Mill Street-North Clover Street Historic District
The Mill Street-North Clover Street Historic District is a conservation district between Mill Street, Main Street and North Clover Street in the west of the City of Poughkeepsie , in New York , United States . This is an area of 10.8 hectares between US Highway 9 and Downtown Poughkeepsies on the high bank of the Hudson River . There are 139 historic buildings and very few new constructions within the boundaries of the district.
The district was inscribed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Like the Union Street Historic District further south , this neighborhood has remained unchanged since the 19th century when it began to grow and develop. When the district was entered on the register, several old neighborhoods in Poughkeepsie were demolished; this was part of an urban renewal program . This Historic District was created to preserve the buildings that should not be demolished. Two blocks of historic buildings on Main and North Bridge Streets were originally left out because they were also to be razed to the ground. These plans were dropped and the boundaries of the district were expanded to include these areas in 1987.
geography
The historic district has a horseshoe shape. It touches Main Street in two areas to the south and its two parts are connected to Mill Street to the north. Much of this limit was set when the district was added to the register in 1972.
The terrain slopes gently from US Highway 9 to the western edge of central Poughkeepsie. To the west, the borough includes the Church of the Holy Comforter and the houses at Davies Place directly opposite, to the north, Wheaton Park. All properties on North Clover Street are included, except for the southwest corner at the intersection with Main Street. Houses 105-115 Main Street to the east are part of the 1987 expansion.
In the north, the district narrows and consists of only one property on the south side of Mill Street, but expanded again after the intersection with North Perry Street and even includes a few houses on Charles Street further north. Two blocks of North Bridge Street are within the perimeter, as are short adjacent sections of Charles and Mansion Streets. South of the intersection is the other area later added to the district.
The eastern half ends to the north on the south side of Mansion Street and leads back to Mill Street at the rear of the buildings on the west side of Washington Street. Then it includes this side of the street to Main Street. Main Street crosses the boundaries of the borough at Vassar Home for Aged Men and runs from there along the back of the eastern residential properties to North Bridge Street. Most of Vassar Street and Lafayette Street are within the boundary.
Most of the buildings in the Historic District are residential, including a few churches and other institutional structures. Many are built of bricks, often in the style of the Second Empire , the use of which is otherwise not widespread with this building material. Mixed in with this are federal style houses and some neoclassical buildings, the most important of which is the Second Baptist Church , Poughkeepsie's only remaining church in this style.
The only commercial areas in the county are on Main Street and the intersection of Mill and North Clover Streets. Wheaton Park is the borough's largest open space , but past building demolition has left some lots vacant.
history
Baltus Van Kleeck, a Dutch settler, built the first house in 1702 from rough stones in the area, which later developed into the town of Poughkeepsie. It was on a path that gave rise to Mill Street, near what is now the intersection with Vassar Street. Mill Street was one of the first routes from the settlement to the riverside. This path grew into a permanent road and the settlement increased. The construction of the Hudson River Railroad , which passes to the west, increased the prosperity of the residents of this neighborhood in the 1850s, which had become the center of Poughkeepsie in the mid-19th century. All historic buildings in the historic district were built between 1840 and 1875.
Matthew Vassar and his descendants have had a major impact on this development. The family's property and residence gave its name to Vassar Street, where most of the family's estates were located. They tore down Van Kleeck's house in 1835.
Since the property on which the Second Baptist Church was located was owned by this family, this building was also referred to as the “Vassar Temple” - favored by the colonnaded facade and its use as a synagogue after the Civil War . Vassar's nephews built the eclectic Vassar Institute and Vassar Home for Aged Men in the 1880s , again on family-owned land, continuing the family's traditions of education and charity.
The district remained largely unchanged for a large part of the 20th century and was spared from urban renewal programs due to the efforts of local monument conservationists . The cancellation of further renovation plans and the renouncement of the demolition of the old houses finally led to the expansion of the Historic District in 1987.
Contributing properties with their own entry
Five contributing structures within the boundaries of the district were separately registered in the National Register prior to its formation:
- Church of the Holy Comforter : The neo-Gothic church was built on Davies Place in 1860. Originally the building designed by Richard Upjohn was an Episcopal church, today it is an Anglo-Catholic church.
- Italian Center : The Victorian brick house is the seat of an Italian-American association.
- Second Baptist Church : The only surviving neoclassical church in the City at the intersection of Vassar and Mill Streets.
- Vassar Home for Aged Men : The former retirement home built in 1880 at the intersection of Vassar and Main Streets is now the home of the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center and several local non-profit organizations.
- Vassar Institute : The eclectic brick building from 1882 is opposite the former retirement home and is the main building of the Arts Center.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d e Larson: National Register of Historic Places nomination, Mill Street-North Clover Street Historic District, Boundary Increase ( English ) New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . March 1987. Retrieved May 17, 2009.
- ^ A b c Stephanie Mauri: National Register of Historic Places nomination, Mill Street-North Clover Street Historic District . New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . December 1971. Retrieved May 13, 2009.
- ↑ a b James H. Smith: XXX, Part I . In: History of Dutchess County, New York . usgennet.org, 1882 (Retrieved May 8, 2009): “ The first settlers were Dutch, and among the first, if not the first, was Baltus Van Kleeck ... who, it is generally conceded, built the first substantial house on the site of the city in 1702. It was constructed of rough stone, and stood on the south side of Mill street, a little east of Vassar street ... It stood for nearly a century and half a venerable old relic of the long ago past; but, having come, by inheritance, into possession of the Vassar family, it was torn down in 1835, in response to the demand of a progressive impulse. "
Coordinates: 41 ° 42 ′ 24 ″ N , 73 ° 56 ′ 1 ″ W.