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Main Street ended at the river at the steamboat landing. Steamboats came up from NYC; many of its passengers would take a room in the hotel right there at the landing, and then take the trolley up Main Street to the central business district, where they would sell their wares.
There were a number of industries in Poughkeepsie related first to the river and then to the railroad. The river was integral to business in the early to mid 19th century. Matthew Vassar’s brewery was down here, and the river was utilized to ship beer down to New York City and beyond.
The railroad was important for industries down here from 1850-1950. By 1940 and after World War II, these industries collapsed, and the riverfront land was abandoned. Now, the railroad serves a different purpose: bringing people into and especially out of the City of Poughkeepsie.
At the train station you can catch the Metro-North commuter train, which takes a little less than two hours to get into New York City. The amount of commuting has increased dramatically over the last decade, and hundreds use these trains on a daily basis. Since 1999, the train station has been restored to a large degree to become a central place for all kinds of transportation, a bus as well as the train center.
Moving down Main Street from the train station toward the river, we see the yellow paint of the J.D. Johnson building, formerly a plumbing supply company, which has since been renovated for restaurants and art galleries and renamed Dooley Square.
At the bottom of Main Street, on the southern side, is a high-rise building known as the Rip Van Winkle Apartments. From 1955-75, with the collapse of the river-based industries, the land around the waterfront was cleared using Urban Renewal funds and became available for urban development.
One development from this period is Rip Van Winkle Apartment Houses. The original idea behind building this major apartment house was that there would be 2 or 3 others along with some high-end structures. Imagine living on the 10th or 12th floor with this Hudson Valley view; if it were in Fort Lee, New Jersey, it would be elite housing. However in Poughkeepsie, even with the beautiful views, the Rip Van Winkle Apartments actually became and remained Section 8 housing for lower income populations.
At the terminus of Main Street on the waterfront is another Urban Renewal development, Waryas Park. The open space in the park is an important place for citizens to enjoy the river and the view.
Recent efforts through the Greenway Project are underway to make sure a walkway along the Hudson would make it into a more usable park.
Located on the north end of the park is the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum and a public skate park. In the center of the park is a small restaurant and the only publicly accessible boat ramp for miles. Since much of the riverfront in the Mid-Hudson Valley is privately owned, the boat ramp represents an important part of what a city can do on the waterfront: making it accessible for public.
Kaal Rock Park lies at the foot of the Mid-Hudson Bridge, built in 1930, which makes up the southern border of Waryas Park.
The problem in planning urban waterfront development, especially after the Urban Renewal period, is that once you have the opportunity to have this space back for public accessibility, cities end up developing entirely for private use. Some private use is of course useful, but you need public accessibility here also.
