Locations

Click any image to enlarge: The hamlet of Moore’s Mills is in the Town of LaGrange.

Photo by Olivia Barker-Duncan. Isis Benitez Q: Do you feel like there’s a certain prevailing perception of the city held by people who live other places in the area? A: So many people think of Poughkeepsie as a bad and scary place to live. We’re predominantly a city with people of color. There’s this perceived notion that if you live in the City of Poughkeepsie, don’t walk around at night. Don’t do this and that, especially on Main Street. It’s understandable, do not get me wrong. There are a lot of random people on Main Street, and growing up I never really understood that’s true in any city. It’s just that in the City of Poughkeepsie there are a lot of people of color, so we are associated with being scary and weird.  Q: Was there a point in your life when you began to strongly feel that perception of the city? A: I would hear it through our sports teams in middle school and high school, that a lot of families would be skeptical  about coming to Poughkeepsie. You could see it in their faces when they came to our schools for games. Is that your hallway? Oh, is that your lobby? Then I experienced it a lot at Marist College. I graduated in 2020, and I was a commuter student. When students found out where I lived, mostly I heard them talk about how scary Poughkeepsie is, especially at night, and they’d ask me how scary it is. I’d find out all they knew about Poughkeepsie was from driving to Taco Bell on Main Street at night. Q: How did that affect your education at Marist? A: I got an amazing education. My professors and classes were incredible. I had a lot of rich conversations, that really made me think. But the social aspects sucked.  Being a commuter definitely made that part of it difficult, to not live on campus. Marist is also mostly white kids, and they didn’t relate to me very well in class or in group time. I mostly bonded with the kids of color. Q: What was your experience like growing up in your neighborhood? A: It’s interesting. One side of our house faces a very diverse street where I’ve had a lot of good friends. But the front of our house actually faces onto a street where people are predominantly white. That’s where we got looked at, like, “What are they doing here?” My mom has a great job with Verizon Communications and she does very well for herself. When she and my dad moved our family to Poughkeepsie, it was into this house they bought, where I still live with my mom and my two brothers. My dad died a few years ago.   Q: Has the situation improved much, since your family has been living in the house more than fifteen years?  A: People would open up to my dad, maybe because he was a frumpy, goofy guy. People seemed to love that about him. My mom’s very private. She’s very tall and she walks with her head held high. She’s very confident, and she’s very expressive about her exterior. So people might even think she’s a snobby black woman. Now it’s me having to fight the looks, and my brother when he walks his dog. Q: What’s your sense of your parents’ experience moving from the Bronx to Poughkeepsie? A:  I think my Dad was very accepted, but he was one of those guys that would talk to a wall. He was very talkative. There’s a lot more about his experience I never got to talk to him about, because he died when I was 16. Mom left a lot of friends behind in the Bronx,  but I think she’s become comfortable here. Though I think it can be a love/hate relationship sometimes. She’s very articulate, and that’s how she wanted us to grow up. That also made her worry about how we would be treated. Would we be seen as too articulate for our black and Hispanic friends, or too Hispanic for our white friends? I think she’s happy with the way this worked out in Poughkeepsie, how we’ve been accepted. Q: Has your mom inspired a lot of who you are? A:  She chose a special name for me. She remembered it from the old Isis TV show about a very powerful woman, and she also knew about Isis the goddess of Egypt. When I explain my name to people they are jaws on the floor.  My mom knew that would happen for me when she gave me my name. She’s very strong willed. I’ve been doing some version of social justice work since I was like in middle school, and I see her in it. She’s the kind of person who does the research, listens to the news, reads the articles. Now I’m very outspoken, whether it’s housing rights or immigration rights, and she stands behind me. Q: Was there a point when you recognized yourself as an activist? A: it’s funny, it seems like I’ve always been told that I was one. It wasn’t until I was in college, when I understood I’ve been doing the same thing throughout my life. Q: Can you give me an example of something that you feel like you were already doing in middle school or high school? A: When I was in student government, my biggest issue to speak out about was that kids had to walk to the middle and high school, no matter where they lived in the city. That wasn’t a big deal for me personally because I live near both schools, but some kids have a really long walk. I fought a lot to get us new textbooks. For some odd reason they re-did the football field, but they didn’t get us new textbooks. In middle school I didn’t like how they divided the building between an honors wing and a wing for “regular”

Traducción por Karla Zarate. Foto por Olivia Barker-Duncan. Isis Benitez Q: ¿Ud siente que existe una cierta percepción de prevalencia de la ciudad por parte de las personas que viven en otros lugares del área? A: Mucha gente piensa en Poughkeepsie como un lugar malo y temible para vivir. Somos predominantemente una ciudad con gente de color. Existe la idea conocida de que, si vives en la ciudad de Poughkeepsie, no salgas a caminar por la noche. No hagas esto y aquello, especialmente en Main Street. Se entiende, no me malinterpretes. Hay mucha gente al azar en Main Street, y al crecer nunca realmente entendí que eso fuera cierto en la ciudad. Es solo que en la ciudad de Poughkeepsie hay mucha gente de color, por lo que estamos asociados con ser temibles y raros. Q: ¿Hubo un momento en tu vida en el que empezaste a sentir fuertemente esa percepción de la ciudad? A: Lo escuchaba a través de nuestros equipos deportivos en la escuela intermedia y secundaria, que muchas familias serían escépticas de venir a Poughkeepsie. Se podía ver en sus caras cuando venían a nuestras escuelas para los partidos. ¿Es ese tu pasillo, oh? ¿Es ese tu lobby? Luego lo experimenté mucho en el Colegio Marist. Me gradué en 2020 y era un estudiante de cercanías. Cuando los estudiantes se enteraron de dónde vivía, en su mayoría los escuchaba hablar sobre lo peligroso que es Poughkeepsie, especialmente por la noche, y me preguntaban qué tan peligroso es. Descubriría que todo lo que sabían sobre Poughkeepsie era por manejar a Taco Bell en Main Street por la noche. Q: ¿Cómo afectó eso a su educación en Marist? A: Recibí una educación maravillosa. Mis profesores y clases fueron increíbles. Tuve muchas conversaciones ricas, que me hicieron realmente pensar. Pero los aspectos sociales no eran buenos. Ser un viajero definitivamente hizo que esa parte fuera difícil, no vivir en el campus. Marist también es en su mayoría de niños blancos, y no se relacionaban muy bien conmigo en clase o en grupo. Principalmente me vincule con los niños de color. Q: ¿Cómo fue su experiencia al crecer en su vecindario? A: Es interesante. Un lado de nuestra casa da a una calle muy diversa donde he tenido muchos buenos amigos. Pero el frente de nuestra casa en realidad daba a una calle donde la gente es predominantemente blanca. Ahí era donde nos miraban, como, “¿Qué están haciendo aquí?” Mi madre tiene un gran trabajo en Verizon Communications y le va muy bien por sí misma. Cuando ella y mi padre mudaron a nuestra familia a Poughkeepsie, fue a esta casa que compraron, donde todavía vivo con mi madre y mis dos hermanos. Mi papá murió hace unos años. Q: ¿Ha mejorado más la situación, ya que su familia lleva en esa casa más de quince años? A: La gente se abría a mi papá, tal vez porque era un tipo desaliñado y divertido. La gente parecía amar eso de él. Mi mamá es muy privada. Es muy alta y camina con la cabeza en alto. Ella es muy segura de sí misma, y es muy expresiva sobre su exterior. Así que la gente podría incluso pensar que es una mujer negra altanera. Ahora soy yo quien tiene que luchar contra las apariencias, y mi hermano cuando pasea a su perro. Q: ¿Cuál es su sentido de la experiencia de sus padres al mudarse del Bronx a Poughkeepsie? A: Creo que mi papá fue muy aceptado, pero era uno de esos tipos que podía hablar con la pared. Era muy hablador. Hay mucho más sobre su experiencia de la que nunca pude hablar con él, porque murió cuando yo tenía 16 años. Mamá dejó muchos amigos en el Bronx, pero creo que se ha sentido cómoda aquí. Aunque creo que a veces puede ser una relación de amor/odio. Ella es muy articulada, y así es como quería que creciéramos. Eso también la hizo preocuparse por cómo nos tratarían. ¿Seríamos vistos como demasiado articulados para nuestros amigos negros e hispanos, o demasiado hispanos para nuestros amigos blancos? Creo que está contenta con la forma en que esto funcionó en Poughkeepsie, cómo nos han aceptado. Q: ¿Tu mamá te ha inspirado mucho de lo que eres? A: Ella eligió un nombre especial para mí. Se acordó del viejo programa de televisión Isis sobre una mujer muy poderosa, y también sabía sobre Isis, la diosa de Egipto. Cuando explico mi nombre a la gente se les cae la boca. Mi mamá sabía que eso me sucedería cuando me dio mi nombre. Ella es muy fuerte de voluntad. He estado haciendo alguna versión de trabajo de justicia social desde que estaba en la escuela secundaria, y la veo a ella en esto. Ella es el tipo de persona que hace la investigación, escucha las noticias, lee los artículos. Ahora soy muy abierta, ya sea por los derechos de vivienda o los derechos de inmigración, y ella me respalda. Q: ¿Hubo un momento en que te reconociste como una activista? A: Es gracioso, parece que siempre me han dicho que yo era una. No fue hasta que estaba en la universidad, cuando entendí que había estado haciendo lo mismo a lo largo de mi vida. Q: ¿Puede darme un ejemplo de algo que siente que ya estaba haciendo en la escuela intermedia o secundaria? A: Cuando estaba en el gobierno estudiantil, mi mayor tema para hablar era que los niños tenían que caminar a la escuela intermedia y secundaria, sin importar dónde vivieran en la ciudad. Eso no fue un gran problema para mí personalmente porque vivo cerca de ambas escuelas, pero algunos niños tienen una caminata muy larga. Luché mucho para conseguir nuevos libros de texto. Por alguna extraña razón volvieron a hacer el campo de football americano, pero no nos consiguieron nuevos libros de texto. En la escuela intermedia no me gustó cómo dividieron el edificio entre un ala de honores y un

Two Rhinebeck Houses Reflect Opposing Political Views in 1860 By Bill Jeffway A study of two houses across the street from each other in Rhinebeck, and the politics of their owners, is a study in the politics of our early republic in the run-up to the Civil War and the split in the north within the Protestant White establishment. Their opposing involvement in the 1860 US Presidential election, and some local actions and words of Abraham Lincoln, offer insight into the divisions in the country, and Lincoln’s “team of rivals” approach to reconciliation. Although in 1860 Ambrose Wager was living north of Rhinebeck Village on Montgomery Street in a house that stands today (see photo), he is best known for his Second Empire house on West Market Street that was constructed in 1874. Slightly younger than Darling, Wager built the monumental West Market Street house at the peak of his life’s achievement, as was the case with Darling when he built his West Market street house in the 1850s. From Era of Good Feelings to Civil War in a Generation Local newspapers in Dutchess County, and around the country in 1817 were describing what they saw as an Era of Good Feelings in the country where political divisions were put aside. The name and concept took hold, and the era is seen by historians as aligned to the Presidency of James Monroe, from 1817 to 1825. But in little more than a generation, between 1861 and 1865, the Civil War caused the deaths of 2% of the US population, the equivalent of 7 million people today. Nathan Darling chose Hudson River Bracketed Style Nathan Darling had built the house that stands today on the north side of Market Street by 1858 in a classic, local style described as Hudson River Bracketed by the local architect of national influence Alexander Jackson Davis. It was a style designed by Davis that could be embraced and executed by the average working class, as well as the elite, and everyone in-between. Although never a political candidate, the 1860 Federal census description of his occupation as “politician” is appropriate given the path he took to become a “wide-awake” leader of the Republican party. Ambrose Wager chose Second Empire Style On the south side of West Market Street stands the home of Ambrose Wager, an imposing Second Empire style home reaching back to Napoleonic France for inspiration built in 1874. Its imposing grandeur and connotations of Empire give it an immovable feeling. Wager’s 1883 obituary describes him as a steadfast and unwavering “Democrat of the old school.” The Democratic Party of that time was associated with a more permissive approach to slavery and its expansion. Wager was the 1860 candidate for Congress for the Democrats. Darling was active in politics all his life. In that transitional period between the era of good feelings and the Civil War, he got involved in a wide array of political movements that splintered and coalesced and splintered and coalesced again. The names of the political movements at the time give us a sense: the Locofoco’s, the Hindoo party, the Barnburners, the Know Nothings, the Free-soilers, the Native American party (referring to European Americans born in this country), the Hard and Soft Democrats. That splintering started to recede as the newly formed Republican Party emerged in 1854, a party with anti-slavery sentiments. By the 1860 Presidential election the Republican party had matured and Lincoln emerged as the party leader. Going further, however, within this movement, there emerged locally and all across the north, the most visible agitators for Lincoln who became known as the Wide-Awakes. The name was meant to reflect the depth of their commitment, and the level of energy they brought to the cause. Given the nimbleness of Darling’s prior political maneuvers, it is not surprising he became the visible leader of that movement in northern Dutchess County. Here is a description of a Rhinebeck parade from the November 3, 1860 Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle, “Grand wide-awake demonstration at Rhinebeck. 1,300 men in line. The Republicans of Rhinebeck had a grand time last evening. The parade of the wide-awakes was far ahead of any political procession ever seen before in this town. The clubs from Poughkeepsie were on hand headed by Flockton cornet band and were honored with the right of the line. The procession formed under command of Captain Darling Grand Marshal. Almost every house in the village was illuminated in the enthusiasm of the spectators and was unbounded as a political demonstration. It was most successful and showed most conclusively that the Rhinebeck Republicans are wide-awake for the cause.” As the Republican candidate, Lincoln won the November 1860 Presidential election without winning any southern state. And while he won all northern states, except New Jersey, you need only look at Dutchess County election results to see the choice was far from a mandate in the North. While Lincoln carried the county overall, he did not carry East Fishkill, Fishkill (Beacon), Hyde Park, LaGrange, Red Hook, or the Town of Poughkeepsie. Lincoln won the electoral college with only 39% of the popular vote. Lincoln inaugural train stops in Rhinebeck This was the divisive backdrop to the inaugural train journey from his home in Springfield, Illinois to Washington DC where he would take the oath of office that included Lincoln, Mrs. Lincoln, their three sons, and Lincoln’s African American servant William Johnson.  Lincoln had stopped in Albany overnight and was on the next leg of his trip when he stopped briefly in Rhinebeck. Lincoln is described by viewers as having bowed, but not spoken to the crowd. The New York Times reported that Lincoln picked up at least one person, specifically William Kelly, of Rhinebeck’s Ellerslie Estate. Kelly had just run for, and lost the NY Governorship candidate from in the Democratic Party. This kind of outreach is typical of Lincoln’s “team of rivals” embrace. Ambrose Wager was the (also failed) Democratic candidate for congress in the 1860 election.

For a very long time, since 1809 to be precise, the best-known Knickerbockers have been the fictional characters depicted by the author Washington Irving in a satirical history of New York. His work spawned the use of the iconic name to mean a “real” New Yorker, the Dutch focus reflecting the fact that the first European settlers in New York were Dutch. The popularity of Irving’s work led to the popular depiction of the “Father Knickerbocker ” character, with a three pointed hat and knickerbockers, the pants that go just below the knee and socks take care of the rest. The name lives on popularly today in the basketball team, the New York Knicks, among others. Bryan Knickerbocker lives outside of Philadelphia, and has been studying his family history for decades. DCHS is pleased to be publishing Bryan’s findings in a less traditional way, through the serial publication of chapters that will illuminate points along a trail in northern and central Dutchess County. That evolving trail can be found at www.dchsny.org/knickerbocker-trail. Among the most extraordinary findings, 90% of the Knickerbocker’s in the United States are descendants of these northern Dutchess Knickerbockeers. Subsequent chapters will be told and assigned their place on the Knicerkbocker trail!  Bill Jeffway To best view the trail, align your mouse over the trail window (middle) and scroll up and down. To adjust the position of the window, align your mouse to the left or right edges and scroll up or down.

Meet the woman behind the building of the cast iron building! Meet the titan of the iron industry who had a home in Poughkeepsie, who made sure his client got a world class product. Take a look at how the things meant to inspire in 1872 can inspire today! The Dutchess County Historical Society is grateful for the longstanding and significant support from CR Properties, Tom Cervone, President, including the organization’s commitment to the preservation of historic properties, objects, and stories of the people of our past.