Ellenville, New York
Encyclopedia
Ellenville is a village in Ulster County
Ulster County, New York
Ulster County is a county located in the state of New York, USA. It sits in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 182,493. Recent population estimates completed by the United States Census Bureau for the 12-month period ending July 1 are at...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The population was 4,135 at the 2010 census. The postal ZIP code is 12428. The telephone exchange
Telephone exchange
In the field of telecommunications, a telephone exchange or telephone switch is a system of electronic components that connects telephone calls...

 is predominantly 647 and an overlaid 210 in the 845 area code
Area code 845
Area code 845 is a telephone area code which serves the Hudson Valley counties of Rockland, Putnam, Orange, most of Dutchess, Ulster, and Sullivan, plus parts of Delaware, Greene, and Columbia counties...

.

Geography

The village of Ellenville is within the town of Wawarsing
Wawarsing, New York
Wawarsing is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 13,157 at the 2010 census. The name means "a place where the stream bends" in the Warwarsink language and refers to the geography of the land; particularly the joining of the Ver Nooy Kill and the Rondout Creek. The...

, approximately ninety miles northwest of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and ninety miles southwest of Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

. The village is located at the junction of Routes NY 52
New York State Route 52
New York State Route 52 is a long state highway in the southeastern part of New York in the United States. It generally runs from west to east, beginning at the Pennsylvania state line in the Delaware River near Narrowsburg, crossing the Hudson River on the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, and ending...

 and US 209 and is bisected by the recently-designated Shawangunk Scenic Byway. Ellenville lies in the Rondout Valley, at the eastern base of the Catskill Mountains
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...

, and the western base of the Shawangunk Ridge
Shawangunk Ridge
The Shawangunk Ridge , also known as the Shawangunk Mountains or The Gunks, is a ridge of bedrock in Ulster County, Sullivan County and Orange County in the state of New York, extending from the northernmost point of New Jersey to the Catskill Mountains.The ridgetop, which widens considerably at...

, which is listed by The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a US charitable environmental organization that works to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive....

 as one of the "75 Last Great Places on Earth."

The north-flowing Sandburg Creek and east-flowing Good Beer Kill intersect in Ellenville near the current site of the Ellenville Central School to become the Rondout Creek
Rondout Creek
Rondout Creek is a tributary of the Hudson River in Ulster and Sullivan counties, New York, USA. It rises on Rocky Mountain in the eastern Catskills, flows south into Rondout Reservoir, part of New York City's water supply network, then into the valley between the Catskills and the Shawangunk...

, which flows north to join the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...

 near Kingston
Kingston, New York
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, USA. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British Oct. 16, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga...

. Ellenville is within the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the village has a total area of 8.8 square miles (22.7 km²). 8.7 square miles (22.6 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it is water. The total area is 0.68% water.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

 of 2010, there were 4,135 people, 1,578 households (occupied housing units), and 1,047 families residing in the village. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 475.3 inhabitants per square mile (183.8/km²). There were 1,845 total housing units at an average density of 212.1 per square mile (82.0/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 68.16% White, 13.7% African American, 1.3% Native American, 2.4% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 7.7% from other races, and 6.7% from two or more races. 27.9% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 1,578 households out of which 38.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.3% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 6.1% had a male householder with no wife present, 21.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.7% were non-families. 27.7% of all households were made up of individuals living alone and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.09.

In the village, the population had 28.5% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 25.9% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.9 years. For every 100 females there were 94.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.1 males.

Based on 1999 income (the latest available figures) the median income for a household in the village was $27,474, and the median income for a family was $40,942. Males had a median income of $30,732 versus $21,250 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the village was $15,272. 23.4% of the population and 20.8% of families were below the poverty line. 31.4% of those under the age of 18 and 15.2% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Government

Ellenville is one of only three incorporated villages in Ulster County, along with New Paltz
New Paltz (village), New York
New Paltz is a village in Ulster County in the U.S. state of New York. It is about north of New York City and south of Albany. The population was 6,818 at the 2010 census.The Village of New Paltz is located within the Town of New Paltz...

 and Saugerties
Saugerties (village), New York
Saugerties is a village in Ulster County, New York, USA. The population was 4,955 at the 2000 census.The Village of Saugerties is a Town in the eastern part of the Town of Saugerties. U.S. Route 9W passes through the village...

.

Ellenville village offices are housed at the Ellenville Government Center, 2 Elting Court. In 2007, the village transferred its offices and the police department from its location at North Main Street, primarily to address the old village hall's limited space and failure to meet mandated handicapped-accessibility requirements.

The government of Ellenville is headed by an elected board composed of a mayor and four trustee
Trustee
Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...

s. As of 2007, all terms were increased from two years to four years, and elections were moved from March to November, to be held on odd-numbered years only. Daily administration of Ellenville is supervised by an appointed village manager, an appointed village clerk, an appointed village treasurer, and department heads for the five departments:
  • police
  • street
  • building and code enforcement
  • water
  • sewer


The following appointed volunteer boards, committees, and commissions are responsible for various aspects of village maintenance and development:
  • Planning Board
  • Zoning Board of Appeals
  • Housing Authority Commission
  • Local Development Corporation
  • Historic Preservation Commission
  • Ellenville Government Study Committee.

History

The first building erected in what is now the center of the village was built around 1798 by Alpheus Fairchild, who moved west from Connecticut. However, in what is now the eastern-most part of the village, the Bodley homestead most likely stood well before the Revolution, as did portions of the Bevier and Sax farms. Originally named "Fairchild City," or just "The City," after Alpheus Fairchild, who bought most of today's village in 1798 from John A. DeWitt, Fairchild had a dwelling erected on part of the site where the George and John R. Hunt Memorial Building
George and John R. Hunt Memorial Building
The George and John R. Hunt Memorial Building, often referred to as just the Hunt Memorial Building, is the former Ellenville, New York, USA, public library...

 stands today. Nathan and Maria Hoornbeek bought the dwelling and enlarged it, converting it into an inn. The Hoornbeek Tavern was a gathering place for the citizens and many important decisions about the community were made at meetings held there. Indeed, the decision to change the name of the community to "Ellenville" was proposed at the Hoornbeek Tavern. Village leaders, unable to agree upon a new name, were persuaded by Ellen Snyder, Maria Hoornbeek's sister, to name the village after her.

Charles Hartshorn came to "The City" to try a case in the Hoornbeek Tavern in 1823. He would open the first store that same year, and led a drive to choose a "real" name for the community. Hartshorn also applied to the federal government for approval of a post office and was named the first postmaster. He later erected a home for his family on the former site of the Hoornbeek Tavern. In 1856, he was elected first President of the newly-incorporated village of Ellenville.

Noted American composer Homer Newton Bartlett resided at 32 Maple Avenue in Ellenville for many years during the late 19th century.

Just north of the village, the Joseph Y. Resnick Airport (N89) is named in honor and memory of U.S. Congressman Joseph Yale Resnick, a Wawarsing native. Ellenville Regional Hospital, just north of the airport, and the Nevele Tower, just south of the village, were both dedicated by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

, at Congressman Resnick's request. Two other U.S. Congressman were from Ellenville: Isaac Newton Cox and Joseph Hasbrouck Tuthill.

Actor Jim Conroy
Jim Conroy
Jim Conroy is a voice actor and television writer. He is known for appearing on television shows, such as Celebrity Deathmatch, Kenny the Shark and FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman, radio commercials and video games...

 was born in Ellenville in 1971.

Ellenville was the fourth community featured on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

's television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 show, My Kind of Town, recorded in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 on August 6, 2005, and broadcast on September 4, 2005.

The village's post office
U.S. Post Office (Ellenville, New York)
The U.S. Post Office in Ellenville, New York, United States, serves the ZIP code 12428, which covers Ellenville and much of the surrounding town of Wawarsing...

 building, the George and John R. Hunt Memorial Building
George and John R. Hunt Memorial Building
The George and John R. Hunt Memorial Building, often referred to as just the Hunt Memorial Building, is the former Ellenville, New York, USA, public library...

 and the former D&H Canal are listed in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.

Ellenville has three copies of the statue known as "The Boy with the Leaking Boot
The Boy with the Leaking Boot
The Boy with the Leaking Boot is a statue showing a young boy, with a bare right foot, holding up his right boot and looking at it. The statue is about four feet tall, and in many cases forms a fountain, with water emerging from the toe of the boot. There are at least 24, and reportedly...

".

Due to good launch sites and favorable weather conditions, Ellenville became a major center for the development of hang gliding
Hang gliding
Hang gliding is an air sport in which a pilot flies a light and unmotorized foot-launchable aircraft called a hang glider ....

 in the 1970s and 80s. The area is now home to three major hang gliding schools and is considered one of the best sites for instruction east of the Mississippi. On most weekends, hang gliders can be seen launching off of two sites on the Shawangunk Ridge just south of Nevele and Honors Haven.

Transportation & commerce

One of the first roads in America, the "Old Mine Road
Old Mine Road
Old Mine Road is a road in New Jersey and New York said to be one of the oldest continuously-used roads in the United States of America. At a length of 104 miles, it stretches from the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area to the vicinity of Kingston, New York.Among the theories regarding the...

", which followed earlier Indian trails, led to sporadic Dutch and later settlements along its 104-mile length from New Jersey to Kingston, including Ellenville. But, with no navigable rivers, it was the construction of the Delaware & Hudson Canal in the 1820s that led to the first major boom in development of Ellenville as a canal town and manufacturing center. The D&H Canal was eventually superseded at the close of the 19th century by the New York, Ontario and Western Railway
New York, Ontario and Western Railway
The New York, Ontario and Western Railway, more commonly known as the O&W or NYO&W, was a regional railroad with origins in 1868, lasting until March 29, 1957 when it was ordered liquidated by a US bankruptcy judge. The O&W holds the distinction of being the first major U.S...

, more commonly known as the O&W or NYO&W, which opened up a significant tourism and hospitality industry, including dozens of hotels, inns, boarding houses, and bungalow colonies. The eventual modernization of the "Old Mine Road" into US 209 brought continued vacationers to "the mountains," even as the railroad closed in the 1950s. However, relatively inexpensive and increased air travel beginning in the 1960s, a generational change in tastes, and, most recently, the economic downturn's impact on tourism in general, have taken their toll over the decades. The Nevele Hotel, perhaps the most famous local resort, recently closed its doors. Its sister resort hotel, the Fallsview, has recently been purchased and renamed Honor's Haven, and has undergone major renovations and introduced health-related programs in an attempt to attract new customers.

The canal and westward expansion led to various industrial opportunities. It's said that every pioneer wagon heading west carried a Napanoch axe and an Ellenville demijohn. Ellenville pottery and glassworks still remain sought-after collector items; many examples are on display at the Ellenville Public Library's Terwilliger House Museum. Knife manufacturing was a major industry in Ellenville and Napanoch for over 100 years; the Ulster Knife Company set up in the 1870s, eventually merging with Imperial Knife Company and Schrade
Schrade
-People:*Schrade * Leo Schrade, an American musicologist* Ulrich Schrade, a Polish philosopher...

 Cutlery, finally becoming Imperial Schrade
Imperial Schrade
Imperial Schrade Corp. was an American knife manufacturer of hunting knives and pocketknives. Existing in various forms, the company was the eventual consolidation of the Schrade Cutlery Company, founded in 1904, and the Imperial Knife Company, founded 1916. In 2004 the company stopped making...

 until its closing in 2004. Famous for "Uncle Henry" and "Old Timer" knives, the Schrade tradition is now maintained by several former executives and employees in the newly-created Canal Street Cutlery, specializing in high-end quality collector knives.

In the early 20th century, the rediscovery of the lost "Old Spanish Tunnel" at the base of the Shawangunk Ridge in Ellenville led to the development of the "Sun-Ray Spring" and the international marketing by White Rock beverage entrepreneur Frank T. Huntoon of "Sun-Ray Water," tested and promoted as the "World's Purest Spring Water." Although beset by financial difficulties from its inception, the water and its carbonated derivatives were sold until the early 1920s, and re-developed as "Pure Rock Mineral Water" in 1939, also serving as a base for Pepsi-Cola bottled in Ellenville during World War II.

In the late 1940s, Joseph Resnick, a radio officer in the U.S. Merchant Marine during the war, developed a turnable DIY antenna system just as the TV boom was taking off. He, and his brothers Harry and Louis, created Channel Master
Channel Master
Channel Master Established in 1949, Channel Master was originally a terrestrial antenna manufacturer and now is in the business of manufacturing set-top boxes, home networking accessories and digital media devices .-Notable products:...

, and built one of the region's major manufacturing plants just north of the Ellenville border, along with an aluminum plant to fabricate necessary components. After selling the company to Avnet, production moved to South Carolina. The vacated Channel Master factory was eventually bought by Imperial Schrade, and the aluminum plant by V.A.W., and later Hydro Aluminum; both factories closed in the first decade of the 21st century, leaving hundreds unemployed, compounding Ellenville's economic doldrums that began with a decline of the tourism and hotel industry in the 1960s, and the development of regional shopping malls, which directed much shopping traffic away from the village.

Education

Ellenville is served by Ellenville Central School, a grades Pre-K to 12 school. Many students continue their education at SUNY Ulster, a two-year community college located roughly 20 miles north of the village in the hamlet of Stone Ridge
Stone Ridge, New York
Stone Ridge is a hamlet in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 1,173 at the 2000 census.Stone Ridge is located in the Town of Marbletown, along US 209 where it overlaps NY 213.-Geography:...

.

External links

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