiler, and he was hospitalized for
several months. The operator who was killed was
Mr. William Henderson, who resided on Park Av-
enue and was the father of Miss Florence Henderson
and another daughter, who operated the Henderson
Women's Apparel Shop in the Grinnell Library build-
ing for many years.
The steel bridge was supported on the west bank
by a concrete pier formed by removing the roof of the
adjacent brick building at the rear ofthe old Hyper
Mill ruins which was used as the housing for the
large water wheel. The interior was entirely filled
with concrete and may be viewed today. The east
pier was constructed on a ledge of rock at the base of
the Falls by constructing concrete forms with two
arches and filling the forms with concrete.
The flume crossed East Main Street underground
through the east support ofthe stone bridge and was
encased in concrete.
A new set of hand operated water gates was
installed at the Lake end of the old waterracewayfor
control ofthe Lake water entering the raceway and
flume. A new concrete bulkhead was installed at the
south end of the raceway replacing the old wooden
water gates used by the former Garner Print Works
to which the flume terminated.
A few months after this new hydroelectric plant
was in operation, the Dutchess Bleachery Company,
in 1910, purchased the small municipal steam oper-
ated power plant located on the Creek Road from the
Village and transferred all operations of supplying
twenty-four hour electric service and street lighting
to the new hydroelectric plant. This decision was of
great value to the Village residents and businesses
for the new twenty-four hour and plentiful electric
service. The stores coul.d now have electric meat
choppers, coffee grinders, water pumps, electric heat-
ers and fans, and families could use their electric
irons and toasters. The several churches were able
to change over from the old gas lighting systems to
the new electric lighting systems and were able to
install an electric operation ofthe organ blowers in
place of the old hand-operated bellows.
After the change over, the small power plant in
the Creek Road was closed down and later dis-
mantled. The newest of the two steam generators
which was 100 K V.A. capacity was moved to a
building adjoining the new power station and was to
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be used in emergencies for short periods for making
minor repairs to the hydro system. Steam power
was supplied from the Bleachery boiler plants.
This flume and hydroelectric power station were
used continuously from 1910 until 1955 to supply
electricity for the Dutchess Bleachery. From 1955,
when it was purchased by the new owners until
about 1970, it continued generating electric power of
about 1500 K.V.A. which was sold under contract to
the Central Hudson Gas and Electric Co. of
Poughkeepsie, New York. Due to a malfunction in
the plant, this contract was discontinued and as
there were no immediate uses for the electric power,
the power plant was closed down. A few weeks later,
the entire contents of the power plant including
generators, turbines, control equipment and switch-
boards were destroyed and sold for junk.
About 1913 it was found that during the summer
months or a drought .that sufficient water power
from the Lake was not available to meet the electri-
cal demand and other means would have to be
provided to meet this condition. A new General
Electric steam turbine generator of 600 K V.A. ca-
pacity was purchased and installed in the large
remaining boiler house on the south side of the
Creek. It was connected by heavy overhead copper
cables crossing the Creek to the hydroelectric plant
. and was used only when there was a shortage of
water.
At this time Mr. Orville M. Whitehouse, an elec-
trical engineer from Waterville, Maine, was the
superintendent in charge of all electrical operations
in the New Dutchess Bleachery succeeding Mr.
Lester McKenna, who had left the Company for
another position.
More information on this hydroelectric power
plant is covered in the chapter on "Utilities".
As construction progressed on the new hydroelec-
tric power station and flume, construction was also
progressing rapidly on the new Bleachery building
on the north bank of the Creek just south of the
power plant. As construction of this huge brick
building was to be built on filled-in ground, the
concrete foundation was built on a series of wood
piles driven into the earth to meet solid rock. On this
foundation was erected the four-story solid brick
walls and flat roof of the new Bleachery complex.
Access to the four floors was by way of two
fireproof iron and brick stairways. Materials were
handled by two large freight elevators. The three
upper floors were supported by 16-inch North Caro-
lin a yellow pine timbers supported on steel columns.
The rough flooring was of four-inch tongue and
groove North Carolina yellow pine timbers covered
with a one-inch hard maple finished floor. Construc-
tion was ofthe best as it had to carry the heavy loads
31
and movement of machinery and finished products.
An automatic sprinkler system was installed
throughout for fire protection.
All of the brick walls contained the best hard
brick and cement and were erected under the super-
vision of Mr. Alfred Brown. The carpenter work was
under the supervision of Mr. Fred Sadler, both of
whom were natives of the Village and former super-
visors of similar work in the old Garner Print Works.
After 68 years of hard service, this building is in
excellent condition. Mr. John W. MacDonald was
the general superintendent of all construction. The
building was completely wired for electric lights and
power, connected to the new hydroelectric power
station by overhead power cables, under the super-
vision of Mr. William L. Shrader, with Mr. Lester
McKenna as engineering supervisor. The power
supplied was three-phase, 60 cycle, 600 volt AC.
direct from the generators through the large switch-
board at the power station.
A few years later, a large three-story brick store-
house building was erected near the south side of the
center Bleachery building and the lower Creek. A
new coal-fired boiler house with automatic stokers
and a new round, brick chimney about 200 feet high
was erectedjust west ofthe new Bleachery buildings
to supply steam for heating and manufacturing
purposes.
During the 1940's fuel oil replaced the bitumi-
nous coal for firing the boilers. Several large oil
storage tanks were erected near the lower Creek to
store the oil which was brought by oil barges by way
of the Hudson River and lower Wappingers Creek
from the refineries.
To operate and maintain a manufacturing com-
plex ofthissize also required a machine, blacksmith,
carpenter, pipe and electrical shops with skilled
help in several of the older and original buildings.
After completion ofthe new Bleachery complex in
1910, production started with Mr. Charles Meeker
as General Superintendent. Mr. and Mrs. Meeker,
who also came from the New England states, made
their residence in the large remodeled house for-
mally owned by Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Clapp on
upper Henry Street, which was purchased by the
former Garner Print Works after Mr. Clapp's death.
Rough grey cloth was received from the mills in
bales to be bleached, processed and finished for
further disposition. The ends ofthe cloth would be
sewn together forming a long strip, perhaps several
hundred yards in length. It first went through the
singe department to remove all fuzz and thread
ends. It would then pass through pot eyes to the
bleach department where it was washed through
rollers and then entered the large steel kiers where
it was boiled and treated with lime and other chemi-
cals to whiten the cloth. It was again washed
through huge wooden wringer rolls and sent to the
finishing department where it was starched,
collandered, tauted and finished on dry cans to a
pure white finish. The finished cloth of different
lengths was sent to the packing department where
it was cut to proper length, examined and packed for
shipping.
On the two upper floors of the west end of the
building, the Company established a separate de-
partment called Dept. 10 for the manufacture of
sheets and pillowcases. They employed perhaps 200
employees, mostly women, as operators of sewing
machines for sewing and hemming the sheets and
pillowcases, the ironing and finishing work on the
mangle machine, packing and shipping.
This department, originally set-up and super-
vised by a Mr. Moore, was later taken over and
supervised for many years until the Bleachery was
sold by Mr. Anthony (Hap) HoolIhan, a native of the
Village.
This Department No. 10 was a thriving and busy
addition to the Bleachery Company for over forty-
five years and consumed thousands of yards of
bleached cloth produced by the company each year
in the manufacture of sheets and pillowcases.
Several years later, the Dutchess Bleachery es-
tablished a gig dye department in the basement of
No.1 building for the dyeing of cloth. They also built
a waterfiItration plant in one ofthe old boiler houses
for the filtration of bleaching of cloth. This plant was
to remove the sand and grit from the raw lake water
especially during the spring floods.
In the early years of production, about 1912, the
wages were low for a sixty-hour work week, averag-
ing about ten to twelve dollars per week for common
labor. Mechanics and electricians received about
$2.50 per day. Workers started at 6:20 a.m. taking
one hour for lunch and quitting time was 6:00 p.m.
There was no overtime pay except for Sunday work.
Mr. Meeker was succeeded, after a few years, by
Mr. Henry McCusker, also from the New England
states who, with his large family of grown sons and
a daughter, moved to the Village and was the new
General Manager. Three of his eldest sons who were
experienced in e textile business assumed positions
as supervisors of the bleaching and finishing depart-
ments. Mr. and Mrs. McCusker and other members
of the family occupied the brick residence on lower
Market Street which had been formally occupied by
the two Bogle families, previous to 1910 during the
Garner Print Works ownership.
A few years later Mr. McCusker was succeeded by
Mr. Herbert C. Hess as Manager who came to
Wappingers Falls with his new bride. They occupied
the Bleachery Manager's residence which had been
32
the Benjamin Clapp home on upper Henry Street.
With the start of the First World War in 1914, the
business and profits increased rapidly due to the
war trade. The Bleachery Company established a
partnership plan with all their employees which was
to be administered by an elected bo8;rd of trustees
composed of both management and employees. The
profits were divided with the employees for several
years and notable working conditions improved.
Increased wages and shorter working hours per day
were granted at which time was the beginning and
pattern of the escalation of wages through the coun-
try today.
The Bleachery Company also improved the many
employee-occupied houses which they owned
throughout the Village. They installed new bath-
rooms with pure running water and sewer connec-
tions to the new sewer and water system that was
recently completed throughout the Village. The
houses were also wired for electric lights and service
throughout, replacing the kerosene oil lamps used
for so many years. A few years later these houses
were put in the market for sale to the employee-
1
tenant and eventually all their houses were sold at
very reasonable prices.
A few years after the conclusion of World War I,
the profits of the Bleachery Company became less,
due largely to increased competition, and the part-
nership plan was discontinued.
When the Dutchess Bleachery was established in
the Village in 1909, Mr. Winfield S. Beasley carne to
the Village from Millville, Massachusetts to accept a
position as Office Manager for the new Company.
He held this position until the early 1920's when he
was appointed General Manager of the Company,
replacing the former Manager, Mr. Herbert C. Hess,
who left the Company. In 1920 he married Miss
Elizabeth Baxter, the daughter of William Baxter, a
prominent physician who had his office and home on
Andrew Place and where Mr. and Mrs. Beasley also
resided.
Mr. Beasley was General Manager of the plant
only a few years when, in 1927, he resigned his
position and with his brother, Dorald, opened a real
estate and insurance business in the Grinnell Li-
brary building for a period of fifteen years.
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On September 22, 1938, due to a local hurricane, waters of the Wappingers Creek over-ran its banks.
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At the left is the hydroelectric power plant of the Dutchess Bleachery which was not damaged; and on
the right, the building now occupied by the Page Print Co., which was part of the Garner Print Works
33
GRINNELL LIBRARY
26 EI.\ST !\i STR' E-ET
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Mr. Beasley was succeeded as General Manager
in 1927 by Mr. Henry M. Burke who carne to the
Village from North Dighton, Massachusetts, with
his wife and family of several children, and pur-
chased the former Benjamin Clapp historical house
on upper Henry Street from the Dutchess Bleachery.
The Burkes made many improvements to this house
by the addition of a two-story colonial square pillared
porch across the front of the house. Many alter-
ations were made to the interior. A large green
hedge enclosed the entire property, consisting of
several acres of landscaped grounds. This home is
one of the oldest and most historical places in the
Village, being built in 1824 for the Goelet family and
later purchased by Benjamin Clapp, who occupied it
for several years until his death.
Mr. Burke was General Manger of the plant
during the Second World War when, again, it was a
very busy plant due to the War operation. Mr. Burke
retired from this position in 1953 and moved to an
old colonial house at Twin Hills on the Spackenkill
Road near Poughkeepsie. During Mr. Burke's man-
agership, th e Dutchess Bleachery was renamed and
known as the Lockwood Dutchess Company. On Mr.
Burke's retirement after more than 25 years of
service, he was succeeded by Mr. A. Durfee Damon
who was an assistant manager in the plant and a
resident of the Village.
In 1955 the stockholders ofthe Lockwood Dutchess
Company authorized the directors to liquidate a,
Waterville, Maine plant and the Wappingers Falls
Bleachery as a going concern. After this and several
other plans failed, it was decided to close down
operations of the Dutchess Bleachery and sell the
buildings and real estate. They were purchased by
the B.N. & A. Co. by Mr. Norman Kanor.
This suspension of operations of the plant re-
sulted in the lay-oft's of about 700 employees who
had to obtain work elsewhere. From the completion
of the New Bleachery complex in 1910 until its
closing in 1955, for a period of 45 years, it was always
busy and gave steady employment to about 800
employees living in the Village within walking dis-
tance from the plant.
B.N. & A REALTY CO.
~e B.N. & A. Realty Co. purchase of the
Lockwood Dutchess Company Bleachery complex
included the four main brick buildings, the machine
shop building, the hydroelectric power plant with its
nine-foot flume, and Wappingers Lake with its wa-
ter rights. It also included the property on the north
side of the lower Wappingers Creek.
This company continued the operation of the
hydroelectric power plant, selling the full capacity of
electric energy of about 2,000 horsepower to the
Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corp. utility under
contract. A malfunction occurred between the two
inter-connecting systems and the contract was can-
celled, with the result that there was no other outlet
for the electric power that could be generated. The
entire power plant was inactivated and, in 1975, was
destroyed and its copper and steel sold for junk, with
the exception of the steel penstock assembly which
is unused and rusting away.
All of the machinery used by the Dutchess
Bleachery had been sold and removed from the
buildings, and the vacant space was rented and
occupied by several small companies. The
Texicrafters, Inc., who originally had a similar plant
named Hand Prints, Inc., in one of the buildings of
the old Garner Print Works on the south side;took
over the entire top or fourth floor and a section ofthe
rear second floor for their operation under the man-
agement of Mr. Michael Ryan, who resided in
Poughkeepsie. Their main operation was the print-
ing of tablecloths, napkins and other textiles by
hand using silk screens on long tables, the length of
the room, which was about 500 feet. Each screen
represented a design and color to be imprinted on
the textiles which had to be then washed, textured,
finished and prepared for shipment. This plant
ceased operations in the late 1960's.
The Kemp and Beatley Co., Inc., who had their
offices and textile factory in New YorkCity for sev-
eral years, decided to relocate their factory from the
City to Wappingers Falls in 1960. They contracted
to take over the entire third floor of the complex for
the manufacture of finished tablecloths, linen nap-
kins, towel sets and other finished textile goods.
About one-half of the employees were women who
operated sewing and finishing machines and did the
packing. Mr. Seymour Gardstein ofthe New York
office is the General Manager, and Mr. Harold Hicks,
a local man, and at one time manager of the local
Sweet Orr plant, is local manager. This plant, which
has been very successful, has since taken over two
additional floors of an adjoining former storehouse
building as was still operating in 1978.
In the early 1960's a textile plant named the
Stampa-Seta Co., Inc. moved from New Jersey and'
occupied most of the second floor of the complex.
They were also in the textile printing and finishing
business, operating for about a year, but due to
financial trouble, the business was discontinued.
The machinery was removed and the space was
taken over as a storage and supply depot by the IBM
Corporation.
About this time a firm named the United Repro-
34
1
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ductions, who were located at Red Oaks Mill in
Dutchess County, New York, occupied a small sec-
tion of the second floor of the east end building. It
was engaged in blue print work, mostly for IBM.
After a few years, they moved to another out-of-town
location, due to lack of space. Directly under United
Reproductions, on the basement floor, a small com-
pany which manufactured decorative portable elec-
tric lamps was located. This business had a short life
of a couple years and eventually closed.
In the late 1970's the old two-story brick building,
which was used for years by the Dutchess Bleachery
as a carpenter and machine shop, was leased to a
metal finishing shop operated by Mr. Frank Wojcik.
The business was set-up to manufacture and finish
parts for computers which were produced by a new
computer company located in the new building on
All Angels Road, just north of Myers Corners Road.
After a few years of operation, the computer com-
pany closed down which, in turn, affected the Wojcik
operation, which has since ceased operations. This
building is now used for the construction of small
boats.
. On March 1, 1967 the B.N. & A. Realty Co. sold
the Wappingers Lake with water rights and the dam
and penstock to the Village ofWappingers Falls with
the understanding that the Village would have full
control of the lake water and penstock after a ten-
year period which would be March 1, 1977.
The B.N. & A Realty Co. still owns and controls
all of the buildings and land on he north side of the
Creek with the exception ofthe Wappingers Lake, as
noted above.
THE WAPPINGERS LAKE
men the first settlers came to the Falls, they
found immense possibilities from the upper
Wappingers Creek and the Falls to operate their saw
and grist mills. The lower Wappingers Creek, with
its tide water ending just below the Falls, afforded a
means of transportation by boat to the Hudson
River, a distance of aboul two miles.
As there was a drop of about 60 feet at the Falls
between the upper and the lower Wappingers Creek,
this fact created great possibilities of water power to
operate water wheels for the production of power.
Several saw mills for the production of lumber,
which was in great demand for the construction of
new homes, was erected around the east bank of the
Falls. Several flour mills and two factory buildings
were also constructed on the two Creek banks adja-
cent to the Falls.
Feeding the waterfalls was the upper Wappingers
Creek, originating above Pleasan t Valley in Dutchess
County. Flowing in a southern direction in a chan-
nel about thirty miles to the Falls, it emptied into the
lower Wappingers Creek and the Hudson River.
After Mr. Benjamin Clapp erected the Clinton
Mill on the east bank of the Creek, he found that
during the summer or dry months of the year, there
was an insufficient amount of water flowing down
the upper Creek to operate the water wheels at the
Mill.
Just above the Mill location, there were hundreds
of acres of low lying land on both sides of the creek
channel that were only flooded during the raining or
winter seasons. Mr. Clapp saw great possibilities of
constructing a dam across the Creek at a point just
west oflower High Street to impound and store the
Creek water and flooding the low lying lands. In
1840 Mr. Clapp constructed the first dam and cre-
ated the Wappingers :Falls Lake.
From a map of 1867, this dam was not con-
structed straight across the Creek. It was built with
a 90 degree angle about two-thirds distance from the
east shore. The dam impounded enough water to
operate the mills during working hours and storing
water during idle hours.
Around the last quarter ofthe 19th century, the
Garner Print Works was buying up acreage on both
. sides ofthe Creek and Lake for the water rights and
water supply. This company erected a new stone
masonry dam about twelve feet high in a straight
line across the Creek in the front of the old dam
location which would impound a greater supply of
water and cover more land, forming the Lake as we
see it today.
At the east bank of the dam was constructed a
bulkhead of stone masonry with a set of water gates
for controlling the flow of water to the Falls. In front
of the dam in the southerly direction was the large
west tributary which carried down stream the water
which spilled over the dam.
In front or south of the bulkhead was the small
east tributary which formed a small rock island just
north of the stone bridge. Two heavy parallel stone
masonry walls with earth filled in between were
built along the west side of the small east tributary
for about 800 feet. At the end ofthis was constructed
another bulkhead with a set of water gates for
controlling the water to the Falls, and later in 1909
to the nine-foot penstock. This stretch ofimpounded
water was known as the Raceway.
In 1909, when the present nine-foot steel pen-
stock was installed for the new Dutchess Bleachery
Power Plant, it terminated in an enlarged concrete
bulkhead with a water gate replacing the old water
gates at the south end of the Raceway. The water in
the raceway was about twelve feet deep.
35
The masonry dam constructed across the Wappingers Creek creating the Wappingers Lake, which was
owned and controlled by the Dutchess or Garner Print Works and its successors from 1840 until 1957,
when it was purchased by the Village. The first dam was erected by Benjamin Clapp in 1840 for his mills
near the Falls.
Around 1867, on the island formed by the race-
way and west tributary of the Creek, was con-
structed two large wooden factory buildings -- one
used as a machine shop and the other for the manu-
facture of combs. Water power was obtained from
the raceway. These two buildings were later used by
the Garner Print Works as a carpentry shop for the
repairs on their several hundred employees' homes.
Their use was discontinued in 1910 and one night a
few years later, the buildings were destroyed by fire
of unknown origin.
About 1914 the Dutchess Bleachery raised the
height ofthe dam about two feet by the construction
of a wooden addition across the top of the dam to
impound more lake water for more production of
electric power in their new hydroelectric station. A
water height gauge marked off in inches was in-
stalled close to the dam. Readings were taken off the
gauge and recorded each morning to determine the
height oflake water going to waste over the dam or
whether too much water was being used.
The dam with its bulkhead and water gates and
the raceway have been in constant use since its
construction in the last quarter of the 19th century,
or over 100 years. However, the water in the race-
way has been closed off since 1973 due to the closing
of the hydroelectric plant. Since then, a section of
the west wall of the raceway has been deteriorated
and washed out and is not usable until it can be
replaced.
The inspiration of Mr. Clapp as an early settler in
1840 for the creation of the man-made Wappingers
Lake has served the Village ofWappingers Falls and
vicinity for the past 137 years as a source of water
power, recreation and commercial purposes.
During the later part of the 19th century a two-
story wood frame building was constructed on the
east side of the lake between the termination of Mill
Street and Spring Street on the first floor of which
was located a creamery operation. The second floor
was occupied as an apartment. Adjacent to the
creamery building was a large ice house in which
were stored cakes of ice harvested from the
Wappingers Lake in winter, and used for cooling the
milk products in the summer. The creamery pro-
cessed the milk that was produced by the farmers in
the surrounding farms into butter, cream and other
milk products, for customer use. A large barn to
house the creamery truck and horses was located
just south of the creamery on Spring Street and was
destroyed by fire about 1905. The creamery was
closed and discontinued about 1910, and the ice
house was taken over by Mr. Achilles Napoleon for
ice service.
About 1915 the first floor of the creamery was
taken over by the Schuer Pearl Button Co. for the
36
manufacture of pearl buttons from large fish shells
imported from Mrica. After a few years of operation,
employing perhaps twenty employees, the factory
was closed.
From the early years to about 1920, the Lake
supplied large quantities ofice each winter for stor-
age in the several ice houses for use in the homes,
dairies and butcher shops during the summer
months. Large ice storage houses were located at
O'Farrell's Point in the cove and at the foot of Mill
Street. The two largest houses owned by John
O'Farrell were at the foot of Spring Street, where
each winter the ice cakes would be raised from the
lake to the sliding ramps for entry into the ice houses
by a steam driven tractor, hired each winter from a
local farmer. At the other ice houses, the ice cakes
were hoisted into them by an outside elevator oper-
ated by horsepower. The ice harvest each winter
provided work for many men who were temporarily
out of work from their regular jobs, due to the
weather.
When electric service became available in 1914,
the electric motor power replaced the steam tractor
arid horses for the .hoisting operation.
The O'Farrell ice houses and business were sold
about 1914 to Mr. George M. Currie, a new resident
of the Village who established delivery service of ice
throughout the Village. As the winter climate was
becoming warmer, it became harder to harvest the
natural lake ice. Mr. Currie was the first person to
install a manufactured ice plant on Spring Street in
the Village. This business was later sold to Mr.
Thomas Judson from Beacon, New York. Mr. Currie
then established, with a Mr. Bahret, a manufac-
tured ice and fuel oil business in Poughkeepsie
under the name ofthe Bacu Co. The annual harvest-
ing of ice on the lake became a thing of the past when
electric refrigeration was introduced in he 1920's for
commercial and household use.
During the existence of Wappingers Lake, it
afforded the inhabitants of the Village much plea-
sure before the popularity of the automobile. Row-
boats could be rented for twenty cents per hour at the
foot of Mill Streets for fisping, pleasure, or going to
the several swimming and diving spots along the
shores of the Lake, which extended about two miles
to the upper Little Falls. In winter when the Lake
froze over sufficiently thick, hundreds of young and
old people alike could be seen skating and playing
games on the lake ice. Many of the adults who
worked all day could be seen on dark and moonlit
nights skating the length of the lake.
Around 1908 Mr. Albert Brower, who operated a
large farm near the Village on the New Hamburg
Road and also a grocery store on Market Street,
established an outdoor recreation center just above
the upper Little Falls. Bath houses were available
for bathing in Little Falls and refreshment stands
and tables for refreshments were provided. Base-
ball and other sportswere provided for the men. A
large motor boat to carry passengers between the
dock at Lower Mill Street and the Little Falls Park
was operated on weekends and holidays at a charge.
The Wappingers Lake was under the ownership
of the Gamer Print Works for about 60 years until
1908, when it was sold to the Deering-Milliken Co.
under the name of the Gamer Print Works and
Bleachery. When this company ceased operations in
1955, the lake and water rights were purchased by
the B.N. & A Realty Co., which continued the use of
the water power until 1974.
During the early 1960's, the Wappingers Lake
was offered for sale to the Village of Wappingers
Falls by the B.N. & A Realty Co. The people ofthe
Village and the Village Board of Trustees became
very interested in the purchase of the Lake for
recreational purposes and also because it was as-
sumed that the Village water supply wells were
dependent on the lake water. It was decided that the
voters ofthe Village should decide on the purchase.
After a vote of almost two to one, or 452 votes for the
purchase and 258 votes against the purchase, nego-
tiations were set in motion to purchase the Lake and
. water rights at a price of $100,000 from the B.N. &
A Realty Co., with the clause that the seller would
have the free use of the lake water for the generation
of electric power for a ten-year period from date of
purchase by the Village.
Negotiations were made with N ew York State for
state aid toward the purchase on account of recre-
ational purposes.
On March 1, 1967 the Lake was purchased by the
Village and the State of New York for the sum of
$100,000, with the Village paying $25,000 and the
state paying $75,000.
The water rights agreement has since expired.
The dam, lake, raceway and the nine-foot penstock
with overhead steel bridge are now owned and con-
trolled by the Village ofW appingers Falls. Mr. Peter
C. Furnari, who was Village Mayor during the nego-
tiations, had an active part in the purchase.
Since the Lake was purchased, nothing has been
done to improve the dam and lake. Over the many
years, the Lake has been gradually filling up with
silt and mud washed downstream during the high
water flooding each year. Vegetation growth, such
as eel-grass, covers most of the shallow water and
acts as an impediment to fishing and boating. It is
hoped that the Village will find the ways and financ-
ingto correct this condition and bring the Lake back
to its former state.
37
The new and present Wappingers Falls Post Offzce built in 1940 on the
corner of South Avenue and East Main Street.
THE WAPPINGERS FALLS
POST OFFICES
~ere was little or no postal service ~or the
citizens ofthe Village until 1824, when a Post Office
was set up and maintained by a Mr. Francher in
Middlebush, a small settlement just southeast of the
Village. This location was very inconvenient to the
Village people.
With the change of administration in Washing-
ton, D.C., a new Post Master would be appointed and
the location of the Post Office changed from one
location to another. During the early days, the name
of the local Post Office was the Wappingers Creek
Post Office.
During President Zachary Taylor's administra-
tion, the Senate gave official approval to change the
name to the Wappingers Falls Post Office. This
change was made in 1847 when Mr. Clayton E.
Sweet was the first Post Master for seven years. The
first Post Office was located in the Dawson General
and Grocery Store located on the west side of Market
Street opposite Franklin Street.
During the year 1867 Mr. John W. Dakin was
appointed the local Post Master. The Post Office was
located in his newspaper and tobacco store located
on lower West Main Street in what is now known as
the Menconeri Building.
Several years later near the turn of the 19th
century, a much larger Post Office was established
across West Main Street to the right side of the Roy
Drug Store building at the southwest corner of the
stone bridge. The Post Master was Mr. John Heald.
Again in 1910, under a new change ofadministra-
tion, a new Post Master was appointed by.the name
of Myatt E. Goring, who also had owned and oper-
ated Goring's Pharmacy in the Goring Building on
East Main Street. The Post Office was moved from
the Roy Building on West Main Street to a new
location to a store to the right of the Goring Phar-
macy, which had been occupied for many years by
the George H. Angel Womens Apparel Shop.
Under the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration,
Mr. Joseph P. Eagan was appointed the PostMaster.
Again, the Post Office was moved from the Goring
Building on East Main Street to the Morettoni Build-
ing on West Main Street. Mr. Eagan was a promi-
nent Democratic leader in the Village, and was a
partner in the general contracting firm of McCafferty
and Eagan.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt had a great
interest in the cities and villages of Dutchess County,
as he was born in his family's mansion in Hyde Park,
New York. As President of the United States he
decided to build new permanent post office buildings
of colonial stone construction in the Villages of
Rhinebeck, Hyde Park, Wappingers Falls, and the
38
I
I
~
cities of Beacon and Poughkeepsie.
In 1940 the present colonial stone post office
building was erected at the corner of East Main
Street and South Avenue, replacing the two-story
brick building erected by Dr. Thomas K Cruse
several years before on the land formerly owned by
the Mesier family. With its high pitched slate roof,
two large brick chimneys, small glass paned win-
dows and colonial front entrance, this building is an
outstanding example of colonial architecture and
adds a lot of prestige to the already colonial section
of the Village.
In the main lobby of the Post Office in the two
upper end gables, there are two large murals painted
by Mr. Henry Billings, the details of which were
copied from paintings made by Mr. Clinton W. Clapp.
One mural shows the Falls and gorge as they ap-
peared in the 1780's. The other mural depicts the
mill which was built near the Falls. Standing on a
large flat rock near the mill are Peter Mesier and the
Marquis of Chastellux, a French traveller who was
taken by the beauty of the Falls.
Mr. Joseph Eagan continued as the Post Master
ofthis new Post Office building. The Post Office was
transferred to here from its former location on the
west side of the bridge. There was no outside
delivery service and all mails and other transactions
had to be made in the Post Office lobby. However, for
many years previous, a rural free delivery service
was established throughout the United States for
the pick-up and delivery of mail to all rural areas
outside the cities and villages by appointed carriers
who furnished their own transportation.
In July 1954 the Wappingers Falls Post Office
was made a first class Post Office, and mail was
delivered for the first time each working day to
homes and businesses throughout the Village by
three letter carriers. The rural routes were covered
by three rural carriers in small special delivery cars.
Mr. Eagan was succeeded after the Roosevelt
administration by Mr. R. Malcom Hunter, who had
been an office manager for many years at the
Lockwood- Dutchess Bleachery complex until its clos-
ing. Mr. Hunter was succeeded by Mr. Edwin
Hinzmann who is Post Master at the present time.
Since the turn of the last century the Wappingers
Falls Post Office has grown from five employees to
around forty employees, due to increased use of the
mails and an increase in the population and building
construction of homes and apartment complexes
around the outside of the Village.
In 1976 the U.S. Postal Service leased a large
building formerly occupied by the Grand Way Co. in
the Imperial Plaza on the outskirts of the Village,
which was remodeled for a mail transfer station to
replace one formerly in the Poughkeepsie Township.
A great bulk of the business which was handled by
the local Wappingers Falls Post Office was trans-
ferred to this new office building. All the rural and
local carriers and most of the employees were also
transferred to the new control office. The once very
busy and attractive Post Office building in the cen-
tral part of the Village is now being operated by a few
employees as a local office for the Village residences
and businesses.
In the early days, the mail was delivered to the
villages and cities by horseback or horse-drawn
stage coaches. When the railroads began expanding
over the country, they took over the mail transpor-
tation service. The Village was about two miles from
the railroad station in New Hamburg so the bags of
mail had to be transported several times a day to and
from these two points. This transportation was
contracted out by the Postal Service to local stable
operators. Mr. Frank P. Doxey and a Mr. Jasinski,
who operated horse-drawn stages every day for
transporting passengers both ways between the
Village and New Hamburg to meet the passenger
trains and boats, rendered this service for many
years, through all kinds of weather. In later years,
the bulk mail bags were delivered by large mail
trucks operating between all the Post Offices.
PUBLIC UTILITIES
THE FIRST GAS MANUFACTURING
PLANT
dt the end of the nineteenth century, the
Village had few public utilities. There was no sewer
or pure water systems, and all toilet facilities were
provided by outdoor toilet houses located in the rear
yards. The kitchen sink water was disposed of in a
cess pool in the yard. Water for drinking and cooking
was carried in pails from the public water pumps
located on several' streets or from private wells
located in other residents' yards. The early settlers
in the 1800's had to carry their water from water
springs located on the large estates of Dr. Remsen,
Benjamin Clapp, Peter Mesier, Lower Market Street
and the Dutchess Print Works property.
One of the first utilities in the Village was a coal
gas manufacturing plant conducted by the Dutchess
Print Works around 1875 to manufacture illuminat-
ing gas for their factory buildings. The company also
extended the gas pipes underground to the center of
the Village and sold gas to me stores, churches,
Grinnell Library, lodge rooms and a few of the larger
homes owned by the company for its supervisory
39
employees.
The gas manufacturing plant was located on the
east bank of the lower Wappingers Creek at the end
of McKinley Street so that gas coal could be received
by barges from the mines, via waterways and the
lower creek. The manufactured gas was stored in
two large gas tanks mounted in a water moat for
main taining a constant gas pressure in the gas pipes
as was customary with gas manufacturing plants in
other cities at that time. This gas system was
continued until 1913, when the gas manufacturing
plant was discontinued due to obsoletion and lack of
use by the new owner, the Gamer Print Works and
Bleachery who had just completed building their
new hydroelectric plant.
The Village was without piped gas service for
lighting and heating from 1913 to 1929 in which
time Propane or LP gas in steel tanks was delivered
to customer homes for heating and cooking.
In 1929 the Central Hudson Gas & Electric Co.,
the utility supplying gas and electric service to the
surrounding areas, planned on installing a high
pressure gas main for natural gas service between
Poughkeepsie and Beacon with a tap off in
Wappingers Falls to supply the Village. This new
system proved most satisfactory for gas heating of
homes, factories and businesses and home cooking.
The first street lights that the Village had before
the 20th century were from a few short wooden poles
about eight feet high on top of which was a square
glass lantern containing a gas jet fed by gas from a
pipe to the central gas system. They had to be
lighted and extinguished each day by an attendant.
These gas lights were only located along East Main
Street, the intersection of Mill Street and Market
Street. Four gas fixtures were installed on the new
stone bridge on stone pedestals erected for that
purpose. A few stores, the hotels, Egans Opera
House, and the Sweet Orr Factory also used this gas
service.
THE FIRST VILLAGE
WATER SYSTEM
~out the time the Village was incorporated
in 1871, the Village officials decided that a water
system other than the Lake and cisterns was very
necessary for fire protection, as several large fires
had occurred with disastrous results. Plans were
made to install a six-inch cast iron water main
underground throughout the then populated streets
of the Village. About 20 fire hydrants were located
in the most important portions of the Village streets
where the fire engine pumps could obtain water and,
through long hoses, could reach the homes on the
outskirts.
These pipes and hydrants were connected to a
circular masonry reservoir constructed on the ground
level in the rear ofthe Zion Episcopal Church. This
circular reservoir was covered by a high pitched
wooden shingled roof. At that time, this reservoir's
location was considered as a high spot in the system
as most ofthe homes, businesses and factories were
located below, along the Creek.
Unfiltered water was supplied to this reservoir
and pipe system by the Gamer Dutchess Print
Works with a 1000 gallon per minute reciprocating
steam pump located on their property from the lower
Creek. They furnished the steam power and main-
tenance for operation of the pump. It was to the
advantage of the Gamer Co. to provide the water for
this new system as they owned and controlled much
factory property and many homes and stores along
Market and Mill Streets and the Creek.
About 1902 the Gamer Print Works built a new
steel water reservoir on the high elevation of ground
on the north and west bank of the Creek which was
known as Roys Hill. This new reservoir was of
greater water capacity and higher elevation than
the old reservoir at the rear of the Zion Episcopal
Church and would give greater water pressure for
fire protection. After the change over to the new
systems, the masonry reservoir was discontinued in
use and dismantled.
Water was obtained from this system by a horse-
drawn street sprinkler used to sprinkle water on the
dirt streets of the Village to settle the dust during
the dry and hot summer months. This street sprin-
kler had a wooden tank of about 1000 gallon capacity
mounted horizontally on four large wooden wheels
and pulled by a team of horses. The water was
sprinkled on the street by two sprinklers at the rear
and operated from the driver's seat on the top of the
tank. The tank was filled with water obtained from
the fire hydrants along the streets.
This Village water system continued in operation
until 1915 when a new and enlarged filtered water
system was installed.
In order to provide pure water for cooking and
drinking in the homes, the people obtained this
water from private wells or springs or from the
several public pumps located on several streets. A
large pure water spring in the rear of the Grinnell
Library furnished pure water to the Sweet Orr and
Co. factory and the three hotel buildings on the
north side of East Main Street. In the largest hotel
owned by Mr. George Rush, this water flowed by
gravity to a reservoir in the basement and then was
pumped into a water tank in the hotel attic by a
small hot air engine.
40
This spring also fed water by an underground
pipe to the junction of East Main Street and Mill
Street where a pentagon shaped, granite drinking
fountain for horses located. In these days, there
were many horse-drawn delivery wagons operating
from the local businesses and farmers with their
produce who appreciated the available cold water
for their horses.
This fountain, about five-feet in diameter, was
located in the middle of Mill Street and the north
side of East Main Street for many years. When East
Main Street was paved, the fountain was relocated
to the east side of Mill Street where it remained until
the automobile replaced the horse and it was re-
moved.
THE FffiST FILTERED
WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM
'During 1911 and the ten years that followed,
when new homes were being built throughout the
Vill.age and bathrooms were being installed in the
older homes, it became apparent that a new system
of filtered water should be installed together with a
sanitary sewer and disposal plant.
A taxpayers' vote approved the joint installations
and in 1914 the Village was bonded for over $300,000
and contracts were awarded for a new water and
sewer system. Plans were drawn up for the joint
system and engineering and inspection service pro-
vided by a firm from Newburgh, New York.
The water system was designed so that if a break
in a water main occurred, by closing certain valves
at an intersection, water could be by-passed around
the break and most homes would not be affected.
New cast iron water mains of sufficient capacity
were installed underground throughout the Village
streets with new hydrants at every street intersec-
tion and in-between on long streets. Some ofthe old
hydrants on the old system were replaced.
A new water supply was planned from several
artesian wells to be drilled on a piece of land pur-
chased from the Edwards estate and farm located at
the rear of DeLaVergne Avenue. An earthen dam
was to be built to form an open reservoir for the
storage of the water produced by the wells. The
location ofthis dam was selected because ofthe high
elevation above the Village streets to afford the
water pressure required.
A new water main was installed from the Village
to the new dam sight. Several tests revealed that the
wells could not produce the amount of water re-
quired, and this plan had to be abandoned. A new
source of water had to be found.
Again, the Garner Print Works and Bleachery
solved the water supply problem by offering to sell
filtered water to the Village, which was accepted. In
one of their old unused buildings adjacent to their
hydroelectric plant, they constructed a new water
filtration plant. A water tap was taken from nine-
foot penstock and raw unfiltered water from the
Wappingers Lake was chlorinated and processed
through sand filters as pure water. A new pure
water steel storage tank mounted on four steel leg
supports about 60 feet high on the Roys Hill property
was erected for water storage and pressure. It was
located close to the old system water reservoir erected
in 1902. Two 50-horsepower electric centrifugal
pumps at the filter plant pumped the pure water to
the new elevated water tower for distribution through
the Village.
The Village established a permanent water de-
partment headed by an appointed committee to
administer the duties and operations of this depart-
ment. For many years, Mr. Herbert Temple was the
active and daily superintendent ofthis department.
Water meters were installed in all buildings and
homes to measure the consumption of water. The
meters were read and billed every three months for
payment at the water department office which was
open five days a week in an office occupying the east
room in the Mesier Homestead.
This new water supply system gave very good
service for the next two decades when, during Mayor
James McCafferty's term of office, the Village thought
that a better tasting andcheaper water supply could
be had from artesian wells drilled near the
Wappingers Lake.
Mayor McCafferty and William Montfort, who
was chairman of the water department, arranged to
have several test wells drilled near the lake on both
sides of the Village to determine if enough pure
water could be obtained from this new source. After
several months testing, it became apparent that the
best location for the wells was on the west side of the
cove of the lake, at the rear of Thornton's Service
Station. Several acres ofland and a right-of-way to
West Main Street were acquired from the John
Jones estate. Contracts for two new wells with
submersible pumps and motors and controls were
made. A one-story brick pump house was erected
between the two wells for the electrical equipment
and con troIs. Each well pump was driven by a direct
connected 20 horsepower electric submersible motor
automatically controlled, twenty-four hours each
day, unattended except for inspection each day.
After a few years' operation, the above original
submersible pumps and motors were replaced by
new submersible pumps but having the motors lo-
cated on top ofthe wells and the two connected by a
41
~;;;;;;;....;..;;..;;-,;...,.;."'-..:.;.-------_..._.,---, -"
long-drive shaft which is still in use in 1978.
Within a few years, due to increased water con-
sumption, a similar well with pump was installed
about 200 feet west of the pump house and again
after a few more years, another well and pump was
installed about 200feetnortheast of the pump house.
This addition made a total offour pumps all inter-
connected or run separately.
The reserve storage water capacity had to. be
increased at the same time from the original el-
evated water tank on Roys Hill by the addition and
construction of a new on-the-ground steel tank and
acquisition of the old Dutchess Print Works steel
tank adjacent to the elevated tank. Also, within a
few years, land was given by the Mt. Alvernaia
Society located on upper DeLa Vergne Avenue where
two more steel on-the-ground water storage tanks
were erected. This made a total offive storage water
reservoirs, all located on the west side of the stone
bridge where the water main crossed the Creek to
supply the more populated east side. If a break
occurred in this main, no water would be available
for fire protection or customer use on the east side of
the Village.
Due to this possibility and the fact that the water
pressure was low along Route 9 and upper East
Main Street, due to the increased building of busi-
nesses, the water board erected a huge on-the-
ground water storage tank about fifty feet in diam-
eter and about sixty feet high on a plot ofland :,just
west of Route 9. Water is pumped automatically
from the existing water main into this tank which
stores several million gallons of water and increases
the water pressure on that section. An additional
12-inch water main was also installed across the
stone bridge to relieve the old water mains.
Around 1963, the water department constructed
a water-softening treatment plant near the pump
house building for softening the water, which was
considered "hard" for washing purposes.
This new well water system had proved very
satisfactory both in the quality and quantity of
water produced since its construction in the 1940's
to the present time or about 38 years. As these four
wells are located in sand and gravel soil close to the
cove section of the Wappingers Lake, it is believed
that the wells are supplied with a constant supply of
lake water filtering through the sand and producing
the cold pure water for use throughout the Village.
The Swenson housing development which was
constructed in the 1940' sjust north of the Wappingers
Cemetery was supplied with water from the
Wappingers Falls system until about the 1970's,
when the Town of Poughkeepsie constructed their
new water system throughout the Town and began
supplying these homes in this development.
THE FIRST MODERN
SEWER SYSTEM
cA't the same time the contract was approved
for the new filtered water system, a contract was
also approved for the installation of a modern sani-
tary sewer system throughout theVillage and in-
cluding a sewage disposal plant.
Vitrified tile sewer pipes were installed under-
ground throughout the entire Village with the ex-
ception of Givens Avenue, McKinley Street and
lower Market Street, l?orderingthe lower Wappingers
Creek. These few short streets were below the main
sewer trunk lines and could not empty by gravity
into them. However, at the present time, sewer lines
have been installed in these streets due to the
development of sewage pumping plants which are
installed underground on the street and are auto-
matically electric operated. This same condition
applies to several new streets along North Mesier
Avenue, which were added to the Village in the last
two decades.
At each bend in the road or street intersection,
large brick manholes with cast iron street covers
were installed to give access to any clogged sewer
lines.
As Brown and Roy Avenues were below gravity
flow to West Main Street, a flexible joint, six-inch
cast iron sewer pipe was installed across the bottom
of the Wappingers Lake at the foot of Brown Avenue
to lower Mill Street to accommodate the flow of
sewage by gravity to the Mill Street main sewage
line.
The new sewage disposal plant was built on the
lower or western end of Franklindale Avenue near
Hunters Creek and did not require constant atten-
tion.
In the late 1950's, the sewer plant was updated by
the construction of a brick building to house test and
treatment equipment. Large sludge beds and other
surge facilities were also added.
This sewage system has served the Village well
over the 63 years of operation, especially since sev-
eral apartment complexes have been added in the
last two decades.
THE FIRST MUNICIPAL
ELECTRIC LIGHTING PLANT
Just before the turn of the 19th century, elec-
triCIty for lighting had just been perfected by Tho-
mas A Edison, the inventor of the electric incandes-
cent lamp, the dynamo and electric wiring systems.
42
Mr. Edison and other scientists who had organized
the General Electric and the Westinghouse Compa-
nies were beginning to manufacture electrical equip-
ment for lighting the Village and cities by electricity
instead of illuminating coal gas.
In 1900 the Village Board of Trustees thought
that the Village should have a new electrical system
for improved street lighting and lighting of the
businesses and homes. The Village Board consisted
of several businessmen of the Village, namely Jo-
seph Jones, Duncan Moore, Edward Odell, George
Harris and George Rush. Mr. Arthur S. Peacock, a
Market Street druggist, was President of the Board.
Several attempts were made in 1900 to bond the
Village for the sum of $15,000 to construct a new
electric generating plant on the Creek Road and
install the required electric lines to the Village for
distribution of electric service and a new street
lighting system. At last the bond issue was approved
by the taxpayers' vote, and plans were made to
proceed with the project. A bid for $14,478 from the
William Sheehan Co. ofN ew York City was accepted
and the job commenced for a steam-operated electric
power generating plant and the required accesso-
ries.
A piece of land was acquired on the Creek Road
adjacent to the Creek and about one mile from the
Village on which the power plant was constructed. It
was necessary to build on the Creek in order to get
a supply of water to generate and evaporate steam
and to receive soft coal by barge from the mines as
fuel.
Mr. William A O'Rourke, a local building con-
tractor, was awarded the contract to construct a one-
story brick building for the power plant and a large
coal shed nearby for the storage of a fuel supply. In
this building, the Sheehan Co. installed a 75 K.V.A,
2200 volt, two-phase, AC. generator direct con-
nected to a reciprocating steam engine receiving its
steam from a hand-fired coal boiler.
This company also installed the pole line and
wires from the Power Plant to and around the
Village for electrical distribution. To light the Vil-
lage at night, a total of 52 automatic carbon arc
lights were installed principally at the street inter-
sections. Each week the carbon sticks would have to
be replaced in these arc lamps. It was a great
improvement for the Village residents to have the
streets lighted at night. However, in order to save
energy, the street lamps were not lighted on moonlit
nights. This initial power plant, of small capacity
compared to present day standards, was not oper-
ated during daylight hours as it was feIt unneces-
sary. Electric irons, motors and appliances were
unknown in this period. The plant was operated
each night by one man or engineer who was required
to walk to and from the plant each day in all kinds of
weather. The names of the men who operated the
plant were David Moore, Edward J. Mullen, John
Laffin and Charles Aurswald. Mr. Edwin P. Howarth
who was the first telegraph operator in the Village
and the son of the librarian ofthe Grinnell Library,
was the Clerk in Charge of reading the electric
meters, rendering the bills for service, and collecting
the accounts for the Village during the plant's opera-
tion. The Village of Wappingers Falls had the
reputation of being the only Village in the Middle
Atlantic States where a municipal direct-connected
electric power plant was available for street light-
ing.
The electric plant was first put in service on the
night of November 28, 1900, and as per a news item
in the Wappingers Chronicle of that date, a gala
celebration was had by all to commemorate the
historic event.
A large elevated bandstand was erected on what
is now known as the Zion Park grounds for the band,
music and speakers platform. Professor Samuel
Mansfield of the Union Free School was chairman
and Mr. Arthur S. Peacock was vice-chairman ofthe
celebration. The invocation was given by the Rev.
David Phillips and speeches were made by District
Attorney George Wood, the Rev. George H. Wallace,
James Marlor, the editor ofthe Chronicle, and the
Rev. Prescot Evarts of Zion Episcopal Church.
Mrs. Arthur Peacock, the wife of the Village
President, pressed an electric button on the band-
stand which activated the new street lighting sys-
tem for the first time in history by electricity. Mrs.
Peacock was accompanied by Mrs. John Bogle, wife
of the Manager of the Dutchess Print Works.
This small electric power plant continued opera-
tions until about 1907 when it became evident that
the plant should be enlarged due to the increased
load being added each year and for stand-by service
in case of emergency and repairs.
The Village Board of Trustees with Mr. John W.
Mullen as President voted to purchase and install a
larger generator with the necessary boiler and equip-
ment in available quarters in the existing building
from the Stehling-Miller Co. ofN ew York City. This
new genera tor was on ly 25% larger than the original
one. The plant continued to operate on nightly
service only.
A few years later in 1910, the new hydroelectric
power plant was completed and put in operation by
the Garner Print Works and Bleachery on a twenty-
four hour basis for their own use in the just com-
pleted Bleachery. This new company offered to
purchase and take over the small municipal power
plant of the Village and give twenty-four hours
electric service to the Village residents. This offer
43
;..~-;,:..."-~._.,.~-,-
was accepted by the Village trustees in 1910, reliev-
ing them of the responsibilities of operations.
After the change-over to the new company, opera-
tions at the old municipal plant on Creek Road
ceased. Some of the machinery and equipment was
transferred to the new company operations for emer-
gency service and the old building on the Creek Road
was removed.
completed in the Bleachery complex. It also pro-
vided service for the existing arc lamp street lighting
service. This new department was named the Elec-
trical Department of the Garner Print Works and
Bleachery.
In order to develop this new department, they
expanded and improved their electric lines through-
out the village streets and on country roads outside
the Village limits. This transfer was under the
supervision of Mr. Lester McKenna, an electrical
engineer formerly from the New England states. A
short time later, he left. the company for a new
position elsewhere and was replaced by another
electrical engineer named Mr. Orville M. Whitehouse,
who became very popular and accommodating with
the Village people.
In order to promote additional sales and business
and use the excess electric energy, an electrical
construction and contracting department was set up
so customers could improve old existing electric
THE ELECTRIC UTILITY
1910 TO 1960
men the Gamer Print Works and Bleachery
purchased the small and original electric power
plant located on the Creek Road from the Village of
Wappingers Falls in 1910, it began to provide twenty-
four hour electric service to all the old customers in
the Village, from its new hydroelectric plant just
Employees of the new Garner Print Works & Bleachery Electrical Department and new Hydroelectric Power
Plant in 1914. Front row: William Tenney, electrician; David Moore, Giles Browning and Francis Bain, the
station operators; Arthur Handley and Edgar A. Popper, electricians. Standing left to right: William Tinney,
chief lineman; Orville M. Whitehouse, electrical engineer and supervisor and Calvin Niver, night watchman.
Sitting, left to right: Charles Dahlhouse, estimator, Joseph Morrow, William Bahret, Patrick J. Burnett,
Charles Shook, Lee Hoyt and Charles J. Leach, electricians.
44
systems in stores and homes and install complete
new lighting systems in the many unwired homes
throughout the Village.
At this time, the Zion Episcopal Church, the First
Baptist Church, First Presbyterian Church, Odd
Fellows Hall and the Grinnell Library were wired
for the new twenty-four hour electric service and
conversion from gas service. The Sweet Orr & Co.
factory converted to the new service for lighting and
power. Previously, they generated their own elec-
tricity by a dynamo belted to the steain engine drive
during work hours for lighting only. Many of the
Dutchess Bleachery-owned houses were wired for
electric service replacing the kerosene oil lamps.
Most all of the privately owned homes on both the
east and west side of the Village were wired for
electric service during 1912 to 1916.
However, this Electric Division was limited to
supplying electric service in the Town ofWappingers
only, under the New York State franchise. They
could not enter another township without a special
permission from the electric company servicing that
area. They were able to serve the west side of the
bridge area as this was in the Village ofWappingers
Falls but in the Town of Poughkeepsie.
This new company replaced all the carbon arc
street lamps which became troublesome with the
new tungsten filament lamps and with the addition
of several others of higher candle power to better
light the streets.
In 1913 the residents of the hamlet ofHughsonville
just south of the Village on Route 9-D desired electric
service for their homes and street lighting and ap-
proval was granted by the Town of Wappingers
Board of Trustees. The Electric Division of the
Garner Print Works & Bleachery installed an elec-
tric pole line from the Village ofWappingers Falls
down through Hughsonville to the Conover farm
curve. A tap line was constructed west on the New
Hamburg Road to the New Hamburg drawbridge.
Another tap and pole line was constructed down the
Wheeler Hill Road to the large Reeves or Unermeyer
estate, now the Good Council Novitiate. Street
lights were installed at intervals along the entire
pole line and for the first time, Hughsonville had
street lighting and electric lighting and power ser-
vice for their homes,church and several shops. It
afforded the homes to have electric water pumps
that they might have running water from their wells
for bathrooms. These lines also provided electric
service to several large, well-to-do estates along
Wheeler Hill Road and the large W.W. Reese estate,
the houses in Stuartville and the Stuart Foundry.
The following year, the people in the hamlet of
Chelsea in the Town of Wappingers, a few miles
south of Hughsonville, desired electric and street
lighting service. The electric pole line was extended
from Hughsonville to Chelsea and rendered electric
service to all the homes, the general store and Post
Office, the railroad station and the Chelsea Yacht
Club buildings. Street lighting was installed
throughout the Village and controlled by a time
clock.
After World War I, the U.S. Government con-
structed the U.S. Veterans Castle Point Hospital on
several acres oflandjust south and east of Chelsea,
which required electric service. The Electrical Divi-
sion of the Garner Print Works and Bleachery in-
stalled an electric pole line from Chelsea to the new
hospital complex for construction work and later the
new buildings. Three-phase electric service was
provided by the addition of extra and larger wires
installed from the Wappingers Falls hydroelectric
plant.
In 1920 the new owners ofthe Emmadine Farms
property, homeowners, and the Central New En-
gland Railroad Company all desired electric service
for their operations in Hopewell Junction, New York.
Hopewell Junction was about ten miles to the east of
the Village and was located in the Town of Fishkill.
A new franchise to operate in this town was re-
quired. It was also required that the power company
operating up to this time under the Electrical Divi-
sian of the Garner Print Works and Bleachery be
changed. The Company adopted the new name of
the Wappingers Electric Corporation. The line crew
which had been operating from a horse-drawn truck
and also a converted auto truck changed their opera-
tions to a heavy duty White auto truck, all equipped
for power line service. The linemen and line truck
were operated under the supervision of Mr. Fred
Seitz, an experienced line supervisor and native of
Poughkeepsie. Mr. Seitz supervised the construc-
tion of all the following line work.
Negotiations were completed and in the late
winter of 1921, a new three-phase, 3800 volt power
line was installed from the power plant south on
Route 9 to the Hopewell Junction Road, and from
there east to the railroad round house, where con-
nections were made to the railroads's old power
station for their private distribution. Branch power
lines were installed on the Hopewell Junction streets
and to Old Hopewell terminating at the Dutch Re-
formed Church. A line was also installed south on
Route 376 to the Emmadine Farms property and to
the small hamlet of Gayhead.
A short time later, the power lines were extended
east on Route 52 to Stormville and north on Route
376 to Fishkill Plains to Stringhams Mill, with taps
ofron the branch roads enroute. As these power lines
were being installed, the contracting division of the
company was busy making the wiring installations
45
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of the homes, farms and businesses.
This expansion of electric service in the sur-
rounding hamlets and towns gives some idea ofthe
pioneer work done in giving electric service by this
small electric utility to the people for the first time.
During these same years, the Central Hudson
Gas & Electric Co. with main offices in the City of
Poughkeepsie, N ew York, was expanding its opera-
tions on the west and east sides of the Hudson River
by acquiring the small villages power plants and
was almost encircling the small Wappingers Falls
Company. They had acquired the Southern Dutchess
Gas & Electric Company in Beacon and the Cold
Spring Electric Company about 1920 which was only
a few miles south from the Wappingers Falls opera-
tion. The Southern Dutchess Gas and Electric Co.
supplied electric service to the City of Beacon and
the Villages of Glenhamand Fishkill. They also
operated the electric trolley car service between
Beacon and Fishkill for many years which was
discontinued at about the time of the transfer.
In the early 1920's, the Central Hudson Gas and
Electric Co. installed a high-voltage power line for
their system to the Dutchess Bleachery hydroelec-
tric power plant, where a transformer sub-station
was located for the transfer of electric power. With
this sub-station, the Dutchess Bleachery could sell
their excess electric power generated by water power
to the large utility. In the summer period, or when
water power was short, the Central Hudson Com-
pany could sell and furnish electric power to the
Bleachery Company. This arrangement continued
for several years until the Dutchess Bleachery com-
plex and power plant was sold in 1955 to the B.N. &
A Realty Co.
The B.N. & A Realty Co. continued to sell all the
electric power generated by water power to the
Central Hudson Co. until a malfunction on the
power line occurred and the contract was discontin-
ued between the two companies. The hydroelectric
power plant was closed down and never reactivated.
The two generators and switchboard were later
dismantled and sold for junk.
After supplying electric service from the hydro-
electric plant to the Village ofWappingers Falls and
the smaller communities enumerated in the above
paragraphs, from 1910-1925 or a period of 15 years,
the Wappingers Electric Corp. was purchased by the
Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. This purchase
did not include the hydroelectric power plant, which
was retained by the Lockwood-Dutchess Bleachery
Company to supply electric power for their opera-
tions. Nor did it include the electrical contracting
business which was discontinued and later taken
over by Edgar A Popper, a former employee who
later established the Popper Electric Co., with shop
and office on East Main Street, and absorbed several
of the former employees. The new operating-utility
company acquired all the electric pole lines and
street lighting system and customer electric meters
together with the line repair truck and several of the
linemen. Mr. Orville M. Whitehouse, who was man-
ager of the Wappingers Electric Corp. over the years,
was transferred to a new position with the new
operating utility.
In the late 1920's, the Central Hudson Gas &
Electric Co. established branch business offices in
the small villages where they were supplying electric
services. In the Village of Wappingers Falls, they
purchased a piece of land on the north side of East
Main Street which had been occupied earlier by the
old Clintondale Co. near the northeast corner ofthe
stone bridge. This land was recently occupied by a
long wooden one-story building erected by George M.
Currie in the 1920's for a garage and car sales agency.
On the southeast corner of the property, a Mr. "Bob"
Gardiner from Beacon, New York, set up an old-
fashioned diner on wheels which became a very
popular eating place for the young people at night
and the working people for lunch. This diner was
moved to a new location across East Main Street to
Market Street just south and adjacent to the old
Franklindale Cotton Factory office building land-
mark. The diner remained here for several years as
a popular eating place until about 1935 when the
land was purchased by Mr. Herbert Linge who erected
the present two-story brick office building which was
occupied on the first floor by Tibbs newspaper and
magazine store.
The Utility Company removed the front or street
end of the garage building where they erected-a
Colonial-style, two-story brick building. The old rear
wooden building was occupied as a garage for their
local line repair trucks. The first floor east side of the
new building contained their new local offices and the
west side was occupied by the contracting and appli-
ance business of the Popper Electric Co. The entire
second floor was occupied by the N ew York Tele-
phone Co. for their new telephone exchange central
office. This new building had a four-sided sloping
roof with a cupola with a weather-vane on the center
top. The roof and weather vane was floodlighted at
night. The new utility office was managed by Mr.
George Verry.
In 1952 the Popper Electric Co. moved their busi-
ness to a building on the west side adjacent to the
bridge which was purchased and completely remod-
eled. This business was discontinued on March 1973
after doing business in the Village for a period of 47
years. The telephone exchange office was moved
from the second floor to their new building just
completed on South Avenue.
46
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New office building on East Main Street built by
Central Hudson Gas and Electric Co. in the 1930's.
Later, in the 1960's, it was acquired by the Knights
of Columbus Lodge for their future headquarters.
In the 1960's the Central Hudson Gas & Electric
Co. discontinued their local business office and com-
bined it with their Beacon office. The land and brick
building was sold to theKnights of Columbus Lodge
as their headquarters. They replaced the rear wooden
building with a new concrete block building com-
plete with heating and air conditioning for an as-
sembly hall.
THE FIRST TELEGRAPH OFFICE
~e first and only Western Union Telegraph
Office in the Village was located in the southeast
corner of the second floor of the main library room of
Grinnell Library. The office was a small partitioned
space located behind the main entrance door and
contained the telegraph instruments and space for
the operator. The first and only telegrapher was
Edwin P. Howarth, who lived in the library apart-
ment with his mother, Mrs. E.A Howarth, who was
the librarian.
A pair of steel conductor wires were installed on
wooden poles from the library down East Main
Street to Market Street and continued down the
New Hamburg Creek Road to connect to the West-
ern Union wires along the Hudson River railroad
tracks. The telegraph office was installed in the last
quarter of the 19th century before the advent of the
telephone and continued operation until about 1910,
when the system was removed.
This small telegraph office was the only direct
means of communication to the outside world at that
time. When a telegraph message was received at the
office, it was recorded on the Western Union station-
ary and delivered by Mr. Edwin Howarth on his
bicycle to the recipient.
THE VILLAGE
TELEPHONE SERVICE
'I:.e first telephone service in the Village was
established by the N ew York Telephone Company in
the early 1890's with about 50 subscribers. The first
telephone exchange office was set up in the right
front display window of Roys Drug Store located at
the southwest corner of the stone bridge.
As the first system had only a few telephone
users, this exchange was attended by the propri-
etors who were the three Roy brothers. As a result,
the exchange was operated rather erratically, espe-
cially when the store had many customers and the
exchange was ringing for service.
The customer phones were of the wall-type, and
the central exchange was signaled by turning a
crank operating a magneto, which in turn rang the
bell signal. The mouthpiece was mounted on the
front of the telephone and the receiver on a flexible
cord mounted on an up-and-down hook when not in
use. Several customers were connected in the same
line, especially in the rural sections.
About 1908, the telephone exchange was moved
to a small second floor, front room of the Thomas J.
Cashin funeral headquarters on the south side of
East Main Street. This exchange was operated on a
round-the-clock basis by three female telephone
operators, with their supervisor, Miss Grace Cashin,
in charge.
In the early 1900's a second telephone company
named the Dutchess Telephone Company with
headquarters in Poughkeepsie, established telephone
service in the Village in competition with the origi-
nal company. Their telephone exchange was a small
exchange board located on the second floor of the
large Smith building on Market Street. This addi-
tional phone service created additional trouble and
expense, as the stores and offices had to have two
sets oftelephone service. A few years later, this new
company ceased service and was absorbed by the
New York Telephone Company.
In the early 1920's the telephone exchange was
transferred from the Cashin location to the second
floor rooms of the home of Mr. 1. Hasbrouk on South
Avenue.
In the early 1930's, when the Central Hudson
Gas & Electric Co. erected their new office building
on East Main Street, the New York Telephone Com-
pany leased the second floor for a new telephone
exchange. New exchange equipment was installed,
47
operated by several girl operators on a twenty-four
hour basis under the supervision of Mrs. Helen
Jones.
In the early 1950's the New York Telephone Co.
removed the old exchange equipment and replaced it
with the new automatic direct dial system, which
was a great improvement.
About 1965 the New York Telephone Co. erected
a brick one-story building on South Avenue, oppo-
site Andrews Place, for the new location of a com-
pletely automated telephone exchange which would
replace the older one located on the second floor of
the Central Hudson building on East Main Street.
As the population and new construction increased
rapidly in and around the Village, the telephone
company had to further increase their facilities. In
1977 they started construction of a new brick two-
story building over and around the original brick
building containing the dial system equipment which
was kept in constant service during the construc-
tion.
New telephone cables were installed in new un-
derground conduits under the sidewalks of the Vil-
lage from Route 9, down Route 9-D, and West and
East Main Streets to the new telephone building.
THE VILLAGE NEWSPAPERS
~e Village of Wappingers Falls and vicinity
has had the pleasure of reviewing its own newspaper
since 1867 except for a break in late 1941 to 1953.
About 1867 C.G. and S. Coutant published the first
newspaper under the name of the Wappingers Falls
Daily Times. The printing ofthis paper was done in
Matteawan Village, now part of Beacon, N ew York.
This paper had a short life as it was published for
only five months.
The next paper to be published was the
Wappingers Chronicle on October 26, 1869, by its
owner and publisher, George W. Winchell and Daniel
Dougherty. In 1872 Mr. Dougherty became the sole
proprietor and publisher until September 25, 1880.
The Wappingers Chronicle was a weekly paper pub-
lished every Saturday at the subscription price of
two dollars a year. The presses were operated by a
steam engine with boiler and was advertised as
steam printing. The Chronicle printing plant was
located in a brick building on the east side of Mill
Street next to the Sweet Orr & Co. building.
During the next seven years, several weekly
papers were published by different owners from
December 1874, all of short duration. The first, a
Democratic Weekly, The Bulletin, published by
George Winchell and S. Roe, Jr. was printed for
about a year. Another Democratic Weekly called the
Wappingers Era was owned and published by George
Winchell between 1876 and 1878. This paper was
discontinued in the summer of 1878 but was reacti-
vated 15 months later by Mr. Winchell and a
partner, Mr. S.H. Homan. The paper was again
discontinued in 1881.
The "Wappingers Chronicle" had a long life under
several different owners and publishers from Octo-
ber 26, 1869 to 1941, when it ceased operation after
72 years. In 1875 the paper was changed to a semi-
weekly paper under the name of the "Semi-Weekly
Chronicle".
In September 1880 the "Wappingers Chronicle"
was purchased by Mr. A.E. Benedict who changed
the name to the "Weekly Chronicle" and it was
considered a Republican paper.
In 1890 the Chronicle was taken over by Frank
Bacon and James Marlor as owners and publishers.
It was again sold in 1900 to James Brower and
Vincent O'Farrell. The printing plant was located
in the new Grinnell Library building. The first floor,
west front room, was occupied by the business office
and the rear room by the composing room. The
entire basement was occupied by the presses and
typesetting. The presses were driven through a
series of shafts, pulleys and belts by a large gas
engine using the illuminating gas as the fuel. This
firm also did job printing such as envelopes, in-
voices, and hand bills. The Wappingers Chronicle
was printed every Friday on a long, automatic press.
It was delivered by news boys at four cents per copy.
In 1910 the Wappingers Chronicle and printing
plant was purchased by A.C. Crandall who, with his
family, had moved from Long Island to a home on
South Avenue and East Academy Street. Twenty-
four hour electric service was then available, and
Mr. Crandall replaced the noisy gas engine with an
electric motor drive and replaced the gas jet lights
with electric lighting.
In the early 1930's Mr. Crandall sold the
"Wappingers Chronicle" and printing plant to Mr.
Louis Minard who changed the name ofthe paper to
the "Wappingers Herald". He also reduced the size
of the paper to tabloid size. Mr. Minard also in-
stalled a new Line-a-Type typesettingmachine which
replaced much of the hand set type. The office and
composing rooms which had occupied the first floor,
west end of the library for about 40 years were
moved to the basement location. The old office
location was taken over by the Beasley Agency for
the sale of Real Estate and Insurance.
In 1937 the printing plant was sold to William
Sedore who published the paper until 1940. It was
purchased then by a Mr. Webb who discontinued
operations the following year and ended the era of
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the "Wappingers Chronicle". These last publishers
of the ''Wappingers Chronicle" found the competi-
tion too great from the two daily newspapers deliv-
ered to me Village from Poughkeepsie and, as a
result, discontinued the local weekly paper.
After a few years, the printing plant was pur-
chased by Mr. Kenneth Campbell who did not pub-
lish any weekly newspaper but continued the job
printing or commercial work. This printing plant
continued for several decades until about 1967,
when it was discontinued due to Mr. Campbell's
death. The rented space was taken over by the
Library .
Throughout the publishing of the "Wappingers
Chronicle", during and after the turn of the 19th
century, Mr. Clinton W. Clapp, the son of Benjamin
Clapp, who was one of the first progressive early
settlers of the Village, wrote articles and history,
from old records and from memory, on the early
Village each week in the Chronicle. Much of this
historical information is recorded in an old scrap-
book containing the newspaper clippings of that
time written by Mr. Clinton Clapp. (Much of this
history has been taken from these clippings and
incorPorated in the writing of this history by its
compiler, Edgar A. Popper.)
With the discontinuance of the "Wappingers
Chronicle" and its successors in 1941, the Village
offices, stores and businesses had no means of daily
advertising. The matter was taken up by the local
Chamber of Commerce in 1953 when it was decided
that the local Chamber publish a bi-monthly tabloid
paper to be named the "Wappingers Falls Shopper".
Mr. Herman Osten, an active Chamber member,
assumed the task of editing and publishing the
paper which was to be mailed to the Village resi-
dents on a no-charge basis.
In the following year of 1954, Mr. and Mrs.
Herman Osten purchased the rights of publication
of the Wappingers Falls Shopper from the local
Chamber of Commerce and established an office on
East Main Street in the Wixson building to publish
and distribute the Wappingers Falls Shopper in
tabloid form by mail throughout the surrounding
vicinity. This paper, with a circulation of about
5,000 copies bi-monthly, was supported entirely by
the advertisers and delivered at no charge to all
businesses and homes in the vicinity.
In 1956 the paper was increased in size from a
tabloid to a regular size newspaper with additional
pages. The name was changed from the "Wappingers
Falls Shopper" to the "Wappingers and Southern
Dutchess News" and was distributed weekly on a no-
charge basis by carriers and by mail.
The business expanded rapidly and the office was
moved to larger quarters across the street where the
former Dr. F.S. O'Brien building on East Main
Street was purchased and remodeled. A new auto-
matic news printing press was installed in a build-
ing on the southwest corner of Market and Fulton
Street for the local printing ofthe paper, which had
formerly been printed out of town.
The business, still operating under the name of
"The Wappingers Falls Shopper, Inc." by Mr. and
Mrs. Osten, also began the publishing of two addi-
tional weekly papers under the names of the "Bea-
con Free Press" and the "Spackenkill Sentinel".
These two papers, in addition to the "Wappingers
and Southern Dutchess News, are now distributed
weekly, free of charge, to all homes and businesses
in the towns ofFishkill, East Fishkill, Poughkeepsie
and Wappingers Falls, except for the City of
Poughkeepsie.
Due to the fast growth of the business, the
"Wappingers Shopper, Inc." combined their edito-
rial and business offices in the O'Brien building on
East Main Street and their printing plan t on Fulton
Street into one location. In 1971 they purchased
about four acres ofland from the Wixson property on
the north side of upper East Main Street, on which
was constructed a modern, one-story printing plant
in which all operations ofthe business were located.
At this time, they gave employment to about 30
people. The operation ofthis newspaper plant over
a period of 23 consecutive years has been a great
asset to the Village and a great tribute to the owners
and publishers.
In 1974 a small tabloid newspaper named the
"Hornet" was published monthly by Mr. Charles
McCloskey, who resided on South Avenue in the
Village. The paper was printed by the Page Print Co.
whose shop was located in one of the former Gamer
Print Works buildings on lower Market Street. The
paper consisted of several pages of news items and
editorials wri tten by the publisher and several pages
of advertisements. The paper was distributed free of
charge and could be picked up at several of the
advertiser's stores. The paper was later published
as a bi-monthly and at the present time is published
weekly under the new name of the "Hudson Valley
Hornet".
The Village has also been served by several daily
and Sunday newspapers published in the City of
Poughkeepsie since the turn ofthe century on which
there has been a charge for delivery to the customer.
The daily papers would include the "Poughkeepsie
Enterprise" and the "Poughkeepsie Evening Star",
which was later changed to the "Poughkeepsie Jour-
nal". The "Sunday Courier" was' a very popular
paper for the rural areas and the Village since before
the 1900's and was taken over and published by the
"Poughkeepsie Journal" under their name during
49
the last decade.
The "Beacon News" published in Beacon, New
York, served the Village with a daily paper during
the last several decades and in recent years has
added a Sunday edition.
THE MESlER PARK
AND HOMESTEAD
Under ownership and control of the Village
Board ofthe Village ofWappingers Falls for the past
87 years, the Mesier Park and the Homestead have
been a great asset to the Village. Located at about
the center ofthe Village and at the intersection ofthe
Albany Post Road or Route 9 and the Old Stony-Kill
Road or now Route 9D, the Park is visible to tran-
sients and visitors passing through the Village as
well as the local residents going to churches, busi-
ness and those residing nearby.
Directly south, across East Main Street, are lo-
cated some ofthe Village's other notable structures
such as the First Methodist Church, the new colo-
nial-design U.S. Post Office, Lafayette Lodge Odd
Fellows building, Zion Episcopal Church and the
beautiful Zion Park. On the west the park is bounded
by Spring Street with the chalet-type Grinnell Li-
brary building. The north side is bounded by Park
Street which includes several attractive homes.
Mesier Avenue, with several attractive homes,
bounds the Park on its east side.
The main entrance to the Park, which contains
about five acres ofland, and the Homestead, is by a
road leading from the southwest corner of the Park
at the junction of East Main and Spring Streets to
the front entrance of the Homestead, and exiting at
the southeast corner at Mesier and East Main Street.
Several foot paths radiate in other directions through-
out the Park.
Almost in the center of the Park is located the
Mesier Homestead building. In the year 1741 Nicho-
las Brewer built a small stone and frame house for
his residence in the above location. It contained a
large fireplace and built-in oven. A few years later,
he added a large frame addition on the south end
which has not been altered to the present time. This
addition became the main part of the homestead and
the original building became the kitchen and utility
rooms. This addition was constructed over an exca-
vated cellar approximately 60 feet long and 30 feet
wide and was 11/2 stories high with a pitched wood
shingle roof.
The main floor contained a large central hall,
flanked on each side by a large living room, each
containing a large fireplace with tile decorated man-
tels. A large dining room was located on the front
east end. A long hall on the north side connected all
these rooms to the kitchen and the original building.
A rear stairway led to the second floor bedrooms
which had slanted ceilings and dormer windows. All
of the floor boards are very wide of white pine
lumber, some of which are 16 inches wide and 11/4
inch thick.
Along the entire south or front side ofthe building
was constructed a long, open porch with a wood
flooring.
A large horse and carriage barn, which had been
South Avenue Entrance to Mesier Park
50
erected by the Mesier family several hundred feet to
the east of the Homestead for their transportation,
was dismantled about 1907. In the early 1900's,
west 'of the Homestead and directly across from the
Grinnell Library, stood what we call a summer
house, with open sides and a four-sided shingled
roof, and provided with wooden benches around the
inside perimeter of the building, which afforded
much relaxation for people to visit in warm weather.
Band concerts were provided at different times dur-
ing the evening and summer months. It was even-
tually dismantled due to deteriorating conditions.
In 1776 Nicholas Brewer sold the Homestead and
about 400 acres of land to Mr. Peter Mesier, who
occupied it as his home with his descendants until
1891, when the Park land of about five acres and the
Homestead were transferred to the Village of
Wappingers Falls for the sum of $2,500, with the
understanding that it should remain forever known
as the Mesier Park and Homestead.
The late W.H. Reese, a direct descendant of the
Mesier family and a prominent resident of
Hughsonville, New York, took an active interest in
this property and was desirous of having this prop-
erty turned over to the Village as a Village Park. It
was mainly through the efforts of the late James S.
Roy, ex-president of the Village, and William D. Roy
and Mr. W.H. Reese that this action was accom-
plished by a vote of the taxpayers.
In the early 1960's a beautiful bronze tablet was
placed on the front of the Mesier Homestead. It was
made by Tiffany's of New York City and was pre-
sented to the Village by Mr. W. Willis Reese, who
owned a beautiful estate in Hughsonville and was
the son ofW.H.Reese. The bronze tablet was placed
First constructed by Nicholas
Brewer in 1741 and sold to Peter
Mesier in 1776, whose heirs sold it
to the Village ofWappingers Falls
in 1891 for a Village Park.
to the east of the main front entrance to the main
hall of the homestead and bears the following in-
scription:
On May 1,1777, this dwelling with a farm of
about four hundred and twenty acres of land on
which it stood was conveyed by Nicholas Brewer, who
had owned the property since October 9, 1741. It
became the residence of the Mesier family and was
known as the Mesier Homestead until August 27,
1891, when it was conveyed with a plot offive acres
to the Village ofWappingers Falls under an agree-
ment that the property should be forever known as
Mesier Park.
This tablet, made of solid brass, is 24 inches high
and 30 inches long and weighs over 70 pounds. W.
Willis Reese, who was greatly interested in the
property, requested permission from the Village
Trustees to have the tablet placed on the building.
Among those present at the presentation of the
tablet were Mr. and Mrs. W. Willis Reese, Miss
Elizabeth Reese, President of the Village John W.
Mullen and Trustee Elsworth Traver.
A spring water well located about 100 feet west of
the Homestead, no doubt furnished the drinking and
household water for the Mesier family. In 1894 the
Women's Christian Temperance Union had installed
a large iron hand pump over this spring. A heavy
iron cup, with a long chain attached to the pump,
provided cold spring water to anybody wishing a
drink by pumping the water. This pump also fur-
nished drinking water to all the surrounding area
residents who could be seen daily carrying pails of
water from the pump to their horses. This was a very
difficult job in the winter with snow on the ground
and sometimes a frozen pump. The pump was
51
. ;;o"o.,;<~~,=:,:::::",,",-,-~~c;..-;:,,,;,.-;;.-_.'..... ,.,;,.,:-~,,;.,,;oc,,;.>~
removed about 1915 when running water was ob-
tained from the new Village water system.
Several wooden benches were set up around the
Park where people could rest and enjoy the beautiful
lawns and huge old shade trees.
Since its acquisition, the Village Board of Trust-
ees over the early years has used one ofthe rooms of
the Homestead for a meeting room and other mat-
ters of business, for collection of taxes and for voting.
Since the inception of the water department in 1914,
the large east room has been used as a business
office for the water department. During Mayor
James McCafferty's term of office in the early 1940's,
the Village Police Department was moved from the
Begg Building on Market Street to the west room of
the Homestead as an economy move and as a protec-
tion against vandalism on the Homestead and Park.
A radio communication system was installed be-
tween the Police Office and the police cars about
1952. The operation of the local fire alarm system
was also moved from the local telephone office to the
Police Department office. Each day, except Sunday,
a test is made on the siren operation at 12:00 noon.
Soon after the transfer ofthe Park to the Village
under th e James Roy presidency, a tall steel flag pole
about 100 feet high, with a weather vane and eagle
on top, was erected near the south end entrance to
the Park. A huge American flag was flown on
holidays and special occasions. Due to deteriora-
tion, this pole was replaced about 1960 with a smaller
American flag, displayed twenty-four hours a day
and illuminated at night with a flood light.
On each side of the flag pole, during the late
1890's, two large cannons which fired lO-inch round
shells and were replicas of the Civil War were
mounted. Surrounding these cannons is a beautiful
flower garden with red flowers in season.
During World War I a large wooden memorial
plaque was erected on the East Main Street side of
the Park on which was printed the names of all men
of the village who were serving their county in the
armed forces. Due to decay, this plaque was re-
placed by a new memorial dedicated on May 30,
1952, consisting of a large rock boulder on which is
mounted a bronze inscribed tablet as to its purpose.
It was dedicated to honor the men and women ofthe
community who gave their service to their coun try in
World War II from 1941-1945. This boulder is
flanked on each side and rear by a large cluster of
evergreen trees and illuminated at night, making a
beautiful addition to the Park. Each Memorial Day
military services are held at this Memorial.
Further east on East Main Street facing South
Avenue is a memorial in honor of the men who gave
their service to the Volunteer Fire DepartII}ents of
the Village.
This memorial consists of a large engraved gran-
ite stone flanked by evergreen trees and may be
lighted at night.
On the knoll opposite South Avenue is a tall
spruce tree which has been used for the past 50 years
as the lighted community Christmas tree. This tree
has been wired for the colored bulbs and the electri-
cal energy supplied every year by the Wappingers
Falls Lions Club. At the lighting of the tree each
year, Christmas services with music and carol sing-
ing are attended by the children and their parents.
About 1968, the Wappingers Falls Lions Club
thought that the Mesier Park should have some kind
of a bandstand where outdoor concerts and summer
programs could be held. Plans were made by the
Club through arrangements with the Park Commis-
sioners to erect the band-shell now located to the
south of the Homestead and in front of a lawn
Main entrance to Mesier
Park with a view of
Mesier Homestead in the
background. The honor
roll plaque of the World
War II Veterans is at the
front right.
52
"'"
covered hill to afford good viewing.
The floor of the band-shell is concrete laid level
with the surrounding ground. ltisabout40feetlong
and has a wooden back-drop with an overhang. It is
lighted by overhead fluorescent lights and portable
flood lights from the front. A complete portable loud
speaker system is arranged for the programs. Sev-
eral 1000 watt flood lamp fixtures are installed in
the surrounding trees for lighting the lawn area.
The Lions Club has used the band-shell for many
occasions during the Christmas season tree-lighting
activity and during the summer months in the
evening for concerts and musicals.
Mesier Park was the center of attraction for the
one-week Centennial Celebration ofthe Incorpora-
tion of the Village ofWappingers Falls in 1971. It
proved so popular that each summer since then a
picked committee has arranged a "Picnic-in-the-
Park Program" with music, dancing and refresh-
ments provided. It affords a meeting place once a
year where friends and relatives and families are
reunited and meet each other to at least say, "hello".
When the Park and Homestead was first ac-
quired by the Village, living quarters were estab-
lished in the rear original rooms of the Homestead
for a caretaker and overseer of the property for
protection against fire and vandalism. Mr. Thomas
Fitzpatrick, who was Chief of Police, and his family
were the first to assume this position. They were
succeeded by other families. In the early 1940's,
when the Police Department office was located in
the Homestead, they assumed the protection of the
property under the leadership of a Board of Park
Commissioners appointed by the Village Board of
Trustees.
Over the years, many improvements have been
made to the Homestead such as central heat, toilet
facilities, and a modem wiring and lighting system.
The main road through the Park was macadamized.
About 1970, the Wappingers Falls Historical So-
ciety was given permission to use the entire second
floor of the Homestead to display historical records,
pictures and furniture in their possession. The
members ofthe Society gave much oftheir time and
labor painting and restoring the second floor bed-
rooms which are open to. the public.
THE GRINNELL LIBRARY
On May 25, 1867 the late Irving Grinnell and
the late Bishop Henry Yates Satterlee of the Zion
Episcopal Church were instrumental in establish-
Grinnell Library
53
ing a library inWappingers Falls. For twenty years,
after its founding, it was located on the second floor
of one of the original buildings in the Village owned
by Abraham Mesier, on the corner of what is now
Market Street and East Main Street.
The first librarian was Mrs. E.A Howarth who
served in that position for over forty years. When the
library was first established, the subscribers who
were all local residents paid one dollar ($1) per year
as a subscription price to help maintain the library.
In 1884 Mr. Grinnell made plans to purchase
land and construct a new library by creating a
building fund. A lawn party at the Grinnell Estate
and a Fair in the Zion Parish Hall raised the sum of
three thousand dollars ($3,000). Mr. Grinnell added
to this fund by soliciting funds from his family and
friends.
The present site of the library was purchased in
1886 for the sum of three-hundred fifty dollars
($350) and it was a year later that construction
began. Mr. Grinnell chose the Swiss chalet type of
design for the new library and plans for the construc-
tion were made by Henry M. Congdon of New York
City.
On October 21, 1887 the new library building was
open for public inspection. Mr. Grinnell transferred
the control and management of the new library to a
Board of Trustees to be held in trust by them for the
Village.
The library as planned occupied the major east
end of the second floor with entrance to same by a
circular pair of stairs in the circular stone addition
on the southeast corner of the building. A large
ornamental brick fireplace and chimney was located
in each end of the library room which was heated in
winter by a large coal burning stove. An apartment
for the librarian occupied the first and second floors
of an addition on the north side accessible from the
library and from Spring Street.
A small apartment for rental occupied the second
floor, west end of the building accessible by a stair-
way to the street. On the first floor, under the library
room was a large store occupied for years by the A.S.
Simmonsjewelry store until about the 1920's, when
the store was occupied by the Florence Henderson
ladies apparel shop. Several decades later the space
was taken over by the library in their remodeling
program in the 1960's. On the west end under the
apartment was the office of the Wappingers
Chronicle, which also occupied the entire basement
for their printing department. These rentals each
month helped to maintain the expenses of the li-
brary.
There was no central heating system, running
water, toilet facilities or electric lighting. Water for
the tenants was obtained by hand pumps from a
large spring adjacent to the rear of the library
building. Illuminating gas produced by the Garner
Print Works was used for lighting until 1912 when
the library rooms were wired for electric lighting.
This old lighting system was replaced in 1961 by a
more modern system through the efforts and fund
raising of the Wappingers Falls Lions Club.
In the early 1920's a central hot water heating
system was installed throughout the building re-
placing the coal burning stoves.
In 1924 the library was made available to the
public as a free library. Operating funds were
provided each year by both the Village and Town of
Wappinger Boards by the taxpayers. At this time,
MissJ essie Blythe was the librarian and her brother,
Mr. Parker Blythe, was the caretaker.
During the 1960's major changes were made to
enlarge and improve the library due to the increased
patronage and population. The second floor apart-
ment and the entire first floor stores were vacated
and the space added to enlarge the library. A new
entrance and business office were located on the
west end first floor and a new modern stairway
constructed to the second floor former library rooms.
The old entrance to the second floor on the southeast
corner was closed and used for an emergency exit
only.
New book shelves, tables, desks and chairs were
installed in the new first floor library room. The
former store door entrance was replaced by a large
glass window and the floor was carpeted. Air condi-
tioning units were installed on both floors for sum-
mer use. A completely new fluorescent lighting
system was installed on the entire first floor. -
At this time, several oil paintings relating to the
old Village which were painted by Mr. Clinton W.
Clapp, a former Village historian, were restored and
given to the library by the Clapp Estate. These
paintings are now displayed in the main business
office and entrance of the library.
The library has grown very rapidly since its
beginning in 1887 in the new building. In the year
1917, when the library was thirty years old, the
number of books loaned was 14,000 and in 1970, the
total circulation was 80,433.
Miss Jessie Blythe was succeeded in 1937, by
Miss Dorothy M. Merselis as librarian, who was in
turn succeeded in 1940 by Miss Frances E. Drace
from Catskill, New York, who has held this position
to the present time of 1977. Miss Drace is now aided
by four part-time assistants.
The Grinnell Library has served the public, both
old and young, as a reading room and library for the
past 110 years, ninety of which have been in the
present building. Plans have been drawn and a
building fund organized for the new construction of
54
a two-story addition on the north west corner of the
present library building. It is to be named the
Russell Aldrich rooms in his memory as a former
president ofthe Board ofTrustees. Ground breaking
took place for this new addition in December 1979.
The present building with its outstanding exte-
rior design of a Swiss chalet structure has added
much prestige to its location near the Zion Episcopal
Church and Mesier and Zion Parks.
MR. mVlNG GRINNELL
In relating a history of the Grinnell Library
mention should be made of its founder, Mr. Irving W.
Grinnell, who did not live in the Village although he
took an active interest in its activities.
Mr. Grinnell lived with his wife, Joanna Dorr
Howland, on his estate named "Netherwood", lo-
cated on the Hudson River about two miles from the
Village.
Mr. Grinnell was born August 9,1839, the son of
Moses Hicks Grinnell and Julia Irving, the niece of
Washington Irving. He had two sisters: Julia Irving
Grinnell who married George S. Bowdoin and Fanny
Grinnell who married Thomas F. Cushing of Boston.
Of distinguished ancestry, he was a descendant of
Mathew Grenelle, a French Huguenot of noble birth
who settled in Rhode Island in 1638.
Mr. Grinnell was educated in Columbia College.
On April 28, 1863 he married Joanna Dorr Howland
of the famous ship building company. In 1864 the
young couple bought the Howland estate on the
Hudson near New Hamburgh, New York, where
they made their home. Mrs. Grinnell died July 1,
1905 at the age of63 years. When a youngman, Mr.
Grinnell was very active in sports. While bobsled-
ding down Prospect Street hill in the Village one
winter.night with several young people, in order to
avoid a serious collision, he put out his left leg and in
doing so crushed his left ankle, which crippled him
for life.
Mr. Grinnell was very interested in yachting and
ice boating on the Hudson and maintained his own
boat house for their storage. He was a former
Commodore of the New York Yacht Club.
One of Mr. Grinnell's chiefinterests was in Zion
Episcopal Church. He was a great friend of Bishop
H.Y. Satterlee, a church rector, and he served for
years as superintendent of the Sunday School, as
head of the supplementary choir and funeral choir
and as lay reader ofthe church.
He greatly beautified the church by erecting
stone arches in the choir and chancel and inlaying
the space with mosaic.
It is impossible to recount all of his gifts and
activities for the welfare ofthe community. He was
never absent from a church service, morning or
evening, except when snowbound on his estate. At
every church service and activity he would be seen in
his coach or sleigh being driven by his coachman
through all kinds of weather from his estate to the
Village or Church meeting. His team of horses
would be driven to the horse shed at the rear of the
Zion Episcopal Church out of the weather until his
return home.
Mr. Grinnell served on the vestry since 1875 and
was a church warden since 1881. After the loss of his
wife, he decided to pay tribute to her memory in the
form of a set of chimes installed in the bell tower of
Zion Episcopal Church.
The Grinnell Library was a joint gift in 1888 to
the people of the Village by Mr. and Mrs. Irving
Grinnell and was one of several conspicuous evi-
dences of the donors' public spirit. Even before the
handsome Swiss-like library was built, Mr. Grinnell,
for about 20 years, maintained a library and reading
room for' the use of the public in the old Mesier
residence on Market Street and East Main Street in
the Village. Finding that its limited accommoda-
tions were outgrown, he built the present structure
for a new library.
. Mr. Grinnell died in his 82ndyear in May of 1920,
as a result of the accident to his left ankle over 40
years previous. His death was a great loss to the
Village, especially the Zion Episcopal Church.
EARLY FIRE COMPANIES
OF THE VILLAGE
"During the early part of the 19th century the
early settlers saw great possibilities in the construc-
tion of mills and factories around the Falls to take
advantage of the plentiful water power to operate
them, as steam power and engines had not been
developed. The Brewers, Mesiers and Benjamin
Clapp were the most prominent in the early con-
struction of these mills. As these mills were built
and houses for their employees constructed, the
element offire and conflagration became apparent.
These early pioneers decided that there was a need
for fire protection and fire companies.
- The fire company organized in the Village was
the Franklindale Fire Engine Company founded
August 28, 1837. Their first fire engine was a hand-
operated pumper mounted on four wheels and pulled
to the fire location by the firemen. This old pumper
was named the "Resurrection". In those days, there
was no rubber hose available, and what hose the
55
"'~~~:."".",;;.".,,~;.~::::.~..:.:~;::::~~,-:.,--.,
firemen had was made of pieces of leather held
together in circular form by copper rivets to form a
hose which was not very flexible. Buckets made of
leather were also used to help fight fires. Asthere
were no fire hydrants or water system available
until about the 1870's, water had to be pumped from
the Wappingers Creek and Lake or from cisterns.
One ofthese large cisterns is located under the plot
of ground to the north of the Franklindale Baptist
Church.
The second Fire Company to be formed in the
Village was the Wappingers Falls Fire Co. which
was organized in 1850.
During the first year of operation, a hand pumper
was used equipped with two pumps. This pumper
was named the "Rough and Ready", and was housed
in a small building in lower Market Street. Both of
the above fire companies served in fighting the
destructive fire of the Clintondale Mill in 1855.
FIRE ALARM SYSTEMS
~ealizing that fire protection was very impor-
tantfo}lhe Garner or Dutchess Print Works vast
factory complex, which then included the
Franklindale Cotton factory and over 100 wood-
frame tenement houses and store buildings spread
over several blocks of streets on the lower section of
the Village, it was decided, in addition to the organi-
zation of the W.T. Garner Steam Fire Engine Co. No.
1 in 1869, to construct a fire tower to alert and
summon the volunteer firemen to fires.
The Garner Print Works constructed a fire tower
about 100 feet high on a hill about 75 feet to the rear
ofthe then new Garner Fire Headquarters on lower
Market Street. This tower was a wood-frame en-
closed structure about 30 feet square at the base and
tapering up about five stories to an open platform
where the large bronze bell was mounted. Above
this open platform and to protect the bell was an
uncovered balcony surrounded by railing as an ob-
servation platform. Access to the bell and upper
balcony was by a series of wooden stairs from the
ground entrance. In the center ofthe upper balcony
was a 30 foot wooden flag pole, on the top of which
was mounted a bronze statue, about four feet high,
ofa fireman dressed with his coat, boots and helmet
blowing a fire trumpet. About 1895 this statue was
blown off the top of the flagpole during a heavy wind
storm and landed in the yard of the Popper family
living next door. The statue was never replaced but
was succeeded by a large weather vane in its place.
On all holidays, the American flag would be flown
over the tower.
The large bronze bell which was about three feet
in diameter at the base, and weighing about two
tons, was mounted on and hung from an iron stirrup
in bearings allowing the bell to swing for ringing. A
bell hammer under the bell provided the bell to be
tolled. Ringing or tolling of the bell was done by a
person or operator from the second floor of the tower
by heavy ropes passing through the several floors to
the bell. Whenever a fire occurred, the person giving
the alarm would either have to run or go by horse-
back to the fire tower, where he would have to climb
the stairs to the second floor and pull down on the
heavy rope to ring the bell and sound the alarm. This
fire bell could be heard all over the Village where
most of the volunteer firemen lived and worked.
They could be seen running to their fire headquar-
ters from where they would pull the two-wheeled
hose wagon or hand pumper to the fire location prior
to the 1900's.
This bell was also used by the Garner Print
Works every day by the watchman on duty at the
Market Street main office and gates for tolling the
bell nine times each night at nine o'clock as a curfew
and five times each morning at 5:00 a.m. to arouse
their employees from sleep so they could get to work
in their factory. This bell tolling was also the means
of checking their spring-wound clocks and watches
as to the correct time. This was long before the
advent of the electric clocks of today. The night
watchman who performed the task of tolling this bell
each day for many years was Mr. Edgar Briggs, who
could be seen each night walking from his headquar-
ters in the main office building down Market Street
to the tower in all kinds of weather, carrying his
kerosene oil lantern to light the way.
This old fire alarm bell continued to serve the
Village from the 1870's until 1908 when the tower
and Garner Fire Headquarters were included in the
sale of all the Garner Print Works complex to the new
owners, the Garner Print Works and Bleachery.
Under the new ownership, it was decided that a
faster method should be provided for ringing the bell
and turning in a fire alarm. People in and around
the Village were beginning to install and use the
telephone connected to a central telephone office
whereby fires could be reported to the telephone
operator who, in turn, could turn in the alarm.
A contract was awarded to a Fire Alarm Co. to
install this new system. A battery operated electric
magnetic hammer was installed under the old tower
bell replacing the old bell hammer, whereby the
alarm would be tolled instead of ringing. This,
however, was not loud enough to be satisfactory.
Control wires were installed on existing utility poles
to the central office ofthe telephone company which
was located on the second floor of the T.J. Cashin
56
undertaking business on Main Street.
About five years later, the new owners of the
Garner Print Works found that decay of the wooden
tower timbers and outside wood sheathing made it
necessary to discontinue the fire bell system and
tear down the historic tower. To do this, some other
system offire alarm service would have to be made
for the Village. This tower is pictured on lower
Market Street in the center of a print of the entire
Village made about 1889, copies of which have been
sold by the Wappingers Historical Society.
As the Garner Print Works and Bleachery was
operating their hydroelectric power station with
attendants on a twenty-four hour basis, they set up
a new system of fire alarm service to replace the
original fire tower and bell. A new 3 horsepower, 3
phase electric driven fire siren was installed half
way up on the steel frame work supporting the then
new steel water tank that had been erected on top of
Roys Hill. This location made an excellent spot for
the fire siren as it was located high above the Village
and was readily heard by the residents. Three-
phase electric power was readily available at the
electric power station located just below the hill.
When a fire alarm was to be sounded, a phone call
would be made to the power station attendant, who
in turn would operate the siren for the district in
which the fire was located. The siren was also
operated each day at twelve o'clock noon for test
purposes. This system served the Village for several
years, when, due to a change of management in the
Bleachery, the same fire siren was moved from the
water tank frame on Roys Hill to the top of a 50 foot
wood pole structure located to the rear ofthe Central
Hudson Gas & Electric Co. building, now the Knights
of Columbus building on East Main Street.
As the New York Telephone Co. central office was
located on the second floor of this building, arrange-
ments were made to have the telephone operators
operate the fire siren when calls for help were
phoned in. The siren was also operated each day at
twelve o'clock noon for test purposes.
At the start of World War II, sirens were used to
alert people living in the villages and cities for air
raids and night blackouts. These sirens were fur-
nished by the United States Government, and one
was obtained to augment the older fire siren. A new
5 horsepower electric siren was mounted on a wood
pole structure directly in the rear of the Mesier
Homestead where the police station is also located.
It was arranged so that the two sirens would operate
together from a push button switch located in the
police department instead ofthe telephone office.
This system is in operation in the 1970's for fire
alarm service and for test purposes each day at
twelve o'clock noon.
Since the 1920's, new volunteer fire companies
and their siren alarm systems have been established
around the perimeter of the Village.
W.T. GARNER ENGINE CO. NO.1
In 1869 the William T. Garner Engine Company
No. 1 was founded and was a successor to the
original Franklindale Fire Co. that was organized in
1837. At the time of the change over, Mr. Frank
Allen was the Fire Chief. Mr. John Hunter was the
first charter member and the first foreman and
president of the new company.
William T. Garner, who was the owner of the
large Dutchess Print Works complex, made a gift to
the newly organized fire company of a new coal-
Old Garner Engine House, lower
Market Street, showing horse-
drawn steam fire engine of 1869.
57
.'~~'L~2;::'i2:Z::;:;:;;::,;O._"'7.~'
fired, steam-operated fire pump, mounted on four
large wheels and pulled by a team of horses with a
driver. This was in contrast to the hand-operated
and hand-pulled "Resurrection" hand engine that
was replaced by the new gift.
Mr. Garner had erected a new two-story brick
building on lower Market Street across from the
Dutchess Print Works' main office to house the new
engine. The first floor contained space for a new
steamer pump and a two-wheeled hand drawn hose
wagon which carried about 500 feet of 2 1/2" fire
hose. The front end ofthe second floor was a meeting
room and contained trophies and pictures of city
fires. The rear room containing a pool table was for
recreation.
A small brick building was constructed near the
north side of the building as a stable for a team of
horses required to pull the new steamer to fires. It
was used only a short time when the horses were
moved to the Print Works stable a few blocks further
down Market Street. A two-wheeled, horse-drawn
dump cart also provided by the Dutchess Print
Works responded to an alarm with the pumper and
hose wagon to transport a supply of coal, extra fire
hose, rubber coats, boots and helmets to a fire.
The first fire that the new steamer was called to
was the Faulkner barns on lower Market Street at
2:00 a.m. Mr. James Gilmore, who was a boiler-
maker at the Dutchess Print Works, was the engi-
neer in charge of the steamer at all fires for several
decades. Each week for many years on his way to
work, he would inspect and "turn over" the engine
pistons to keep the pumper in first-class operating
condition and check the boiler for correct water level
and leaks. Mr. Gilmore was on thejob at all times to
answer fire alarms and operate the steam pump.
This steamer served the Village well from 1869 to
1918, a period of 49 years, when motorized equip-
ment replaced it
When the Village was incorporated in 1871, the
W. T. Garner Engine Co. became a Village organiza-
tion and controlled the operations of the company.
In 1918 the Village Board of Trustees purchased the
first motorized fire apparatus to replace the old
Garner steam pumper. It was a LaVerne chemical
and hose truck without a pumper. It did not prove
satisfactory because the firemen had to rely strictly
on the hydrant water pressure to fight fires and were
unable to pump water from other sources.
This chemical and hose truck was replaced by
village officials in November, 1929 with an Ameri-
can-LaFrance combination pumper and hose truck.
The old fire house, constructed and o~ed by
Garner Print Works in the 1860's on lower Market
Street, was purchased by the Village for five hun-
dred dollars ($500) from the new owners, the
Dutchess Bleachery, in the 1920's. It was in use
until 1940 when a new and larger headquarters and
a new location were desired.
A plot of ground on the south side of West Acad-
emy Street adjoining the Clinton Clapp property, on
which a barn and stable were located for years, was
purchased from the Clapp estate by the Village.
Plans were drawn for the erection of a two-story
brick fire company headquarters with all modern
equipment which replaced the oldbarn. Itcontained
a basement for a kitchen, dining room and storage.
The first floor with two large entrance doors to the
street contained space for two pieces of fire fighting
equipment and a reading room in the rear. The
Fireman's Parade, Sept. 30 1905
58
The W. T. Garner Engine Co. #1
first motorized fire apparatus in
the Village on parade after World
War I in 1919. It was a LaVerne
combination chemical and hose
truck.
second floor was a large meeting room. In 1969, an
addition was erected on the rear of the building for
more space. This new fire station has a better
location in the central part ofthe Village at a higher
location than the old original station located on
lower Market Street in a valley.
In 1967, the Gamer Engine Company obtained
through the Village a new 75 foot aerial extension
ladder truck which is housed in the above West
Academy Street station. This new ladder truck has
been very valuable to the firemen of both companies
in fighting fires over the roofs of the shopping plazas
and the higher buildings along the main streets.
The Village in the late 1960's replaced the origi-
nal American-LaFrance pumper and hose truck
with it new and larger American-LaFrance truck
with greater pumping capacity and better equip-
ment. The Gamer Fire Company isnow very well
equipped for fire protection in the Village.
The W.T. Gamer Engine Co. No.1 celebrated its
100th anniversary offounding with several days of
activities ending with a large fire-a-matic parade
with visiting fire companies and bands on Saturday,
September 17, 1937. On the preceding Friday
evening, a large dark-town parade headed by the
Wappingers Falls Lions Club paraded through the
main streets ofthe Village followed by block dancing
in Mesier Park. Judging of the visiting fire compa-
nies and bands for prizes was done from the upper
porch of the Hotel Terminal Square on West Main
Street by the followingjudges: Supervisor Joseph V.
Lyons of the Town of Poughkeepsie; Supervisor
Edward R. Scofield of the Town of Wappingers;
Police Justice Patrick J. Burnett; Justice of the
Peace Robert L. Campbell; Justice of the Peace
Ralph H. Dederer. The Gamer firemen should
celebrate their 150th anniversary in 1987.
W.T. Garner Engine
59
S.w. JOHNSON
ENGINE COMPANY NO. 2
~e S.W. Johnson Engine Company No.2 was
organized April 2, 1872, their predecessor being the
Wappingers Falls Fire Company, which was orga-
nized in 1850. This new fire company was named in
honor of the man who was manager of the Dutchess
Print Works at the time. Its first fire pumper was
the old "Rough and Ready" hand operated and hand-
drawn inherited from the old organization.
The Chief Engineer of the new company, with
sixteen charter members, was Fred Allen. The old
"Rough and Ready" hand pumper was stored in the
small building, formerly a stable, next to the W.T.
Garner Fire headquarters on lower Market Street.
The new company used the meeting room of the
Garner Co. for their headquarters. Chief Engineer
Fred Allen started a subscription for a larger and
more powerful hand engine. He succeeded by having
all the citizens ofthe Village contribute two dollars
each toward the purchase. On March 22, 1872 a
hand pumper called the "Old Delaware" was pur-
chased in Port Jervis and the Johnson Co. was
organized.
The first fire that the new pumper was called to
was the D.R. Remsen barn on the east side of South
Avenue in the summer of 1872. The "Old Delaware"
hand engine was replaced in 1885 by a used hand-
engine purchased from the Young America Hose co.
of Poughkeepsie for $400. It was later sold to a
Veteran Fire Co. in Marblehead, Massachusetts for
$150.
The Johnson Company remain ed only a few years
in the small brick building on lower Market Street,
moving to the old Village "Lock-Up" building on Mill
Street in 1873.
In 1885 they moved to the building on the corner
of Mill and Main Street. Again, in1891, the Johnson
Co. moved to a buildin"g formerly the Mesier family
barn east of the Mesier Homestead.
In 1900 the Company moved to the west side of
the bridge to a three-story brick building known as
the Temperance Hall located on West Main Street at
the corner of West Street.
The three-story brick building known as the Temperance Hall which was owned by Mr. Thomas Kelley at the
corner of West Main Street and West Street. It was the headquarters of the S. W. Johnson Engine Co. No.2
on first and second floors and was destroyed by fire March 20, 1920.
60
The S. W. Johnson Steam Fire
Engine Co. No.2 on parade com-
ing down East Main Street and
crossing the stone bridge Septem-
ber 30, 1905.
While in this location, in 1902, the Village Board,
with Mr. Arthur S. Peacock, a local druggist, as
president, purchased a new LaFrance steam-driven
pumper mounted on four wheels and pulled by a
teafu of horses for the sum offour thousand dollars
($4,000). This new and modem fire pumper re-
placed the old and obsolete hand-operated pumper
that was purchased from the Young America Hose
Co. in Poughkeepsie. The fire hose was carried by a
two-wheeled hose cart pulled to a fire by the firemen
and was similar to the one of the Gamer Fire
Company.
The S. W. Johnson Steam Fire Engine Co. No.2 on parade in 1906 rounding the corner from East Main Street
to South Avenue. In the rear is Mesier Park before the intersection was widened and paved. On March 15,
1920 the above steamer was destroyed in a disastrous fire that burned out their headquarters on West and West
Main Street.
61
"1
'fll
_ ':'='i:~~~:""'~"."~ .-.....~-_......'.- '~-_..-._..,~...-.~~-~--",-_.._-----
S. W. Johnson Engine Co. School Street and West
Main Street. Erected in the 1940's.
In this new and more modern location, the John-
son Company expanded their membership very rap-
idly. They occupied the first floor as the apparatus
room and the second floor was used as their meeting
room.
On the night of March 15, 1920 the motor-man
and conductor ofthe Wappingers Falls-Poughkeepsie
electric trolley car on its last run to Poughkeepsie
discovered the Johnson Engine Co. Headquarters in
flames and turned in the fire alarm. The fire had
gotten such a head start that the entire contents of
the building, including the new LaFrance steam
pumper, hose wagon, furniture, parade uniforms
and company records, were destroyed, which left the
Village protected with only the fire apparatus of the
Garner Company.
The Johnson Company was provided with tempo-
rary quarters in the Eagan building on Givens Av-
enue for a period of about ten years. While in this
location, they celebrated their 50th anniversary
with a banquet with Anthony Hoolihan as chair-
man. For many ofthose 50 years of its existence, the
Johnson firemen used a hand engine pumper which
was pulled to the fire by the firemen.
In the early 1920's after the disastrous fire, the
Village Board supplied the Johnson Company with
a Chevrolet truck with a pumper attached to the
engine front and fire hose carried in the rear truck as
a temporary use until other plans could be made. In
1928 this apparatus was replaced by a large Mack
pumper and hose truck. In 1953 a new Mack pumper
was acquired and again replaced in 1971 by a third
Mack pumper of 1,000 gallons per minute capacity.
This new pumper was painted a tan color instead of
the traditional red color offormer fire apparatus.
After being located on Givens Avenue for a period
often years, a new fire station was erected by Village
officials for the Johnson Company on a plot of ground
on the south side of School Street and West Main
Street. Plans were drawn for the erection of a new
two-story brick building on this location. This first
floor accommodated two pieces of apparatus with an
entrance door for each. The second floor contained
a large meeting room and a large recreation room.
The basement was for storage and entertainment
use. This new building is very impressive in appear-
ance and is one the Johnson firemen are very proud
of having for their headquarters.
On April 23, 1971, 50-year members of the
Johnson Engine Company were honored. These
men were: Joseph Delehanty, John Curran, Frank
Lyons, Joseph Fries, VinnentHerring, Vincent Lahey
and James Bain.
MAJOR VILLAGE FIRES
'Ti;om the early days ofthe Village ofW appingers
Fatls, ;~ had several disastrous fires in the newly
established factories which resulted in the founding
of the two original fire companies. The first was the
Franklindale Fire Engine Co. with the hand pumper
named "Resurrection" in 1837, and later the
Wappingers Falls Fire Company with the fire pumper
the "Rough and Ready" in 1850.
The first major fire in the Village was the destruc-
tion of the Clinton dale Mill in 1855. Some of the
ruins ofthe stone building, which was never rebuilt,
may still be seen at the northeast corner ofthe stone
bridge.
The following year, in 1856, fire destroyed the
entire building of the Dutchess Print Works which
was rebuilt the following year with many improve-
ments. Later, in 1873, fire destroyed the dye-house
building on the same property. About 1870 fire
destroyed the Faulkner Estate barns on lower Mar-
ket Street. This was the first fire in which the new
Garner steam fire engine participated.
An incident which happened on February 11,
1871, relating to fire fighting which was outside of
the Village, should be mentioned as it indicates the
courage of the volunteer firemen in fighting fires
with their less efficient and hand-operated equip-
ment. The following paragraph was taken from an
old record written at the time over 100 years ago:
"What was considered one of the worst rail-
road accidents in history up until that time in 1871
occurred at the New Hamburg drawbridge on the
New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, where
62
several passenger cars left the rails and were being
destroyed by fire. A call was made to the Village for
assistance and help and in response, the "Old Resur-
rection" hand pumper was pulled to New Hamburg
over the ice at a 10 degree below zero temperature and
gave what service it could until the new Garner
steamer arrived with its more powerful and consis-
tent stream of water swept the burning railroad
coaches from end to end and allowed the saving of
many lives and the removal of burned bodies. All
night long Mr. Edward Long, the engineer on the
Garner steamer, stuck to his post covered with ice
from the spray of water from the hoses. A coal cart
from the Dutchess Print Works brought down a load
of coal as fuel for the engine. The firemen saved many
lives of passengers in the wrecked cars."
About 11:00 p.m. in 1873, fire entirely destroyed
the Disbrow Foundry located on the north side of
East Main Street which is now occupied by the
Shaker, Travis and Quinn building. Being located in
the center of the Village, it was feared at the time
that the entire Village would be destroyed. Due to
the effort of the Gamer Engine Co. with their newly
acquired steam fire engine and the S.W. Johnson
Engine Co. with their hand pumper, the surround-
ing buildings were saved. From the very nature of
the business, the woodwork throughout the struc-
ture was dry as tinder and the flames spread with
unusual rapidity. Only a few feet separated the west
foundry wall from the east wall ofthe wooden build-
ing on Mill Street.
The new Gamer streamer obtained its water
from a water reservoir at the rear of the Zion Epis-
copal Church. The Johnson hand pumper obtained
its supply of water from a large cistern at the rear of
the Sweet Orr building. Frank Allen was fire chief
at the time assisted by James Threllfalt, the Garner
foreman and Robert Bennett, the Johnson foreman.
The Sweet Orr & Co. who had just established
their factory next door to the foundry on Mill Street
obtained their power from the steam engine which
operated the foundry. When this engine was de-
stroyed, the Sweet Orr Co. lost its operating power
and was temporarily closed until a new source of
power was established.
The foundry buildings were never reconstructed
Fire destroys the three-story frame store and apartment building known as the Smith building, built about
1893 on the southeast corner of East Main and Market Streets on February 16, 1959. The remains of the
building were torn down and never replaced, leaving a big gap in the business section of the Village. It has
since been replaced by a small one-story office building.
63
and the business was moved to a new location on the
New Hamburg Road next to the lower Wappingers
Creek about two miles south ofthe Village. It was
later known as the R.J. & T. Stuart Foundry, which
operated steadily until about 1920, when it was
closed and later purchased by Mr. W.W. Reese, who
had an adjoining estate and dismantled it.
One of the largest and most destructive fires
occurred in October 1885 when the Franklindale
Cotton Factory, which was then owned and operated
by the Gamer Print Works, was totally destroyed
and never rebuilt A story of this fire which was
written in the old "Wappingers Chronicle" at the
time is related elsewhere in the chapter on factories
under the name of the Franklindale Manufacturing
Co.
On August 4, 1894, during a severe thunder-
storm, lightning struck the tall brick steeple of St.
Mary's Church on Clinton Street, igniting the wood-
work on top of the steeple. Due to its height, this was
a difficult fire to extinguish by the firemen as they
were not equipped with any aerial ladders and
trucks. However, it was brought under control by
the firemen before any damage was done to the
Church. The steeple was later rebuilt at a lower
height.
On December 29, 1892 one ofthe original wooden
buildings built by the Brewer family on the corner of
East Main Street and Market Street was destroyed
by fire. This was the building where the Grinnell ,
Library originally started and where it remained for
about twenty years. It was also occupied by many of
the prominent and early settlers for short periods of
time.
The site was cleared and in its place John and
George B. Smith erected the three-story frame build-
ing known as the Smith block. The first floor
originally contained the Smith Brothers bakery, ice
cream and confectionery store, Stripples Meat Mar-
ket and Knapps Gents Furniture Store. The two
upper floors contained several apartments. The
outside of the building was covered with ornamental
sheet metal with cast iron columns and made a very
imposing sight in the main intersection of the Vil-
lage. After a period of67 years, it was destroyed and
gutted by fire of undetermined origin about 3:00
a.m. on the morning of February 16, 1959.
A two-story building of similar design erected on
the east side and adjacent to the main building and
occupied on the first floor by Tardiff's Jewelry Store
was also destroyed. The loss ofthis building complex
made an unsightly gap in the business district as it
was never rebuilt. The fire was brought under
control by the two local fire companies, assisted by
the O.H. Booth Hose Company with their high aerial
ladder truck and the Chelsea, Hughsonville and
New Hamburg Fire Companies under the direction
of Fire Chief Nicholas Fusaro. Due to the
metal covering, it was very hard to get water on the
covered flames and fight the fire. The land was later
sold, and two one-story concrete block buildings
were constructed for a shoe store and a law office.
On January 3, 1904 fire destroyed a steam laun-
dry building next door to the R.N. Cumming Cigar
Manufacturing Shop on Market Street which was
never rebuilt. This was the first major fire in which
the S. W. Johnson Company's new LaFrance steamer
took part and it made quite a favorable impression
with the firemen and Village officials as to its perfor-
mance.
Another bad fire occurred on a cold Sunday morn-
ing of January 4, 1904, on Park Street when the
home of Mr. Ira Hall, the manager ofthe S.G. & J.T.
Smith Department Store on East Main Street, took
fire from an overheated furnace, completely destroy-
ing the building. It also set fire to the next door
homes of Dr. J. VanWagner and William Henderson,
both of which were badly damaged and were later
restored. The firemen were badly hampered by the
extreme cold temperature and snow and the freez-
ing of their hoses. A new home was later erected on
the Hall site by Mr. Fred Tibbs, a local magazine and
newspaper dealer in the Village.
On March 14, 1916 the one-story furniture store
of Goring & Flynn and the men's furnishing store of
Moses Baum on the east side of West Main Street
were destroyed and later replaced by the Morettoni
building which was a three-story brick structure.
A few years later the O'Dell's Bakery and Scianna's
dry goods store next door to the above Morettoni
building was damaged by fire and later restored for
other purposes.
A few years later, on March 15, 1920, fire de-
stroyed the three-story brick building on the north-
east corner of West Main Street and West Street
known as the Temperance Hall building owned by
Mr. Thomas Kelly, a local meat market owner. This
was the building occupied by the S.W. Johnson
Engine Co. No.2 on the first and second floors and
by the Ancient Order of Hibernans Lodge on the
third floor. As noted in another chapter, the Johnson
Engine Co. fire fighting equipment, including the
LaFrance pumper, was a total loss. The remains of
the building were removed and after several years,
the property changed ownership and a new resi-
dence was erected on same.
In the early 1920's fire partially destroyed an old
landmark in the Village known for years as Roys
Drug Store at the southwest comer of the stone
bridge. This building was constructed in 1824 by
George W. Brower. As this building is adjacent to
the bridge, it had to be raised on its foundation three
64
times to meet the front of it. This building was a two-
story wooden frame construction with two stores on
the first floor and an apartment on the second floor.
The building and drug store business had been
purchased by a Mr. Appicella who occupied the
apartment from the Roy Estate. Mr. Appicella
removed the entire damaged second floor apartment
replacing it with a new roof.
The Academy Theatre on West Main Street was
destroyed at night by fire in the late 1930's. It was
later replaced by a new brick theatre building of
more modern design.
Also in the thirties, fire originating in Mabies
livery stable at the rear of the Sweet-Orr factory
destroyed the Park Theatre building on Spring Street
and also a wetwash laundry building next to the
theatre. These buildings were never rebuilt, but the
American Legion Building on Spring Street occupies
the site.
During the thirties, fire destroyed an old wooden
structure on East Main and Mill Street owned by A.
Seaman Hunt, Jr. as a tire and auto supply store
and, also, the grocery store next door operated by
Amedio Silvestri. Mr. Silvestri purchased the prop-
erty and erected the present brick one-story building
which he occupied on the east side as a grocery store
for several years. The west side was occupied by the
Robert Lee Store owned by Mr. Albert I. Epstein.
Mr. Epstein purchased the property from Mr.
Silvestri.
Fire partially destroyed the three-story Beggs
building on Market Street in the 1940's. This build-
ingwas another old landmark built in the latter part
of the 19th century. The building was repaired and
modernized with apartments on the two upper floors
and three stores on the ground floor.
In 1933 fire destroyed another old landmark on
East Main Street just west of the Grinnell Library
known as the Dr. Roe building. It was a two-story
frame building with a doctor's office and an apart-
ment 'on he second floor, and two stores on the first
floor. The remains ofthe building were removed and
the property purchased by Dr. Freeman S. O'Brien
who had an office in the old building. Dr. O'Brien
erected a one-story frame office building on the site
which he occupied for several years. The building
was later sold to and occupied for several years by
the Wappingers Shopper Newspaper as an office.
Another old landmark on the east side of Market
Street, which was owned for many years by the old
Dutchess Print Works, was partially destroyed by
fire in the 1950's. This building, constructed in 1850,
was a two-story brick building about 122 feet long
containing several stores on the first floor and four
apartments with attic bedrooms on the second floor.
One of the principal stores was occupied for many
'"
years by the I.T.N. Harcourt General Store which
sold all kinds of groceries, feed, hardware and farm
implements until it closed in the late 1915's. The
store also maintained a horse shed for bad weather
conditions for its delivery wagon and a store house
for the farm implements directly across the street.
Fire, originating at night in one of the second-floor
apartments, destroyed all the apartments. As the
first floor stores were only water damaged, the
entire damaged second floor was removed and a new
flat roof installed. Most of the first floor is now
occupied by the McGoo's Tavern.
The preceding list of major fires shows that the
Village ofWappingers Falls had its share of major
factory and business fires although the fire loss of
dwellings was very small. The two local fire depart-
ments are to be commended over the years for their
devotion of time and effort without compensation for
the protection of the Village.
VILLAGE POLICE DEPARTMENT
When the Village was incorporated in 1871 a
Police Departmentwas established which, no doubt,
consisted oftwo officers, each working a twelve-hour
$hift. Not much information can be found relating to
their early department with the exception that in
1888 Mr. James Dalton was the Chief of Police.
At the turn of the 19th century the Chief of Police
was Mr. Thomas Fitzpatrick, a tall thin man who
lived with his family in the rear part of the Mesier
Homestead and acted as caretaker of this building
and the Mesier Park. He was assisted by Mr. Daniel
Laffin, both officers working alternately on a twelve-
hour shift. These early officers had no telephone
service, police headquarters or cars for transporta-
tion and were on duty on their feet most of the
working shift. They wore dark blue uniforms with a
high helmeted hat. The lock-up or jail was in the
basement of a small building of a cabinet maker's
shop on the east side of Mill Street.
Police Chief Fitzpatrick retired about 1907 and
was succeeded by Officer Daniel Laffin as Chief, who
in turn was replaced by a new officer, Dennis Lahey
and a relief officer, Salvatore Trill.
About 1918 the Village rented the old building on
the southeast .comer of the bridge which formerly
was the office of the Franklindale Manufacturing
Co. to be used as a police headquarters. This idea
proved very beneficial to the officers as they had a
headquarters in e center of the business section of
the Village with protection from the weather and
telephone service. The lock-up or jail was set up in
the basement of the building where prisoners could
65
~
'.
i
be held until transferred to the Dutchess County
Jail in Poughkeepsie.
During these years, the Village established an
eight-hour working day with three officers on the
force replacing the twelve hour shift. The third
officer was Mr. Edward "Ted" Eagan who remained
on the force for several years and replaced Officer
Laffin as Chief when he retired. The Police Depart-
ment received its first police or prowl car at this
time. During this decade a motorcycle patrol was
established throughout the Village with officers
George Foster, Jr. and officer Curran as operators.
It was later discontinued.
In the latter part of the 1930's the police station
was moved to a new location in the Begg's building
on the east side of Market Street. Mr. Joseph Costa
became a new member ofthe Police Department and
in later years became Police Chief.
In the early 1940's the police station was moved
from the Begg's building on Market Street to the
west room ofMesier Homestead as an economy move
in saving rent and as a protection against fire and
vandalism to the Homestead and Park. This change
also made it possible for the police department to
operate and control the Village fire alarm systems
on a 24 hour basis from the police station instead of
the telephone office.
In the early 1950's, a radio communication sys-
tem was installed for operation between the police
station and police patrol cars. ,
Today, in 1977, under Chief of Police Harold
Brilliant, there are five steady and several part-time
police officers in service with several patrol cars.
THE VILLAGE SCHOOLS
~e Village ofWappingers Falls did not have
any schools before 1830. Mr. Benjamin Clapp, one of
the early settlers and a very ambitious man, thought
some provision should be made to educate the chil-
dren of the Village without going to the nearest
school district which was in Oak Grove, a distance of
about four miles. Mr. Clapp, at his own expense,
decided to build a two-room school on the land just
east of Market Street and supplied the teachers at
his own expense.
In 1835 a new school was constructed on the
corner of Church Street and West Main Street and
named the Ednam Village School. This school was
located on the west side of the Creek, in what was
known as Channingville, and was used for 21 years.
In 1845 the Village School District was divided
into two school districts with the west side of the
Creek, known as Channingville, named District No.
1 in the Town of Poughkeepsie and the east side
District No.2 in the Town ofWappingers. In 1866 a
new school was constructed on the corner of School
Street and Roy Avenue. This school was of two-story
brick construction with four classrooms on each floor
and an entrance on each side. The school was under
the supervision of Professor Edward M. Drake who
was principal for 39 years. When the Wappingers
School Districts were centralized, this school was
closed and the building was sold.
Two years earlier, in 1864, a new two-story brick
school building was constructed in District No.2, on
The first large brick eight-room
school building built in the Village
in 1864 on East AcademyStreet
and Mesier Avenue and known as
Union Free School District No.2,
which is now part of the Central
Dutchess Nursing Home.
66
the east side of the Creek. This building contained
four classrooms on each floor with an entrance on
each side of the building with a belfry on the left or
west side. It was constructed on the comer ofMesier
Avenue and East Academy Street. Both Districts'
No.1 and No.2 school buildings were similar in
appearance, and each school had a belfry with a
large bronze beU to summon the students to class.
Neither school had indoor toilets, electric lighting,
running drinking water or recreational rooms, but
were heated by steam heat in later years. The
District No.2 school was taught by seven female
teachers under the supervision of Professor Samuel
Mansfield. Most aU the students walked to and from
the school to their homes, twice each day. A 15
minute recess was held both morning and afternoon
for pupil recreation. Sports activities were un-
known.
After several decades of service as principal,
Professor Mansfield, who resided for many years in
a brick mansion on South Avenue, which was re-
cently dismantled for the New York Telephone Co.
building, was succeeded by a Professor Thomas
Lockhart in 1906 until 1909. Professor Lockhart
was a taU, thin man who was very strict in his
profession.
As no high school facilities were available in the
Village, and the grade school was overcrowded, the
School Board had plans drawn for a new two-story
and basement brick addition to be built on the west
front side of the old school building, and other
improvements were made to the old school halls and
entrances. A new forced, hot air heating and venti-
lating system was installed to replace the old steam
heating system and boiler. New indoor toilet facili-
ties with running water were installed in the base-
ment. The new addition contained two classrooms
on the first floor for grade students and two large
classrooms on the second floor for grade students
and two large classrooms on the second floor for the
first and second grade high school students. The
school was operated under the direction of Professor
Ballard from New Hamburg.
After Professor Ballard's short term in office, he
was succeeded in 1911 by Professor Pulling. During
his term of office, a fourth grade high school was
added.
Due to me steady increase in student enrollment,
the Board of Education found it necessary to con-
struct a second addition to the District No.2 School.
In the early 1920's plans were drawn for the addition
ofa two-story brick building on the north end of the
old school adjacent to Mesier Avenue. Also included
was a new one-story gymnasium and auditorium
extending from the new addition toward the west.
This was the first gymnasium and auditorium con-
The Wappingers Central School built in 1940.
67
structed in the school district which enabled the
students to participate in physical and dramatic
education.
A large and imposing entrance to me new high
school addition and the new auditorium was con-
structed on the east, or Mesier Avenue, side of the
new building. The west end of the auditorium was
equipped with stage and back drop with scenery and
curtain for dramatic work. In the rear, or entrance;
was a moving picture booth for movies or stage
lighting effects. This new auditorium was also a
great benefit to the Village people and organizations
for dramatic plays, dances and other activities.
Professor Pulling was succeeded as supervising
principal by Professor John B. Goff who came from
Tupper Lake, N ew York in 1933. During his term of
office, the high school grades had now doubled.
. In 1927 Miss Georgianna L. Gurney from Allston,
Massachusetts, came to the Wappingers High School
as teacher and later Vice Principal as Assistant to
Professor Goff.
In April 1936 Professor Goff was succeeded by
Professor Raymond L. Collins as supervising princi-
pal.
In 1940 the N ew York State Education Depart-
ment required that all school districts be centralized
with all classes from kindergarten to twelfth grade
located in the one building. This resulted in the
closing of the District No.1 grade school, the new
Wappingers High and grade school in District No. ~,
and all the small rural schools in the surrounding
districts including Hughsonville and New Ham-
burg.
The Board of Education purchased a large tract of
land adjoining the south end ofthe Village at Maple
Street and extending south to the Middlebush Road.
On this land was erected one ofthe largest and most
attractive school buildings for miles around, which
was the beginning of the huge Wappingers Central
School District.
A large garage and repair shop was also con-
structed to the west to care for the new school busses
which was also the start of the huge Wappingers
Central School busing system.
A large athletic and football field was also built,
and it, too, was the beginning of a football team, a
marching band, and other outdoor athletic activi-
ties.
This new school building of sturdy brick construc-
tion contained many classrooms, the school office,
manual training rooms and a large gymnasium.
Also, to the right of the main front entrance was a
large and beautiful auditorium completely equipped
with seating and a stage with a curtain and scenery
where shows and school activities could be pre-
sented. Over the main front entrance of the school
was constructed a brick tower with an open-face
clock facing the main drive from Remsen Avenue.
The Wappingers Central School District grew
very rapidly due to the construction of new homes
and apartment buildings in and around the terri-
tory.
Since 1940 there has been constructed a total of
14 new school buildings in the District. They com-
prise the original which is now known as the Junior
High School and was followed by the James S. Evans
School on Route 9 just outside the Village. On Myers
Corners Road was constructed the Myers Corners
School and the latest, Roy C. Ketcham High School.
In the Towns of Fishkill and East Fishkill are lo-
cated the Van Wyck and Fishkill Plains School and
south of Hopewell Junction is the Gayhead School;
south on Route 52 is the John Jay High School and
on Route 82, the Brinckerhoff School.
On the west side of the Creek, in the Town of
Poughkeepsie, was also constructed additional
schools, including the Sheafe Road School, Oak
Grove School, Vassar Road and Rimy Road Schools.
The creation of this large territory of schools
resulted in the establishment of a huge school bus
system for the daily transportation of thousands of
school students to and from their homes.
In 1940, when centralization was first estab-
lished in the new Wappingers Central School build-
ing on Remsen Avenue, the old high school buildings
on Mesier Avenue were closed. It remained idle for
a few years and was then sold to the General Case
Co. as a factory for the manufacture of jewelry and
eyeglass cases.
After several years of operation, this compRny
discontinued business and the buildings were ac-
quired by the Central Dutchess Nursing Home for
the care ofsick and elderly patients which is still in
operation in 1975.
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, located on
the west side of the Village on Clinton Street, estab-
lished and built a school under the direction of the
Rev. Cornelius V. Mahony in the latter part of the
19th century for the religious and scholastic educa-
tion of the Catholic children of the Village.
A two-story and basement brick building was
constructed just south of St. Mary's Church. The
first floor was made into an assembly hall or audito-
rium with a stage. The second floor contained four
school rooms supervised by the Sisters or Nuns of
the parish, who lived in the convent nearby and
taught up to the eighth grade of school.
In 1921, when the Rev. John P. Hines was pastor,
he enlarged the school and had modern plumbing
and running water installed.
When Father Hines passed away in 1925, he was
succeeded by the Rev. John J.Loughlin, who made
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many improvements to the church property. One of
the outstanding jobs was the building of a new 17
room, one-story modern brick school building and
auditorium which replaced the old structure on the
same grounds. The old school building had been torn
down, and the new school building continues to
educate pupils through the eighth grade, after which
they attend the local high school of the Central
School District.
THE WAPPINGER SAVINGS BANK
~e first Bank to serve the Village was the
Wappinger Savings Bank, which was incorporated
April 23, 1869. The organizational meetings were
held in the circulating library rooms, and the depos-
its were first accepted in the Sweet and Barlow
store.
The incorporators and first trustees were J. Nelson
Luckey, Irving Grinnell, Samuel Brown, Thomas J.
Jaycox, Elias Brown, Henry Mesier, Andrew Jack-
son, William B. Millard, Benjamin Clapp, A.W.
Armstrong, Rev. Dennis Sheehan, John R. Phillips,
Samuel W. Johnson, Josiah Faulkner, LT. Nichols,
J.D. Harcourt, Clayton E. Sweet, Edward M. Goring,
Abraham D. Smith, Henry Suydam, Francis Myers,
Z.V. Hasbrouck and Daniel McKinley.
The first officers were Samuel W. Johnson, Presi-
dent; LT. Nichols, first Vice President; Clayton E.
Sweet, Secretary and Treasurer. Mr. Johnson was
President ofthe Bank until his death on December
12, 1881, and was succeeded by W. Henry Reese,
who was elected January 6, 1882.
In 1871, two months before the Village was incor-
porated, the Bank location was moved to the first
floor of the south end of the three-story brick build-
ing on Mill Street, which was owned by the Garner
Print Works and which is now owned by the Town of
Wappinger. The amount of deposits of that time was
about $169,000 and the number of depositors was
about 700.
In 1877 when the Savings Bank, which had closed
its doors for a few years, was reorganized, W. Henry
Reese, the cashier of the institution, became the
Treasurer of the Wappinger Savings Bank and held
the position until May, when he was succeeded by
William A. Brewster, who was in turn succeeded by
Mr. Kenneth R. Van Voorhis as President.
During Mr. Van Voorhis' term of office, the Bank
acquired a plot ofland with a two-family house to the
north and adjoining the building in which they were
located. In 1956 the house was demolished and the
Bank constructed a modern brick one-story building
on the land for their new location. A large parking
lot was constructed at the rear of the building.
Mr. Kenneth Van Voorhis was succeeded by Mr.
Carlton Relyea who retired in 1975 who, in turn, was
succeeded by Mr. Anthony Silvestri.
In 1976 the Bank acquired the two residences
and land directly across Mill Street from the Bank
for additional parking space for their depositors.
The two houses were removed and the land was
blacktopped and laid out for parking.
In 1973 the Wappinger Savings Bank merged
with the Fishkill Savings Bank bringing together
two community banks with a tradition of thrift
dating back to 1857 and 1869 and merging to form
what is now known as the Mid-Hudson Savings
The Wappinger Savings Bank oc-
cupied the left first floor end from
1871 to 1956.
69
Bank. The Mid-Hudson Savings Bank expanded
very rapidly and within a few years has established
branch banking offices or buildings in Carmel, N.Y.,
Cold Spring, N.Y. and Hopewell Junction, N.Y., with
Mr. Robert N. Chambers as President.
Mr. Robert Montross, a native of the Village,
joined the Bank as a teller in 1952. On the merging
of the two Banks in 1973 Mr. Montross was named
Assistant Treasurer and in 1974 was appointed
Assistant Vice President. Mr. Montross was named,
manager of the Hopewell Junction Office in 1975
and retired from office in 1979.
THE NATIONAL BANK OF
WAPPINGERS FALLS
Prior to the early part of the 19th century, the
Village did not have a commercial bank for the
writing of checks and business loans. This business
had to be transacted with the commercial banks in
Poughkeepsie, which required a trip to the City.
Several of the businessmen ofthe Village decided
that a commercial bank was necessary in the Vil-
lage. On January 25, 1909 a charter was granted to
operate a bank to be known as the National Bank of
Wappingers Falls. The first bank office was located
in the left store of the two in the Sweet-Orr & Co.
building on Mill Street. The first President was Mr.
John C. DuBois, who operated a large general sup-
ply and grocery store and lived on the northeast
corner of East Main and North Remsen Avenue. Mr.
William Tanner was the Treasurer and his son, Mr.
Harold Tanner, was the bookkeeper.
. The Wappinger Savings
Bank Mill Street, con-
structed in 1956.
The bank soon outgrew the original headquar-
ters and in 1915 purchased and remodeled the old
Manning building across the street where the present
bank now stands. This two-story brick building was
one of the oldest in the Village, dating back to the
1860's. The second floor was occupied by the Fourth
Ward Social Club and the first floor by a newspaper
and tobacco shop on the east end and the H.C.
Sterling EngineeringCo., who had charge ofthe new
sewer and water installation throughout the Vil-
lage, had their office on the west end of the building.
Mr. Henry Baum operated a tavern in the west end
basement. The bank took over the entire first flqor
and remodeled it for their headquarters. The west
end basement was later occupied by several milk
dispensing companies, the first of which was the
Crowleys, followed in a few years by the Farmers Co-
Operative Milk Co. and last by Berry & Fries Milk
Co.
In 1928 the entire outside of the building was
renovated with the exception of the north side. The
old original brick building was covered on the three
outside walls with perma-stone masonry blocks, and
new two-story windows were installed as we see the
building today. The old slanted peaked roof was
replaced by an unseen flat roof. An ornamental two-
door main entrance was located on the front south-
east corner. The entire second floor was made into
four office rooms which were rented to other tenants.
The interior of the Bank was remodeled through-
out with grey marble trim around the interior out-
side wans and entrance. The grey marble was used
for the construction of the tellers openings and
partition and also the three depositors desks. A new
fireproof vault was installed in the tellers'location.
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70
This is the old Manning building on the corner of East Main and Mill Streets as it looked in 1915 when it was
purchased and remodeled by the National Bank ofWappingers Falls for their new banking headquarters. In
1928 the Bank completely remodeled the inside and exterior walls of the building as is seen today in 1977. On
the right rear is the three-story brick building owned by the Garner Print Works and occupied on the first floor
by the Wappinger Savings Bank. The building is now owned and occupied by the Town of Wappinger for
their offices. To the left is Gardiners Diner and the stone bridge garage which was partially removed for the
erection of the Central Hudson Gas & Electric Co. building and now owned and occupied by the Knights of
Columbus Lodge.
This new design of the bank building made an
outstanding improvement to the center of the Vil-
lage.
In 1953 the Bank purchased the plot ofIand with
the original historical house to the northofthe bank.
The old house was demolished and an addition was
erected on the bank. The remaining land was used
for parking space and for the new drive-in window
entrance. The basements were remodeled for direc-
tors' meeting room, storage space and for the new
drive-in window on the west end.
On June 6, 1958 the First National Bank of
Wappingers Falls merged with the First National
Bank of Poughkeepsie. Two years later the interior
of the Bank was again remodeled with the cashier
and business offices located in the new addition. The
tellers' windows and marble partition were moved
across the west end of the bank. A new glass
partition was installed in front of the vault.
Over the years of operation, the cashiers of the
National Bank ofWappingers Falls have been Wil- -
liam Tanner, Raymond DuBois, John Gilmore, James
Mitchell and Thomas Taylor, Jr. Under the new
bank name, the cashiers were Leonard Hall, Ed-
ward Craft and Donald Buck.
In 1961 the National Bank of Poughkeepsie with
its branches, including the Wappingers Falls Bank,
joined the Marine Midland Corporation of Buffalo,
New York. The bank is now known as the Marine
Midland Bank of Southeastern N ew York.
On March 28, 1965 a branch office ofthe bank was
opened in a new one-story brick masonry building
located on New Hackensack Road in the Imperial
Plaza. Two drive-in windows were installed on he
71
Marine Midland National Bank
north end ofthe Bank and rooms in the south end of
the building are rented to real estate and insurance
offices. The Bank is equipped with a twenty-four
hour Money-Matic outdoor office machine where
business can be transacted when the Bank is closed,
by depositors with the proper Master Charge Card.
ZION EPISCOPAL CHURCH
'Ihe first church to be built in the Village of
Wappingers Falls was the Zion Episcopal Church,
which was started in 1834 and completed in 1836. It
was built on land given for the church's erection by
Joanna and Matthew Mesier just southwest of the
Mesier Homestead and on the south side of the Old
Albany Post Road and to the front of the original
cemetery or burial grounds. This grave yard or
burial ground had been given by Nicholas Brewer
from the Brewers estate in 1747. It was part of the
land of over 700 acres purchased from the William
Skinner estate in 1746. Entrance to the burial
ground was originally by a footpath from Market
Street but after the building of the Zion Church,
entry was from the church grounds. Further de-
scription of this burial ground is related under the
Mesier family chapter.
Previous to this time, the nearest church to the
Village was a Methodist Episcopal Church built in
Middlebush, about 1 V2 miles from th e Village in the
latter part ofthe 1700's. Also, the Reformed Church
was built in New Hackensack about 1767.
The erection of the Zion Episcopal Church was
made possible by the work of Rev. George B. Andrews
and the interest of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Clapp,
who had settled in the Village a few years earlier.
They visited many other out-of-town and Connecti-
cut churches before the final plans were drawn and
contracts were completed for its erection. Mr. Ben-
jamin Clapp and his wife were one of the largest
contributors to the building fund, and it was Mrs.
Clapp who expressed the desire to name the new
church Zion and all others agreed with her. How-
ever, the largest contribution to the erection of this
church came from the Church ofthe Holy Trinity of
New York City.
The original church of Gothic design was approxi-
72
mately 40 feet wide and 60 feet long, constructed of
selected field stone masonry, with the main en-
trance and steeple facing the then Albany Post Road
and now East Main Street, at a cost of$3,810. The
stone for the building was furnished by Mr. Clapp
from his quarry near Fulton Street. Mr. Clapp
furnished the cornerstone, which was laid on No-
vember 1834. A finished basement under the church
provided space for the Sunday school. The original
windows of the church were of small plain
squareglass. During the early 1900's some of the
windows were replaced by beautiful cathedral leaded
glass windows depicting Bible scenes, which were
given in memory by church members for their de-
parted loved ones. Most all of the original windows
have been replaced by memorial windows.
In the year 1881 a new one-story parish house
building of frame construction was erected on e
southwest rear corner ofthe church for recreational
and social activities ofthe church and to contain the
Sunday school growth. The cost of this new parish
building was over $10,000, most of the money con-
tributed by the workers of the Dutchess and
Franklindale Works. In the early 1900's it was used
by several church organizations, on of which was a
young men's group named the Knights of Temper-
ance, who practiced drilling and athletic work in the
parish house under the direction of Captain William
Knichel and Robert Mitchell. Each member was
dressed in a dark blue military uniform and carried
a parade rifle when drilling and are shown in the
photograph on the following page. Back Row from
left are: William Kinescal, Captain; James Knight;
_;Miller Clearwater; Jack Henderson;
Frank Goring; Marlor Bacon; Robert Mitchell, As-
sistant. Second Row from left: Louis Fox;
Walter Herring; Peter Anthony; William Clearwater;
; Carlos Catizora. Front Row from left:
Robert Weisner; ; Frank Cuneo, and Jack
Suydam. They participated in several of the Memo-
rial Day parades in the Village. A church basketball
team was organized under the name of the Zion Co.,
who played basketball with out-of-town teams each
week at night before large crowds in the parish
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73
house, and who were considered champions at the
time.
The first Boy Scout Troop in the Village was
organized in the parish building in 1910 under the
leadership of Mr. Herbert Linge and Captain Wil-
liam Knichel as scout masters. The compiler of this
history was one of the first members. Several women's
societies and the church choirs also used the parish
house. A large addition built on the west end in the
early 1900' s was used for a stage with scenery for the
production of theatrical plays.
One of the many activities that was remembered
by the Sunday school pupils in the early 1900's was
at Christmas time. A few weeks before Christmas
the pupils would practice singing Christmas carols
which would be sung at the lighting of the Christmas
tree on stage in the parish house on Christmas Eve.
At that time, each Sunday school student was pre-
sented with a Christmas gift which he or she se-
lected from a list a few weeks earlier.
The tree was about 25 feet tall. As it was impos-
sible to transport and erect a tree of this size in a
building, a tree was made up by inserting live ever-
green branches into holes bored into a wooden pole
which was erected into a base with a mechanism
that was operated by hand so that the tree was
rotated for effects with the garlands of tinsel and
other tree decorations. It was an occasion to be
looked forward to by both old and young people of the
congregation. ,
During the early years, the church was heated by
large mott stoves and lighted by Bacon whale oil
lamps. These were replaced later by coal fired hot
air furnaces and lighted by hand by illuminating
coal gas from the gas mains of the old Dutchess
Bleachery gas plant. During the 1890's, the hot air
Zion Episcopal Church
furnaces were replaced by a steam boiler for circu-
lating steam through steel pipes along both sides of
the church and basement rooms.
Again in the 1920's steam radiators replaced the
steel pipe system from a new boiler using coal, which
was automatically fired and has since been replaced
by fuel oil, which is the present fuel. In 1910 the
church buildings were wired for electric service. The
three-light brass gas jet fixtures along each side of
the church were replaced by new pendant-type bronze
electric fixtures suspended on chains from the orna-
mental roof timbers and are still in use in the 1970's.
During the 1960's these fixtures were augmented by
a new system offlood lighting throughout the church
and especially around the altar arches and choir
sections.
The beautiful stone masonry steeple facing the
streets contains the main front entrance to the
church, accessible by a wide set of masonry 'steps.
Several feet above the entrance is a large open face
clock about five feet in diameter which was installed
in the early 1900's during the rectorship of Rev.
Prescot Evarts and has been seen and admired each
day by the hundreds of people traveling through the
Village. It was given in memory of Mrs. Fannie
Bowdoin and Mrs. Fanny Kingsford. Just above the
clock are louvered open windows on each ofthe four
sides of the steeple where the chimes and church
bells are located.
The first church bell to be installed in the belfry
was given by Mr. Reese of Philadelphia, father of Mr.
W.H. Reese and a son-in-law of Matthew Mesier, in
1838. It weighed 350 lbs. and was brought from
Spain. This bell was replaced in 1869 by a much
larger bell weighing 1,029Ibs., which was cast in the
Meneely foundry at Troy, New York and given by
Meredith Howland.
In 1910 the church received a memorial gift from
the George Bowdoin family of a new carillon of
English bells and a new large church bell, which
were installed in the belfry of the steeple. There are
14 bells in this carillon which are used as the church
chimes and are played at church services and can be
heard throughout the Village. The bell clappers are
activated by hand operation through levers from
below the belfry. These bells are also connected and
activated by the large outdoor steeple clock mecha-
nism to play the Westminster chimes every quarter
hour and the toll of the large bell each hour during
the day. These chime bells and clock have been
giving continuous service to the Village people for
the past 65 years and have been a great asset to them
as the bells or chimes can be heard at least a mile
around. The clock and chime bells are activated by
a weigh t driven mechanism also located in the tower.
The chimes that are heard each quarter hour are the
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same as those heard at the Westminster chimes in
Westminster Abbey in London, England, for several
hundred years and when originally installed in 1910
were the only chimes of its kind between New York
and Albany. A few people, when hearing the chimes
each hour, realized that the chimes send out a little
prayer, the wording of which follows:
Oh, Lord my God,
Be thou my Guide,
That by Thy aid,
No foot may slide.
A large and beautiful rectory was constructed on
the church grounds just to the south ofthe church in
1886 at a costof$13,000, which was very convenient
for the Rectors of the Church. It is a Victorian
structure with 18 rooms, four chimneys and eight
fireplaces.
Over the years since its construction, many other
structural changes have taken place to improve the
interior of the Church. When the church was first
erected, there was no organ for music and choir
accompaniment. The music was furnished by an
orchestra consisting of violin cellos, violins, flutes
and clarinets played by male church members lo-
cated in the choir 10ft or gallery at the front end of the
church.
The first organ, which replaced the orchestra,
was located in the gallery. It was a Jardine organ
made in New York City. It had six stops which
operated on four ranks of pipes enclosed in a ma-
hogany case. When this gallery was removed, it was
located on the first floor where it served the choir
unti11857 when it was replaced by a larger organ. A
wine glass pulpit, reached by a winding staircase,
was set against the reredos and towered above the
Holy Table. This remained until 1854, when an
Apsidal Chancel was provided.
A major architectural internal change took place
in 1869 with the building of a new choir chancel
complete with the high stone arches which produced
an interior cruciform effect. The choir, organ pipes
and organ were located within this new section.
. In 1909 a beautiful black walnut Rectors's stall
with appropriate inscriptions thereon was dedicated
to the memory of the late Rev. Henry Yates Satterlee,
a former rector of theChurch. The choir stalls and
organ facing were finished in black walnut to harmo-
nize with the new memorial.
In 1910the old organ, which was pumped by hand
operation, was replaced by a new electric-operated
organ which was considered to be the largest instru-
ment between New York and Albany. It has 1,885
pipes and is divided into the great organ with 19
registers; the sweet organ with 19 more; the choir
organ with 18 additional; the gallery organ with 15
more and the pedal organ with 16 more, making
altogether with the accessory registers, 96. The
organist, Henry E. Duncan, had the specifications
drawn up by the Austin Organ Co. of Hartford, CT.
The organ pipes are located on both sides ofthe choir
location and also in the gallery and are electrically
operated as well as the organ blower. Over the years
from its inception to the present time, many im-
provements and memorials, including the above,
have been made to the church which makes it one of
the outstanding buildings in the Village.
When the Mesier family gave the land for the
construction of the Zion Episcopal Church, it also
included a large tract ofland to the east ofthe church
which bordered the then Albany Post Road. This
land laid dormant for many years until a new street
was laid out from the front entrance of the church,
cutting through the tract ofland and bordering the
land on the south and was named Andrews Square;
no doubt in memory of Rev. George B. Andrews, the
first pastor of the new Zion Church. In the latter
part of the 19th century, a steel pipe fence with
wooden posts enclosed the church and rectory prop-
erty on the west side of Andrews Square terminating
at the gate entrance to the church. This gate was
originally made for the entrance to the Benjamin
, Clapp estate, now known as South Avenue and West
Academy Street. A large ornamental wooden gate
was mounted on two granite pillars about two feet
square, each surmounted by a round granite ball.
These two granite posts still remain as the entrance
to the church grounds. On the east Main Street side,
the church property was enclosed with an ornamen-
tal iron picket fence mounted on a stone wall sup-
port.
In the early 1900's the church societies con-
structed several tennis courts on the southwest
comer ofthe vacant land which became very popular
with the younger groups. In 1910, under the super-
vision of Dr. William Pott, the church decided to
improve this vacant land and make it into a part to
be known as Zion Park. A small piece of fenced-in
land along South Avenue and Andrews Place was
acquired from the Harcourt family and added to the
Park. Several trees were planted and the land was
landscaped with new shrubbery and grass, making
the new park a very attractive addition to the Vil-
lage. The tennis courts remained active until the
1950's when they were discontinued, and a parking
lot for church business and attendance was estab-
lished in their place.
In the early 1910' s the members ofthe tennis club
erected a one-story frame building on Andrews Place
and adjoining the tennis courts as a recreation
building and club house. After several years of
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operation, the wooden building was removed due to
deterioration.
When some of the streets in the Village were
renamed in the 1930's, the streetalongthe west side
of Zion Park known as Andrews Square was re-
named Satterlee Place, in memory ofthe Rev. Henry
Yates Satterlee, one of the first ministers of the
church. The street along the south side ofthe Park
was renamed Andrews Place, in memory ofthe Rev.'
George Andrews, one of the organizers and the first
minister of Zion Episcopal Church.
At the rear north side of the church was con-
structed a large wooden shed, called a horse shed. In
the early days, many of the parishioners drove to
church services in the horse-drawn carriages or
sleighs and drove their horses under the shed for
protection from rain and winter weather during the
church activities. This was a common practice of
most all of the early churches.
Between the church and the horse shed, the first
water reservoir was constructed in the Village for
fire protection. Water was pumped from the lower
Creek by a large steam pump furnished and oper-
ated by the Garner Print Works. This reservoir was
constructed of stone masonry above and below ground
and covered with a pitched circular wooden roof. It
supplied water mainly for fire protection and street
sprinkling through the main and business section of
the Village.
The most prominent members ofthe early church
were the Matthew Mesierfamily. Mr. Henry Mesier
was the first superintendent and taught a Bible
class as also did his brother Abram and his wife. His
sisters were constant and faithful workers in the
Sunday school. Mrs. Abram Mesier was connected
with the choir and was at one time the principal
singer.
Mr. Irving Grinnell, organizer of the Grinnell
Library, who lived on his estate north of New Ham-
burg, was also a very active member of the church.
In 1874 he built the gallery at the rear ofthe church.
He served in the vestry since 1875. Mr. Grinnell
served for years as superintendent of the Sunday
school, as head of the supplementary choir and lay
reader of the church. He greatly beautified the
edifice by having erected the stone arches in the
choir and chancel and inlaying the apse with mosaic.
He was never absent from a church service with the
exception ofa few times when he was snowbound on
his estate. He continued in the church work in all its
activities until he was 80 years old, when he con-
tracted a leg infection and passed away two years
later at age 82.
Mter the death of Mr. Grinnell's wife several
years before, he decided to pay a tribute to her
memory by the gift in the form of a set of beautiful
chimes placed in the belfry, which ring throughout
the Village each quarter hour.
William H. Reese served as Warden for 34 years
and was instrumental in building the Zion Memorial
Chapel at New Hamburg, where he served as lay
reader in charge of services for 16 years. The chapel
was builtin 1902 although a Sunday school had been
meeting in the hamlet since 1876. Six years after
building the Chapel, the property was conveyed to
the Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of Zion Episco-
pal Church in Wappingers Falls.
The church had its growth in the last quarter of
the 19th century when, large estates were estab-
lished around Hughsonville and New Hamburg.
Most of all, the owners and their families attended
Zion Church and could be seen each Sunday in their
carriages, with coachmen, driving to the church
services and taking their places in the family-owned
pews. This ear had changed since the breaking up of
the large estates. Since the construction of new
housing developments and individual homes, many
of the owners attend this church where all the pews
are now free.
Dr. Satterlee was succeeded by Dr. J. Nevett
Steele under whose direction the Rectory was built
in 1886.
There followed in order the Rev. Prescott Evarts,
Dr. William H. Pott, Rev. Gerald Cunningham and
Rev. Maxwell W. Rice who served for 27 years until
1945. Three post war Rectors came in rapid succes-
sion, the Rev. Oliver Carberry, the Rev. Richard L.
Harbour, and Rev. Jack Sharkey, who came to the
Zion Church in 1950.
Other rectors that followed over a shorter num-
ber of years were Rev. Alfred W. Whistler, Jr., Rev.
Philip M. Styles, Rev. Robert McGill, Rev. Alexander
Choates, Rev. Richard Donnelly and Rev. Michael
Weber.
The Church is one of the beauty spots in the
Hudson Valley, set as it is on a hill above the Village
across from Mesier Park, with the Homestead and
Grinnell Library on the Old Albany Post Road, now
East Main Street.
THE FRANKLINDALE
BAPTIST CHURCH
cr:ne first meeting house for the Baptist Religion
was built in Fishkill Plains in 1824 and from this
congregation emerged the first members to estab-
lish a Baptist Church in the Village.
When Mr. Benjamin Clapp moved his family to
the Village from New York City in 1828, he formed a
Union Sunday school which metin a partofa factory
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building he had completed. Mrs. Clapp established
a prayer meeting and in the year 1829, transferred
her membership from New York City to
Poughkeepsie. At this time, the Preacher Aaron
Perkins visited the Clapp family and would stay
overnight to preach in the schoolhouse.
In 1830 Elder Archibald Maclay visited the Vil-
lage and preached in the schoolhouse. He was so
pleased with the Village that he encouraged the
local Baptists to apply to the Home Mission Society
to sustain Baptist Service. An application was made
to the society and John Dowling was sent and
reported he had found several Baptist who, in turn,
promised to support a preacher if the Baptist mem-
bers would build a meeting house. In 1832 fire
destroyed the Clapp factory leaving this Sunday
school without a meeting place.
Mrs. Clapp still had a great desire to have a
Baptist church in the Village. In June 1838 the
small congregation, several of whom were from the
Fishkill Plains Church, met for the election of offic-
ers and the erection ofa building for a small church.
Mr. Clapp was elected as Clerk and in September of
that year he erected a small building for a church
which he gave to the congregation furnished, warmed
and lighted, at his expense. This building was first
used on November 13, 1838 and was used for nine
years.
In October 1843 Benjamin Clapp offered the
congregation a building lot and $1,000 to help in the
erection of a new meeting house to be known as the
Franklindale Baptist Church. This church of brick
masonry construction on a field stone masonry foun-
Baptist Church
dation is located on what is now known as the
northwest corner of Prospect Street and South Av-
enue with the main entrance on South Avenue. The
Church of Colonial design has a very high interior
ceiling with a gallery in the rear and is surrounded
on both sides with high cathedral glass windows.
The front entrance is surmounted by a wooden
steeple where a large church bell is located. Like all
churches in the early days, a long horse shed was
constructed on the north west corner ofthe ch urch on
a large plot of ground on the north side ofthe church,
under which the parishioners driving to church
could blanket and rest their horses during the church
services. Two large cisterns were located under-
ground on this lot to catch the rain water for fire
protection in that part of the Village.
Mr. Benjamin Clapp also installed the organ at
his expense in the Church.
The Church closed in'the late 1800's but was later
reopened and again closed in the 1920's due to lack
of a congregation.
In 1940 the Rev. Jamieson, a black preacher,
came to the Church with his large family and kept it
in operation until his death in 1952.
The Bethel Baptist Church took over operations
ofthe Church in January 7, 1967. Afterhavingmade
many repairs and alterations to me building, the
Church was dedicated in October 1967. The congre-
gation of black people, mostly living in Beacon, New
York, have taken a great interest in activities and
services of the Church.
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
In the year 1840 a survey was made at the
request of Mrs. J. Fisher Sheafe by the Rev. John D.
.Wells as to whether there were enough Presbyte-
rian parishioners in the vicinity for the establish-
ment of a Presbyterian Church. This survey re-
sulted in the forming of a congregation which held
its first services in a hall at the corner of Mill and
East Main Street.
Eight years later or in 1848, under the direction
of the North River Presbytery, a Church was orga-
nized as the First Presbyterian Church ofWappingers
Falls. In June ofthe same year, Mrs. Sheafe planned
the building ofa church of wood construction for the
congregation on Fulton Street at the foot of Prospect
Street, which they occupied for about 25 years. This
building,although remodeled several times by new
owners over the years, still remains and is occupied
by several apartments and families.
After a quarter of a century in this location, the
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congregation felt that they should have a new church
located on the Avenue in the upper section of the
Village, then known as Broadway and now South
Avenue. Land was purchased on the east side of
South A ven ue between East Prospect and EastAcad-
emy Street on which a new church and parsonage
were to be erected. Mrs. Sheafe contributed much
toward the construction of the new parsonage for the
minister which was completed in 1853. The congre-
gation had originally intended to build the new
church on the remaining land, but, finding it too
small, decided to purchase another lot a few blocks
further south on the corner of South Avenue and
Maple Street.
This new parsonage, now known as the Manse, is
of two-story, wooden frame construction of Colonial
design and still remains a Village landmark after its
124 years of service. During these years, modern
heating, new bathrooms with sanitary plumbing
and hot and cold running water have been installed.
In 1914 the parsonage was completely wired for
electric lighting and services. The Rev. Reuben
Frame was the first pastor to occupy the new parson-
age.
In 1872 the present church was built and dedi-
cated on July 25, 1872 with the Rev. Oliver A
Kinsbury as pastor. It is a very attractive church of
Gothic brick masonry construction with a high-
pitched slate roof and a front entrance on each side.
Over the right front entrance is a very tall slate
covered pointed steeple which adds much to the
attractiveness ofthe church. On the rear, adjcining
the Church, is the lecture room building for the
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Presbyterian Church
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Sunday School classes and meeting rooms. Mrs.
Sheafe contributed generously to the erection of this
new church building. To the rear or east of the
Church was constructed the customary long, horse
shed for the protection of the horses and carriages of
the out-of-town parishioners during the church ser-
vices. With the popularity of the automobile, the
horse shed was removed in the 1920's.
From 1848, when the church was first organized,
until 1900, there were 15 pastors who had served the
church at an average time of 3 1/2 years each. The
pastors who have served the church since 1900 are
as follows:
Rev. George H. Wallace
William Parker
Edward W. Bate
Irving D. Wildey
Ascot H.L. Mason, D.D.
E. Lansing Bennett
Irving M. Haynes
E. Bancroft Ackley
H. Howard Black
William E. Edwards
W. Harold Hunter
Robert E. Stover
1900 - 1906
1907 - 1914
1914 - 1919
1920 - 1920
1921 - 1924
1925 - 1926
1927 - 1937
1938 - 1942
1943 - 1961
1962 - 1968
1969 - 1974
1974 -
Many structural changes were made to the
church during the first half of the the 20th century.
In 1911 the first electric lighting system was in-
stalled, replacing the illuminating gas service that
had served for many years.
Due to the growth of the church and Sunday
school during Rev. Irving M. Haynes' pastorate, it
became apparent that more room was required for
church activities. In May of 1928 a building commit-
tee was appointed to plan and get information for the
excavation, finishing and furnishing of basement
rooms under the church for Sunday school rooms, a
dining room, kitchen, bathrooms and a new heating
system. Prior to this time, there was no excavated
basement except for a small excavated space for the
hot air furnaces and a coal bin. Thecompletion of
this work practically doubled the space for the Sun-
day school, church and social activities. A new
steam heating system was installed at this time
with a coal burning boiler, which was replaced in the
1930's with a new automatic oil burning boiler. A
few years later, the old hand-operated organ bellows
were replaced by an electric blower.
During Rev. H. Howard Black's pastorate, from
1943 to 1961, several major structural changes were
made to the church.
In 1947 plans were made for removing the flat
drop ceiling in the church and exposing the original
beamed ceiling. The dropped ceiling had been in-
78
stalled in the 1920's to conserve heat to better heat
the church in the winter. Anew lighting system with
ornamental iron lantern-type fixtures, given by sev-
eral families as memorials, was installed in the
church. The church was completely redecorated
throughout and carpet was installed on the aisles.
All the stained glass windows were reconstructed
and releaded for better weather protection.
In 1952 the high-tapered church spire was com-
pletely rebuilt with a new slate roof, due to deterio-
ration over the years.
In 1956, due to further church and Sunday school
growth, the congregation voted to build an addition
on the east side or rear of the church. It was of brick
masonry construction to correspond with the church
and with an excavated finished basement for Sun-
day school rooms. The first floor contained a new
south side entrance, halls and stairway and an
auditorium with a stage on the east end for the
production of shows and entertainment. This new
addition and auditorium was named the Wade Fel-
lowship Memorial Hall in memory of Mr. Charles
Wade, who was the superintendent of the Sunday
schooJ classes for several years. This new addition
provided much additional space for church activities
and expansion.
In 1959 a new and much larger church organ was
installed replacing the old organ, which had served
the church for over 87 years. This organ installation
required the rebuilding of the pulpit and choir loca-
tion as seen in the 1970's and has made a great
improvement to the church interior.
In March 1963 the parish purchased the house
and lot at 40 South Avenue, about 200 feet north of
the church, for further expansion. It is now used
partially as a new manse for the pastor. The old or
original manse built in 1853 was sold to a private
family about 1972.
In 1965 the church purchased a tract of un de vel-
oped land on the Myers Corners Road for future
church needs, but this has since been resold due to
change in plans.
In the late 1970's the church acquired the house
and lot adjoining the north side of the church prop-
erty for further expansion and land for additional
car parking.
During the early years of the present century the
church congregation has grown and has been very
active. The two largest societies in the early years
were the Ladies Aid Society and the Kings Daugh-
ters Society, both of which have contributed finan-
cial and social help to the church. In the later years,
the Ladies Aid Society ceased operation, but there
are other adult groups now operating as the Women's
Fellowship, the Men's Club and Couples Club and
several junior organizations.
The First Presbyterian Church, with its high,
peaked slate roof, its high, tapered slate covered
spire, the new Wade Fellowship Memorial Hall and
nicely landscaped grounds, is a great asset to the
beauty of South Avenue and the Village.
FIRST METHODIST CHURCH
~e First Methodist Church to be built in the
Village was on the west side of the Creek on a piece
of land given by John Givens in the hamlet of
Ednamville, to be named the Ednamville Methodist
Episcopal Church.
The Church was incorporated on November 18,
1845. Previous to this time, in 1829, a lot was
purchased in Middlebush about a mile south of the
Village by the parishioner,S for the erection of a small
church named the First Methodist Church, which
held services every two weeks under the preachers
Marvin Richardson and Mathias Mallison.
For seven years plans were under consideration
for a merger of the Ednamville and the Middlebush
Churches. In 1866 the Ednamville Church was sold.
In 1868 lots were purchased from the executors of
the Margaret Reese estate on the corner of Mesier
Av.enue and East Main Street, and plans were made
for the erection of a new church to be known as the
First Methodist Church. This land was formerly
part of the Mesier family acreage.
The church, as seen today, is of brick masonry
construction with a slate roof, wooden belfry and
basement for the Sunday school and was erected in
Methodist Church
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1869. A parsonage of similar design and brick
masonry construction was also erected the same
year close to the rear of the church. The Minister at
the time was Rev. Morehouse. The church was
dedicated on January 12, 1870 by Bishop Matthew
Simpson.
As was the custom in the early years, the church
constructed a long horse shed on a lot on the east side
ofMesier Avenue where the out-of-Village parishio-
ners could rest and blanket their horses from the
weather, during their church attendance.
The first church school was started in 1871 with
21 teachers and an average attendance of 117 pu-
pils. In 1910 a new organ with an electric operated
blower was installed and in 1912 a church bell was
presented to the church and installed in the belfry.
From 1948 to 1953 the church underwent a com-
plete renovation program under the direction of Rev.
Crabb. In 1955, due to the growth of the church and
Sunday school, a program was started to raise $40,000
for the erection of an addition between the rear
south end of the church and the rectory, with an
entrance on the east side. Construction of brick
masonry, similar to the church and rectory, for the
new addition was started in April 1956 and com-
pleted and consecrated on April 28, 1957. This new
addition provided several new Sunday school rooms,
a social hall, and the installation of a new kitchen in
the church basement.
Rev. Crabb was followed by Rev. Robert Meyer,
who was followed by the present minister, the Revl
William Waters.
ST. MARY'S
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
't. Mary's Roman Catholic Church was first
est~ished in the Village on the west side of the
creek, then known as Channingville, in the 1850's.
The original church building was constructed on a
large plot of ground with a cemetery in the rear on
Clinton Street.
The first pastor ofthe church was Father Brophy,
who carne to the Village in 1850. He was succeeded
in 1853 by the Rev. Dennis Sheehan, who was pastor
until his death in 1875. Rev. Charles M. O'Keefe
succeeded him and was pastor until 1885. He was
responsible for the construction ofthe new St. Mary's
Church as seen today.
The cornerstone for the new church was laid
September 27, 1877 by Cardinal McCloskey, who
sprinkled the stone with holy water and, with a
trowel, drew the sign ofthe cross three times on its
surface. The cornerstone contains a lead box in
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church
which newspapers of the day, assorted coins and
church records were placed for future records. The
new church is of English Gothic style, which pre-
vailedduringthe later part of the 13th century. !tis
a large church of brick masonry construction with
finely worked blue stone trimming and has a very
high and steep tapered slate roof.
On the northeast corner was the brick masonry
spire or steeple which was 145 feet high. In 1894, the
spire was struck by lightning creating a fire and
damage to the spire, which was later repaired and
the top replaced by a crown. From the front end of
the nave to the rear of the sanctuary, the church is
117 feet long with a clear width of 58 feet and has a
seating capacity ofl,OOO people. The belfry occupies
the upper story under the crown and is set offby four
brace red windows with ornamental glass. The cost
of building this new church was placed at $30,000,
which could not be duplicated today.
During this time, the different priests of the
church occupied a brick masonry two-story resi-
dence located directly to the rear ofthe church, and
the convent was located in a frame dwelling located
to the west, near Nelson Avenue.
Sunday, November 30, 1879 was a big day for the
church, the occasion being the blessing of the church
bell by Vicar General Quinn.
The Rev. Charles M. O'Keefe w"as succeeded by
the Rev. Cornelius V. Mahony, D.D., who carne to
the church in January 1885. During his pastorate,
the parochial school and auditorium was built just
east of the church.
The Rev. Charles F. Reid followed Dr. Mahony as
pastor, coming January 30, 1903, and was pastor
80
un til August 1915. During his pastorate a new two-
story brick masonry convent was constructed on the
south side of Convent Avenue, replacing the frame
structure on Nelson Avenue. Rev. Reid was followed
by Rev. James A Corridan in August, 1915. He had
the interior of the church redecorated and the grounds
beautified. He organized the Blue Cross Society in
the church during the First World War to aid the
soldiers. During his term as pastor, the beautiful
stone grotto was constructed between the church
and the school building. Father Corridan left the
church for a New York City pastorate in June 1921
and was replaced by the Rev. John P. Hines. During
Rev. Hines pastorate, an addition was made to the
west end of the school and auditorium building for
additional school rooms. He also had the entire
basement of this building excavated for the con-
struction of a new kitchen and large dining room to
accommodate church suppers and activities. New
lavatory and toilet facilities with modern plumbing
were also installed throughout the building.
The Rev. Father Hines passed away in 1925 and
was succeeded by the Rev. John J. Loughlin, who
carried out many improvements to the church prop-
erty. In the 1950's he conducted a million dollar
parish improvement and construction program to
the church property. A new altar was constructed
and a complete new electric wiring system with
pendant wrought iron lantern lightingfixtures were
installed. The interior ofthe church was completely
redecorated. The exterior of the church was com-
pletely sand blasted and repainted.
An automatic electric timing device was installed
in the pastors' room at the rear of the altar which
would toll the church bell in the belfry each morning,
noon and night. This would relieve the church
janitor ofthe job each day oftoIling the bell by hand
at the certain hour and for other church services.
One of Fr. Loughlin's outstanding improvements
was the building of a new one-story 17 room brick
masonry school building to replace the old two-story
school but retaining the auditorium and dining
room. The new school building was dedicated Sep-
tember 23, 1956 by Francis Cardinal Spellman, who
at that time announced the elevation of Father
Loughlin to a Monsignor. At this time a complete
modernization of the convent was also made.
On May 12, 1960 Monsignor Loughlin celebrated
his Golden Jubilee in the Holy Priesthood and was
further honored at that time by being elevated to
Prothonotary Apostolic which permitted him to per-
form the duties of a Bishop at least four times a year.
Ofhis 54 years in the priesthood, Monsignor Loughlin
spent 36 ofthem at St. Mary's. Monsignor Loughlin
died at the age of90 on November 17, 1964. The local
Knights of Columbus Lodge has named their lodge
room the "Monsignor Loughlin Memorial Hall" in
his memory. The Rev. Robert Rappleyea was ap-
pointed as administrator of St. Mary's as he had
served for several years under Monsignor Loughlin
as Assistant and Pastor.
In March 1965 the Right Rev. CharlesB. Brennan
was appointed as pastor of the church. During his
pastorate Monsignor Brennan completed the build-
ing of a new modem rectory to replace the old
rectory, which was built in the late 19th century. A
large area at the rear of the school was paved as a
parking lot for the parishioners.
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church is the largest
and only church in the Village located on the west
side ofthe creek, which was formerly the Village of
Channingville. The church property embraces sev-
eral acres of land which includes a large modern
cemetery and parking lots and is bounded by Pell
Street on the east, Clinton Street on the north,
Nelson Avenue on the west and an undeveloped
street known as Boundary Street on the south.
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church and its affili-
ated buildings and grounds are an outstanding asset
to the structural and religious life ofthe Village.
TRANSPORTATION
In the early and pioneering days, small hamlets
were established where water power was available
to operate saw and grist mills and later factories to
manufacture woolen and cotton goods. They were
also located on the navigable waterways, as a means
of transporting theirraw and manufactured materi-
als.
Such was the case of the Village ofWappingers
Falls, in Dutchess County, New York, at the begin-
ning of the 19th century, in locating on the
Wappingers Creek at the Falls for the power and the
lower Creek below the Falls, which was navigable
for two miles to the Hudson River and the N ew York
City and Albany markets. The original Dutchess
Print Works established in 1832 and the main con-
tributing factor of growth for the new Village was an
example ofthis location.
As the Village ofWappingers Falls was located on
the gorge and Falls ofWappingers Creek, in order to
take advantage of its water power, it was also at a
disadvantage when railroads were being constructed
throughout the country to improve the transporta-
tion of passengers and freight service to the other
small towns and hamlets. The Village ofWappingers
Falls was the only town in Dutchess County without
railroad tracks and railroad service, due perhaps to
its topographical location and, no doubt, would have
81
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become a large Village much faster had railroads
been built. Over the years, plans were proposed by
the N ew York Cen tral Railroad and Village officials
for the construction of a spur track along the
Wappingers Creek to the Dutchess Print Works, but
due to construction difficulties and expense involved,
construction was never undertaken.
For years this fast growing company used the
lower Wappingers Creek to transport the raw mate-
rials and the manufactured products by flat bottom
scows or boats, towed by a small tug boat to and from
New Hamburg on the Hudson River. There the
goods would be transferred to larger boats and, in
later years, to the Hudson River Railroad, which
was built in the 1840's. In the winter when the
Creek was frozen over, all these materials had to be
transported to and from New Hamburg by horse-
drawn sleighs over a road on the west side of the
Creek. A more direct road to New Hamburg along
the east shore of the Creek was not constructed until
the 1880's and was known as the New Hamburg
Road.
During the last half of the 19th century, most of
the wholesale and retail food companies were lo-
cated in Poughkeepsie, Newburgh and New York
City. Therefore, some means of transportation had
to be made to get the products to the Village. From
New York City, most merchandise was shipped to
New Hamburg by boat or railroad and had to be
transported by horse-drawn wagons or sleighs from
that point to the Village. All the United States mail
had to be transported to and from the Village to New
Hamburg via horse-drawn stages or sleighs, which
also conveyed passengers to and from the Hudson
River Railroad and boat landings at New Hamburg.
These horse-drawn wagons, called stages, were about
15 feet long with seating arrangements for about 10
passengers along each side of the stage, which was
entered by steps from the rear. The stage was
completely covered by a roof and surrounded by side
curtains for protection of passengers against the
cold and storms. For many years, near the turn into
the 20th century, these stages made several trips
each day through all kinds of weather. One of the
most prominent men who operated this service was
Mr. Frank Doxey, who maintained a large stable
and barns for the horses and stages in the alley off
South Avenue directly across from the Presbyterian
Church. Two other men who also operated this
service were Mr. Richard Clemens and Mr. Frank
Jazinsky. Mr. Doxey replaced the horse-drawn
stages about 1916 with a large motor stage with
cross seats. This was laterreplaced by regular motor
cars. The fare was twenty-five cents per passenger.
For many years a livery stable for the rental of
horses and carriages was established at the rear of
. - . ---- .---....-----.-,,---
the Sweet Orr Factory accessible by an alley from
the north side of East Main Street. This livery also
maintained the horse-drawn hearse and carriages
used by the two funeral directors or undertakers in
the Village during the late 19th and early 20th
century.
Horses and carriages with a driver were also
available for passengers meeting trains and boats at
New Hamburg. This livery stable was owned and
operated for many years by Mr. Willis Van Voorhis
and later by Mr. George Mabie. It was partially
destroyed by fire in 1927 and was discontinued.
For several years, near the turn of the 19th
century, the American Express Co. who was operat-
ing express train service for merchandise through-
out the country, maintained an express office in New
Hamburg. Daily from this office express merchan-
dise was delivered by a horse-drawn vehicle to stores
and homes in the Village. This horse-drawn vehicle
was replaced later by an auto truck and eventually
discontinued around the 1930's. For many years,
this office and delivery service was run by Mr. A
Edgar of New Hamburg.
Another means of transportation for passengers
and freight between the Village and Newburgh was
by steamboat, which docked at lower Market Street
on the lower Wappingers Creek. One of the first
boats to give this service was named the L.D. Black
in 1875. It was eventually replaced by a small
steamboat named the Messinger owned and oper-
ated by Mr. Frank Drake of New Hamburg.
About 1907 this boat was replaced by a larger
steamboat named the Petrel, which was own~d and
.operated by Mr. Arthur Connelly, who lived with his
family in the Village. The boats made two trips
daily, except Sunday, to Newburgh, stoppingenroute
to the small hamlets along the way to pick up or
discharge passengers or freight. This boat was also
used for recreation by the younger people of the
Village for moonlight sails on the Hudson River to
Kingston Point and for the transportation on Sun-
days for local baseball teams and their fans to local
towns and cities along the River for ball games. The
Petrel discontinued its service about 1925. In the
winter when the creek or river were frozen, Mr.
Connelly operated a horse-drawn wagon or sleigh to
and from Newburgh daily, except Sunday, to trans-
port merchandise only. This wagon was later re-
placed by a motor truck.
Previous to the 1800's the hamlet of New Ham-
burg was known as Wappingers Point, for the land-
ing of river boats. The railroad, known as the
Hudson River Railroad, was built in 1847 along the
east shore of the Hudson River between New York
City and Albany. It brought much business activity
to the small hamlet and created a rail depot for
82
passengers and freight service for the Village of
Wappingers Falls, which was located two miles to
the north on the Wappingers Creek.
During this same period, two horse-drawn stages
and express wagons were operating each work day
between the Village and the City of Poughkeepsie for
the transporting of passengers and merchandise.
They were enclosed with a roof and side curtain to
meet weather conditions, and each was owned and
operated by Mr. John J. Riley of the Village and Mr.
Gorman, who resided in Hughsonville.
The City of Poughkeepsie, which is eight miles
north of the village, is the county seat for Dutchess
County, where all the legal and land transactions
are recorded. It was also rapidly growing as a
business and professional center, which was attract-
ing the Village people eventually to its facilities, and
the only means of transportation was by horse-
drawn vehicles. In the 1890's the electric trolley car
system with steel rails was being used in all of the
cities for the mass transportation of passengers and
had been installed on the main streets of
Poughkeepsie by the Hinckley family. To afford
better and faster transportation between the City of
Poughkeepsie and the Village ofWappingers Falls,
the trolley company decided to extend the system to
the Village. The City of Poughkeepsie Trolley Sys-
tem and the New Wappingers Falls Branch, owned
and operated by the Hinckley family, who owned a
beautiful home in Poughkeepsie, were operated under
the name ofthe Poughkeepsie and Wappingers Falls
Electric Railway Co.
In 1894 the steel rails and necessary electric
wires were extended south on Market Street and
down the east side of Albany Post Road, or Route 9,
to the junction of East and West Main Streets on the
west side of the stone bridge. The tracks were laid
in the center of West Main Street in the Village,
terminating in front of the stores north of the East
Main Street intersection. About 1908 the tracks
were extended about 200 feet south on Givens Av-
enue terminating close to the sidewalk on the south-
east corner of the bridge adjacent to the Roy Drug
Store building. This chang~ eliminated the former
dangerous stop and muddy conditions of the road
and danger caused by the increasing auto and horse
and wagon traffic. The new trolley system afforded
better mail service and deliveries for the newspa-
pers to the Village. It also gave daily passenger
service every 40 minutes between 6:00 a.m. and
12:00 p.m. throughout the year at a price offifteen
cents each.
The trolley cars used for the first years were
small four wheeled cars and, during the late 1900's,
were replaced with much longer and heavier cars
mounted on two four-wheel trucks, which afforded a
much faster and smoother ride. They were heated in
winter with a coal-fired, forced hot air system.
This new trolley system made it very convenient
for the Village people to work or do business and seek
pleasure in the City, but at the same time diverted
retail business from the Village. The passenger
terminal in Poughkeepsie was at the junction- of
Market Street and Main Street in front of the
Dutchess County Court House.
This new trolley system also contributed a great
accommodation to the large estates and small homes
and farms along the Post Road, and also to the
people wishing to visit both the Wappingers and
Poughkeepsie rural cemeteries. Transfer tickets
were issued by the conductor for passengers to
transfer at no additional charge to the trolley system
running throughout the City. Plans were proposed
to extend the trolley system to New Hamburg and
Fishkill Landing but, due to the terrain and cost
involved, never materialized. '
About 1916 the State of New York planned to
pave with concrete the original Albany Post Road
through the Village, which was then a gravel road on
West Main Street, and East Main Street to the
Village line. The trolley company laid new wood ties
and rails in the center of West Main Street before the
new concrete pavement was laid.
. In 1928 New York State was planning to widen
and repave the Albany Post Road from Poughkeepsie
to Fishkill and in order to do so required the reloca-
tion of the trolley tracks. The automobile was
beginning to replace the trolley car systems with the
resulting loss of revenue.
The trolley company decided to sell its interest
and right-of-way alongthe Albany Post Road, known
as Route 9, to Wappingers Falls, to the County and
State interest. They replaced the trolley cars with
large buses which terminated their run on the east
side of the bridge at the corner of Market and
Franklin Streets. The bus system continued service
for several years and was discontinued in 1935. The
trolley track steel rails which were built into the
concrete pavement on West Main Street were later
covered by the state with a macadam pavement for
a smoother road.
The first taxi cab to operate in the Village was
about 1915 by two brothers, Frank and Harold
Dusenberry, who lived with their parents on a farm
outside the Village. It was a Franklin enclosed cab
car with an air cooled engine, not requiring water as
a coolant and was an attraction in the early days of
the automobile.
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THE WAPPINGERS
RURAL CEMETERY
~e first burial ground in the new hamlet of
Wappingers Creek, now Wappingers Falls, was a
flat piece of land located south and adjacent to the
Albany Post Road. It is located directly in the rear
ofthe Zion Episcopal Church, where many of the old-
grave stones are still to be seen.
The first white man to be buried here was
Adolphus Brewer, who was killed by lightning in
1742 when the land was part of about 700 acres
purchased from the William Skinner estate in 1746
by the two Brewer brothers. This large tract ofland
was later purchased by Peter Mesier when he carne
to the Hamlet from N ew York City in 1776 to escape
the British force when they took over the City. The
burial grounds and land for the building of Zion
Episcopal Church was given to the Church in 1834
by Joanna and Matthew Mesier, heirs of Peter Mesier.
The names of some ofthe early burials will be found
under the Mesier family chapter.
Mer the building of the Zion Episcopal Church,
it became apparent that burial space in the old
cemetery was rapidly being taken up and a new
cemetery would have to be established. The citizens
met at the Clinton Mill to find a suitable place for a
new cemetery. Officers were elected with James
Chase as President; Daniel Bloodgaval, Vice Presi-,
dent; Peter McKelly, Treasurer; and William Chase,
Secretary.
On September 27, 1849 a large tract of land of
several hundred acres was purchased for a new
cemetery to be known as the Wappingers Rural
Cemetery. It was located on the east side of the
Albany Post Road adjacent to the present north
Village line and extended eastward to the Wappingers
Lake. When this cemetery was first organized, it
was located north of and adjoining the hamlet of
Channingville on the west side .of the Creek in the
Town of Poughkeepsie, but now adjoins the Village
line of Wappingers Falls.
Gravel roads for carriages and gravel walks were
later constructed throughout the cemetery for ac-
cess to the burial plots. The main or carriage
entrance gate to the cemetery was located midway
along its length on the Post Road. It consisted of two
stone masonry posts with double ornamental iron
gates. In the early 1900's the Post Road side ofthe
cemetery was outlined with a galvanized steel pipe
fence mounted in locust wood posts. It was replaced
in later years, after deterioration, by a hedge which
has since been discontinued.
There are several beautiful and expensive memo-
rial gravestones erected throughout the cemetery.
Several of the older plots ofprominent families were
outlined with pipe borders mounted on marble or
granite posts.
During the years around 1900 a water system to
supply water for the convenience of plot owners was
installed under the ground surface and connected to
several above ground spigots for use during the
summer months. The water was obtained from an
artesian well located near the tool house by a wind-
mill-operated pump. This pump was later replaced
by connections to the Village water supply system.
In 1924, under the presidency of Mr. Lennox
Banks, a small chapel of stone masonry construction
was built just inside the main entrance to the cem-
Wappingers Rural Cemetery
Chapel
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etery. Its purpose was to be used when the family of
the deceased did not want the funeral service from
the house or church or when coming from out-of-
town locations. It is very attractive with its exterior
stone construction and interior design.
In 1961 all ofthe main roads in the cemetery were
paved with macadam or black-top to better accom-
modate the use of the automobile for funerals and
visitors. .
In April of 1971 the County of Dutchess pur-
chased a 50 grave plot of ground for the burial of
Veterans. An option was also taken on an additional
50 grave plot adjoining the original plot. This grave
site is located on the southwest comer of the cem-
etery adjacent to the Post Road, now known as Route
9D.
Since its founding in 1849, a period of 1 V4
centuries, the cemetery has been administered by a
very capable Board of Trustees and Superinten-
dents who have constantly made improvements to
the grounds by the planting of shrubs, flowers and
trees and the building of the Chapel. Several hun-
dred cars drive past the cemetery each day admiring
the beautiful, landscaped lawns and tall trees, and
it is considered one ofthe best kept cemeteries in the
County.
THE RESIDENTIAL AND BUSINESS
GROWTH OF THE NEW VILLAGE
men the Skinner family, the two Brewer
brothers, the Mesier family and Benjamin Clapp
family settled in the hamlet, which was then named
Wappinger Creek, the only road or street was the
Albany Post Road which passed through the hamlet
and crossed the Wappinger Creek just above the
falls on its way from N ew York City to Albany. A
road known as the Stoney Kill Road branched off to
the south in front of the Mesier Homestead and is
now named South Avenue.
These early settlers built a dirt road south from
the wooden bridge on the west bank of the Creek, in
which was located the first Dutchess Print Works,
the Hyper Mill and the first overall factory and what
is now named Givens Avenue. On the east end ofthe
wooden bridge, turning south along the east bank of
the falls and creek, a dirt road was constructed
leading to the original Red Grist Mill and later the
original Dutchess Print Works and the lower tide-
water Wappinger Creek. Thi s road, just below what
is now Fulton Street, was cut through a solid rock
Building on Market Street originally constructed by the Franklindale Co.
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hill so that the north or right side of the road was
separated and protected by a wooden picket fence by
a drop of about 100 feet into the south bank of the
lower creek gorge. This road was named Market
Street, and it became the center of the original
homes and businesses, several ofwhich still remain.
In 1844, when Benjamin Clapp built the Franklindale
Cotton Factory, Market Street was used as the main
entrance road to same, opposite Fulton Street. Sev-
eral houses and store$ were erected by the
Franklindale Co. for homes and stores for their
employees.
During the 1850's the Franklindale Cotton Fac-
tory Co. erected a long two-story frame building on
the west side of Market Street opposite Franklin
Street. Most of the first floor was occupied by the
Da wson General Store, in which the first Wappinger
Creek United States Post Office was located for
several years. The north end of this building housed
the Phillip Hoffman dry goods store, and the Boyle
Bros. Shoe Manufacturing and Repair Shop. All the
store windows were closed by wooden shutters dur-
ing nights and Sundays, as was the custom in those
days. The entire second floor contained apartments
for the factory employees.
On the east side of Market Street, the Dutchess
Prin t Works constructed two four-family, frame con-
struction houses for its employees. None of these
buildings had running water or bathrooms and all
water used had to be carried in pails from the public
pumps on the street. All of the above buildings and
several smaller ones were torn down and removed
when the Garner Print Works and Bleachery ac-
quired the property in 1908.
A large brick two-story building was constructed
by the Franklindale Co. along the rock cliffs on the
east side of Market Street which contained the
Harcourt General Store which sold groceries, kero-
sene oil, hardware, tools, feed and garden and farm
supplies and remained in business for many years,
until the late 1910's. They employed several em-
ployees and had a free delivery service to all their
customers. The remaining ground floor contained
three smaller stores and the Henry Clay Abel Gents
furnishing store. The second floor had several apart-
ments also for their employees. The entire second
floor of this building was destroyed by fire in the
1950's. The second floor remains were removed and
the first floor entirely roofed over. The building is
now occupied by McGoo's Tavern.
Nicholas and Adolphus Brewer constructed a
two-story frame house at the junction of the Albany
Post Road, now East Main Street, and Market Street
in the 1730's. It was later acquired by Abraham
Mesier and was occupied by several of the early
settlers including the Thomas B. Goelet family and
later the second floor was occupied by the original
Grinnell Library. This building was destroyed by
fire in 1892 and on its location was erected the Smith
building containing a long row of stores .on the first
floor and apartments on the second and third floors.
This building was also gutted and destroyed by fire
in 1959 and the remains demolishe'd and removed.
As was customary at that time, all the buildings
with store fronts on the east side of Market Street
had a shed or wooden awning built over the side-
walks as a protection against rain, snow storms and
the sun. It was possible for pedestrians and shop-
pers to walk from Franklin Street to East Main
Street protected from the w~ather.
Both the Dutchess Print Works and the
Franklindale Manufacturing Company had acquired
the habit of constructing their factory buildings
along side of or adjoining the rock cliffs of the ste~p
gorge of the creek to take advantage of the water
power available to operate their machinery. This
practice was also carried out in the location and
construction of some of their employee homes which
were constructed along the east side of Market
Street and just below Fulton Street in the 1850's.
Another example of this construction is the large
home built within 100 feet of the deep gorge on the
south side of Market Street just below Fulton Street
by the Dutchess Print Works. This house is so
located at the end of the deep gorge that it is the only
home in the Village where you can get a clear view
'of the gorge, the Falls, and the stone bridge from any
window on the north side of the home. This house
was occupied by the family of John Popper for over
85 years and is over 125 years old as are the other _
houses in this locality.
Also located adjacent and nearby to the Popper
House is the Cummings home and yard where the
old six-story fire alarm tower was located, the origi-
nal Garner Engine Co. Fire House, and the old
Dutchess Print Works office building now made into
apartments.
Another old and original street is Mill Street
running north from the Albany Post Road, now East
Main Street, towards Wappingers Lake. The
Franklindale Manufacturing Co. erected several
homes for their employees on both sides of the street
which are over 125 years old. At the end of Mill
Street, erected before 1867, was a small apartment
complex named Brick Row. This consisted of the
two-story brick buildings built parallel to each other
about 50 feet apart. Each unit contained four apart-
ments and was constructed by the old Clinton dale
Manufacturing Co. but in later years has been owned
and modernized by the families occupying them.
Quite a lot of coverage has been given to this
Market Street and Mill Street area because it was
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the birth place and original part of the Village and,
therefore, the most historical.
Previous to 1867,. there were no stores or build-
ings along the gorge north of the bridge on the
Albany Post Road, now named West Main Street. A
few decades later, several brick buildings were con-
structed along this block with the rear of the build-
ings extending down into the gorge to bedrock and
the street side built up to one and two stories. These
stores were very popular and busy in the 19th
century.
Previous to 1875 the section ofthe Village on the
east bank of the Creek was in the Town of Fishkill
and named Wappinger Creek and later Wappingers
Falls. The section on the west bank was in the Town
of Poughkeepsie and was first named Ednam and
was later named Channingville. On May 20, 1875
land was taken from the Town ofFishkill to form the
Town of Wappinger. The Town of Fish kill had been
divided before when, in 1829, a piece of land was
take to form a part of the Town of LaGrange. In 1849
it was divided again when the Town of East Fishkill
was born. The first supervisor of the Town of
W&ppinger was James A Seward, who served from
1875-1877.
The Town of Wappinger is bounded on the north
by the Town of LaGrange, east by Sprout Creek and
west by the Hudson River and Wappingers Creek.
The southern division follows the patent line of a
Verplanck survey and borders its parent Town of
Fishkill. When the Town of Wappinger was first
formed the meetings and all tax records were kept in
the homes of the Town Clerk and Tax Collector. In
the early 1900's, a Town Clerk's Office was estab-
lished on the second floor of the building in the
corner of East Main Street and Reservoir Place and
was later moved to a room on the second floor of the
building now owned by the Marine Midland Bank on
the corner of East Main Street and Mill Street. In
1956 t:he office was moved into the quarters vacated
by the Wappinger Savings Bank which they had
occupied since 1871 and were moving to their new
bank buildingjust completed next door. Afew years
later the Town of Wappinger purchased the three-
story brick building from the Wappingers Lodge of
Masons when they constructed their new lodge build-
ing on the Myers Corner Road. The entire building
is now occupied by the Town of Wappinger for offices
and meeting room space. This Town of Wappinger
building is also a Village landmark as it was con-
structed in the 1860's by the Garner Print Works.
They rented it out to several tenants over the years
until it was purchased by the Wappinger Lodge of
Masons about 1916, who remodeled the second and
third floors for their lodge rooms.
There are two other old landmarks in the center
of this area. One is the two-story frame building
located at the southeast corner of the stone bridge
which was built for the office of the Franklindale
Manufacturing Co. during the 1840's. After the
destruction by fire of this company in 1885 the
building was used as a rental office for its ~any
tenement houses by the Garner Print Works until
1910, when it was used as a club meeting room by the
offi~ials of the new Garner Print Works and Bleachery
until about 1918. For several years it was used as
the Village Police Station. It was later purchased by
Nestor Kelly, son of Thomas Kelly, who moved their
Kelly's Meat Market from its old and popular loca-
tion on West Main Street to this location.
Directly across the street near the northeast
corner of the bridge was erected a two-story and
basement brick building known as the Manning
Building where several ofthe older businesses were
located, during the 1850's. This building was pur-
chased in 1915 by the new National Bank of
Wappingers Falls who remodeled it for their new
bank headquarters. In 1928 the building was re-
modeled completely both on the interior and exte-
rior. The exterior was completely changed by a new
design of the three exterior walls by a veneer cover-
ing of perm as tone masonry as it is seen today. This
change has made an outstanding improvement to
this part of the business section of the Village.
Previous to 1867 there were no buildings on the
south side of East Main Street east of Market Street.
However, during the next decade several three-story
brick buildings containing stores on the ground floor
and apartments on the second and third floors were
constructed as we see them today. In the 1860's
there were no buildings on the north side of East
Main Street except the Eagle Foundry, which was
destroyed by fire in 1873 and never rebuilt. In its
place were constructed the four three-story brick
buildings occupied as new hotels of which the most
noted one was the Rush Hotel, operated by Mr.
George Rush and family. This hotel became very
popular for the visiting salesmen known as "drum-
mers" at the time who visited the Village to take
purchase orders for their wares and supplies from
the Village businessmen. This popular hotel closed
after the death of Mr. Rush about 1925. A few years
before its closing the hotel business was operated by
a Mr. Henderson. The building was taken over a few
years by a Board of Directors of the Garner Print
Works and Bleachery's Co-operative Partnership
Group for use as a club house and recreation center
for their employees. The building was later pur-
chased by the Shaker, Travis & Quinn plumbing
firm in Poughkeepsie for their local headquarters in
1927. They continued their business in this location
with several employees for 50 years when the local
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branch of the business was closed in 1977.
Just east of these hotel buildings was a lane
leading several hundred feet to a livery stable busi-
ness operated over several decades by different
owners until it was destroyed by fire in the late
1930's.
Adjacent to the east of this lane was a two-story
wooden frame building known as the Dr. Roe build-
ing and occupied on the ground floor for years by the _
Edward Smith Plumbing and Heating and Stove
Repair Store and the Harry Pettit Confectionery
Store.
The adjoining property was purchased in 1886 for
the new site of the Grinnell Library building.
A two-story brick building on the east side of Mill
Street just north of Albany Post Road is an old
landmark which was built in the 1850's. It was the
first permanent home of the Sweet On Overall
factory after it was first founded in the brick build-
ing on the north west corner ofthe stone bridge a year
earlier. They occupied the second floor of this build-
ingfor several years when expansion ofthe business
made it necessary for the company to erect a three-
story brick building on the east side of the original
building. Again in the 1890's this company con-
stru.:ted a new three-story brick building on the
northwest corner of their original building along
Mill Street as we see it in 1977. Since the closing of
the Sweet-On factory the above buildings have not
been occupied and used for any permanent time.
From the year 1836 to the year 1877 there were
five beautiful church buildings constructed in the
Village of different holy denominations which are
covered in other chapters.
On the west side of the creek there are several old
landmark buildings, the mo...t outstanding of which
is the wooden-frame building on the southwest cor-
ner of the stone bridge known as the old Roy Drug
Store. This building was constructed in 1824 by
George W. Brower. In 1848 the Roy family owned
the building and occupied the east half of the first
floor with a drug store until the 1920's when it was
sold to Joseph Appicella. It was continued as a drug
store under several other owners until about 1977,
when the Lamar Pharmacy moved to a new location
on the east side of the bridge.
The two-story brick building on the northwest
corner of the bridge was constructed in the late
View of East Main Street from Walker Hill showing building in 1913. At the left is the Garner Print Works
brick building now owned by the Town of Wappinger. Adjacent is one of the original Colonial homes built by
the Brewer Bros. Next is the original Manning building, now the Marine Midland Bank. Across East Main
Street is the original Franklindale Cotton Factory offi~e and across the street to the rear is the Smith Building
which was destroyed by fire in 1959.
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1860's. It was the first home of the Sweet-Orr
Overall Factory which started in business on the
second floor in 1871. For several decades lateritwas
still occupied by two stove sales and repair stores,
which also did plumbing and roof repair service,
until 1948, when it was occupied by a restaurant. In
1952 the building was purchased by the Popper
Electric Co., the owner of which is the compiler of
this history of the Village. The building was com-
pletely remodeled inside on all three floors, which
included a modem store window front, new lighting
and heating system and the entire outside of the
building painted white, which made a decided im-
provement to this part of the Village. The building
was used as a sales floor for all General Electric
home appliances and an electrical contracting busi-
ness from 1952 until the retirement of the owner in
March of 1973. This business, which was estab-
lished in April 1926 in the Dr. Roe building on East
Main Street for seven years, moved to me new
Central Hudson Building in 1934, and then to the
above renovated building in 1952. This company
brought business, to the Village and employed sev-
eralc:k~lL.-; P1 lployees for a total of 47 years.
Directly a"..oss the street was located the three-
story brick hotel building known as the Farmers and
Mechanics Hotel, owned and operated by Mr. John
Eagan in the 1860' s and in later years, known as the
Ryan Hotel. The hotel was discontinued in the
1950's and is now used for apartments on the second
and third floors and stores on the first floor.
Adjacent to the south of this Hotel on Givens
Avenue was erected the three-story brick building
known as the Eagan building. The south end of the
first floor was occupied for years by the M.J. Van
Anden Flour, Feed and Hay Company who rendered
free delivery service of its products throughout the
Village. This operation was a branch of the main
business, storehouse and office located on the rail-
road siding in New Hamburg and operated by M.J.
Van Anden who resided in that hamlet. The north-
ern end contained a blacksmith and wagon repair
shop. The second floor contained the Eagan Overall
Factory, and on the thir~ floor was located the
Wappingers Opera House where shows, plays, op-
eras and dances were held, and was very popular for
entertaining the people in the Village. In the later
years of the 1950's the first floor was leased to the
Popper Electric Co. as a warehouse for the storage of
appliances and as a garage for their trucks. The
second and third floors were occupied by the Dutchess
Frocks Dress Co. for over thirty years. The propri~
etor of this dress company was Murray Bauman,
who was also the owner of this building for many
years until it was sold to a recreational group for
offices, apartments and other recreational activities.
Another old landmark was the North American
Hotel located on the Albany Post Road at Clinton
Street. This old hotel was built during the 1820's by
Major Sargent and was the first and only hotel in the
Village for many years. It was later operated by
Joseph Blackburn who made several additions to it..
Later in the 1860's it was operated by Mr. Patrick
Kennedy. It was later purchased and operated by
the John J. O'Riley family at the turn ofthe century
until about the 1930's, when the comer property was
sold to an oil company for a service and gasoline
station. The old hotel building, barns and horse shed
were all removed from the property to accommodate
the new operations which, over the years, have not
been too successful because of the turnover of opera-
tions, and leases by several oil company operations.
Several smaller homes were built previous to
1867 in the several side streets branching off to the
west of the then named Albany Post Road in the
hamlet named at that time af Channingville. These
side streets were named ChurCh Street, West Street,
Boundary Street, Clinton Strel~, Center Street,
North Street and Cross Road, now named
DeLavergne Avenue. Boundary Street was never
used as a street with homes and was later acquired
by St. Mary's Church. School Street was the only
street on the east side ofthe Albany Post Road. The
people occupying these homes were mostly of Irish
descent -- many ofthe men of whom were employed
at the Dutchess Print Works and the Franklindale
Cotton Mill.
On the east bank of the creek, the hamlet was
known as Wappingers Falls. According to a map of
1867 the Albany Post Road crossing the bridge to the
east was named the Highland Turnpike and South
Avenue was named Broadway. The only other
streets in the Village were Market, Mill, High, Pros-
pect, and part of Fulton Street. The Dutchess Print
Works and the Franklindale Cotton Mill owned and
controlled most of the homes and the few stores on
the east side of Prospect Street and about ten homes
built along the east side of Broadway, now South
Avenue, were owned and occupied by the mercp,ants
and other officials of the Village. There were no
homes on streets now known as Academy,
Franklindale Avenue, Remsen and Mesier Avenue,
Park and Spring Streets.
BRIEF ACTIVITIES OF
THE INCORPORATED VILLAGE
~ to 1871 there were two separate Villages on
each bank ofthe creek, each controlled by a different
township. Wappingers Falls on the east bank was
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controlled by the Town ofFishkill and Channingville,
on the west bank, by the Town of Poughkeepsie. It
was decided by the people of the two Villages that
they should be united and incorporated under one
village and named Wappingers Falls.
On September 22, 1871 this was accomplished
and the new Village was encompassed in a territory
of about one mile square, with the creek the dividing
line between the Town of Poughkeepsie and the
Town of Fishkill. The ruling body of the newly
incorporated Village was established with a presi-
dent, three trustees, a secretary and treasurer. These
new officers were to control the Village streets and
the two fire departments, establish a police depart-
ment and water system for fire protection and handle
other matters relative to the Village. The first
president and trustees of the new, incorporated
Village were Matthew Cottam and trustees Samuel
Brown, Joseph D. Harcourt and R.W. Nelson. J.W.
Bartrum was Clerk of the Board. From 1873 until
1881 the following men served as president for one
or two year terms: Hugh Whitesell, A.R. Armstrong,
Elias Brown, Henry Hardgreaves, Edward Goring
and Nickolas V. Disbrow. J.W. Bartrum, George
Wood and B.J. Tinney each served as Clerk of the
Board during the same period.
Right after the incorporation of the Village in
1871 Mr. Benjamin Clapp sold his home on Henry
Street and 30 acres of land to the Garner Print
Works. This company cut up this land to create what
is now known as Franklindale Avenue, Clapp Av-
enue, West Academy Street, Fulton Street and West
Henry Street on which they built new homes to
house their employees. Approximately 30 two-fam-
ily homes were constructed on Franklindale Avenue
and 22 two-family houses on the other new streets.
Also on Dutchess Avenue and Dutchess Terrace 10
two-family houses were constructed, all of which
added to the development and increased the popula-
tion ofthe Village. On the west end ofFranklindale
Avenue, half ofthe houses were covered with corru-
gated sheet iron siding and roofing, and this section
was nicknamed "Iron Town".
Two new avenues were laid out and named Mesier
Avenue and Remsen Avenue, in memory of the
Mesierfamily and the Dr. Remsen family. Prospect,
Academy and Maple Streets were laid out and ex-
tended as we known them today. Many new large
and small homes were constructed on these new
streets which increased the Village population.
All the streets were not paved and were of gravel
construction. The only streets that were outlined
with blue stone curbs and gutters were East and
West Main Streets, Market Street, South Avenue,
Prospect Street and Academy Street. The only
paved sidewalks were those with blue stone flat
flagging laid on East and West Main Streets, part 'of
Market Street to Dutchess Print Works and part of
South Avenue.
"'::J Soon after the incorporation, the two fire compa-
nies came under the control of the Village. A new fire
protection water system with several fire hydrants
and a reservoir was built, and a highway and police
department were established. The Mesier Home-
- stead and land were purchased for a park, and the
new Grinnell Library had been constructed. The
electric trolley car transit system had been com-
pleted from Poughkeepsie to the Village, which
afforded better and faster transportation between
the village and the County Seat of Poughkeepsie for
business transactions, shopping and pleasure. These
accomplishments had all taken place just previous
to the close of the 19th century.
Going into the new 20th century, the Village
developed very rapidly with new stores, homes and
businesses. A new municipal electric power plant
was erected and used by the Village for complete
street lighting and business use on a limited or
night-only operation until 1910, when the plant was
sold to the new Garner Print Works and Bleachery
Electrical Division who furnished twenty-four hour
electric service. Previous to this time, the Main
Streets were lighted by a few illuminating gas lan-
terns. All of these subjects are covered in more detail
in separate chapters of this history.
Up to the 1890's most of the population of the
. Village were of English, Scotch and Irish descent.
Since that time, many Italian families from Italy
have immigrated to the Village and made it their
home. They were all a hard working and industrioUli
people who purchased and improved their proper-
ties, built new homes and established new busi-
nesses and professions.
One of the largest improvements made by the
Village Board was in 1914 when the taxpayers of the
Village voted to raise a bond issue of over $300,000
for the complete installation of a new, filtered water
and sewer system throughout the Village, details of
which are covered in other chapters. This new water
system replaced the old unfiltered and inadequate
water system which had been installed in the 1860's.
The new sewer system replaced the many unsanitary
and unsightly out-houses and septic tank systems
throughout the Village.
The Village, no doubt, attained its growth in
manufacturing and business in the first two decades
of the 20th century. The old and original Gamer
Print Works had been absorbed by the new Gamer
Print Works and Bleachery, which had just com-
pleted the construction of its four-story brick build-
ing for the processing of cloth products and was in
the process of rebuilding the old Gamer Print Works
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building on the south side of the creek. This new
company had completed the construction of its new
hydroelectric generating plant to supply electric
power to the new and old buildings of the complex.
They were also supplying twenty-four hour electric
service to the Village, Hughsonville and Chelsea for
the first time in history. Construction work for the
installation of the new nine-foot steel penstock for
the new hydroelectric power station had been com-
pleted during 1909 to 1910, employing many skilled
and common laborers. The local Sweet-On overall
factory was operating at full capacity employing
many, both female and male, in its operation.
From 1914 until the first World War ended in
1918, the old buildings of the former Gamer Print
Works was taken over and occupied for a few years
by the Standard Aniline Co. for the manufacture of
aniline dyes, as this country's supply had been cut
offfrom Germany due to the War. When the United
States entered the War in 1917, this company was
taken over by the National Aniline Chemical Com-
pany for the manufacture of explosive chemical
products. This new activity attracted many new
people and workers to the Village because the com-
pany was operating on a round-the-clock basis and
paying very high wages for that time. About six
months after the war ceased, this industry closed
down, and several of the older buildings had to be
destroyed due to the nature of the war operations.
The first road or street in the Village to be paved
was East and West Main Streets, which also was
known as the Albany Post Road and was controlled
by New York State. In 1916 the State, which was
paving the Albany Post Road with a new three-strip
concrete highway from Peeksill to Poughkeepsie,
continued this new paving through the Village. New
curbs and gutters were also installed. As horses and
wagons were still being used, the East and West
Main Street uphill sides ofthe new pavement were
laid-with a hard grooved brick to enable the horse's
shoes to grip the pavement on an uphill pull. A few
years later the State Highway Department covered
the entire concrete and brick pavement and the old
trolley car tracks with a ~acadam pavement.
Several months later the Dutchess County High-
way Department installed a concrete stirp of pave-
ment down South Avenue, which was a county road
and is now Route 9D, from the East Main Street
intersection to the Village line.
During the late 1920's, the Wappingers Falls
Chamber of Commerce members decided that the
entire Village should have new concrete curbs and
gutters and new concrete sidewalks on both sides of
each street in the Village. They promoted the idea,
and with the cooperation of the Village Board of
Trustees, plans were drawn, a bond issue was voted
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by the taxpayers and the new improvement was
carried to completion.
During the 1932 depression when projects were
needed to put men to work, the Village Board of
Trustees, under Mayor McCafferty's leadership,
made plans to pave every unpaved street in the
Village by using P.W.A funds set up by the U.S.
Government for creating jobs. A macadam pave-
ment was laid on all the remaining unpaved streets
throughout the village. These two large improve-
ments made Wappingers Falls the first and only
Village in Dutchess County with paved streets and
concrete sidewalks, curbs and gutters throughout
its main and back streets.
During the 1900's and 1910's the Village was
perhaps the shopping center for all the farms and
homes outside the Village. It had three drug stores,
each of which sold house paints and related products
in addition to their regular drugs, and two of which
had ice cream soda fountains; four bakeries, all of
which had daily home delivery services; three ice
cream parlors and confectionery stores which manu-
factured their own ice cream in several flavors;
twelve independently owned grocery stores, most of
which gave home delivery service and sold kerosene
oil for lamps and oil stoves in summer; four dry goods
and ladies apparel shops, and five men's furnishing
, shops; also three blacksmith shops for horseshoeing
and wagon repairs; three plumbing and roofing
shops where solid cast iron stoves for cooking and
heating purposes were also repaired; five butcher
markets, three of which rendered home delivery
service. In addition, there were four shoe stores, two
watch and clock repair shops, two coal dealers, one
newspaper and magazine shop, three milk dealers
who rendered daily delivery of dairy products to the
homes of several candy stores. Men's barber shops
numbered seven and ladies' millinery or hat shops
were four. There were three hotels on East Main
Street and two hotels on West Main Street in addi-
tion to twelve pubs or taverns in the Village. Also,
there were four cigar manufacturing shops and the
two banks.
i' For social and pleasure activities, the people of
the Village attended a large auditorium named the
Park Hall which had been erected in the 1890's on
Spring Street where the American Legion Hall is
now located. Shows, lectures, and weekly dances
were held and all were well attended. The first
moving pictures ever seen in the Village were shown
in this hall by itinerant companies about 1903.
Later, about 1914, the Park Hall was taken over by
the Rialto Theatre Company in Poughkeepsie and
remodeled into a moving picture theatre named the
Park Theatre for a week-day nightly showing of
silent moving pictures, all of which had a very good
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attendance. Later, about 1927, the theatre adapted
the new moving pictures with voice and sound which
had just been developed. The theatre was destroyed
in a spectacular fire which originated one evening in
the Mabie Livery Stable located to the north and
rear of the theatre and was never rebuilt.
The first moving picture theatre in the ViBage
was located on the east side of Market Street on the
first floor of the old Meyer three-story building next
door to the Cuneo ice cream and confectionery store
by a Mr. Godding, about 1907. Each night, two reels
of black and white silent moving pictures with writ-
ten captions, voice and description would be shown
for a price of twenty cents. In between the two reels
of pictures, colored slides of a song would be shown
accompanied by a piano and singer. The piano was
played during the showing of the movie for music.
After a few years' operation at this location, the
theatre was moved to the north side of East Main
Street on the first floor of the George Rush Hotel
building where it continued operation until about
1914. Vaudeville acts were featured on Friday and
Saturday nights as an added attraction.
In 1913 the O'Rourke family, consisting of the
father, William, and two sons, Thomas and John,
who were all carpenters and musicians, removed the
old antique house on the west side of West Main
Street about 100 feet north of East Main Street
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where they constructed a large one-story frame
building which was named the Academy of Music.
As the building was located on a side hiB, it was
accessible in the front by a series of wide concrete
steps. The main floor which was about 70 feet wide
and 60 feet deep was covered by a beautiful smooth
hard maple floor which made an excellent dance
floor and basketball court. At the west end or rear
was a raised floor where a stage with curtain for
plays and dressing rooms were located.
For several years after the Academy's construc-
tion, a basketball game and dance was held each
Friday night where the young ladies and men ofthe
ViBage and surrounding territory would meet to
view the basketball game and dance after the game
until midnight. It made a nice opportunity for young
people to meet and get acquainted with each other
and in many cases become married. The dance
music was provided by O'Rourke's Orchestra which
was composed of the two brothers, Thomas and
John, who played the coronet and violin'; their sis-
ter, Mary O'Rourke, the piano; William Sanders
Academy of Music
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playing the trombone and Vince Gilmore, the drums.
During this time there was much rivalry between
the two basketball teams of the Village and teams
from the nearby cities. One team named the Delphi
Club was sponsored by the local Delphi Club under
the managership of Robert Sadler and the second
team was named the S.W. Johnson Co. sponsored by
the S.W. Johnson Engine Co. No.2 under the man-
agement of William Sherman. For several years
these teams played against other outside-of-the-
Village teams at the Academy each week.
In the late 1920's the Academy of Music was
purchased by Philip Eisenberg who converted the
building into a movie theatre which was named the
Academy Theatre. The long concrete steps leading
to the entrance were replaced by a completely new
brick-faced entrance along the street as it is seen
today.
In the early 1930's at midnight, the Academy
Theatre was partially destroyed by fire. The re-
mains were taken over by a man from Pawling, New
York, and rebuilt. The former old frame walls and
wood floor were replaced by masonry construction,
and~the theatre was improved in design and appear-
ance. For several years it was well patronized each
night, including Sunday, under the management of
Joseph Fries, Jr. As television reception became
popular in the 1940's, attendance fell off at the
theatre and, eventually, the theatre closed down for
several years. About 1977 the theatre was pur-
chased by a group of theatrically minded people
named the County Players, who converted it for
their purpose in producing theatrical plays.
The first public garage in the Village was built by
Frank Dusenberry about 1910. It was a one-story,
frame building with concrete floor and was erected
on a plot of ground on East Main Street just east of
the New Wappingers Falls Post Office. This garage
installed the first curb mounted hand-operated gaso-
line pump in the Village. After a few years of
operation, the garage was removed for the construc-
tion of the new Dr. T.K. Cruse building.
The first gasoline dispensing service in the Vil-
lage was by the Roy Drug Store where gasoline was
stored in an outdoor metal tank located on a stone
foundation on the edge of the gorge in the rear ofthe
drug store building at the southwest comer of the
stone bridge. When an automobile required gaso-
line, it would be carried in an enclosed five-gallon
can from the storage tank and poured into the
automobile gas tank.
The second garage erected in the Village was in
the mid-1910's by George M. Currie who also oper-
ated the ice delivery business. This garage was a
one-story frame building with glass display win-
dows on the East Main Street side at the northeast
corner of the stone bridge. The building extended to
the rear about 100 feet and was occupied as a Ford
sales and service station until about 1928. Then the
property was sold to the Central Hudson Gas &
Electric Company which removed the front section
of the wooden building and erected the two-story
brick building now owned by the Knights ofColum-
bus Lodge.
The first automobile to appear in the Village was
a light run-a-bout, two-passenger car which was
owned and operated by Irving Ashworth, who was a
chemist for the Garner Print Works in 1903. He was
the son of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Ashworth, a promi-
nent man who owned and lived on a large estate
adjoining the Village and was chief chemist at the
Gamer Print Works.
Up until about 1928, all the traffic on the Albany
Post Road and Route 9D passed through the Village
which increased the congestion on the main busi-
ness streets. New York State, at that time, was
planning to construct a new three-strip concrete
highway along this section ofthe Albany Post Road
now known as Route 9 and planned to by-pass the
Village. The new by-pass road continued north from
East Main Street through the Ashworth property,
crossed the Wappingers Lake on a new steel bridge
and continued north to meet the original road at the
Vassar Road intersection. This proved to be an
excellent decision as the main streets ofthe Village
would be unable to handle the immense traffic of
today.
In the late 1930's, the Village Board decided to
rename some of the village streets and install new
street signs on every street comer in the Village.
They also gave new house, store and lot numbers to
every piece of property in the Village. This act was
very necessary as it assisted strangers and visitors
to the Village in locating their destination. It was
also a great convenience to the Post Office Depart-
ment when they instituted mail delivery service
throughout the Village in the 1940's.
Since its incorporation, the Village did not have
nor maintain a garbage or refuse pick-up system.
Duringthe early 1930's, the Village officials planned
a weekly pick-up system throughout the Village by
their regular employees and trucks of the highway
department, with the disposal of refuse in the old
stone quarry at the rear ofFranklindale Avenue. A
few years later, the Village Board constructed an
incinerator building and stack at the foot of
Franklindale Avenue fortheincineration of all refuse.
Due to much needed repairs and the pollution of air,
the incinerator was discontinued about 1945 and is
now idle. The Village then contracted out the pick-
up and disposal of refuse to private companies.
When the Village was first incorporated, the
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official board consisted of three trustees and a presi-
dent. In 1876 the number of trustees was increased
to six. This first full Board was comprised of John
Eagan, John O'Farrell, John H. Dakin, John R.
Barlow, George Smith and D.S. Dougherty. In the
1950's the Village was divided into three wards', and
two trustees were elected from each ward which
gave greaterrepresentation to the Village residents.
The Office of President was changed to the Office of
Mayor. The following is a list of Village residents
who served the Village as President or Mayor from
the 1900's to the present time. They are Arthur S.
Peacock; John W. Mullen; John W. MacDonald;
George W. Smith; Vincent Cashin; Dr. John T.
Hepworth ; James Temple; Joseph McCloskey; Peter
Furnari and Donald Synnett, several of which have
served several terms of office.
In the past twenty years, several small Memorial
Parks and playgrounds have been acquired by the
Village. The first and largest park is Brouthers
Field, the land of which was purchased in the 1960's
by the Wappingers Falls Lions Club from the George
Currie estate and presented to the Village for a
baseball park for the Little League Teams and
children of the Village. It is located on the west side
of South Mesier Avenue and adjoins the Wappingers
Lake on the west. This baseball field was dedicated
May 17, 1971 in memory of Dan Brouthers, a native
of the Village who became a champion batsman and
outstanding baseball player int he big league ball
teams in 1894-1896. Mr. Brouthers was born in
1858 and died in 1932. A granite stone was erected
on the field to his memory.
In the 1970's a small Memorial Park was built in
the small triangular shaped piece ofland bordering
Route 9 and the East Main Street intersection. It
was dedicated to the memory of Joseph McDonald,
who was lost in action in the Vietnam War. A large
rough stone with his name inscribed was erected in
the center of the memorial, flanked on each side by
three aluminum flag poles.
A baseball park and field dedicated to the memory
of Mayor James Temple was built at the junction of
lower Market Street and Dutchess Terrace in the
early 1970's. A large rough stone with his name
inscribed is mounted at the junction of the two
streets.
During the 1970's the Village laid out and devel-
oped a small park near West Henry Street and Clapp
Avenue to be known as Bain Park in honor of Mr.
Raymond Bain, a long-time member of the Village
Board.
On the west side of the Village a park and play-
ground for the children, to be known as Canale Park,
was located east of West Main Street near the
Village water supply system as a memorial to the
Canale Family.
Television for the home was being developed in
the late 1930's when World War II broke out in the
early 1940's and stopped the development and pro-
duction ofthis popular amusement. Production was
also stopped on washers, refrigerators and all other
small and major appliances.
After the war ended, production resumed on all
appliances and television reception for the home
became very popular. In order to receive television
reception from the transmitter stations, which at
that time were mostly located in New York City, a
person would have to install a large television an-
tenna on a high point or rQof of his house which was
not only expensive to install but was unsightly and
subject to all weather conditions, especially light-
ning. In some locations, especially in the valleys or
mountainous areas, reception was poor.
Cablevision from a central location was first
installed in the east side of the Village and Town of
Wappinger by a Beacon, New York company in the
early 1960' s from reception by their receiving towers
on Mount Beacon and transmitted to the homes by
cable wires, thereby eliminating the unsightly an-
tennas. The west side of the Village was later served
by Cablevision reception from a company servicing
the Town of Poughkeepsie.
Cablevision was a great improvement in the
reception of color television from greater distance
when it was introduced in the late 1960' s. Cablevision
service was available to the customers on a twenty-
four hour basis for a small charge of about seven
dollars a month.
In the 1970's the U.S. Cablevision Co. instituted
a new feature to its broadcasting by providing sport~
programs and long feature movies without interrup-
tion or any advertising on Channel 5, for an addi-
tional monthly charge. A special adapter kit would
be installed in the customer's home for this special
feature.
WAPPINGERS FALLS
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Tt.e Wappingers Falls Chamber of Commerce
was first organized in the Village in the decade of
1910 for the promotion of industrial and business
activities. For several years, its members worked to
plan a railroad spur from the New York Central
Railroad tracks in New Hamburg to the Village for
better transportation, but due to costs and difficul-
ties in construction, the plans never materialized.
In the 1930's the Chamber purchased several
acres ofland in the vicinity ofthe present Wappingers
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Junior High School building to attract and accom-
modate any future industrial companies that would
like to locate in the Village. Later, as an inducement
for an industrial unit to locate in the Village, the
Chamber agreed to construct the foundation and
first floor of an industrial building, which they did.
Later the deal was broken by the company and the
new construction work lay idle. This acreage and the
construction site was later acquired by the new
Wappingers Central School District, where the new
Central School was constructed.
During the 1930' s the Chamber became active in
promoting the installation of new concrete side-
walks and gutters throughout the entire Village and
macadamizing of all the Village streets, which was
eventually carried out by the Village Board of Trust-
ees.
When the Wappingers Chronicle discontinued
the publishingofits paper in 1941 the Village had no
local paper for publishing news items and advertis-
ing. In 1953 the Wappingers Falls Chamber of
Commerce made plans to publish a tabloid paper for
this purpose, bi-monthly, under the name of the
Wappingers Falls Shopper, which was to be mailed
to all Village residents. Mr. Herman Osten, an
active member ofthe Chamber and a resident ofthe
Village, was appointed to oversee and assume the
publication of the paper, which proved successful.
The following year Mr. Osten purchased the rights
to take over and publish the paper, which he has
continued over the years to the present time. From
this small start by the Chamber, the Wappingers
Falls Shopper has expanded over the years and is
now published under the name of the Wappingers
and Southern Dutchess News in its own and modern
building on East Main Street with two other weekly
papers, the Beacon Free Press and the Spackenkill
Sentinel.
.In the 1940's the Chamber was active in locating
the industrial firm of the General Case Co., manu-
facturers of eyeglass and jewelry cases, in the un-
used Wappingers High School building, which had
been vacated due to centralization and which they
purchased. Within a few years, the Case Company
discontin ued business and the buildings were sold to
the Central Dutchess Nursing Home, which is still
in operation.
In 1954 the Chamber voted to install overhead
Christmas lighting for the Christmas holiday sea--
son for East and West Main Streets from Spring
Street to above the Academy Theatre on West Main
Street. The expense of this project was collected by
the Chamber Committee from the business, offices,
banks and industrial firms of the Village and any
deficit was assumed by the Chamber. Lines of
wiring with colored lights and lighted ornaments
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were installed across the main streets at every light
pole which, when lighted at night, created the Christ-
mas spirit. This project was carried out each Christ-
mas Season for about 14 years under the Chairman-
ship of this writer and was a great credit to the
Chamber.
In the late 1970's the Chamber established an
office at 14 Mill Street for the transaction of Cham-
ber business.
The Chamber has been active in promoting other
improvements and activities throughout the Village
over the years, one of which is the improvement and
beautification of East Main Street and the Creek
gorge and the Falls by the Visual Environment
Committee. Several small trees have been planted
along both sides of East Main Street, greatly beau-
tifying the downtown area.
Under the Presidency of Mr. Norman N ussbickel,
who has been elected'for the past three year terms as
President, the Chamber membership has grown to
over 125 members, many of whom have businesses
in the Town of Wappinger and surrounding areas.
VILLAGE PHYSICIANS
Prior to the 1800's there are no records of
physicians living in or serving the Village. During
the early years, the physicians had their medical
offices in their homes, but in most cases travelled to
the patient's home as the patients had no means of
transportation to the physician's office. Most all
physicians maintained a horse and carriage with
stable at the rear of their homes for tr~velling to the
patient's home.
Dr. Peter D. Schenck is believed to have been the
first physician to locate in Wappingers Falls. He
was the son of Paul Schenck, an early merchant in
Poughkeepsie and a deputy to the third Provincial
Congress from this County in 1776. Dr. Schenck had
previously practiced in Fishkill whence he returned
to the Village in 1820. He was a distinguished
physician and continued practice here until his
death about 1840.
Dr. Cornelius Remsen was the next physician to
locate here. He was born in Newton, LJ. on Febru-
ary 14, 1789 and moved to Fishkill in 1804 for the
purpose of studying medicine, living with his uncles,
Peter, James and Thomas Osborn, three bachelor
brothers living about three miles north of Fishkill.
He pursued his medical studies with Dr. Barton
White of Fishkill before locating in Wappingers
Falls. He served in the U,S. Army during the War of
1812. .
In 1822 he purchased a farm of 66 acres, on which
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was built a stone house, from Edward Churchel, who
previously purchased from Nicholas Brewer, an early
settler. This farm and house was located around
what is known now as South Avenue at the south
end ofthe Village. Dr. Remsen laterremoved the old
stone house and built a fine frame house for his
residence. Dr. Charles Bottsford from Connecticut
located in the Village soon after the death of Dr.
Schenck about 1840. He was a highly respected
physician and practiced here for some years until
incapacitated by sickness, when he returned to Con-
necticut, where he died.
William Baxter, who was born in Delhi in 1805,
was a graduate of Union College and the College of
Physicians and Law Regions in New York City in
1833. About 1837 he moved to the Village, where he
practiced until his death in 1875.
Benjamin Colt, who came from the east, practiced
in the Village for a few years about 1845 and moved
to California.
William H. Proal was practicing here in 1847 and
continued until his death in 1854 at the age of 36
years.
Dr. James M. Cosgrove, who was born in Ja-
maica, West Indies in 1841, studied medicine with
Dr. ElIot Boyd ofN ew York and moved to Wappingers
Falls in 1857.
Dr. William Baxter, Jr., the son of the early
physician in the Village in 1837 to 1875, was born in
Wappingers Falls in 1848: He studied medicine
wi th his father and was licensed by the Homeopathic'
Medical Society of Dutchess County in 1871, in
which year he commenced practice in the Village.
Dr. Baxter had his office and resided with his wife
in the beautiful old mansion on Andrew Place. They
had one daughter, Elizabeth, who married Mr.
Winfield Beasley in 1920. Mr. Beasley was then
General Manager ofthe Dutchess Bleachery. They
made their home with Dr. and Mrs. Baxter, who also
had a son, William Baxter; Jr., who operated a
newspaper depot and bicycle shop in the Young
building on Mill Street. Later, about 1915, he
operated a job printing office on the second floor of
the building on East Main Street and Reservoir
Place.
Dr. Nathanial M. Van Dusen was born in
Cornwall, Orange County, in 1820. In 1854, after
serving two years as surgeon for the Collins Line of
steamships between New York and Liverpool, En-
gland, he established himself in practice in
Hughsonville, whence he re-moved to the Village
about 1873.
One of the most prominent physicians and sur-
geons who located in the Village in 1875 was Dr.
Thomas K. Cruse. Dr. Cruse was born in Baltimore,
Maryland in 1849. He graduated from the College of
the City of New York in 1868 with a degree of A.M.
He served for several years in New York City hospi-
tals. Afterwards, he spent a year of study in London,
Paris and Berlin. In 1874 he accepted an appoint-
ment as surgeon in a White Star Line Transatlantic
steamship and later established a practice in
Tarrytown, New York. In 1878 he removed thence to
Wappingers Falls until his death in the 1920's. Dr.
Cruse located his office and apartment on the entire
second floor of the three-story brick building on Mill
Street, now owned and occupied by the Town of
Wappinger. About 1915 Dr. Cruse constructed a
two-story building on the corner of South Avenue
and East Main Street, which was later torn down for
the construction of the present U.S. Post Office
building. He moved his office and apartment from
the Mill Street location to the entire second floor of
his new building on South Avenue. Dr. Cruse was a
popular physician and surgeon and had a large
practice in the vicinity. He was noted for his visits
to patient's homes by riding and driving a two-wheel
horse drawn carriage.
At the time of 1882, the physicians in the Village
were Dr. James M. Cosgrove, Dr. William Baxter,
Jr., Dr. S. Rose, Jr., Dr. N.M. VanDuser, Dr. Thomas
K Cruse, Dr. Edmund Van Wyck, Dr. Isaac M.
Cornell and Dr. Thomas Birdsall.
Other prominent physicians before and after the
turn into the 20th Century were Dr. George A. Van
Wagner, with office and home located on Park Street.
The Van Wagners had a son, Ernest, who became a
detective and high ranking officer in the New York
City Police Department for 36 years and who later
wrote a book on his experiences in this work, whi~h
was highly accepted. Dr. and Mrs. Van Wagner had
a bad experience on January 3, 1904, when their
house and office was gutted by fire from the Hall
house next door, which burned to the ground on a
very cold Sunday morning. After their house was
rebuilt in the spring, the Van Wagners continued to
live there until they passed away.
Another popular physician was Dr. Isaac M.
Cornell who made his home and office on South
Avenuejust one house north ofW est Academy Street.
Dr. and Mrs. Cornell had one son, Martense Cornell,
who later married and served on the Board of Trust-
ees of Grinnell Libraryand the Presbyterian Church
for several years. Mrs. Cornell was the organist in
the Presbyterian Church for several years.
Another prominent doctor of medicine at this
time was a Dr. Phinney, who owned a large home
and estate on Moran Avenue and East Main Street.
He maintained a doctor's office in a small building at
the entrance to the estate at the junctions of the
above roads which was torn down when the State
rebuilt Route 9 in the Village. Dr. Phinney died
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about 1913. His home was occupied during the first
World War by Dr. Wallock, a Swiss chemist who
came to the Village as General Manager of the
National Aniline and Chemical Co. Dr. Wallock left
the Village after the end of the war and the home was
occupied by several restaurants or night clubs. The
large home was later demolished and the property
sold to a realty company on which was constructed
the present Imperial Plaza.
Dr. William E. Garlick was another very popular
physician coming to the Village in the early 1900's.
He was born in Dover, New Hampshire in 1882, the
son of William B. Garlick and Elizabeth Entwistle
Garlick. He graduated in 1904 from the Albany
Medical College. He came to the Village and opened
his office on the second floor apartment on the west
end ofthe Grinnell Library. He made his first calls
to patients by horse and carriage, which was driven
by a coachman, Mr. Louis Anthony.
When the automobile became more dependable
and popular, Dr. Garlick was the first doctor in the
Village to change over from the horse and carriage to
the automobile on visits to his patients, with Mr.
Anthony as his chauffeur.
In 1910, Dr. Garlick married Miss Lydia H. Booth,
the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Booth. Mr.
Booth was the superintendent ofthe engraving shop
at the Dutchess Print Works. Dr. and Mrs. Garlick
made their first home and his office in the large
residence at the northeast comer of South Avenue
and East Academy Street. A few years later they
moved to the former Benjamin Clapp home at the
end of East Henry Street. A few years later the
Garlicks purchased the former Dr. Remsen estate,
named the "Maples", from the George Wood estate
on the west side of South Avenue, where they made
their home and his office for several years, until his
death in 1957.
The Garlicks had one son, Dr. Willaim Booth
GarlIck, and one daughter, Gloria Booth Garlick,
who married William F. Bogle, all of whom are now
living in Poughkeepsie.
Dr. Garlick was President of the Board of Direc-
tors of the National Bank of Wappingers Falls for
several years, and President of the Board of Trust-
ees of the First Presbyterian Church. He was a
member ofthe Dutchess Golf and Tennis Club, the
Lake Placid Club and was health officerforthe Town
ofWappingers for several years. Dr. Garlick was a
member of the N ew York State American Medical
Association and, at one time, the Chief of Staff of
Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie. Dr.
Garlick was buried in the Wappingers Rural Cem-
etery .
During this same time, Dr. Paul V. Winslow, a
medical doctor, came to the Village and set up an
office and residence for his family on Park Street,
just east of Park Avenue. About 1915, he moved out
of town to a new location.
Another very prominent doctor who came to the
Village in the early 1900's was Dr. Robert Hunting
Breed, a very capable physician and surgeon from
Cornwall, N ew York. He was one of the first doctors,
as was Dr. Garlick, to use an automobile for calling
on patients, and employed Mr. Peter Anthony, a
brother of Mr. Louis Anthony, who was the chauf-
feur for Dr. Garlick, as a chauffeur for his car.
Dr. Breed served on the surgical staff of Vassar
Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie and Highland
Hospital in Beacon, New York, for many years.
During the First World War in 1914, Dr. Breed was
the attending physician in the private hospital set
up on the property of the National Aniline and
Chemical Company in the former Dutchess Print
Works. In the manufacture of its dye products and
munitions products, many ofthe employees became
ill with a poison rash on the skin of their bodies,
which Dr. Breed treated at the hospital. This was
also the time ofthe severe flu epidemic in 1918, when
Dr. Breed and other doctors worked night and day to
treat the affected patients.
In October 1910, Dr. Breed married Miss Edna
Estella Roy, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James S.
Roy of Academy Street in the Village, in the Zion
Episcopal Church. Mr. Roy was one of the propri-
etors of Roys Pharmacy and served as President of
the Village Board of Trustees.
They made their home and his offices on Andrew
Place in the Village. Dr. and Mrs. Breed had two
sons, Dr. James R. Breed, who is a prominent phy-
sician and surgeon with offices and home in
Poughkeepsie and serves on the staff of Vassar
Brothers Hospital. Also, Robert Breed resides in
Poughkeepsie.
During the 1910's and early 20's, a very popular
and capable physician and surgeon named Dr. Ralph
Hoyt, with office and home in Fishkill Village, made
house calls by appointment to his patients in the
Village ofWappingers Falls. In the earlier years, he
made his house calls by horse and carriage with a
driver, which was later replaced by a motor car with
the same chauffeur. Dr. Hoyt built a beautiful brick
house on the east side of the Fishkill-Beacon Road,
where he and his new bride lived for several years.
After his death, the home was dismantled to make
way for the new Fishkill Village Shopping Center,
where Barkers' Department Store is now located.
At the end of World War I or early 1920's, a
prominent physician, Dr. F.S. O'Brien, who had
served in the U.S. Army as First Lieutenant in the
Medical Corp., came to the Village to set up an office
on the second floor of the AS. Hunt building on East
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Main Street, for the practice of medicine and a
residence on Park Street, which had been vacated by
Dr. Winslow. After several years, or about 1933, fire
destroyed the entire wooden building with the loss of
his office. Dr. O'Brien purchased the remaining
building and land and on it constructed a new one-
story building of brick construction for his medical
practice and office, which still stands today.
Dr. O'Brien was appointed to the U.S. Board of
Pension Examiners for the Poughkeepsie District by
Washington. This position required a man ofmedi-
cal ability and preferably an ex-serviceman, in which
Dr. O'Brien was well qualified. He received his
medical education at the University of Michigan
after which he served an internship at the General
Hospital of Buffalo. Dr. O'Brien was a very promi-
nent and popular medical doctor in the Village for
several years.
Dr. James Kerrigan, a specialist on the eyes, ears
and throat, came to the Village during the early
1930's. He purchased the large home, formerly
owned by the John Bogle family on the southwest
corner of South Avenue and Prospect Street, where
he and Mrs. Kerrigan made their home and medical
offices. They were both connected with Vassar
Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie. Mrs. Kerrigan
was a trained nurse and served one year as Presi-
dent of Vassar Hospital Training School-Alumni
Association. Dr. Kerrigan was a very popular phy-
sician in treating his specialties, serving the Village
and surrounding territory for many years, until his
death in the 1960's. Mrs. Kerrigan still maintains
her home at the South Avenue residence, which is
one of the oldest and most attractive in the Village.
Dr. Paul Jacobson, who fled from Germany dur-
ingthe Second World War, came to the Village with
his wife in the 1940's. He set up a medical practice
in an office on South Avenue, south of East Academy
Street and, after a few years, purchased the brick
residence across from the First Presbyterian Church
from the Conrad Stripple estate, where he and Mrs.
Jacobson made their home and office for many years.
He became a very popular and well liked physician,
serving the community until ill health forced his
retirement in the early 60's. Dr. and Mrs. Jacobson
had one son, Franklin, who was musically inclined
and left. the Village at an early age. Dr. Jacobson
passed away in the late 1960's.
In the 1940's Dr. Chester Golding came to the
Village as a practicing physician, settingup his office
and home with Mrs. Golding on Mill Street. A few
years later, they purchased the former Blythe resi-
dence on the northeast corner of East Main Street
and Mesier Avenue, where they established their
home and office up to the present time. Dr. Golding
served several years as a Dutchess County Coroner
.....
and as Director in the Wappinger Savings Bank.
Also at this time, two new physicians came to the
Village for the practice of medicine. They were Dr.
Gordon Brannan and his wife, Dr. Winona Brannan,
who made their first home and office in the
VanDeWater home on South Avenue. A few years
later, the Brannans constructed a new modern home
outside the Village near Osborn Hill Road in the
Town of Wappinger and expanded the South Avenue
Medical offices.
In the late 1960's Dr. Chester Golding combined
his office and practice with the two Drs. Brannan to
form the Wappingers Medical Group. A large one-
story frame addition was ere.cted on the southside of
the Brannans' medical office on South Avenue to
form a much larger and modem medical office with
several nurses in attendance.
Also, during the 1940 decade, two new physicians
located in the Village. Dr. William Abruzzi, who had
served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, opened
a new office on East Main Street for the practice of
medicine. In the 1960's Dr. Abruzzi became associ-
ated with several "Rock and Roll" groups as a physi-
cian for the treatment of drugs during their get-
togethers and yearly conventions. Dr. and Mrs.
Abruzzi made their home in a new residence in the
Town of Wappinger on Fenmore Drive. Dr. Abruzzi
retired from practice during the late 1960's.
The other physician was Dr. Albert R. Scafuri
who, with Mrs. Scafuri, located his home and office
.on the west side ofMesier Avenue in the Village. Dr.
Scafuri, who in the last several years, specialized in
certain types of service, is still active as a physician.
Duringthe 1970 decade, the Village ofw appingers
Falls could use the services of additional physicians, .
as the population in and outside the Village has
increased considerably. There are only two active
physicians in the Wappingers Medical Group to care
for this increased population, whereas at the turn of
the 20th Century, there were at least six physicians
for treating a smaller population.
VILLAGE LAWYERS
~e first lawyer to locate in the Village was
John W. Bartrum, who was born in Unionvale,
Dutchess County, on December 25, 1843. He gradu-
ated from the State Normal School atAlbany in 1863
and read the elementary works on law while en-
gaged in teaching in the district schools. On Janu-
ary 1, 1871, he opened a law office in Wappingers
Falls, where he practiced for years.
Elisha Rusk was admitted in 1879 and in that
years opened an office in the Village.
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Bernard J. Tinney, who was born in Wappingers
Falls in 1857 and was educated in the Channingville
Union Free School, read law in the office of John W.
Bartrum in the Village and later with Henry Daily,
Jr., of New York City. He was admitted September
12, 1878 and commenced practice in the Village at
that time. He was elected corporation clerk in 1880.
T.C. Walkman from Touners, Putnam County,
read law with J.W. Bartrum in the Village and was
admitted to the bar in the fall of 1881. He opened an
office in the Village shortly after.
In the early 1900's a lawyer of prominence, George
Wood, located in the Village, and with his family,
occupied the large home on the northwest comer of
Upper Henry Street. He maintained a law office in
his home and also a law office in Poughkeepsie, New
York. For several years, he was a Dutchess County
District Attorney. About 1910 he moved his office,
home and family to the former Dr. Cornelius Remsen
estate, known as the "Maples", on the east side of
lower South Avenue, until his death in the 1920's.
Mr. and Mrs. Wood had two daughters, both popular
in the Village. Both daughters married lawyers who
established their homes and businesses in
Poughkeepsie.
Ronald Fletcher Bogle, the son of John and Sarah
Mason Bogle, became a practicing attorney in ~916.
He was the son and descendent of the Bogle family,
long connected with the operation and supervision of
the local Dutchess Print Works. Mr. Bogle was a
graduate of Williams College in 1913, where he
received his B.A degree. He won his LL.B. degree in
1916 and was admitted to the bar the same year.
Mr. Bogle married Miss Julia Fredricks, a native
of Houston , Texas, and established their home in the
former Sweet residence and property, known as
Catalpa Terrace, on Prospect Street in the Village.
Mr. Bogle maintained law offices both at his
home and on Union Street, Poughkeepsie. He served
several years as Justice of the Peace in the Town of
Wappinger. Mr. Bogle served as a president of
Grinnell Library and Wappingers Rural Cemetery
and an officer of the Zion Episcopal Church. Mr.
Bogle passed away suddenly in March 1958.
Other lawyers who maintained law offices in the
Village in the second quarter of the 20th Century
were Holmes VanDewater and Ernest Thornhill.
Mr . VanDeWater died in May, 1924, in a mysterious
fire one morning, while starting his car in his garage
at the rear of his home on South Avenue.
Russell Aldrich, a native of Poughkeepsie where
he maintained a law office, also operated a law office
in the Herbert Linge building on Market Street in
the Village during the 1940's and 1950's. He later
moved his office to the Marine Midland Bank build-
ing in the Imperial Plaza. Mr. Aldrich married
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Grace Marie Burke, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Burke. Mr. Burke was a one-time manager of
the Dutchess Bleachery complex. Mr. Aldrich served
as an officer in the Zion Episcopal Church, a past
president of Grinnell Library and the Wappingers
Falls Lions Club. He passed away in April 1977.
During the 1960' s and 70' s, James J. Lyons, Fred
V. Damanda and Harold Reilly each had a law office
in the Village. James J. Lyons is the son of Joseph
V. Lyons, who resided on West Main Street and
served as Clerk of Surrogate's Court in the City of
Poughkeepsie. Mr. James J. Lyons served as lawyer
and advisor for many years to the School, Town and
Village Board of Trustees and lives with his family
on West Academy Street in the former Lucius Bush
home. He also held the offices of Village Police
Justice and Town Justice of the Peace.
Harold H. Reilly is the son of Dr. Harold Reilly, a
prominent local dentist. He practiced law from his
office on East Main Street and for several years was
Police Justice for the Village. He lives with his
family on South Mesier Avenue in the family home.
Fred V. Damanda carne to the Village in the
1930' s as a school teacher in the Wappingers Central
School. He later studied law and in 1955 obtained a
master's degree from Columbia University and
earned his Bachelor of Law Degree from St. John's
University School of Law. He served as a trustee in
the Village Board and as a Police Justice for the
Village. Mr. Damanda operates a law office and
resides with his family at 4 Oak Parkin the Village.
CONSTRUCTION OF NEW
APARTMENTS AND SHOPPING
PLAZAS
'I:.e completion of the three-strip concrete high-
way of Route 9, Albany Post Road by-pass of the
Village in the early 1930's opened additional land
and new territory for further expansion of the Vil-
lage. This new by-pass road was constructed from
East Main Street in the Village, north through the
extensive farm lands ofthe Daniel Ashworth estate,
across Wappingers Lake on a new steel bridge, and
continued north to meet the Old Post Road at the
Vassar Road intersection.
The first shopping plaza to be erected on this new
road was named the Dutchess Shopping Plaza lo-
cated on the east side of the road at the East Main
Street intersection in the early 1950's. The Grand
Union Company and the Urey Hardware Co. were
two of the main stores which moved from the busi-
ness section ofthe Village to this new plaza. A large,
modem diner was also set up by the Monach family
99
to the north of the Plaza building. Several other
small businesses were established around the New
Hackensack Road intersection, including the
Burroughs and, later, Andy's Diner.
A few years later, in the late 1950's, a second
shopping area, known as the Lafayette Shopping
Plaza, was also co~structed on the property of the
Ashworth estate, south ofWappingers Lake on the
west side of Route 9. The largest occupant was the
A & P Grocery Chain with several smaller retail
stores adjacent. The A & P Co. closed this store in
the late 1970's.
Just north of this building, a large bowling alley
and restaurant was constructed by Joseph De Lucia
from Cold Spring, New York, under the name of the
Holiday Recreational Center, which has since
changed ownership and is still a popular amuse-
ment center.
About 100 feet further north was constructed a
large concrete block building which was first occu-
pied by the Big Scot Department Store. After a few
years of operations, this chain of stores ceased op-
erations, and the store was closed. It was later
remodeled and occupied for a few years as a branch
office and laboratory of the IBM Co. In the last few
years of the 1970's it has been occupied by the J.D.
Cohen Co. as a furniture sales and warehouse busi-
ness.
To the west, orrear, of this Lafayette Plaza, a new
housing development was established on a new road
named Liss Road. North Mesier Avenue was ex-
tended further north to the new Lafayette Plaza and
to the Route 9 Post Road. All of the above land and
buildings east ofthe Wappingers Lake and west of
Route 9 were incorporated into the Village of
Wappingers Falls, which gave the new owners wa-
ter, sewer, fire and police protection and other Vil-
lage services.
In the early 1960's the Village again expanded its
territory by incorporating a large piece of several
hundred acres of land along the east side of the
Albany Post Road or Route 9 and the south side of
the New Hackensack Road. This land was bordered
on the east by the construction of a new road named
Imperial Boulevard and then west to meet the old
Village line. This incorporated land received all the
Village services, including water, sewer, fire and
police protection, to the new businesses and apart-
ments. The major front portion ofthe land was used
for the construction of the Imperial Shopping Plaza
and the south rear section for the erection of the
Imperial Twin Towers apartment complex. This
twin tower project consisted of two brick, six-story
apartment buildings, each with three wings and
with elevator service. The ownership of these two
buildings changed in 1977 and the two buildings
were known as the "Imperial Gardens".
The Imperial Plaza occupies a large acreage of
land bordering the east side of Route 9, the New
Hackensack Road and the Imperial Boulevard. It
contains two large long masonry buildings con-
structed at right angles to each other. The first, or
south, building contained a unit of the Grand Union
chain and several smaller and independent stores.
The east building contained a large department
store on the south end owned by the Grand Way
chain, which was discontinued in the early 1970's
and is now occupied by the United States Postai
Service as a central receiving and distribution mail
center. Several smaller shops occupy the remainder
of the building.
Near the New Hackensack Road a large theatre
named the "Imperial Theatre" was constructed for
the daily showing of first class movies. Along the
above road was constructed the Marine Midland
National Bank building containing a branch office of
this bank and an Insurance Company and real
estate office.
Also nearby is located a large Mcdonald's Restau-
rant and a carwash operation. Directly off Route 9
was located the large dining facilities known as
Marty's Place. Inthemiddle ofthe above building
complex was an enormous space for the parking of
hundreds of cars.
Previous to the construction of Route 9 or the Old
Albany Post Road into a dual highway in the 1950's,
Moran Avenue continued into the New Hackensack
Road; but since that time, was made into a dead-end
street where it meets the Route 9 highway.
Travelling further south toward the Village line
on the dual highway, Route 9, several new busi-
nesses have been established during the 1960's and
70's. On the west side going south is a wet wash
laundry, the Jack-In-The-Box hamburger restau-
rant and Perkins Pancake Restaurant. Just over the
line on the old Post Road was located the Rowe-
Rutledge Garden-Tractor Sales and Service Shop.
On the east side going north, a large diner restau-
rant called the "Majestic" was constructed in 1977.
The population of the Village was increased dur-
ingthe 1950's and 60's by the construction of several
apartment complexes, four of which were constructed
along Route 9.
A colonial-type apartment complex was erected
just south of Brookside Avenue with its main en-
trance on Route 9 and a rear entrance off North
Remsen Avenue, under the name of the "Brookside
Apartments". The buildings are mostly of brick
masonry construction with wood colonial trimmings.
Outdoor lightingis provided by colonial-type electric
lanterns with underground wiring.
Further north on Route 9, on the east side of the
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road but just outside of the Village, are the Scenic
Gardens Apartments with their own water and
sewer system. They are located on the Ashworth
estate, where the Ashworth residence was formerly
located.
Just south of the Imperial Shopping Plaza are the
Ashley Apartments, consisting of several large buildof
frame construction, which were built in the early
1960's.
On the west side of Route 9 is located a Town
House apartment complex named the "Montclair
Apartments", constructed along Alpine Drive.
In the 1960's, to the west of South Avenue, were
constructed the Leewood Arms Apartments. They
were constructed on the property known as the
"Maples", which was the former estate of Dr. Wil-
liam E. Garlick and the original Dr. Remsen estate.
A new street, named "Carmine Drive", was laid out
through the estate for the construction of new apart-
ments.
It was not until the 1920's that the Village ex-
panded to the south of Elm Street along South
Avenue, South Mesier and Remsen Avenue and east
- of South Remsen Avenue. In the past 50 years, many
new and substantial homes have been built on both
sides of the old and new streets. Today, there are
very few, if any, building lots available in the Vil-,
lage.
The old, or original, business section around
Market, Mill and East and West Main Streets, has
been unable to expand its operations in the last few
decades due to its location on the gorge, falls and
Wappingers Lake, and the high slope ofthe land on
both sides of the Creek. It has been restricted also
by the two beautiful parks, Zion Episcopal and
Methodist Churches and the new Post Office build-
ing to the east. Parking space for shoppers' cars is at
a premium due to the lack ofland for a parking lot.
Consequently, all new and large businesses had to
b~ located on the outskirts of the Village on land
annexed and incorporated into the Village.
THE tOOTH ANNIVERSARY
CELEBRATION OF THE
INCORPORATED VILLAGE
'During the year 1971, the ViJJage of
Wappingers Falls celebrated its 100 years as an
incorporated Village. In this year of celebration, the
Village Board was composed of Peter Furnari, Mayor
of the Village and Donald Synnett, John Sullivan,
Raymond Dolan, Raymond Bain, Tony DiDomizio
and Gerald McCluskey as Ward Trustees. Joseph
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McDonald was treasurer; Leo Lowney, secretary;
and James Lyons was lawyer and advisor.
To arrange for this important 100th anniversary
celebration, a general committee and several smaller
sub-committees were appointed.
Mr. Arthur Weit was General Chairman, and
Mayor Peter Furnari and former Mayor Joseph
McCloskey were Honorary Co-Chairmen ofthis large
and important event.
The "71" General Committee consisted of the
following: John Finn, John Ferris, Joseph Greco,
Joseph Sherman, Marge Jennings, Gerald
McCloskey, Eugene Giancarlo, John Cheetham, Vir-
ginia Ferris, William Brower and Eileen Weit.
Several activities were carried out during the
year, but the two major events were the "Picnic in
the Park" and the large firemen's and Community
Day parade. The ':Picnic in the Park" was a week-
long event and was attended by many of the old-
timers from out of town, as well as the people ofthe
Village and surrounding communities. All kinds of
games, picnic and refreshment booths, music and
dancing and a large art display were held through.
out the Mesier Park during the week. The parade
consisted of local and visiting fire companies with
their musical organizations, veterans organizations,
lodge and fraternal groups and several floats. A
small history book of the Village with photographs
was published for distribution at a small price by a
committee consisting of Chairman John Ferris; Jo-
seph Sherman, Co-Chairman; Carolyn Wixson and
Cynthia Wieglos. In all it was an event well-planned
and carried out by the committees. Since that time
in 1971, a "Picnic in the Park" event has been
planned and carried out for one week each summer
in Mesier Park as a "get-together" and meeting place
for the Village residents.
VILLAGE SOCIAL
AND CIVIC CLUBS
In the 1890's there were three social clubs named
the Crescent, IVY and Eureka, on which no informa-
tion is available, and all of which disbanded at an
early date. One of the most popular and longest
established clubs was the Fourth Ward Social Club
which was established just after the close ~ the
Spanish American War in 1898 by many of the
veterans ofthat War. The membership consisted of
many of the prominent business and civic leaders of
the Village. For the first 25 years, the club occupied
the entire second floor of the Manning building on
Mill Street. This building was later purchased by
the National Bank ofWappingers Falls, which re-
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modeled the first floor for their new banking head-
quarters. In the last ten years of this 35 years of
activity, they occupied rooms in the Rush and Van
Nosdall buildings, where they disbanded in the
early 1930's.
In 1914 a group of young men of the ViII age
organized the Delphi Social Club as a place where
they could meet and become better acquainted with
each other. The first meeting rooms were estab-
lished on the second floor of the A Seaman Hunt
building on the north side of East Main Street.
Within a couple of years, the club moved to better
and larger headquarters across the street to the
second floor of the Britner building where larger
rooms, toilet facilities and central heat were avail-
able. The members occupied their time with card
games, pool playing and a piano for group singing.
This club organized its own basketball team and
was noted for promoting basketball tournaments
and games wit other county players. Every Friday
night for about two years, during the First World
War, the club Basketball Committee, under the
direction of Robert Sadlier, a member, held a basket-
ball game and dance in the Academy of Music build-
ing on West Main Street. This activity was the
cen ter of attraction each week for the young couples
of the Village to meet for a social gathering. During
the summer, the club promoted moonlight sails and
dancing on the steamer "Petrel", cruising on the
Hudson River.
The club disbanded in 1918 soon after this coun-
try entered the First World War, when many of its
members were called in the government services,
and was never reorganized.
During the 1920's, a ladies organization was
organized under the name of the Ladies Afternoon
Wisk Club, which took an active interest in Village
affairs. This club was the first group to light the tall
spruce tree at the South Avenue entrance ofMesier
Park at Christmas time. They continued this an-
nual program for several years until the project was
taken over by the Wappingers Falls Lions Club and
continues to the present time.
* * *
The Wappingers Falls Lions Club was granted its
charter on October 31, 1932 from the International
Association of Lions Club through its sponsor club,
the Newburgh Lions Club. Its membership of 30
charger members was composed of influential busi-
ness and industrial men of the Village.
The club was organized and held its first meeting
in the Morettoni Restaurant on West Main Street
with Mr. George Yerry as President. The club has
met bi-monthly in the evenings each month for
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dinner meetings since then at the Colonial Restau-
rant, Route 9, Wendover Farms on Vassar Road and
the past 20 years at the Woronock Hotel in New
Hackensack.
One ofthe main activities ofthe club was to help
and assist the blind and each year they conducted a
White Cane Drive, the proceeds of which paid for eye
examinations and glasses for the needy.
On September 10, 1937 the Lions Club conducted
a Darktown Parade Night through the Village as an
opener for the large firemen's parade to be con-
ducted the following Saturday in honor of the 100th
anniversary ofthe Village Fire Department.
During the 1930's the club installed the wiring
and floodlight fixtures to light the Wappingers Lake
Cove in the winter months for ice skating at night.
Also at this time the club sponsored and promoted
Troop 27, Boy Scouts of America, which is stilI active
to the present time. During World War II the club
cooperated with Scout Troop 27 in the monthly
collection of scrap paper and metals for the war
effort. Club members assisted the Scouts and also
furnished them trucks for the collections. Each year
the Lions' members have entertained the Scout
Troop members with a dinner at one of their regular
meetings and have contributed funds for troop ex-
penses.
The Lions Club has been very active over their
years in setting up an eye bank and eye glaucoma
examinations each year from a Mobile County Unit
set up in the Village and through the collection of old
and used eyeglasses and frames for distribution to
the poor countries.
For about 20years the club conducted the Annual
Halloween night parade for the children th rough th~
ViII age with music furnished by the Central School
Band. Prizes were awarded for the best costumes by
the judges in Mesier Park, after which cider and
doughnuts were given to the paraders.
The Lions Club purchased several acres of land
bordering the Wappingers Lake and west of North
Mesier Avenue, which were given to the Village to be
used as a playground and Little League ball park
and named Veterans Park. They contributed to the
development of the ball park and landscaping of
same.
In 1961 the club started a campaign to rewire and
install new lighting fixtures in the Grinnell Library
at a cost of several thousand dollars. The new
lighting fixtures made a big improvement to the
library rooms, replacing the fixtures which were
installed in 1913.
Another outstanding project of the club was the
erection and lighting of the outdoor band or music
shell in the center of Mesier Park, just south of
Mesier Homestead, in the 1970's, as a location where
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musicals, concerts and dances could be given. The
wooden structure is mounted on a reinforced con-
crete platform or base which is 36 feet long and 20
feet wide. It is lighted by overhead fluorescent ligh ts
and floodlight fixtures and wired for a portable
sound system. For the past several summer seasons
in the evening, the club has sponsored several vocal,
orchestral and dancing groups, including the West
Point Military Band, to the public at weekly periods.
The large grass plot in front of the band shell was
floodlighted at night and, with its sloping elevation,
allowed the spectators a good view of the perfor-
mances.
For the past several years, the club has used the
band shell for their Christmas activities and the
singing of Christmas carols for the annual lighting
of the Christmas tree, which is located about 100 feet
to the rear. This custom of lighting the Christmas
tree has been carried out and financed each year for
the past 30 years by the club. It is located so that all
cars and people passing through the Village can
admire the beauty of this Christmas symbol.
The Lions Club took an active interest in the
Village Centennial Celebration and parade. During
its 45 years of operation, the club has rendered many
services to me Village.
One other club that has rendered much service to
the community is the Wappingers Falls Kiwanis
Club, which was organized in 1958.
FRATERNAL LODGES
IN THE VILLAGE
One of the oldest fraternal societies in the
Village is Lafayette Lodge, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows No. 18, which was instituted on Janu-
ary 4, 1838 in the Blackburn Hotel on West Main
Street, where they held their meetings for several
years. The charter members were John A. Kennedy,
J.D. Stewart, George Chattilon, Joseph R. Young,
William A. Taylor, John Ellison and
JosephBlackburn. The growth of the Lodge was
slow during the first few decades, until after the
Civil War, when the membership increased to the
point where they required their own headquarters.
After many attempts, the progressive members
succeeded in having the Lodge purchase a piece of-
land from the Mesiers on South Avenue, where the
Odd Fellows Temple now stands. Plans for the new
building were accepted November 30, 1876. The
dedication ceremonies were held May 2,1877, which
included a parade, band concert, public speaking
and dancing. This temple is one of the most out
standing buildings in the Village, located as it is on
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South Avenue, just south of the new, colonial Post
Office building and Mesier Park, and across the
avenue from the beautiful Zion Park. It is a four-
story building of brick masonry construction with
two apartments on each of the first and second floors
of the Lodge headquarters, occupying the third and
fourth floors.
After construction ofthis new lodge building, the
membership increased rapidly to a total of 248 in
1899. The membership has always included the
most prominent and active men of the Village.
One of their members was elevated to the highest
office ofthe Lodge in the State ofN ew York when he
was elected to the Office of Grand Master ofthe State
of New York. This member is Mr. Herman N.
Harcourt, the son of a prominent and old business
family of I.T.N. Harcourt, who resided on South
Mesier Avenue. Mr. Harcourt was initiated into
Lafayette Lodge on November 4, 1920 and took an
active interest in the operation of the Lodge.
In 1914 a sister lodge was formed under the name
of Lafayette Rebecca Lodge, which is still active in
1977.
A prominent member of the lodge who gave much
of his time and talent to the construction ofthe new
lodge building was Mr. William Halliwell, a Past
Grand of the Lodge. Mr. Halliwell was born in June
of1825 in England. Hejoined the Lodge in February
1855 and became a 50 year member in 1905. Mr.
Halliwell was a master mechanic of the Garner
Print Works complex for many years until it was sold
in 1908. He lived for many years in his large house
on South Avenue where he died in August 1916 at
the age of 91 years; 61 of which were as an Odd
Fellow member.
The Lafayette Odd Fellow Temple building has
occupied its Village site for the past 100 years and
the lodge fraternity is 139 years old, the eldest lodge
in the Village.
The second oldest fraternal lodge organized in
the Village in 1867 was Wappingers Lodge No. 671,
Free and Accepted Masons. For a number of years,
the lodge occupied the third or top floor of the brick
building on the northeast corner of East Main Street
and Reservoir Place.
About 1915, under the supervision of the
Worshipal Master, Orville M. Whitehouse, the lodge
purchased the three-story brick building on Mill
Street from the Garner Print Works. They com-
pletely remodeled the top or third floor for a new
lodge meeting room. 'llle second floor was com-
pletely changed into a dJl1ing room, kitchen, recre-
ation and pool room. Bathrooms with running water
and a new steam heating system was installed.
During the 1950's, due to increased membership
and the desire to locate the meeting room on a lower
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level, the lodge purchased several acres of land on
the south side of the Myers Comer Road on which
they constructed a new Temple building with the
lodge room on the main floor and dining room and
kitchen facilities in the basement. Their building on
Mill Street was sold to the Town of Wappinger for
use as a Town Hall, which they occupy to the present
time.
During the early 1900's there were several other
fraternal lodges in the Villages, the largest of which '
was the Victory Council, Junior Order United Ameri-
can Mechanics, who maintained their lodge room on
the third floor of the Goring building on East Main
Street. They had a very large membership of about
300 members but ceased operation during and after
the end of World War I.
The Knights of Pythias Lodge was another very
popular lodge organized in the late 1870's with a
membership of prominent men who maintained their
lodge and meeting for several decades on the third
floor of the Garner Print Works building on Mill
Street. This lodge ceased operations about 1914 and
the rooms were taken over by the Masonic Lodge,
who had purchased the building.
In the early 1900's the Independent Order of Red
Men Lodge was organized but also disbanded in the
twenties. Also, at this time, a lodge was organized on
the west side of the Village under the name of the
Ancient Order of Hibernians, who had their meeting
rooms on the third floor of the Temperance Hall
building on West and West Main Street. The lodge.
room and records were destroyed by fire, which also
destroyed the brick building which had housed the
headquarters of the S.W. Johnson Engine Co. No.2
in 1920 and was never replaced.
In 1912 the Knights of Columbus Lodge No. 646
was established in the Village by several prominent
business and professional men. The new lodge
acquired the building at the junction of West Main
and School Street where the lodge headquarters was
located on the second floor and recreation rooms on
the first floor. The first President of the new society
was Professor Edward M. Drake, a professor of
Union Free School District No.1 and a Justice for the
Town of Poughkeepsie. The lodge became very
active and eventually outgrew its headquarters on
West Main Street.
In the early 1960's the Knights of Columbus
Lodge purchased the branch office and truck head-
quarters building of the Central Hudson Gas and
Electric Co. located on East Main Street. The lodge
remodeled the entire building for their use and
replaced the rear one-story wooden addition with a
masonry concrete block building containing an audi-
torium for their lodge meetings and other assem-
blies. For several years, during the 1970's, the
Senior Citizens Group of the Village were given the
use of the auditorium and have assembled there for
their weekly meetings. This building of attractive
Colonial design and brick masonry construction
adds much prestige to the business section of the
Village.
The building was named the Monsignor Loughlin
Memorial Hall in honor of Monsignor Loughlin, a
member ofthe Knights of Columbus, who for many
years was pastor of St. Mary's Church and who
contributed much to the growth and improvements
of that church. Of his 54 years in the priesthood,
Monsignor Loughlin spent 36 of them at St. Mary's.
He died at the age of 90 ~n November 17, 1964.
VILLAGE VETERAN
ORGANIZATIONS
In the early 1910's a group of Italian citizens
organized a religious group known as Our Lady of
Mount Carmel Society. They purchased a building
on West Main Street where they remodeled and
established their lodge room. In 1926 the Ladies
Auxiliary of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was estab-
lished. In the early years, the male group celebrated
Mount Carmel Day with a parade with music through
the Village to St. Mary's Church for services. The
day was climaxed that evening with a beautiful
display offireworks, dancing and refreshments which
all the people ofthe surrounding community looked
forward to attending each year. This display was
first presented on a lot in Stoneco and later moved to
just outside the Village on the large tract of land
adjoining the north side of the Wappingers Rural
Cemetery, and in latter years, to De LaVergne Av-
enue on land of the Mount Alvernia Seminary.
When the Ladies Auxiliary was established, they
also participated in the annual parade. In the latter
years, the fireworks display has been discontinued.
There were several Veteran groups in the Village,
one of which was the Ketcham Post, G.A.R. which
was organized after the Civil War and continued
operations until about 1910. This Post and the
Women's Auxiliary met for years in the lodge room,
third floor of Gorings Hall on East Main Street. For
years, they were instrumental in taking care of and
decorating the Civil War Veteran's graves in the
local cemeteries on Decoration Day, which is now
known as Memorial Day.
In the later part of the 19th Century an organiza-
tion known as Zion Company No. 22 Knights of
Temperance was formed by Zion Episcopal Church
for the military training and drilling of the young
men of the church. This group, under the command
of Captain William Kenichel, practiced drilling each
week at the Church parish building. They wore dark
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blue uniforms and a Civil War-type cap and each
man carried a rifle. Each Memorial Day they partici-
pated in the parade to the Village cemeteries to
honor the deceased Veterans. This group disbanded
in the late 1900's.
After World War I, the returning Village Veter-
ans of that War established in 1919 a veteran's
organization under the name of J. Morris Goring
Post, American Legion, named in honor of J. Morris
Goring, a native Villager and son of a prominent
Village family, Mr. and Mrs. John M. Goring, a
funeral director and businessman.
A few years later the name of the post was
changed to the J. Morris Goring-William Kurtz Post,
American Legion, which name is retained to the
present time. This post became very popular with
the returning Veterans and within a few years
constructed the American Legion building on Spring
Street for their home and meeting rooms. This
building was of wood frame, one-story construction,
with a large finished basement located opposite
Park Avenue. At the present time the entire first
floor is rented to the Village ofWappingers Falls for
11 meeting room, clerk's office and business office
opened daily for the transaction of Village business.
Soon after the end of World War I the postwas
able to obtain from the U.S. Government a relic of ,
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the First World War, a large German field artiIlery
gun mounted on two large wooden wheels. The post
located this gun in the Zion Park with the gun
muzzle pointed toward East Main Street and South
Avenue. One night a car coming down Eat Main
Street ran over the South Avenue curb, striking the
gun, so the muzzle went through the car windshield,
but not striking the driver.
After this incident the Legion moved the gun to a
new location to the north west corner of Mesier Park,
across the street from the Legion headquarters.
During the second World War in the 1940's, the
Legion contributed the gun for its metal to the metal
scrap drive to help the war effort.
The post assumed the activities of the old G.A.R.
Civil War Post in the decorating of the soldier's
graves in the local cemeteries and with the parade
and other activities on Decoration Day, now Memo-
rial Day.
At the close of the second World War a second
Veterans Organization was established in the Vil-
lage under the name of Veterans of Foreign Wars.
This organization established their headquarters in
the former District No. 1 Union Free School on
School Street, which the organization had purchased.
The entire building was remodeled for their use as a
meeting room, kitchen and dining room.
"Coveredbridgebuiltoverthe Wappingers Creek at the Village ofWappingersFalls in 1819. Torn down 1851.
The plate was made from a photograph of a painting by Clinton Clapp, which was obtained through the
courtesy of Miss May Barlow of Wappingers Falls".
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