Mill Street-North Clover Street Historic District
Encyclopedia
The Mill Street-North Clover Street Historic District is located along those streets and Main Street in western Poughkeepsie
, New York, United States. It is an irregularly-shaped area of 27 acres (10.9 ha) between US 9 and downtown Poughkeepsie, located on the slope up from the Hudson River
. There are roughly 139 historic buildings, and very few new ones.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1972. Like the Union Street Historic District
to its south, the neighborhood remained virtually unchanged from the 19th century when it first began to grow and develop. It includes as contributing properties
some listed on the Register in their own right, like the Vassar Institute
, Vassar Home for Aged Men
(both now home to a local arts center) and Church of the Holy Comforter
, designed by Richard Upjohn
.
At that time, Poughkeepsie was clearing and demolishing many old neighborhoods as part of its urban renewal
programs. The historic districts
were established to preserve
what would not be demolished. Two areas of historic buildings adjacent to the district, on Main and North Bridge streets, were not included because they were meant to be razed as well. But those plans were canceled, and in 1987 the district's boundaries were increased by a few acres to include the still-extant blocks.
The underlying land slopes up gently from Route 9 to where the land levels off at the western edge of downtown Poughkeepsie. On the west, it takes in Church of the Holy Comforter
and the houses on Davies Place just across from it and Wheaton Park to the north. All the property on North Clover, the next street to the west, is included except the west corner of the Main Street intersection on the south. The homes at 105-115 Main to the east were one of the 1987 additions.
In the north it narrows for a short distance to include just the property on the south side of Mill, then expands again to both sides of the street after the North Perry Street intersection, even including some of the Charles Street buildings to their north. Two blocks of North Bridge Street to the north are within the district, as well as some short adjacent sections of Charles and Mansion streets. South of the intersection is the other area added to the district later.
The eastern portion is bordered on the north by the south side of Mansion Street, turning south along the rear property lines of the west side of Washington Street to Mill Street again, then including that side of the street all the way to the rear lines of the north side of Main Street. The district boundary is at Main Street to include the Vassar Home for Aged Men
building, where it crosses the street and follows the rear lines on the other side to the North Bridge Street properties. Almost all of Vassar Street, and all of Lafayette Street, are within the district.
Most of the district is residential, with a few churches and other institutional buildings. Many are of brick, often in the Second Empire style not commonly used with that material. There are some Federal and Greek Revival
buildings, most notably the Second Baptist Church
, Poughkeepsie's only remaining church in the latter style, scattered throughout.
The only commercial areas are along Main and the Mill-North Clover intersection. Wheaton Park is the district's major open space
. Past demolitions have also left some lots
vacant.
, Baltus Van Kleeck, built the first house in what would later become Poughkeepsie. It was located on the path that would become Mill Street, near the intersection with the future Vassar Street. Mill Street was one of the first paths between the settlement of Poughkeepsie on the plateau and the river. As it developed into a more permanent street, the area grew. The coming of the Hudson River Railroad, which passed close to the neighborhood on the west, in the 1850s added to its prosperity. By mid-century it had become Poughkeepsie's downtown. All of its historic buildings were erected between 1840 and 1875.
One of its great benefactors was Matthew Vassar
and his descendants. The family's property and residences gave their name to Vassar Street, where their main landholding was. In 1835 they tore down Van Kleeck's original house.
Their ownership of the land on which the Second Baptist Church was located led to it being called the "Vassar Temple" due to its colonnade
d facade
and use as a synagogue
after the Civil War
. His nephews built the eclectic brick Vassar Institute
and Vassar Home for Aged Men
on family land, now at Vassar and Main, to carry on the family's educational and charitable traditions, in the early 1880s.
The neighborhood remained mostly unchanged well into the 20th century, when it was spared from urban renewal by the work of local preservationists. The cancellation of many urban renewal plans led to the boundary increase in 1987.
Five buildings within the district were separately listed on the National Register just prior to the district itself. They include two churches, two institutional buildings and one house now used as an organization's headquarters.
Poughkeepsie (city), New York
Poughkeepsie is a city in the state of New York, United States, which serves as the county seat of Dutchess County. Poughkeepsie is located in the Hudson River Valley midway between New York City and Albany...
, New York, United States. It is an irregularly-shaped area of 27 acres (10.9 ha) between US 9 and downtown Poughkeepsie, located on the slope up from 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...
. There are roughly 139 historic buildings, and very few new ones.
It was listed on 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...
in 1972. Like the Union Street Historic District
Union Street Historic District (Poughkeepsie, New York)
The Union Street Historic District in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States, is an area of eight blocks southwest of downtown and just north of the Mid-Hudson Bridge approaches. It is the oldest neighborhood in the city....
to its south, the neighborhood remained virtually unchanged from the 19th century when it first began to grow and develop. It includes as contributing properties
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
some listed on the Register in their own right, like the Vassar Institute
Vassar Institute
The Vassar Institute building is located at Main and Vassar streets in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States, across from the architecturally similar Vassar Home for Aged Men...
, Vassar Home for Aged Men
Vassar Home for Aged Men
The former Vassar Home for Aged Men is located at Main and Vassar streets in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. It is just across the street from the architecturally similar Vassar Institute....
(both now home to a local arts center) and Church of the Holy Comforter
Church of the Holy Comforter (Poughkeepsie, New York)
The Church of the Holy Comforter, built in 1860, is a Gothic Revival church located on Davies Street, near the train station in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States, a few blocks from the Hudson River...
, designed by Richard Upjohn
Richard Upjohn
Richard Upjohn was an English-born architect who emigrated to the United States and became most famous for his Gothic Revival churches. He was partially responsible for launching the movement to such popularity in the United States. Upjohn also did extensive work in and helped to popularize the...
.
At that time, Poughkeepsie was clearing and demolishing many old neighborhoods as part of its urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
programs. The historic districts
Historic district (United States)
In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...
were established to preserve
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
what would not be demolished. Two areas of historic buildings adjacent to the district, on Main and North Bridge streets, were not included because they were meant to be razed as well. But those plans were canceled, and in 1987 the district's boundaries were increased by a few acres to include the still-extant blocks.
Geography
In its current form the district is somewhat horseshoe-shaped, touching Main Street in two small areas on the south and connecting its two larger neighborhoods via Mill Street in the north. These boundaries were mostly established on the initial listing in 1972.The underlying land slopes up gently from Route 9 to where the land levels off at the western edge of downtown Poughkeepsie. On the west, it takes in Church of the Holy Comforter
Church of the Holy Comforter (Poughkeepsie, New York)
The Church of the Holy Comforter, built in 1860, is a Gothic Revival church located on Davies Street, near the train station in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States, a few blocks from the Hudson River...
and the houses on Davies Place just across from it and Wheaton Park to the north. All the property on North Clover, the next street to the west, is included except the west corner of the Main Street intersection on the south. The homes at 105-115 Main to the east were one of the 1987 additions.
In the north it narrows for a short distance to include just the property on the south side of Mill, then expands again to both sides of the street after the North Perry Street intersection, even including some of the Charles Street buildings to their north. Two blocks of North Bridge Street to the north are within the district, as well as some short adjacent sections of Charles and Mansion streets. South of the intersection is the other area added to the district later.
The eastern portion is bordered on the north by the south side of Mansion Street, turning south along the rear property lines of the west side of Washington Street to Mill Street again, then including that side of the street all the way to the rear lines of the north side of Main Street. The district boundary is at Main Street to include the Vassar Home for Aged Men
Vassar Home for Aged Men
The former Vassar Home for Aged Men is located at Main and Vassar streets in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. It is just across the street from the architecturally similar Vassar Institute....
building, where it crosses the street and follows the rear lines on the other side to the North Bridge Street properties. Almost all of Vassar Street, and all of Lafayette Street, are within the district.
Most of the district is residential, with a few churches and other institutional buildings. Many are of brick, often in the Second Empire style not commonly used with that material. There are some Federal and Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
buildings, most notably the Second Baptist Church
Second Baptist Church (Poughkeepsie, New York)
The Second Baptist Church in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States, is located at the corner of Vassar and Mill streets. It is a wooden building from the late 1830s in the Greek Revival architectural style, the only remaining church in the city in that style....
, Poughkeepsie's only remaining church in the latter style, scattered throughout.
The only commercial areas are along Main and the Mill-North Clover intersection. Wheaton Park is the district's major open space
Public space
A public space is a social space such as a town square that is open and accessible to all, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age or socio-economic level. One of the earliest examples of public spaces are commons. For example, no fees or paid tickets are required for entry, nor are the entrants...
. Past demolitions have also left some lots
Lot (real estate)
In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner. A lot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property in other countries...
vacant.
History
In 1702, a Dutch settlerDutch colonization of the Americas
Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. Whereas the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600 , the first forts and settlements on the Essequibo river in Guyana and on the Amazon date from the 1590s...
, Baltus Van Kleeck, built the first house in what would later become Poughkeepsie. It was located on the path that would become Mill Street, near the intersection with the future Vassar Street. Mill Street was one of the first paths between the settlement of Poughkeepsie on the plateau and the river. As it developed into a more permanent street, the area grew. The coming of the Hudson River Railroad, which passed close to the neighborhood on the west, in the 1850s added to its prosperity. By mid-century it had become Poughkeepsie's downtown. All of its historic buildings were erected between 1840 and 1875.
One of its great benefactors was Matthew Vassar
Matthew Vassar
Matthew Vassar was an English-born American brewer and merchant. He founded the eponymous Vassar College in 1861.He was a cousin of John Ellison Vassar.-Background:...
and his descendants. The family's property and residences gave their name to Vassar Street, where their main landholding was. In 1835 they tore down Van Kleeck's original house.
Their ownership of the land on which the Second Baptist Church was located led to it being called the "Vassar Temple" due to its colonnade
Colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building....
d facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
and use as a synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
after the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. His nephews built the eclectic brick Vassar Institute
Vassar Institute
The Vassar Institute building is located at Main and Vassar streets in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States, across from the architecturally similar Vassar Home for Aged Men...
and Vassar Home for Aged Men
Vassar Home for Aged Men
The former Vassar Home for Aged Men is located at Main and Vassar streets in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. It is just across the street from the architecturally similar Vassar Institute....
on family land, now at Vassar and Main, to carry on the family's educational and charitable traditions, in the early 1880s.
The neighborhood remained mostly unchanged well into the 20th century, when it was spared from urban renewal by the work of local preservationists. The cancellation of many urban renewal plans led to the boundary increase in 1987.
Significant contributing properties
- Church of the Holy ComforterChurch of the Holy Comforter (Poughkeepsie, New York)The Church of the Holy Comforter, built in 1860, is a Gothic Revival church located on Davies Street, near the train station in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States, a few blocks from the Hudson River...
. 1860 Gothic Revival church on Davies Place, originally EpiscopalEpiscopal Church (United States)The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
but now Anglican CatholicAnglo-CatholicismThe terms Anglo-Catholic and Anglo-Catholicism describe people, beliefs and practices within Anglicanism that affirm the Catholic, rather than Protestant, heritage and identity of the Anglican churches....
, designed by Richard UpjohnRichard UpjohnRichard Upjohn was an English-born architect who emigrated to the United States and became most famous for his Gothic Revival churches. He was partially responsible for launching the movement to such popularity in the United States. Upjohn also did extensive work in and helped to popularize the...
. Steeple is a city landmark to drivers on neighboring Route 9. - Italian CenterItalian CenterThe Italian Center is the name commonly used for a mid-19th century house that is home to the organization of the same name on Mill Street in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States...
. Late Victorian brick townhouse now used as headquarters for local Italian AmericanItalian AmericanAn Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
organization. - Second Baptist ChurchSecond Baptist Church (Poughkeepsie, New York)The Second Baptist Church in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States, is located at the corner of Vassar and Mill streets. It is a wooden building from the late 1830s in the Greek Revival architectural style, the only remaining church in the city in that style....
. Only Greek RevivalGreek Revival architectureThe Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
church left in the city, at Vassar and Mill streets. Later known as "Vassar Temple" due to that family's ownership of the land, the colonnadeColonnadeIn classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building....
d front facadeFacadeA facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
and its later use as a synagogueSynagogueA synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
. - Vassar Home for Aged MenVassar Home for Aged MenThe former Vassar Home for Aged Men is located at Main and Vassar streets in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. It is just across the street from the architecturally similar Vassar Institute....
. 1880 senior citizens' home at Vassar and Main now serves as offices for Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center and some other local nonprofits. - Vassar InstituteVassar InstituteThe Vassar Institute building is located at Main and Vassar streets in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States, across from the architecturally similar Vassar Home for Aged Men...
. Eclectic 1882 brick building just across from the Home for Aged Men. Now the main building for the arts center programs.