The Digital Tour of Poughkeepsie

Main Street is a main street now, but from the early 1970s to 2000 it was a pedestrian mall.

City leaders intended the development of a pedestrian mall to save retail on Main Street, since retail had left the city to relocate on Route 9 outside the city.  In fact, the pedestrian mall never worked terribly well; even more retail left, and a large number of buildings went vacant and were abandoned.

Now that the street is back in, there is more traffic for retail as well as second floor use of structures by lawyers and other professionals.