Poughkeepsie NY, Finding the architecture of it industrial past
Poughkeepsie Public Library The Hudson River Valley is lined with old cities. Its role as a major trade route, along the the prevalence of water power from rivers that flow down from the Catskills to the west and the Hudson Highlands and Taconics to the east, made the area as magnet for the burgeoning industries in New York. Poughkeepsie , New York, is certainly one of those old cities. Founded in 1686, when Dutch settlers bought land from a local Native American tribe, the settlement grew, and in 1799 was incorporated as a town. Poughkeepsie served as the second capital of New York, and hosted the state convention to ratify the Constitution of the United States. During the 1800’s the city became an industrial hub, as a place where whale blubber was rendered to make oil. It was also home to paper mills, millineries and breweries. Like many places in the northeast, as the 20th century progressed, manufacturing businesses moved away, with the largest being Smith Brothers cough drop...
