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Shopping centers were built after World War II in the mid-1950s, when the automobile and suburbanization were the main factors in changing urban space. For example, in Poughkeepsie many residents left the city for the suburbs. Meanwhile, retail shopping along Main Street also relocated to the emerging shopping centers outside the city. The city lost thousands of dollars in sales and property taxes.
Most establishments in this and other shopping centers are national chains. As the national and regional economy moved more into the economy of commodification and sales, urban centers lost out to surrounding areas, in this case the Town of Poughkeepsie along Route 9.
Another mile south down Route 9 in the Town of Poughkeepsie is the main IBM plant. This plant was built in the 1940s and has remained active ever since, manufacturing IBM’s most important product: mainframes.
From the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, IBM was the main employer of the entire county. It’s still an active plant, even though IBM downsized in the late 20th century.
The city and county’s transportation network and river crossings like bridges and highways had to be expanded to accommodate commuter traffic and traffic jams along Main Street. One result was the construction of the 44/55 arterial, which unfortunately only helped workers and retail leave the city.
IBM was extremely important for stimulating economic development in the area, including the growth of ancillary manufacturing companies and services, such as dentists, lawyers, doctors, and so forth. The local incomes paid by IBM increased commercial sales from automobiles to clothing.
Also, as IBM employees had younger families, the population change impacted the school systems and housing. The city was affected as the school system was constrained, and the tax-base was taken out from under as the base moved to town and suburbs.
One of the suburbs that was built to satisfy the population growth as a result of IBM is along Spackenkill Road in the Town of Poughkeepsie. The single family houses are all on private lots, built with a garage for the necessary one or two automobiles. There are no sidewalks, as this is an auto-centered, non-urban landscape.
The school district also is auto and bus-centered; no children walk to school. The city and the town: two separate worlds, yet intricately linked.
