Filed under:
This area is found in the South Side of the City of Poughkeepsie bordered by Main Street, Route 9, the 44/55 arterial, and Bridge Street.
In the 1960s, Urban Renewal was in full swing. In Main Street, many neighborhoods were put under the bulldozer. Down along the river slope, German communities were being destroyed.
People living on these streets put up a tremendous battle against the bulldozer so that housing remained. Programs were developed to put in new sidewalks, work on facades, and to put in new streetlights, which brought the neighborhood back into a nice, human-scaled environment.
The Union Street Historical District became important in the national quest for urban historic preservation. This is a working neighborhood, not an elite one, and has a wonderful feel to it.
Under Urban Renewal, many areas were turned into parking lots. One parking lot was developed at the intersection of Bridge Street and Main Street. After Urban Renewal, it was then turned into a sculpture park because there are two or three galleries next door, and the owners invited sculptors to put sculptors in the park to make it something very nice for the urban scene.
Across Bridge Street, the 7th Day Adventist church inhabits what once was a Jewish temple. It is a good example of how in the 19th century, churches and temples relocated to where those who had attended moved. In this case, as Jews became more middle class, they moved out into other parts of Poughkeepsie, especially on the South Side and into the town.
