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This Page is in Draft Form / Under Construction Freemasonry is the world’s first and largest fraternal organization. Poughkeepsie has had two Masonic Lodges. Since the 18th century locally, Masons have been men of achievement and influence. The first Lodge was Solomon’s Lodge No. 1, but the anti-masonic political movement in the 1820s ensured its demise. A second Lodge, No. 266, was created in 1852. DCHS is fortunate to have the responsibility to archive and preserve important early documents, as well as items from a number of collections where individuals were Masons. This 1780 certificate for Major Nicholas Fish shows the extraordinary pedigrees of the men involved in Solomon’s Lodge No. 1 at the time. Fish is the ancestor to the generations of public servants named Hamilton Fish, and the document is signed by Capt. James Livingston, Capt. Abraham Swartwout, and Andrew Billings. DCHS Collections. February 22 is not only the anniversary of the birth of George Washington, but the anniversary of the opening of the Masonic Temple on Poughkeepsie’s Cannon Street in 1895. DCHS Collections. Among the souvenirs from that event is a medal commemorating an important visit of George Washington to Poughkeepsie, who was an active Mason. On December 27, 1782, Washington was formally received at the home of Lewis Dubois, who was Grand Master of the Poughkeepsie Masonic Lodge. His home was located on Market Street just north of where the Bardavon is today, and was used for Masonic meetings. The man responsible for the design and gift of the coin to the Masons, Helmus Barratt, was born October 25, 1846 in DCHS’s home, Clinton House on Main Street. He was a founder and life-long Director of the First National Bank and an active Mason and patriotic American. A Methodist Episcopal Church was built on Cannon Street in 1854. On February 22, 1895, opening ceremonies revealed an enlarged and remodeled building as the new Masonic Temple, keeping the columns and general appearance of the front. DCHS Collections. Master Mason certificate from Lodge 226, successor to Solomon’s Lodge, dated November 28, 1860 for Joseph Wright. Wright operated a successful dry goods store on Main Street for many years and was perhaps best known as the Colonel of the 400-strong Twenty-first Regiment which was based locally. Above: Master Mason certificate from Lodge 226, successor to Solomon’s Lodge, dated November 28, 1860 for Joseph Wright. Wright operated a successful dry goods store on Main Street for many years and was perhaps best known as the Colonel of the 400-strong Twenty-first Regiment which was based locally. DCHS Collections. Click below right for full screen view of 1968 history of Lodge No. 266 by George Ress. Above: Jewel presented in 1851 “as a token of respect” to A. M. Sweet, first master of the newly created Lodge No. 266. DCHS Collections. We are continuing to build a permanent, online exhibition about local Masons, please check back over time, or email us with suggestions. ~ Bill Jeffway

Kimberlee Breden of Poughkeepsie was not sure what to expect when she found a letter in her mailbox in November with a return address of New York State Governor Kathy Hochul and Erik Kulleseid, the Commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The letter advised Breden that she was a recipient of the 2022 New York State Historic Preservation Award for Excellence in Historic Building Rehabilitation. The recognition was for the work she had done restoring her home at 57 Montgomery Street, Poughkeepsie, just east of the historic Memorial Fountain and Eastman Park. Referring to the house as the “F. R. Bain house,” the name of its original owner in 1888, the letter went on to say, “Your diligent efforts to restore your historic Victorian home exemplify the power of harnessing the Historic Homeownership Rehabilitation Credit and the finished product is an inspiring example in the City of Poughkeepsie. The delight is in the details and your work is bound to get other homeowners thinking about potential projects for their historic buildings.” Breden attended a ceremony in Albany in December, being one of ten award recipients. Let’s examine what makes this particular “adaptive re-use” particularly noteworthy. Bain House, 57 Montgomery Street, Poughkeepsie.Left to right: 1891, 2018 and 2022. Some owners of historic homes worry that designations and recognition can limit what they can do for their home, or that they might lose control of certain decisions. But Breden feels that the entire process has enabled her to have exactly the home she had dreamed of owning and living in. Such a project takes a combination of vision, and a deep commitment to ensuring that those qualities that can only come from historic homes are made a priority, and persistence in the face of obstacles. Breden feels that the financial incentives through tax credits took a good deal of careful navigation but made the difference in allowing her to restore the home to the degree that she did. Doing a good deal of work herself, “and returning bottles to get the five-cent deposit” all added up to making the project economically feasible. Where did this depth of commitment come from for Breden? It started early. “My earliest memories relate to my father’s grandparents who were from Germany. They owned a delicatessen in Mount Vernon in a beautiful old Victorian house. It was a couple stories. The retail was on the ground floor and they lived above. It had pocket doors, a club foot bathtub like my third floor has, it had a beautiful mahogany staircase and wainscoting. I was a little girl and I remember, I remember the way it smelled, everything.” Breden thinks this was one of the reasons that when she first saw 57 Montgomery Street in 2007, in spite of its state of disrepair, “it felt like home.” Attempts to purchase the house in 2007 and 2008 were not successful. That’s where serendipity, or the sense that “this was meant to be” comes into play. At 1:30 in the morning on September 23, 2009, something prompted Breden to do an online search for the property, wondering what had become of it. To her great surprise, she found that the house was being auctioned just a few hours later at 9:00 am. Breden made sure she was at the auction, and although it became a protracted process, she succeeded in securing the property from the bid she made that morning She moved into the house in 2010. Above all, Breden credits her father’s wisdom for the depth of commitment she has to the house, explaining, “My father would say he had three things that he stood by. He said, ‘You do the right thing because it is the right thing to do. You only do a job you would be proud to put your name on. And you leave a place better than when you found it.’ And that’s exactly what I feel about here.” The project has dimensions that involve scale, “I needed 1,177 shingles that were six inches wide, with a curved bottom,” Breden said. “I made 1,200 of them.” Equally, the project has dimensions that involve great detail. Breden says she is able to restore a third floor window’s colored glass with original colors because of the shards of broken glass she discovered buried in the backyard. Breden also credits great partnership, in particular Poughkeepsie Design Historian, Holly Wahlberg. And Toni Mauro, a member of the City of Poughkeepsie Historic District and Landmarks Preservation Commission at the time of Breden’s application for City, then State and National designation. Having secured City historic designation, in March of 2015 Wahlberg wrote a 21-page statement of significance in support of the application for both State and National historic designation, both of which were successful in 2016. Wahlberg explains the importance of the statement of significance saying, “Saving vulnerable houses requires a mixture of passion, knowledge and fearless determination. But the process begins with extensive research and writing. A National Register nomination must articulate not just the history of a house, but also what that history reveals about our nation and ourselves.”

Silversmiths of Poughkeepsie, 1945 DCHS Yearbook entry.  

Content here is from the Collections of and Courtesy of the Beacon Historical Society Beacon’s William Wilson: eponym of an American war hero Wilson was killed in Belgium August, 19, 1918, 12 months to the day after a jubilant departure from Beacon. As published in the Beacon Free Press September 2018. Written by Robert Murphy, Beacon Historical Society. Compiled by Theresa Kraft. Over 556 young men from Beacon went off to this Great War. Young men, most of them were born and reared amid humble surroundings. They were not considered great as the world measures greatness, but they were destined to achieve it. They responded to the call of duty. On August 19, 1917, these men would march out of the Newburgh Armory, ferry across the river to Beacon to catch the train for camp in New York City. While waiting here at the railroad station, these soldiers would be greeted by a crowd of a thousand well-wishers all gathered to give a patriotic farewell to their neighbors and sons going Over There to fight the Hun. For a handful of these men from Beacon, this would be the last time they would ever see their hometown again. We must not forget our martyred dead, Beacon’s immortal thirteen. These brave sons who met the supreme test without flinching, who sacrificed their young lives up on the altar of their country. This year Beacon commemorates the 100th anniversary of the death of the soldier who is the eponym of an American war hero–Private William B. Wilson. He was killed in action in Belgium on August 19, 1918, the first soldier fromBeacon to die in World War I. Today, a century after his death on the battlefield, few know of him or the reason why the Wilson Post – Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 666 was so named. History can be fickle and easily forgotten after a generation or two, but Private Wilson’s story of sacrifice needs to be retold and remembered. Private Wilson and his 107th Regiment sailed to Europe in the spring of 1918, and spent the early summer months in training before facing the grueling trench warfare against the Germans. By that August, the 107th was ordered to the Dickebush Lake sector in Belgium, where they joined up with a British Battalion so that the Yanks could be “eased into the war” next to their more experienced British counterparts. The Regimental historian of the 107th would later describe this sector as the “Noisiest, smelliest, ugliest, muddiest of places anywhere along the Western Front.” It was also a killing zone for the Allies.  From the high ground of nearby Mont Kemmel the Germans would rain down mortar shells and sniper fire onto the American trenches. On the day of August 19, Private Herb Miller of Newburgh pulled sentry duty at an observation post close to the German lines. Private Miller was felled by enemy sniper fire, and was unable to be rescued in daylight because of the immanent peril of the situation. At nightfall Private Wilson and Corporal Richard Connery volunteered as stretcher-bearers to bring back Miller. Both came under mortar fire; Connery was wounded, Wilson was killed trying to carry the body of his best friend, Herb Miller, out of No-Man’s Land. Best friends—Miller and Wilson—were the only fatalities recorded by the Regiment that day, August 19, 1918. Word of Wilson’s and Miller’s deaths reached their hometowns on September 18, 1918. The best friends had died on the same day, August 19, the only two soldiers from Company L to be killed on that day. Robert Murphy has been president of the Beacon Historical Society since 1998. Beacon Daily Herald List of Servicemen as of May 15, 1918 Beacon WWI Honor Roll William B Wilson George Deverson George Stafford Frank Cramade Thomas B Carroll Frank H. Van Houten Gordon Deicke George Delahay James J. Tomlins Fred Garrison Pasale Salese John J. Bump A list of City of Beacon “World War” veterans compiled in the early 1920’s, from NYS Archives, via DCHS.

Milan 1947