when the question of raising money for the construction of the New
York & Oswego Midland Railroad came up in 1867. Its citizens, under
the wise leadership and guided by the excellent judgment of Senator
Henry R. Low, Captain James N. Pronk, Elisha P. Wheeler, William J.
Groo, and others, was induced to bond the town for the sum of three
hundred thousand dollars and subscribe to the stock of the new road
for that amount. The bonds were issued for a period of twenty years,
with interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum, payable
semi-annually, with a provision that after ten years an annual
sinking fund of five per cent, of the total issue of bonds should be
raised. Within a few years the New York & Oswego Midland Railroad
Company went into the hands of a receiver, and its stock became
comparatively worthless. The three-hundred thousand dollars of stock
owned by the town was sold for $15,000. When the bonds matured in
1888, William B. Royce, the sole railroad commissioner, had
accumulated from the sinking fund, sale of stock, interest and other
sources, the sum of $180,000, with which bonds to that amount were
paid. To provide for the payment of the balance of said bonds,
amounting to $120,000, the railroad commissioner issued, under
authority of law, bonds to that amount, payable in installments, the
last of said bonds maturing on April 1, 1907, with interest payable
semi-annually, at the rate of three and one-half per cent, per annum.
As provided by the bonds, the last installment of principal and
interest was paid April 1, 1907, the town and city of Middletown
having paid the whole of said principal sum by direct tax, excepting
the $15,000 for which the stock was sold. The New York, Ontario &
Western Railway Company was organized and took over the property of
the old New York & Oswego Midland Railroad Company. As a result of
the construction of this road, to which the town of Wallkill and
city of Middletown have contributed so largely, the railroad shops
were located at Middletown, which brought a very large influx to the
population of the town and city, and added largely to their taxable
value. It also resulted in building the road from Middletown to
Cornwall, and the extension of what was known as the Middletown,
Unionville and Water Gap Railroad through to New York under the
original name of the New Jersey Midland Railroad, which subsequently
became the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad, thus giving
Middletown three direct lines of railroad to New York City, and
making northern and western communications, which largely added to
its transportation facilities.
HIGHWAYS.
The highways of the town of Wallkill are in fair condition, and are
maintained under the money system. The town has a portion of three
State roads; one branching off from the Middletown-Bloomingburg plank
road, about three miles north of Middletown, and running in a general
northerly direction to the town line of Crawford and thence to the
village of Pine Bush. Another road starts from the southern corporate
limits of the city of Middletown and runs in a southerly direction to
the town line of Wawayanda, and thence to the village of Goshen. This
road branches off in a southwesterly direction in the town of
Wawayanda and extends to Unionville, and by another branch is being
extended to Port Jervis. Another State road, known as the
Middletown-Cuddebackville road, starts from the northwesterly line of
the city of Middletown and runs through the town to the line of the
town of Mount Hope, thence through Mount Hope and Deer Park to
Cuddebackville. Under existing laws the State roads are in the first
instance maintained under direction of and at the expense of the
State.
[Illustration: A. D. Mills]
SCHOOLS.
The town of Wallkill has seventeen school districts, in which are
maintained the usual form of district schools under the State law.
These are being gradually improved under the efficient system of
State supervision, but are not yet at the standard to which they
should be raised.
MIDDLETOWN.
The precise time when the first settlement was made in this village
is uncertain, though it is believed to have been shortly after the
erection of the town. John Green purchased some land of Delancey, a
patentee under the crown of Great Britain, and that purchase included
land in the southern part of the village and the ground where the
First Congregational church now stands. Mr. Green donated the lot for
the purpose of having a house of worship erected. When the citizens
assembled to put up the frame of the old Congregational church, it
was concluded that the locality should have a name. "What shall it
be? There is Dolsontown on the south, Goshen on the east, Scotchtown
on the north, and a locality not defined, on the west, called
Shawangunk. We will call it Middletown, it being the center." In
1829, the name of the village was changed to South Middletown to
prevent confusion in the transmission of mail matter, there being
another place styled "Middletown" north of Newburgh, but in 1849 the
prefix of "South" was left off.
The Minisink road which passes through the city of Middletown is
mentioned by a Mr. Clinton, a surveyor employed by the owner of lot
No. 35 of the Minisink Angle, as early as 1742, and the second store
in Middletown was started by Isaiah Vail at a place called Monhagen,
opposite the white oak bridge on the old Minisink road, near the
westerly limits of the present city of Middletown. The first store in
Middletown was kept by Abel Woodhull, previous to the place being
called Middletown.
The western portion of Middletown was included in lot No. 36 in the
Minisink Angle, owned by Delancey, and as he espoused the Royalist
cause his land, except what was sold to Mr. Green before the
Revolution, was confiscated by the State of New York. Three
appraisers were appointed by the State to put a value on the land,
two of whom were Israel Wickham and Henry Wisner. It is stated that
an earnest debate occurred on the subject of valuation, whether to
call it six shillings or a dollar per acre. Mr. Wickham insisted that
it would never be worth a dollar, so it was put down at six shillings
an acre. The land confiscated takes in the western portion of the
village and present city, and includes the real estate formerly owned
by John B. Hanford, Henry Little and George Houston. Part of this
land could not now be bought for $10,000 an acre.
The New York & Erie Railroad seems to have been built on the
installment plan in the county of Orange; first to Monroe, then to
Chester, then to Goshen, and finally by large contributions from the
people of Middletown, it was extended to that place. The building of
this road seemed to give an impetus to the business of the village
and induced manufacturers to locate there, which soon made it one of
the most flourishing villages in southern New York.
The actual incorporation of the village did not occur until April 7,
1848, when the preliminary proceedings in regard to the incorporation
were approved by Judge D. W. Bates. The first president of the
village was Stacey Beakes, and associated with him as trustees were
Coe Dill, William Hoyt, Israel Hoyt, Israel O. Beattie and Daniel C.
Dusenberry. John B. Friend was clerk. Of the above named trustees,
Daniel C. Dusenberry is still living (1908).
The growth of Middletown has always been gradual, and it has never
been what might be called a "boom town." In 1807 the population was
forty-five; in 1838 it had increased to 433; in 1848, at the time of
its incorporation, it had increased to 1,360; and in 1857, to 2,190.
At the time of its incorporation as a city, in 1888, its population
had increased to 11,977, and at the close of 1907 it was about
16,000.
The post-office in the village of Middletown was first established on
the 22nd of October, 1816. Stacey Beakes was appointed the first
postmaster and held the office for about ten years. The first
quarter's receipts in 1817, as rendered by the postmaster, were
$0.69; in 1826, the receipts had risen to $16.12 a quarter; and in
1854, to $257.79. The annual receipts of the Middletown post-office
are now upwards of $50,000.
[Illustration: Charles H. Smith.]
The citizens of Middletown were always ambitious for its growth, and
in all that was done, the future as well as the present, interests of
the village were carefully looked after. Manufacturers were induced
to locate there, and the village, and afterward the city, has always
been recognized as a manufacturing center for this part of the State.
Some of the largest manufactories in the old village of Middletown
were the Monhagen Saw Works, Eagle File Works, Matthews Brothers'
Carpet Bag Factory, Draper's Hat Factory, Babcock's Hat Works, and a
large tannery, which was afterward merged in the leather manufactory
of Howell-Hinchman Company. As before mentioned, the New York,
Ontario & Western Railway Company located its shops here, and from
that time, the village and city have had a steady growth.
CHURCHES.
Middletown as a village and city has always been well supplied with
churches.
The first, the _Congregational Church,_ was organized June 10, 1785,
and incorporated August 12, 1786, and so far as organization and
incorporation are concerned, it is the oldest church in Middletown.
_The first Presbyterian Church_ of Middletown, as such, was organized
March 31, 1828.
_The Methodist Episcopal Church_ of Middletown effected a legal
organization on July 11, 1838.
_Grace Episcopal Church_ was incorporated on February 18, 1845.
_The First Baptist Church_ filed its certificate of incorporation
October 28, 1849.
_The Second Presbyterian Church_ (now Westminster church) was
incorporated December 5, 1854.
_The Primitive Baptist Church_ of Middletown was incorporated May
29, 1871.
_The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church_ was incorporated
November 20, 1861.
_St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church_ was established in 1866.
_Calvary Baptist Church_ was incorporated in 1902.
_North Congregational Church_ was incorporated in 1890.
_Christ Church_ (Universalist) was incorporated in 1897.
_St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church_ (German) was incorporated
in 1897.
_Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church_ was incorporated in 1875.
_Faith Mission_ was incorporated in 1889.
_The Christian Science Church_ was incorporated in 1903.
It will be seen from the above that the churches of Middletown
average one to every 1,000 people of the present population.
SCHOOLS.
The school system of Middletown was originated by the holding of a
meeting April 6, 1813, to take steps to comply with the statute of
1812, for the organization of the common school system of the State.
The first commissioners elected were William Hurtin, Jacob Dunning
and Benjamin Woodward. In 1844 a system of supervision by town
superintendents was inaugurated. Previous to that several citizens
were selected who decided upon the qualifications of the teacher.
John G. Wilkin, afterward county judge of Orange County, was the
first town superintendent of Wallkill, which included the village of
Middletown. About the year 1856 a law was passed providing for the
election of superintendents for assembly districts, thus doing away
with the town system, and this system has ever since been continued.
On the 30th of January, 1841, a meeting was held to initiate the
work of founding Wallkill Academy. It was started as a private
enterprise, stock to the amount of $3,656.75 was subscribed by 115
stockholders, the shares being $5.00 each. Application was made to
the Legislature for an act of incorporation, which was passed in May,
1841. The building was completed in October, 1842, and soon
thereafter school sessions were opened, the first teacher being Rev.
Phineas Robinson, who remained in charge for two years. For a number
of years Wallkill Academy was continued under the plan of its first
incorporation, but subsequently passed over to the village of
Middletown as a part of its school system. The school system of the
village of Middletown was always well managed and excellent results
were attained. This system was afterward merged in the city school
system upon the incorporation of the city of Middletown in 1888.
The management is now under a board of education consisting of nine
members, with superintendent of schools. There are now eight schools
in the educational system of Middletown. The high school was erected
on the site formerly occupied by the Wallkill Academy, and is a very
imposing building with all modern facilities and conveniences. It
employs thirteen teachers in the academic department, and eight in
the grammar grades. The seven primary schools are located in various
parts of the city, so as to accommodate the pupils, but upon
graduation in the primary grades all of the pupils are promoted to
the high school in its various grades.
The free public library of Middletown, known as the Thrall Library
Building, is architecturally an ornament to the city, and is fitted
up in the most modern style for library purposes. The lot was
formerly used as a location for the village school. Mrs. S.
Maretta Thrall left a legacy of $30,000 to the city, with which the
library was built. Mrs. Thrall, by her liberality, provided
Middletown with a library of which its citizens are justly proud,
and erected for herself a monument in our city and in the hearts of
its people which will be as enduring as time. The library at present
contains 10,500 volumes. The legacy bequeathed by Mrs. Thrall was to
be used exclusively for the building, and was so used.
CHARITABLE AND BENEVOLENT ORGANIZATIONS.
In the year 1880, the matter of establishing a Children's Home for
Orange County was brought up in the board of supervisors. A
committee, consisting of the Hon. William H. Clark, Selah E. Strong
and William B. Royce, was appointed to take the matter under
consideration and report. After a careful investigation and
examination of a large number of properties, the committee reported
that in its judgment the property known as the Israel O. Beattie
property in the village of Middletown was better adapted for the
purpose than any other property that had been brought to the notice
of the committee. The property, at the time, was owned by the Mutual
Life Insurance Company of the city of New York, and after
negotiations, a price was fixed by the company at $8,000. The price
was approved by the board and the committee was ordered to purchase
the property, which was subsequently done. The sum of $2,000 was
appropriated for the use of the committee in making such necessary
repairs and changes as might be deemed necessary to fit the property
for immediate use. The committee, having completed its duties,
reported to the board on the 21st of November, 1881, that its work
was completed and that there had been expended $9,910.05, leaving a
balance of $89.95 in the hands of the committee.
Previous to the making of this report, the property had been turned
over to the county superintendent of the poor, and it was formally
opened on February 7, 1881. On the first day of January, 1882,
forty-four children were being cared for in the home. This number has
fluctuated during the intervening years, sometimes the number of
children being as low as sixteen, and at other times approximating
the original number reported.
The Orange County Home for Aged Women is located at No. 27 South
street, in the city of Middletown, and like the Children's Home, is
not limited to the city of Middletown with regard to the territory
from which its inmates are received. It was incorporated in 1884, the
idea emanating from the fertile brain of Dr. Julia E. Bradner. The
home now has become a well-known institution, not only in the city of
Middletown, but in the county of Orange.
It is difficult to realize that Thrall Hospital, so much an integral
part of the civic life of Middletown to-day, was not dreamed of a
quarter of a century since. It is not an easy matter to make plain to
the lay mind just what is behind the bald statistic, "One
typhoid--discharged." Statistics may number the bandages and weigh
out the drugs, but they never take reckoning of the anxieties, the
heartaches, that broad utilitarianism which under the name of the
Middletown Hospital Association began its beneficent work.
It was twenty years ago last November (1907) that Dr. Julia E.
Bradner called together, at her residence, a few of the women of
Middletown to discuss the project of having a hospital in their own
home town.
At the first informal meeting in November, 1887, nine women, led on
by the indomitable spirit of Dr. Julia E. Bradner, voted to have a
charter legally drawn and to meet again at her home, on Orchard
street, on the 22nd of November.
The charter was presented at this second meeting and signed before
Notary Henry W. Wiggins by the following women: Julia E. Bradner,
president; Ella S. Hanford, first vice-president; Lutie M. Clemson,
second vice-president; Clara S. Finn, treasurer; Harriet L. Clark,
secretary; Sarah Orr Sliter, Jennie E. Prior, Frances W. Wilcox,
Florence Horton.
[Illustration: Charles A. Evans.]
The organization effected on this November day and incorporated
December 6, of the same year, was named "The Middletown Hospital
Association," its object "to build and maintain a hospital in the
village of Middletown."
The day of the second meeting was big in history, for not only was
the matter of the charter settled, but an advisory board of
physicians was elected, consisting of William E. Eager, M.D.;
William H. Dorrance, M.D.; Selden H. Talcott, M.D.; Burke Pillsbury,
M.D.; and Ira S. Bradner, M.D.--all of whom have passed away.
In the spring of 1891, seeing the need and the opportunity to supply
that need, Mrs. S. Maretta Thrall gave to the association the lot on
the south side of what is now Thrall Park. Plans were made for a
building to cost over $13,000, but their execution would have been
put off indefinitely had not Mrs. Thrall come forward with a gift of
money sufficient to cover the cost of the planned building, making,
with the estimated value of the lot, a total gift of over $16,000.
Work on the foundation was begun immediately.
The association, which in various ways, during the four years which
elapsed after the foundation was laid, had raised $5,000, now used
that amount to furnish and equip the building in a practical and
up-to-date manner. On the tenth day of May, one year after the gift
of the lot, the hospital, having a capacity of twenty-six beds, was
thrown open for the reception of patients.
MIDDLETOWN STATE HOMEOPATHIC HOSPITAL.
Nearly forty years ago, or, to be exact, in 1869, several of the
citizens of what was then the village of Middletown decided that a
hospital for the insane was needed in this vicinity. Funds were
collected and a farm was purchased on the western border of the
village for a site for an asylum, as such institutions were then
called. Dr. George F. Foote endeavored to raise money by subscription
for a private asylum. To this end $75,000 were subscribed, the amount
expended for a site and to build part of the institution, all of
which was finally accepted by the commonwealth as a free-will
offering from a comparatively few generous subscribers.
The first appropriation by the State for the institution was made in
1870. The original board of trustees numbered twenty-one, appointed
by the Governor. The first superintendent, Dr. Foote, having
resigned, Dr. Henry R. Stiles was appointed in his stead. He served
until February 9, 1877, and then resigned. He was succeeded by the
late Selden H. Talcott, who served until his death in 1902, when the
present incumbent, Dr. Maurice C. Ashley, was appointed to succeed
him, and is now in charge of the institution.
Among the early trustees, who were residents of Orange County, may be
recalled the well-known names of Daniel Thompson, John G. Wilin,
Moses D. Stivers, James G. Graham, Henry R. Low, Elisha P. Wheeler,
Dr. Joshua A. Draper, James B. Hulse, James H. Norton, Nathaniel W.
Vail, and Uzal T. Hayes.
The hospital was incorporated in 1869, opened for the reception of
patients on the 20th of April, 1874, and the first patient was
admitted May 7, 1874.
To give an idea of the present magnitude of this great public
charity, it seems fitting that a few figures should go on record
where they will be permanently preserved.
The farm and grounds comprise nearly 300 acres, on which there are
thirty buildings; the value of the real and personal property is over
$1,500,000; the present annual expenses for all purposes, excepting
the new building, are about $245,000, of which nearly $60,000 are
received from private and reimbursing patients; about $110,000 is
required for salaries and wages. Since the opening of the
institution, over 7,000 patients have been received and treated. Of
this number 2,600 have been discharged recovered and returned to
their homes and to society, and 900 others have been sufficiently
restored or improved to enable them to return to their families. The
number of patients under treatment at the present time is 1,350.
The present normal capacity of the hospital for patients is 1,222.
Buildings are now under construction for about 550 more patients and
the necessary employees, making a total capacity for 1,850 patients
and 450 employees.
The hospital district comprises Orange, Sullivan, Ulster and Rockland
Counties, but those desiring homeopathic treatment are received from
any part of the State.
During all the years, the hospital has been conducted upon
homeopathic principles, following strictly the practice and
principles of homeopathy in the selection of medicines and treatment
of patients. This is a compliance with the law under which the
hospital was first incorporated, and the results, in all respects,
would seem to warrant the continuance of the present form of
treatment and management.
In compliance with the law, a training school for nurses and
attendants has been established and maintained for some years with
the most satisfactory results.
A few years since all the asylums were placed under State control,
and a board of local managers with modified duties took the place of
the old boards of trustees.
The board of managers of the asylum, as at present constituted,
consists of William H. Rogers of Middletown, N. Y., president; Ira L.
Case, of Middletown, N. Y., secretary; Newbold Morris, of New York
City, N. Y., Miss Alice Larkin, New York City; Mrs. Harriet A.
Dillingham, New York City; George B. Adams, Middletown, N. Y.; and
James B. Carson, Middletown, N. Y. The attorney for the hospital is
William B. Royce, of Middletown, N. Y.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The city of Middletown is located on the Erie, the New York, Ontario
& Western and the Susquehanna & Western railroads, about sixty-seven
miles from New York City, and is the legal successor of the village
of Middletown, in the county of Orange. The city was incorporated by
an act of the Legislature of the State of New York, known as Chapter
535 of the Laws of 1888, and John E. Iseman became its first mayor.
The city, as now incorporated, contains 2,330-1/2 acres.
The city is divided into four wards. The general city officers are:
A Mayor, Robert Lawrence, now holding the office; president of the
common council, two aldermen from each ward, city clerk and
collector, city treasurer, corporation counsel, city engineer and
surveyor, superintendent of streets, recorder, two justices of the
peace, and three assessors. Each ward also elects one supervisor, the
duties of whose office are the same as those of town supervisors.
Middletown has a most excellent and efficient fire department, of
which Charles Higham is chief. The force, as now organized, consists
of one hook and ladder company, truck drawn by horses; five hose
companies, two of them having chemical wagons drawn by horses; one
engine company, new steamer drawn by horses. The city has a complete
system of electric fire alarms, with forty-two boxes in service.
Middletown has about forty-seven regularly organized charitable,
benevolent, fraternal and social organizations and clubs, exclusive
of labor-organizations, societies and organizations connected with
its railroads. Of the latter there are nine, and of the labor
organizations, twenty.
A fine State armory is located here, which is the headquarters of the
First Battalion, First Regiment, N. G. N. Y., A. E. Mclntyre, Major,
commanding. This armory is also the home of Company I (24th Separate
Company), First Regiment, N. G. N. Y., of which Abraham L. Decker is
captain.
There are two Grand Army Posts in Middletown, viz: General Lyon Post,
No. 266; Captain William A. Jackson Post, No. 301.
Middletown has a very efficient Business Men's Association, which was
incorporated November 20, 1902.
The banking interests of Middletown are represented by the following
banks: First National Bank, capital $100,000; Merchants' National
Bank, capital $100,000; Orange County Trust Company, capital
$100,000; and the Middletown Savings Bank. These institutions are all
in a healthy and prosperous condition and have, in the aggregate,
deposits amounting to about the sum of $8,000,000.
There are, in addition to the above, thirty-five incorporated
companies in Middletown, representing manufacturing, mercantile,
mechanical and financial enterprises. The largest employers of labor
are the Borden's Condensed Milk Company, the New York, Ontario &
Western Railway Company shops, Howell-Hinchman Company, and the
Union Hat Company.
The cemetery grounds of the Hillside Cemetery Corporation, formerly
Hillside Cemetery Association, are located in the southwest part of
the city. The cemetery had many natural advantages from contour of
the land, virgin forests and running streams. To these have been
added about twelve miles of macadamized roads and drives, with
gracefully curving paths and winding walks. A great deal of shrubbery
and many flowering plants have been set out and in the summer the
scene is a most lovely one. Surely Hillside Cemetery is a beautiful
resting place for the dead.
[Illustration: Samuel C. Howell.]
Middletown has a most complete water system supplied by three
reservoirs, located in the towns of Wallkill and Mount Hope, and
named respectively, Monhagen, Highland and Shawangunk. All water for
domestic use is thoroughly filtered before being conveyed to the
city.
The city has several miles of well paved streets, and is lighted by
both gas and electricity.
The telephone system consists of two companies. The Orange County
Telephone Company has about 1,600 telephones in use, and also does
the long-distance business in the city for the Hudson River Telephone
Company. The Middletown Telephone Company has about a score of
subscribers in the city. It also has connection with several outside
independent companies.
With its location, financial ability, numerous business enterprises,
its many social, benevolent, charitable and religious associations
and institutions, its splendid school system, and with the
enterprise, energy and business ability of its citizens, the
Middletown of to-day is only a beginning of the greater Middletown
which will occupy this central part of Orange County in the years to
come.
To sum up the history of the town of Wallkill were an easy task, and
so saying is to speak in the highest praise of the town. Its course
has been peaceful, quiet, serene; its politics have never been
infected by scandal and corruption; the red glare of warfare--aboriginal
or otherwise--has not shone athwart its pages; it has been a history
in which the husbandman has dominated the scene and has been the
central actor. Agriculture has been the mainstay of a people pious and
God-fearing, the descendants of those sturdy New England and Long
Island ancestors, who built the meeting-house and the school as soon
as ever the settlement was made.
We dwellers in the Wallkill of to-day have every reason to be
thankful that our history has been what it has; if it has lacked
romance or excitement, it has likewise abounded in a peace that has
meant prosperity.
Of late years the flood of immigration has sent its waves to our
thresh-olds, and we find in our villages, on our farms, and toiling
along our railroads the children of Italy, of Hungary, of Austria, of
Russia and the more remote East. What the picture will be a century
hence, what sort of an amalgamation will have taken place, we cannot
foresee. Certain it is that, if he is to remain with us, we must
educate the alien, teach him our ways, prepare him for citizenship,
and do all we can for him morally and intellectually, and that will
surely involve amalgamation. At any rate, this is a force that is
bound to change our town's history, in the next hundred years, from
anything that has gone before it. We should face the problem--meet it
with those most forcible of weapons, Education and Law.
For the rest, acting the role of prophet is not difficult. Wallkill's
lines have been cast in pleasant places and will probably so continue
to be cast. We anticipate nothing marvelous, look forward to naught
phenomenal, expect no revolutions. Our townspeople will pursue the
even tenor of their way on their pleasant farms and in their quiet
villages; they will know neither the bleak necessities of poverty nor
the anxieties of extreme wealth; all will be medium, which is the
happiest state of all. We are content with that. Our Wallkill is well
beloved; we would not trade it for anything different or more
brilliant; we would have it as it has been, not meaning stagnation,
of course, yet not longing for the "boom" which newer and less firmly
established and less well-grounded communities are forever invoking.
Wallkill, in many ways, realizes one's ideal of a rural
township--well governed, knowing neither financial extreme, and with
a people contented, and at peace.
[Illustration: Ferdinand V. Sanford]
CHAPTER XXIX.
TOWN OF WARWICK.
By Ferdinand V. Sanford.
The derivation of Warwick, according to Mr. Thomas Kemp, mayor of
Warwick, England, who has written a "History of Warwick and Its
People," is from the Saxon "Wara" which in that tongue signifies
inhabitants, and "wic"--a town or castle, or hamlet, a bank or crook
of a river. So that Warawic, or Warwick, signifies no more than the
inhabitants of the town or castle upon the bank of the river. Other
Saxon forms of the name found are Werhica, Wyrengewyk, Woerincwic,
and Weringwic.
The history of our Warwick from the earliest times has been written
by Eager and Ruttenber in their publications--that of the last-named
writer coming down to the year 1880.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
The present sketch is intended rather to supplement these earlier
accounts than to re-write all of the past history, by recording
principally the events which have occurred since 1880.
The town or township of Warwick was erected from the precinct of
Goshen in 1788, and derived its name from the plantation of Benjamin
Aske, one of the original grantees of the Wawayanda patent. Upon the
sub-division of the patent among twelve patentees, Aske's share was
a tract nearly in the form of a parallelogram, which extended from
Wickham's or Clark's Lake, on the northeast, to the farm now owned by
Townsend W. Sanford, on the southwest, with an average width of a
mile, and containing 2,200 acres of land. Aske named this tract,
"Warwick," from which fact it is supposed that he came from
Warwickshire, England. The date of the Wawayanda patent is March 5,
1702-1703, which was the peculiar style of writing year date a
couple of centuries ago. The document is signed by the twelve
chiefs, all making their mark in the presence of witnesses, one of
them Chuckhass, the chief who lived in this town and for whom Chuck's
Hill is named. This patent embraced at that time practically all of
Orange County as it existed in 1703.
By deed dated February 28, 1719, Aske sold to Lawrence Decker,
yeoman, for 50 pounds, 100 acres, in the deed described as "being
part of the 2,200 acres of land, called Warwick," showing that
previous to that date Aske had bestowed the name of Warwick upon his
tract. Later deeds to Thomas Blaine and Thomas DeKay contain similar
recitals.
The pioneers of Warwick were principally English families who came
hither from Long Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Among them we
find the names of Armstrong, Baird, Benedict, Blaine, Bradner, Burt,
DeKay, Decker, Demarest, Ketchum, Knapp, McCambley, Post, Roe, Sayer,
Sly, Sanford, Welling, Wheeler, Wisner, Wood and Van Duzer. Most of
these settlers have left descendants who still live in the town or
village.
During the Revolution there were a few Tories near Warwick, but the
majority of the people were loyal to the country of their adoption,
and many of them enlisted for service.
John Hathorn, colonel of the Warwick and Florida regiment, Captains
Charles Beardsley, John Minthorn, Henry Wisner, Jr., Abram Dolson,
Jr., John Norman, Henry Townsend, Nathaniel Elmer, John Saver;
Lieutenants Richard Welling, Samuel Lobdell, Nathaniel Ketchum,
George Vance, Peter Bartholf, Matthew Dolson, John Hopper, John
DeBow, Anthony Finn, John Popino, Jr., Richard Bailey, John Kennedy,
John Wood, and many others rendered valuable services during the
Revolution.
While New York City was in the hands of the British, the most
traveled road between the Hudson River and the Delaware ran through
Warwick. It is said that Washington passed through Warwick twice
during the war, and was entertained by Colonel Hathorn at the Pierson
E. Sanford stone house near the village, on one of these occasions,
at least.
For some time after the Revolution there were not more than thirty
houses in the village. In 1765 Daniel Burt built the shingle house,
now owned by Mrs. Sallie A. F. Servin, the oldest house in the
village. In 1766 Francis Baird built the stone house now owned by
William B. Sayer, which was at one time used as a tavern, and in
some of the old maps Warwick is called "Baird's Tavern."
[Illustration: James W. Knapp.]
DEVELOPMENT.
The town of Warwick is the largest in area of any of the towns of the
county, containing 61,763 acres, or nearly double that of any of the
others, and being a little more than one-eighth of the area of the
whole county. Its assessed valuation of real and personal property in
1906, was $2,863,010. The taxes levied upon that valuation for last
year were $22,745.12. Population according to State census of 1905
was 6,691.
Within the last generation the town has greatly improved its public
highways and bridges. With the advent of the bicycle, automobile and
other motor vehicles, the demand for better road facilities has been
felt, and this demand has been and is now being supplied. Under the
State law providing for the construction and improvement of the
highways at the joint expense of the State and county, the sum of
$15,387.40 has been expended by the county, and the additional sum of
$1,602.60 by the State, up to the year 1905, for acquisition of
rights of way, engineering and cost of construction of 4.67 miles of
road from Florida to Warwick, known as Road No. 93, so that under the
good roads law (Chap. 115, Laws 1898) we have nearly five miles of
finished work done. Plans have also been approved by the county and
its share of the cost appropriated for the building of 6.92 miles of
road from Warwick to Greenwood Lake at a total estimated cost of
$54,250, which will undoubtedly be built as soon as the Legislature
makes appropriation for the State's share of the cost.
Since 1883 the town has constructed several new iron bridges, viz: on
the east arm of Greenwood Lake, at Main, South, Lake, Elm and Bank
streets in the village of Warwick; also at Florida, Kimball's Point,
Garners' Island across the Pochuck Creek, one between the towns of
Goshen and Warwick, and one between the towns of Minisink and
Warwick; also at Bellvale and New Milford, these substantial
structures replacing the old wooden bridges of the past. An elevated
bridge across the tracks of the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway
Company was constructed to avoid the grade crossing at Stone Bridge
at the joint expense of the railway company and the town, costing
nearly $8,000, of which the town's share was one-quarter of the whole
cost, made a most desirable improvement in this part of the town.
The town constructed a new road along the east side of Greenwood
Lake in 1889, the land being donated by Alexander Brandon, trustee,
and others, to the town, and the latter building the same at a cost
of over $7,000. This improvement opens up a large tract of land for
building purposes, the road extending to State line of New York and
New Jersey.
In 1902, by a vote of the taxpayers, a change was made in the manner
of working the highways from the labor to the money system. Under the
old system something over 5,000 days would be assessed for labor, but
a considerable portion would never be worked and in consequence our
highways would suffer. Under the present method the sum of $5,593 was
expended by the town in 1906, in cash upon our highways, and the
additional sum of $2,000 State aid, with uniformly better results
everywhere.
The total mileage of public roads is nearly 200 in the town, and the
sum of $25 per mile was expended upon every mile in that year and
additional sums of $10 per mile upon those roads more frequently
traveled.
This amount was for all the road districts outside of the
incorporated village of Warwick, which is a separate road district
maintained by the corporation. The valuation for 1907 was $1 of tax
for every $300 of assessed value.
Town boards of health have been maintained since 1881 and consist of
the supervisor, town clerk, justices of the peace, a citizen member
and a physician, known as the health officer. Rules and regulations
governing the proper observance of health are published each year by
this official body, and prompt action taken in case of any outbreak
of disease, and measures instituted to control and prevent the spread
of the same. As a result of the labors of these organizations and
those in the incorporated villages of our towns, the public health
has been safeguarded, and no serious epidemics have been experienced.
The town has seventeen separate school districts, where the common
school is maintained, and two union free schools at Florida and
Warwick, under the supervision of the Regents of the University at
Albany. In these latter schools our young people are graduated,
prepared for the different walks of life, and many entering colleges
to prosecute their studies further for the learned professions. Under
the present State law education is compulsory, between the ages of
eight and sixteen, and parents, guardians and employers detaining the
child between those ages are liable to fine and imprisonment.
Under the compulsory education law our town appoints annually for
each of the school districts an officer known as the truant officer,
whose duty it is to look after the interests of those who will not
look after their own, and compel all children within the school age
to be in attendance upon the public school during the required
period. The State apportionment of school funds for 1907 for the town
was $4,300.
The town has six election or polling places, known as Districts Nos.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. No. 1 includes the voters in the Amity and Pine
Island district; No. 2, those in Florida and vicinity; Nos. 3, 4 and
5, the village of Warwick, Bellvale and New Milford; No. 6. Greenwood
Lake and Sterling. The total vote polled for Governor in the town in
1900 was 1,218.
The principal farm products are dairying, onions, peaches, apples,
hay and potatoes. Milk is condensed at several places in the town.
The mineral products are iron, granite, mica, white and blue
limestone. The white limestone is very valuable for fluxing purposes
and in the manufacture of Portland cement. Large deposits of the same
are found in the western part of the town, running from near Florida
to the Vernon Valley. The blue limestone is valuable for building
purposes and is found very generally in different parts of the town.
Clay beds also exist at Florida and at Durland's, from which brick
have been manufactured.
The present bonded debt of the town (1907) is $4,950, bearing 4 per
cent. interest, which is very small considering the amounts expended
in the construction of the new iron bridges in the town during the
last thirty years--nearly twenty--and the cost of new road
construction and for damages to the town roads and bridges caused by
the great flood of 1903, when one bridge was completely destroyed,
and nine were damaged, besides the damages to many of the public
roads, and other small bridges.
VILLAGES AND HAMLETS.
_Warwick_
The village of Warwick was known as early as 1719, but was not
settled until about 1764. It is the largest village in the town and
the only one incorporated. Its area is 395 acres, and its population
(1905) was 1,767. It was incorporated under a special act of the
Legislature in 1867, and re-incorporated under the general village
law in 1901. Built on rolling land in the valley west of the Warwick
Mountains, it is an ideal spot for country homes. The land is well
drained, the Wawayanda Creek flowing through the center of the town
in a southeasterly direction. The mean elevation of the valley is
550 feet, and the nearby mountains rise to a height of 1,200 to 1,400
feet. The varied pastoral scenes of wood, stream and meadow, with
here and there a lake, and the tall peaks of the Catskills in the
distance greeting the eye from these heights, are said by travelers
to equal, if not surpass, anything else of the kind in all the wide
world.
Fine roads, affording delightful drives, extend from Warwick, in
every direction, some among the neatly kept farms in the valley and
others through winding ways among the hills. With such an unrivaled
environment, Warwick has grown famous for its own peculiar beauties.
One cannot say that our village is quaint or old-fashioned, with
swinging gates, grassy lanes, and moss-covered roofs; rather, it has
an air of smartness, blended with polished repose. It is a pretty
park with velvety lawns, showing to vast advantage groups of
flowering shrubs, unmarred by fences, and with the houses well apart,
giving an air of freedom from cramped conditions.
Not only the fine mansions that have been built by prosperous country
merchants, professional men and city folk, but also the modest homes
of the village mechanics and artisans, all show the same individual
public spirit, not to be outdone in keeping things spruced up and
freshly painted. Here and there are old homesteads where son has
succeeded father for generations, yet the old homes look well and
becoming in their new and airy clothes. The advent of broad avenues
and flag walks have forever effaced the winding trails, and with them
much of the sweet Indian legendary has been obliterated. For all
these rolling hills were once covered with chestnut, birch, maple and
pine trees. There is something pathetic in the passing of the red man,
the type of years gone by, as the impress of civilization
unrelentingly, step by step, has crowded upon his tepee and forced
him westward.
Yet the maples, as planted by our fathers, forming bowers over
streets, are more beautiful than the pine tree. We have no "Unter den
Linden," but we might claim an "Unter den Maples."
Warwick has been called the Queen Village, also a Village of Homes.
If she is not truly the former, she is easily and far away a village
of homes.
[Illustration: William Moore Sanford.]
As early as 1830 Henry William Herbert, an English gentleman and
writer, better known as Frank Forester, visited the village and
stopped at the old inn, known as Tom Ward's, now and then called the
Wawayanda House. Forester has celebrated us in his famous book of
sporting tales and adventures called "Warwick Woodlands," in which
he tells many a quaint tale of the doings of himself and mine host
Ward, (whom he cleverly calls Draw by simply inverting the letters of
the name), and of many other sportsmen of that early day.
No one has ever paid our vale and village a higher tribute than
Forester, when he said:
"In all the river counties of New York there is none to my mind which
presents such a combination of all natural beauties, pastoral, rural,
sylvan and at times almost sublime, as old Orange, nor any part of it
to me so picturesque, or so much endeared by early recollections, as
the fair vale of Warwick. . . . Throughout its length and breadth, it
is one of the most fertile and beautiful, and the most Arcadian
regions of the United States; poverty in its lower and more squalid
aspects, if not in any real or tangible shape, is unknown within its
precincts; its farmers, the genuine old solid yeoman of the land, the
backbone and bulwark of the country, rich as their teeming pastures,
hospitable as their warm hearts and ever open doors, stanch and firm
as the everlasting hills among which in truly pleasant places their
lines have fallen, would be the pride of any nation, kingdom or
republic; its women are among the fairest daughters of a country
where beauty is the rule rather than the exception. . . . Sweet vale
of Warwick, sweet Warwick, loveliest village of the vale, it may be
I shall never see you more, for the silver cord is loosened, the
golden bowl is broken, which most attached me to your quiet and
sequestered shades. . . . May blessings be about you, beautiful
Warwick; may your fields be as green, your waters as bright, the
cattle upon your hundred hills as fruitful, as in the days of old."
In 1883 the village voted the sum of $600 to lay the sidewalks over
the Main street bridge. In 1886 the sum of $4,200 was voted by the
tax-payers to buy the lot and build the brick building occupied by
Excelsior Hose Company. In 1889 an application was made to the
trustees for the organization of the Goodwill Hook and Ladder
Company. In 1891 a truck was bought for said ladder company at a cost
of $600. The system for working the village streets was changed in
this year to the money system. In 1895 a number of the citizens
contributed the sum of $433.03 for the purchase of a sprinkling cart,
a proposition previously submitted to the taxpayers for the purchase
of the same having been defeated at a special election. In 1896,
Raymond Hose Company No. 2, to look after the interests of the
village in the west end, was organized by consent of the trustees.
In 1897, the sum of $500 was voted for the purpose of a fire alarm.
In this year the first and only franchise ever granted by the village
was given to Sharp & Chapman for a term of fifty years, for an
electric light plant.
These parties having failed to carry out their agreement, the village
the next year granted a franchise for the same purpose to the Warwick
Valley Light and Power Company, of the same duration.
Since 1898 the village has been lighted with electric light at a cost
of about $2,000 per year, the present plant consisting of
ninety-seven incandescent electric lights and six 2,000 candle power
arc lamps.
In 1900 the taxpayers voted the sum of $1,600 for the purchase of a
lot and the building of a hose house for the Raymond Hose Company.
In 1901 a proposition to reincorporate the village under the general
village law was carried. A special election held the same year to
vote upon the proposition of paving our streets with Telford pavement
and asking for the sum of $10,000 for that purpose, was defeated by
only three votes.
In 1902 the heirs of the late George W. Sanford donated the sum of
$1,250 to the village for the purpose of a drinking fountain, which
has been erected and is placed at Fountain Square, corner of Main and
East Main streets.
In July, 1906, Warwick, England, celebrated the two thousand years of
her past history in a great historical pageant upon the grounds of
Warwick Castle. Invitations were issued to all the Warwicks of the
world--fourteen in all--to be present and participate in these
festivities. Our board appointed its president, Ferdinand V. Sanford,
as its representative, who attended the celebration, and delivered in
person the following resolutions of greeting and congratulation:
[Illustration: Henry A. Benedict.]
Honorable Thomas Kemp,
Mayor of the Corporation of Warwick, England
Sir:
Accept congratulations and greetings from your daughter and namesake
across the sea, on the occasion of your great historical pageant,
wherein somewhat of your ancient and honorable past is reproduced,
not merely in centuries, but in millenniums of time.
As Americans we are proud of our English ancestry, and of that mighty
nation, on whose empire the sun never sets, whose history is the
history of everything that makes for progress, a higher civilization
and the enlightenment and uplifting of mankind.
May God continue to bless England and America, the leading Christian
nations of the earth, whose history teaches the world of the
transcendent value of the life, liberty and happiness of man.
Done at Warwick, New York, United States of America, on the
twenty-sixth day of May in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and
six.
The Village of Warwick.
By
(Seal.) Ferdinand V. Sanford, President,
Charles Wutke,
George H. Strong,
Trustees
F. C. Cary,
Clerk of the Corporation.
To which the mayor replied officially as follows:
Borough of Warwick, to-wit:
At a meeting of the mayor, aldermen and councilors of the said
borough in Council assembled, on the 13th day of July, 1906,
It was resolved: That the congratulatory address from the corporation
of the village of Warwick, in the State of New York, United States of
America, presented to the mayor on the occasion of the recent
Historical Pageant, be entered on the minutes of the Council, and
that a cordial vote of thanks for their sympathetic greetings be
accorded to the sister municipality with an earnest hope for its
continued prosperity.
And that a copy of the resolution be sealed and transmitted to the
president of the corporation.
Thomas Kemp,
Mayor,
Brabazon Campbell,
Town Clerk. (Seal.)
During the present year (1907) the village has been the recipient of
a fine town clock, presented by Mr. Pierson E. Sanford. The clock is
stationed in the tower of the Methodist church on Main street.
At a special election held this year the sum of $4,200 was voted to
purchase the building and lots formerly owned by John A. Dator and
others, on Main street and Wheeler avenue. It is the purpose of the
trustees to change the building, and adapt it for village purposes,
such as a village hall, office for records, maps and files, and the
rooms of Goodwill Hook and Ladder Company.
_New Milford._
The hamlet of New Milford lies southwest of Warwick, and forms a part
of the boundary line between New York and New Jersey. It was formerly
called Jockey Hollow. It comprises an area of a little more than
2,000 acres of the most fertile and well watered land in Warwick
Valley. When the Wawayanda patent was deeded by the Indians to twelve
white men in 1702, the twelfth part deed to Cornelius Christiance
included what is now known as New Milford. Cornelius Christiance sold
his share to Derrick Vanderburgh in 1704, and the latter sold to
Everett & Glows, land speculators, in 1714, for a little more than
$500. In 1724, the land was purchased by Thomas DeKay and Benjamin
Aske. Settlers now began to come and they were quick to take
advantage of the superior water facilities. The land was intersected
by Wawayanda Creek, and flowing into this stream were four rushing
mountain streams, all capable of furnishing fine water power, the
largest of which was the Doublekill, so named because it is the
outlet of Double Pond, or Wawayanda Lake. But not until about the
year 1770 were any mills operated, excepting a saw mill and the
forge on Wawayanda Creek on the farm recently owned by the Edward L.
Davis heirs. During the year 1780, we find among the settlers the
DeKays, the Davises, the Demarests, the Lazears, and Wood. The first
excise money was paid into the treasury from the New Milford tavern
in 1790 by Cornelius Lazear. A grist mill was built that year on the
west side of the Doublekill, on the farm known as the Kiernan farm,
and much further up the stream than the present mill. This mill was
operated many years.
In 1802 John Lazear built a grist mill on the site of the present
mill. In connection with the mill he had a factory for manufacturing
axe and shovel handles. Between the years 1805 and 1825 New Milford
was an exceedingly busy place. The original and only town at the time
was where the post-office is at present.
There were six mills on the Doublekill, and four on the stream
covered by the arch bridge, near the post-office, known as Green Mine
Brook. On the Doublekill there were the grist mill, or axe handle
factory, and tannery owned by S. W. Clason, now owned by E. M.
Bahrmann; further down the stream a feed mill, a saw mill and a
fulling or wool-carding mill. Then on the Green Mine stream there
were a clover seed mill, plaster mill, cider mill with distillery,
and about where William T. Vandervort's barn is located there was a
large saw mill run by David Demarest. A very good schoolhouse was
situated just west of the present Methodist church. A post-office was
established in 1815--the first postmaster was Merritt Coleman. The
turnpike running between New York and Port Jervis left the main road
near the present home of Darius Fancher, crossed the E. L. Davis
farm, continued northward over a bridge which was east of the present
site of Borden's creamery, and up the hill to the road which now
passes west of the house known as Peachblow. This was the main road
to the northwest. Mr. E. L. Davis built a fulling and carding mill
near the bridge and operated that as well as a saw mill.
Further down on Wawayanda Creek there were a saw mill, cider mill and
distillery owned by John Ryerson. The "covered bridge" was built
about 1830. In 1835, a boarding school for young ladies was opened in
the house now occupied by John Lines. The principal, Charles G.
Winfield, was a man of profound learning. Here the best people of
Warwick and vicinity sent their daughters to be educated. It was a
classical school of the highest order. The Methodist church was
opened in 1838. In 1861, When there was a call for volunteers. New
Milford, with a population of only 150 persons, responded with
twenty-eight men.
With the growth of the dairy business in Orange County, less
attention was paid to milling interests. In 1866, a factory for
condensing milk was built where the Kiernan fulling and carding mill
stood. This was abandoned after the railroad was built in 1879. In
1898 a fire swept away the business portion of New Milford, and it
has not been entirely rebuilt.
At present the town is regaining some of the business prosperity it
enjoyed one hundred years ago. There are two grist mills and a saw
mill, and one of the largest creameries for bottling and condensing
milk in the county, owned by Borden's Milk Company, where 4,500
gallons of milk are received and shipped daily. There are several
old cemeteries scattered throughout New Milford, where one may read
the names of those who lived when the "years were young."
_Pine Island._
Pine Island is a village lying two miles northwest of Amity at the
terminus of the Goshen and Deckertown railroad, leased by the Erie.
It has a public school, a hotel, a store and post-office.
_Greenwood Lake and Sterling._
The Chesekook's patent, confirmed by letters patent of Queen Anne,
which embraced this district, was granted March 25, 1707, by
Manngomack and other Indians, whose names are unpronounceable, and
who signed by their marks, representatives of the sub-tribes of the
Minsis, whose totem was the wolf, a branch of the Lenni-Lenapes,
whose totem was the turkey, a branch of the great Algonkin or
Algonquin tribe, or nation, which held sway over them.
This deed was dated December 30, 1702, and recorded in the Orange
County clerk's office, June 1, 1736. The original patent, bearing
Queen Anne's seal, is in the possession of the Sterling Iron and
Railway Company. Sterling and Greenwood Lake are now embraced in the
sixth election district of the town of Warwick.
Charles Clinton surveyed this patent for the owners in common,
beginning April 1, 1735, and ending December 13, 1749. He mentions in
his field book, as early as 1745, that iron works were in operation
at Sterling, but to what extent is not stated. The old furnace at
Sterling, now in ruins, is said to have been built in 1751, and from
it was drawn the iron from which the great chain was made to cross
the Hudson River in Revolutionary days from West Point to
Constitution Island. This chain was built by Abel Noble & Co., Peter
Townsend signing the contract for said firm for its construction
February 2, 1778, to be finished by April 1, 1778. This chain was
drawn across the river April 30, 1778. A bronze tablet commemorating
the building of Sterling furnace was unveiled at the foot of the
furnace on June 23, 1906. Iron mining is still in active operation,
a shaft extending diagonally under Sterling Lake a distance of over
2,000 feet, but the ore is all shipped to other furnaces. The iron
industry created a need for charcoal, and from Revolutionary times
until about 1865 cutting wood and burning charcoal was an industry
extending all over this section, and through the mountains of
Greenwood Lake and Sterling is a network of wood roads and many
foundations where formerly stood the dwellings of collieries.
Sterling Mountain rises about 600 feet above the surface of Greenwood
Lake, which is about nine miles long and 700 feet elevation above sea
level.
[Illustration: Frank A. Campbell]
The map of this section made by Robert Erskine for General Washington
gives it the name of Long pond. About midway on the west side and
about 300 feet from the shore of Greenwood Lake stands an old furnace
on the furnace brook, which was built about seventy-five years ago
by William Noble of Bellvale. The furnace was a failure from the
start, as the stream of water furnished insufficient power for the
blast. About 1845 Wanaque Creek, at the outlet of Greenwood Lake, was
crossed by a dam, which raised the lake about eight feet, resulting
in the overflow of about a mile of low land at both the north and
south ends of the lake, forming a reservoir for the use of the Morris
and Essex Canal, nine miles long and a mile wide. The New York and
Greenwood Lake railroad reached here in 1876. The terminal station at
the line between New York and New Jersey on the east shore, called
then "State Line" (now Sterling Forest), was accessible by boats
only, there being no public road until 1889, when one was built by
the town of Warwick, the contract being taken by Conrad Diehl of
Goshen. The steamboat _Montclair,_ capable of carrying 400 passengers
or more, was built and launched in 1876, to accommodate travelers
from the railroad. Smaller boats had been previously built, first the
_Pioneer,_ a sail boat, then the _Sylph,_ then the _Montclair,_ and
later the _Anita,_ and at present several small steamers and
naphtha launches without number are in use.
Prior to the completion of the railroad visitors reached here by
stage from Monks on the south or from Monroe on the north. Religious
services were held in a log schoolhouse one mile north of Greenwood
Lake prior to 1850, when under the pastorate of Rev. J. H.
Haunhurst, the first Methodist church of Greenwood Lake was built,
where services were regularly held until 1898, when the settlement
concentrating about two miles farther south, it was deemed expedient
to build a new Methodist Episcopal church on land donated for the
purpose by M. V. Wilson, opposite the new schoolhouse, which for the
same reason was built about two and one-quarter miles south of its
former site, and now has an attendance of sixty-three pupils. The
school at Sterling mines has about the same number of pupils,
children of the miners, religious services being held in the
schoolhouse under Methodist supervision.
The new Methodist Episcopal church of Greenwood Lake was built under
the supervision of Pastor Cranston, and now in 1907 Rev. J. H.
Calyer is pastor. For fifty-seven years the church has never been
without a pastor in charge of regular services.
In about the year 1880 a summer school of Christian philosophy, under
the supervision of William O. McDowell, was begun in a fine
auditorium erected for the purpose at Warwick Woodlands on the west
shore of the lake, and, for the accommodation of visitors, an
encampment hotel in connection with the Greenwood Lake Association
clubhouse was under the supervision of Lyndon Y. Jenness. Dr. Charles
H. Deems, Dr. Lyman Abbott and many other speakers on religious,
social and philosophical themes, spoke to the assembled multitudes.
This club house for a time was Greenwood Lake's center of interest,
but for lack of support financially it was finally abandoned to the
uses and amusements of excursionists. In 1906 the dilapidated
building was demolished.
About 1880 a movement took form to inaugurate a church on what was
known as the lime rocks, and under the management of Rev. Mr.
Bradford, of Montclair, assisted by local friends, a tent was erected
here where services from time to time were held. Now a stone church
occupying this most picturesque spot is under construction and the
supervision of E. G. Lewis, of New York City, representing the
Episcopal church.
Civilization's onward march is taking strong form here, and over the
old Indian camping grounds, where numberless arrow heads, spear
points, stone axes and beautifully ornamented fragments of pottery
bear testimony to the race that has departed, leaving only here and
there a name that claims relationship, stand to-day spacious hotels,
towering churches, palatial homes, and the last society formed for
their protection is the Pioneer Fire Company of Greenwood Lake, which
was formed May 3, 1907.
_Little York._
The hamlet of Little York is about a mile east from Pine Island, in
the town of Warwick. The first settler, Conrad Luft, came from Russia
and settled there in 1886. About five years later Henry Lust, another
Russian, came and located. Then followed in 1897 Peter Miller, Conrad
Schmick, and August Youngmann. The next year eight more families came
from Russia, buying land and building homes. Their industry is
onion raising, for which the black meadow land which they cultivate
is admirably adapted. They are Russians, but speak the German
language and are Lutherans in religion. They are very industrious and
thrifty, and nearly all have their homes and the land all paid for.
In 1907 there were twenty-four houses, and one church, the
Evangelical Lutheran, of which Rev. Gerhard Rademacher is the rector.
There are about 200 in population, 100 communicant members of said
church, and thirty-three voters.
[Illustration: The William Wisner House, Wisner, Erected, 1770.]
A parochial school is maintained in connection with the church and
has thirty-nine children in attendance. The church was built in 1898,
finished in 1901, and incorporated in 1904. Rev. George Kaestner
served the church until 1904. It was under his ministry that the
church was begun and completed. He was followed by the present
pastor, Rev. Gerhard Rademacher, during whose ministry the parsonage
was built and the cemetery of three acres acquired.
Other Russians are expected the present year to come and settle here.
_Amity._
Amity is the western portion of the town of Warwick, extending about
three miles in radius from the Presbyterian church, the only house of
worship in the village.
The church was organized by a committee of the Presbytery of Hudson
on September 15, 1809, but the first building had been erected and
dedicated thirteen years previous, August 1, 1796. The building
stands on a lovely eminence 500 feet above sea level and commands a
splendid view in every direction.
The two conical mountains, Adam and Eve, some four miles distant,
stand to the northeast and are about 800 feet above the level of the
sea. These granite mountains are rough and rocky, and are covered
with impenetrable brush and bramble.
The chief occupation of the people is extensive farming. Peach
growing, however, became a popular and profitable industry about
1885, and continued for twenty years, during which time all the
principal farmers turned their best land into orchards, from which
they shipped thousands of baskets of delicious fruit to New York
City and other towns, where there was great demand and high prices.
It was not uncommon for a successful orchardist to realize from
$5,000 to $10,000 for his crop in a single season. The land soon
became exhausted, however, the San Jose scale attacked and killed the
trees, and the business declined as rapidly as it had sprung up.
About the present date (1907) a new find in the land is receiving
much attention--limestone in unlimited quantity in most of the farms.
Prospectors are finding zinc and other valuable minerals, which
indicate wealth for those who still possess the soil.
_Bellvale._
Bellvale village, known in Colonial times as Wawayanda, is situated
on the lower rapids of Longhouse Creek, which here enters the meadows
and flows a mile and one-half to Stone Bridge station, where it
enters the Wawayanda, which has its source in Clark's Lake, and then
loses its name when merged in the smaller stream. Longhouse Creek has
its source in a swamp in New Jersey a short distance east from
Wawayanda Lake. It has a large watershed at an elevation above tide
water of about 1,100 feet, and in its descent of six or seven miles
runs through several fine storage basins and down numerous rapids and
falls. For a distance of 500 feet options were taken on some of the
storage basins by the Ramapo Water Company during its active days,
with a view to conducting the water into the headquarters of the
Ramapo River.
This stream is well adapted for the generation of water power for
electrical or manufacturing purposes, and we learn from colonial
history, was utilized by Lawrence Scrauley in 1745 to operate a forge
of tilt-hammer for a plating and slitting mill. This was the only
mill of this kind in the State of New York, and in 1750 was not in
operation. Under the Crown we were not allowed to advance the
manufacturing stage of iron beyond the pig and bar iron stages. It
seems Scrauley took his chances in this secluded portion of the
valley to furnish more convenient sizes of iron to meet the wants of
the blacksmiths and builders of that day, and thus avoid paying
tribute to the manufacturers of the mother country. The ruins of the
hearth where the ore was melted, the raceway, and the pit for the
wheel that operated the tilt-hammer, are still visible, as well as
the mudsill of the foundation of the dam.
During the War of 1812, a Mr. Peck had an establishment upon the
stream, near the home of William M. Mann, where he manufactured
bridle-bits, stirrups, buckles and saddle trees for our cavalry. As
well as agricultural implements generally.
[Illustration: William C. Eager.]
The old forge site and the lands along the rapids up to the line of
the Chesekook patent were bought by Daniel Burt in 1760, and soon
after he built a flouring mill and a saw mill, both of which were
washed away by the breaking away of the dam during a very unusually
heavy shower of rain. The present flouring mill is situated near the
site of the earlier one. A saw mill was built in 1812, by John
Bradner and Brower Robinson, and rebuilt by Thomas Burt, who operated
it and a turning shop for about twenty years. The dam has been washed
away and the mill is in ruins. A wool carding factory was built by
Nathaniel Jones about 1810. and subsequently enlarged for the
manufacture of broadcloths by Joseph Brooks, but is not now in
operation. James, the son of Daniel Burt, about 1812 settled three of
his sons at Bellvale in the milling and mercantile business. They
established shops for a blacksmith, carpenter, wagon-maker, cooper,
tailor, shoemaker and the manufacture of red earthen pottery.
Benjamin Bradner had a tannery before 1812 where the ruins of the old
saw mill are situated. The vats were located where is now the old
raceway, and the bark was ground in a circular curb upon the flat
rock back of the saw mill rolling a heavy mill-stone over the bark,
as at one time apples were reduced to pumice by cider makers.
About 1808 the Bellvale and Monroe turnpike was built to make a
shorter route to the markets along the Ramapo for the produce of the
farmers of Warwick. It was nine miles long and shortened the distance
previously traveled by about one-half.
The road was maintained above fifty years and the charter then
surrendered to the State, and the road divided into districts--a fund
on hand of about $500 was spent in putting the road in order before
the charter was surrendered. The stockholders never received any
money for their investment. The massive stone bridge over the channel
at Bellvale was built in 1832, to take the place of the old wooden
one then unsafe for travel. Recently the old bridge site, as well as
nearly all the land along the Longhouse Creek for four or five miles,
has passed into the hands of one owner, also all the mills and about
3,000 acres of land lying along the stream. The probable development
of the water power for electrical purposes and an early completion of
the State road from Pine Island to Tuxedo promises a brighter future.
Tradition accounts for the name of the stream from the long house
that stood on its bank near the residence of the late C. R. Cline.
The Indians that settled there built their houses end to end and, as
their families became more numerous, a long house was built instead
of the isolated circular wigwams of many tribes. That there was an
Indian settlement at this place is highly probable from the nearby
streams for fishing, swamp and mountain for hunting, and the fertile
prairie-like land for their crops of corn and tobacco. In the part
where the land has been cultivated plenty of flint arrow heads and
large chips of flint with sharp edges have been found. The flint
chips were used by the squaws in cultivating corn and tobacco.
In 1841, in digging a cellar for an addition to the house, the
skeleton of an Indian of immense size was found, if the writer
mistakes not, in a sitting posture. This may have been only one of a
great many buried there and might have been their chief.
Out of a population of only about 330, at the time of the Civil War,
forty-two were enrolled from Bellvale and the immediate vicinity. In
1907 the population of the place is estimated at about 300.
_Edenville._
Edenville, known in the early annals of local history as Postville,
in honor of Colonel Jacobus Post, one of its pioneer settlers, enjoys
a picturesque location three miles west of Warwick, with which place
it is closely connected in its postal facilities and commercial
interests.
Doubtless its early progenitors, because of the establishment of this
little hamlet within a radius of great agricultural fertility,
predicted its growth to be vastly greater than its actual development
proved, but as one by one the railroads on either side were
established Edenville was left to its primitive means of
transportation.
Nearly north of the village of about one hundred inhabitants are
located the isolated peaks of Mts. Adam and Eve, interest in the
mineral deposits of which has increased with time. In the decades
past, specimens of granite, syenite, granular quartz, hornblende,
arsenical iron, and white limestone were gathered by the seeker of
mineralogical specimens. Later the quarrying of granite was
undertaken by the Orange County Granite Company and the Empire State
Granite Company. The quality of the granite found within the mountain
confines is of a high order, but the difficulty of transportation
forbids an extensive output.
[Illustration: J. E. Sanford]
The oldest home of Postville, known as the "Shingle House," was built
in 1734, and remained an object of much interest to visitors of the
village until destroyed by fire in the winter of 1907.
This was the home of Col. Jacobus Post and is said to have been a
haven for travelers on their early tours across the Netherland
country.
The Edenville Methodist Church was organized on September 11th, 1822.
The school district known as Purling Brook district was organized in
1813.
_Florida._
Probably no village of our county presents so great a contrast in its
local interests of to-day as compared with the early incentives of
its development, as does Florida, or Floridus, land of the red
flowers, situated six miles south of Goshen, six miles north of
Warwick, which points are connected by a recently constructed State
road.
In records relating to the early settlement of the village in the
latter part of the eighteenth century we find the names of Seward,
Armstrong, Wisner, Carr, Poppino, Randall, Thompson and Roe as
actively identified with its early interests.
Although in the heart of a prolific agricultural section, recently
developed to its full extent, political and scholastic ambition
actuated the impulses of many of its earlier settlers, still to the
steadfast, sterling qualities of those engaged in agricultural
pursuits must be attributed its constant development.
During the governorship of George Clinton, 1777-1795, Florida was
represented in the Legislature, and was prominent in the
Revolutionary struggle. Later, in the political arena, we recall the
career of William H. Seward, elected as state senator in 1831,
Governor in 1838, United States Senator in 1849, and appointed
Secretary of State in 1861.
Florida to-day shows marked changes in its church history. The
Methodist Church was established in 1868. As early as 1742 a
Presbyterian Church was organized. In 1837 the church edifice was
consumed by fire. The present structure was erected in June, 1838. In
1839 a second Presbyterian Church was founded, but in 1878, the two
churches were united. Two flourishing church organizations of the
Catholic faith exist, St. Edwards and the St. Joseph's Polish
Catholic Church.
Educational matters early claimed the attention of the settlers of
Florida, Samuel S. Seward, De Witt C. Jayne, Robert Armstrong and
Jonas Seely serving respectively as school commissioners from 1813 to
1843. Judge Samuel S. Seward founded the S. S. Seward Institute in
1848 as a classical school, endowing it with the sum of $20,000. This
school was held in the old Randolph hotel. After Judge Seward's
death, a young ladies' seminary was established, opposite the
original school building, and for years Florida was noted for its
superior boarding school.
With the improved common school advantages of later years came the
desire of the citizens to widen the influence of the school as
originally designed, and accordingly a new edifice was erected
bearing the name of S. S. Seward Institute, receiving the benefit of
the reserve fund, and also the State appropriation for high schools,
thus fulfilling in a greater sense the beneficent plans of the
original founder.
A prominent factor in agricultural development has been the influx of
many Poles and Germans of thrifty type, whose business, at first
confined to onion and celery growth, is gradually reaching out to
other industries and professions. Under their management largely the
value of the black dirt land during the past thirty years has
increased from $10 to $200 per acre.
Within the last year brick making has been revived. In July, 1905,
the Florida Civic Improvement Club was organized.
A sketch of Florida would hardly be complete, without mention of
Glenmere, a beautiful sheet of water, furnishing the village water
supply, located one mile east of the village.
From the date of its early christening as Thompson's Pond, its clear
waters have furnished pleasure to the boatman and fisherman.
CHURCHES.
_The Reformed Church of Warwick_ was organized by a committee of the
Classis of Paramus in 1804, and was duly incorporated on March 18,
1807, under the corporate name and title of "The Consistory of the
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church and Congregation of Warwick." It was
the successor of the Presbyterian Church and occupies the same site
of the earlier society. In 1904 it celebrated its centennial.
During Mr. Crispell's ministry the present stone church was built and
furnished at a cost of about $40,000. The new edifice was begun in
1889, and dedicated June 26, 1890.
[Illustration: Stott Mills.]
_Union African Methodist Episcopal Church._--This organization was
begun in the winter of 1906. The church was incorporated under the
above name on March 12, 1906. Rev. Joseph Stiles was the first
pastor. During the year that Rev. Stiles had charge a new church was
built on McEwan street at a cost of something like $2,000.
_The Roman Catholic Church of St. Stephen._--In Shea's history we
read, Father Steinmeyer, S. J., better known as Father Farmer,
crossed over from his New Jersey missions into Orange County and
baptized seven near Warwick. After his death, other priests may have
visited the neighborhood, but there is no record of the fact.
In 1849, Father Ward was appointed resident pastor at Goshen, with,
charge of all Orange County, except the strip along the Hudson. The
building formerly occupied by the Methodist church in Church street
was purchased by the denomination, but was not taken possession of
until 1867.
In June, 1887, the Presbyterian church at Florida was purchased.
In May, 1887, the cemetery ground was purchased at Warwick for $350,
about an acre and a half.
Father Minogue erected the present church on South street in the year
1903, at a cost of $16,000.
_The Calvary Baptist Church of Warwick._--This church was formed on
the 4th of January, 1866. Very soon after its organization, measures
were taken to erect a house of worship. A lot was purchased on West
street, in the village of Warwick, in 1867, and the edifice was
dedicated August 26, 1868. The parsonage was built the following
year--1869. Total expenditure about $20,000. In 1902 the house of
worship was remodeled and a large addition made to the eastern side
for the use of the Sunday school. Total expenditure, including new
seats and pipe organ, about $10,000. Society incorporated February,
1872.
_The Methodist Episcopal Church of Warwick._--The list of pastors
since 1880 is as follows: William Colden, 1880-1882; Cyrus W.
McPherson, 1883-1884; E. S. Bishop, 1885-1887; Philip M. Waters,
1888-1889; Arthur Thompson, 1800-1894; Frank Heale, 1895-1896; Edwin
H. Carr, 1897-1899; Elmer E. Count, 1900-1902; David McCartney,
1903-1904; J. C. Codington, 1905-1906; E. Stirling Potter, 1907.
In 1891, $5,500 was expended on improving church and parsonage. In
1906, $7,250 additional was expended, increasing the value of the
property to nearly $13,000. The present membership is 240, an
increase of 102.
_The Old School Baptist Church in Warwick._--The principal historical
events since 1880, when a history of the church was published in
Ruttenber's history of the county, are as follows: Elder James
Benedict resigned his charge on June 29, 1786, instead of 1777, as
stated in the published history. A centennial celebration of the
organization of the church was held on October 5, 1865. Elder
Lebbeus Lathrop preached the first sermon in the meeting house still
standing on May 19, 1811. The burying ground belonging to the church
and still in use was started in 1795, and lies nearly opposite the
former burying ground, on the road from Warwick to Bellvale.
_Christ Church (Episcopal)._--The first attempt to start an Episcopal
church in Warwick was in 1804, but the plan was not consummated. In
1854 another effort was made, and services were held in the former
Methodist Episcopal church until 1859, under the Rev. W. H. Carter,
when again the project was abandoned.
In 1862 the Rev. George Zabriskie Gray, then in deacon's orders, held
services in Warwick for about six months, when he was called to
another charge.
In 1864 Rev. N. F. Ludlum was called, and a certificate of
incorporation of the parish was executed under the name of Christ
Church, Warwick, N. Y. In 1865 a building committee was appointed,
composed of Grinnell Burt, John Cowdrey and J. Mason McJimsey. The
building was opened for divine worship the ensuing year, 1866.
_The Y. M. C. A. of Warwick._--This organization was begun in 1879,
incorporated in 1885, and in 1907 owns a building and lot on Main
street, with a new gymnasium, costing about $6,000, entirely free of
debt. It also owns a library of over 1,200 volumes, part donated and
part purchased by the association. The library is registered at
Albany, and is the only free public library in the village.
BURIAL PLACES.
For over a century the tract of land lying to the north of the
Reformed church was used as a burying ground. The deeds of conveyance
to the then trustees of the Presbyterian church, the predecessor of
the Reformed church--Francis Baird, John Simson and George Nance,
dated January 11, and April 23, 1793--recite that in still earlier
conveyances from William Wickham and John Morin Scott, one of which
was dated March 14, 1770, to William Wisner, of forty-five acres of
land, "one acre thereof was excepted and reserved there-out for a
burial ground for the use and benefit of the Presbyterian Church of
Warwick." In 1889, at the time when the new stone church was built,
there had been no interments here for perhaps twenty years, and
accordingly a consent was obtained from at least three-fourths of the
congregations of the Presbyterian and Reformed Dutch Churches for the
removal of all the remains interred therein, as required by law. The
Reformed Church purchased a lot in the Warwick Cemetery and received
deed from the latter, dated June 15, 1889, to which lot the remains
of all those interred in the church burying ground were removed, and
also the headstones marking the graves. There are 116 of these
stones; doubtless there were many buried there without any stones to
mark them, and there were other burials there which were afterwards
removed to family lots in the Warwick Cemetery when the latter was
dedicated in 1867. The oldest stone is one erected to the memory of
Anna, the wife of William Eagles, who departed this life July 8,
1771. There are interred there Revolutionary soldiers, members of
consistory and many prominent citizens. To William Culver, a donor to
the church, was erected by the church a monument, bearing this
inscription: "Sacred to the memory of William Culver, who departed
this life, at South Hampton, Long Island, October 27, 1822, aged 37
years, in hope of a blessed immortality."
[Illustration: William B. Sayer]
The last interment of which there is a gravestone is that of Daniel
Sinsabaugh, who died November 19, 1869, aged thirty-eight years. It
is believed that there were later interments than this, but if so
there are no stones marking the graves.
It is said that Jacob Gaul, a colored man, the sexton of the church
for over twenty years, was one of the last burials in the old church
graveyard.
The Old School Baptist burying ground, situated at the corner of
Galloway road and Lake street, was first used for burial purposes in
about 1774, when the meeting house was built there.
This plot of land was given to the Baptist Church by Elder James
Benedict, by deed dated September 12, 1791. The trustees of the said
church at that time were James Burt, John Morris Foght and John
Sutton; consideration mentioned in deed, forty shillings current
money; contains seventy-nine perches of land.
Elder James Benedict died September 9, 1792, aged seventy-two years,
six months, eighteen days, and was buried in this plot of ground, but
no stone marks the spot. This plot was used as a burial ground until
1795.
SCHOOLS.
The Warwick Institute continued as an academy until October 1, 1868,
when the entire property was transferred to the board of education of
Union Free School District No. 12. The district at that time
consisted of the school districts Nos. 11 and 12. Since 1880 two
other districts have been annexed, Nos. 10 and 23.
In 1893 the board of education built a new brick school house, in the
place of the old wooden structure and upon the same site, at a total
cost of $23,000. Again in 1901, another brick building was built, at
a cost of about $16,000, to take care of the increased demands for
more school facilities. The latter building was erected upon a new
site and is called the High School.
According to the last census (1906) there are 512 children of school
age in the district; the actual number enrolled is 450.
MISCELLANEOUS.
_Lehigh & Hudson River Railway Company._--This company was first
organized under the name of the Warwick Valley Railroad Company,
April 20, 1859, for the purpose of building a road from the village
of Warwick to the line of the New York & Erie Railroad, at or near
the village of Chester.
May, 1879, steps were taken to extend this road to McAfee, Sussex
County, and in December, 1880, the Lehigh & Hudson River Railway
Company was formed for the purpose of extending it to Belvedere,
N. J., on the Delaware River, and connecting with the Pennsylvania
Railroad at that point. The line was built and the road opened for
business through to Belvedere in August, 1882.
In 1889 an extension was built from a point near Greycourt, N. Y., to
Maybrook, N. Y., connecting at that place with the Poughkeepsie
Bridge Road. Arrangements were made to use the tracks of the
Pennsylvania Railroad to Phillipsburgh, N. J. A bridge was built
across the Delaware River at that point to Easton, making a
continuous line from Easton. Pa., to Maybrook, N. Y.
[Illustration: George W. Sanford]
_The First National Bank of Warwick._--This bank was organized at a
meeting of citizens held in January, 1864, at the Warwick Valley
House. After a canvass for subscriptions to its stock, which was to
be $75,000, on January 21, 1864, its articles of association were
adopted. On January 28, the first board of directors was chosen. On
January 29, John L. Welling was chosen president, and on February 6,
John Cowdrey was chosen vice-president. On March 11 it was voted to
increase its capital stock by $25,000, making it $100,000 as it
stands to-day. At the same date Grinnell Burt was sent to Washington
to have this bank made a depository for the internal revenue of this
Congressional District. The bank commenced business April 1, 1864.
_The Warwick Savings Bank_ was the first one incorporated under the
general law of 1875. It commenced business January 3, 1876. James H.
Holly has been president since January 7, 1879. Thomas Burt has
served as secretary and treasurer from the organization to the
present time, and has had the general care and management. There has
been a steady increase in deposits year by year, and there is now
(July 1, 1907) on deposit $1,264,636.24 belonging to 3,483
depositors, and a surplus of $40,683.97.
_The Warwick Cemetery Association_ was incorporated in 1865. The land
purchased, graded, surveyed and plotted in 1866, was dedicated July
2, 1867, Leonard Cox delivering an appropriate poetical address, and
Rev. Cyrus G. Van Derveer the oration on that occasion. The
twenty-seven acres of ground have a pleasing elevated contour, which
were plotted by Mr. B. F. Hatheway, of Stamford, Conn.
The lands cost about $7,000 and improvements about $5,000. The funds
were provided by citizens' notes of $100 and $200, which were
canceled by deeds for lots to the makers of notes. The purchase of a
cottage, building a vault and entrance gates and bringing in the
public water for fountains were accomplished in the few following
years and the Association was free from debt, and in 1881 had $2,000
invested. In 1907 its investments in bonds and mortgages and
Government bonds are over $30,000.
George W. Sanford was president from its organization until his
death in 1900--for thirty-five years. He was succeeded by Sidney H.
Sanford and the latter by Nicholas L. Furman.
Nearly all lot enclosures have been removed, graves leveled and a
fine sward maintained and treated as a lawn, without expense to the
lot owners. Its picturesque appearance, fine monuments and well kept
grounds command the admiration of its visitors.
_Water-Works._--The village was first supplied with water in 1872.
The brook running north through the Thomas Welling and P. E. Sanford
farms to the Wawayanda creek furnishes the supply, and is called
Mistucky. This name is an Indian one, from an Indian village located
near the reservoirs, originally called Miskoutucky, signifying red
hills or plains.
In 1871 preparations were made for the building of a dam of 131 feet
across this brook, which when completed made a reservoir of 1 90/100
acres on the Welling farm and 1 50/100 acres on the Sanford farm,
both of which pieces of land were acquired by the village. Upon the
completion of the work and the introduction of water in the village,
a celebration took place in honor of the event in January, 1872.
This reservoir is situated one and a half miles south from the
center of the village and covers over three acres of land, with a
capacity of eight million gallons of water. The works were
constructed at a cost of $25,000.
In 1890 the village had outgrown the old supply and steps were taken
to increase the same. Accordingly a second reservoir was constructed
about a quarter of a mile to the south of the first dam, with a
capacity of thirty million gallons.
In 1903 the sum of $23,000 was appropriated for the enlargement of
water mains and the construction of new ones.
_Fire Department._--The fire department consists of two hose
companies--Excelsior No. 1 and Raymond Hose Company, and the Goodwill
Hook and Ladder Company. The fire council consists of the chief
engineer and two warders elected from each of the companies.
Inspection day is held each year in the month of September, at which
time the rooms and apparatus of the various companies are inspected
by the president and trustees of the village, and a parade of the
whole department takes place.
_Grand Army of the Republic._--A post of the Grand Army of the
Republic was organized at Warwick on November 16, 1885, with
thirty-three charter members. James W. Mullery was commander, and the
post was named for Michael Mullery, a brother of the commander, who
served in a New Jersey regiment. The number of the post is 575.
Some years after its organization the name was changed to John J.
Wheeler Post, in honor of Colonel John J. Wheeler, a native of the
town of Warwick, who served with honor and distinction in the 56th
New York Regiment.
[Illustration: Wm. B. Sayer House, Warwick, Erected, 1766]
CHAPTER XXX. TOWN OF WAWAYANDA.
By Charles E. Stickney.
The name Wawayanda is a corruption of the general salutation between
white settlers and Indians in pioneer times. This we take to be
illustrated by the example given in Gabriel Thomas' "East and West
Jersey," published in 1698. He evidently was familiar with the Indian
language and lived in Philadelphia where he was a frequent
participant in the conversations when a white man and an Indian met.
He reports it as follows: "When meeting, the white man would say in
the Indian language 'Hitah takoman?' (Whence comest thou?) The Indian
would reply, 'Andagowa a nee weekin' (over yonder). Then the white
man, 'Tony andagowa a kee weekin?' (Where yonder?) The broad Indian
accent coupled with the recurrence of the words 'over yonder' was
very probably the true derivation of the word 'Wawayanda.'"
There is not much doubt that the town of Wawayanda was formed out of
Minisink for political reasons. In 1849 the board of supervisors in
Orange County was Whig by a considerable majority. The town of
Minisink was and had been considered Democratic for a long time.
Nevertheless that year Daniel Fullerton, a Whig, was elected
Supervisor of Minisink. By taking off the northern part of Minisink
the Whigs hoped to be able to elect the officials in the new town
universally. Dr. D. C. Hallock made a survey for it. The signers of
the petition were mostly Whigs. November 27th, Mr. Fullerton made the
motion in the board of supervisors for the division of the town and
the creation of the new town to be called Wawayanda. The motion
carried by a strict party vote of ten Whigs for, to five Democrats
against it. The name was selected from the old Wawayanda patent, with
out any particular reference to its meaning. The town has ever since
been mostly Democratic in its elections. At the first election in the
spring of 1850, $200 was ordered raised for roads and bridges.
The population of the town in 1855, the first census taken after it
was formed, showed it to contain 2,069 inhabitants. Ten years later
it had 1,906, a decrease of 163. In 1905, the last census taken, it
had 1,574, a decrease since the first census of 1855 (fifty years) of
495. There were only 34 aliens in the last census.
The assessment of this town in 1865 was 19,677 acres, valued at
$706,250. and in 1906, forty-one years later, its assessment was
20,175 acres, valued at $695,060, and in 1907 it was the same. The
town expenses in 1907 were $1,067.88, besides $2,250 for highways and
$400 for bridges.
THE DROWNED LAND WAR.
A feature of the towns of Minisink and Wawayanda is the Drowned
Lands. These comprise the valley of the Wallkill, or, as named by the
Indians, the "Twischsawkin," extending from Hamburg, N. J., to Denton
in this State. The westerly part of that valley is the part of it in
the territory of which we write. When the Wallings, who, so far as we
can ascertain were the first permanent settlers at the head and on
the west shore of these drowned lands, located here, they found them
covered with water the greater part of each year, and of little value
except for grazing purposes, and for the wood upon them. Their total
acreage was about 40,000 acres, of which 10,000 acres were in New
Jersey. From the high grounds of the west shore to the river the
distance will average about half a mile. The great Cedar Swamp on the
eastern shore of the lands comprised about 15,000 acres. It was
covered with water more or less the year round, and, when the ice was
strong enough in winter, farmers drove for many miles to it to get a
supply of rails and wood. In spring floods the water was often from
eight to twenty feet deep over the entire drowned lands. They were
the homes of innumerable flocks of wild geese and ducks, and the
flocks were often composed of thousands of members. They raised
their young by thousands in the great swamps. Fish were also very
abundant.
In 1804 the farmers who owned lands along this vast morass, as well
as the rich speculators who had bought, for a trifle, huge tracts of
it, agitated the plan for a drainage. They got up petitions and
appealed to the legislature for help so persistently, that, in 1807,
that body passed an act authorizing money to be raised to drain the
drowned lands. The act empowered five commissioners to be elected
annually in Goshen. They were to assess property owners along the
drowned lands for expenses.
A large ditch was dug by them from Turtle Bay (a wide and deep place
in the river opposite the present farm of Reeves B. Wickham and the
former Van Bomel farm), to the junction of Rutger's Creek with the
Wallkill, a distance of about two miles in a direct line up stream.
The intention was for this ditch to carry the river's water mainly,
especially at high tides. Other work was done, so that in nineteen
years it is estimated that $40,000 had been expended. Little good
resulted from it, for the ditches rapidly filled with mud. The ruins
of this ditch are easily traced at this time.
Gabriel N. Phillips was then the owner of the great woolen factory
and an immense dam at what is now called New Hampton, but which was
then called Phillipses'.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The Erie Railroad, completed through New Hampton in 1835, caused that
village to become a business place. Many farmers who then brought
their produce to Goshen for shipment, changed to New Hampton and some
large business houses started up. The large manufactories which soon
started in Middletown and the completion of railroads from Sussex
County, N. J., to New York, drew off trade and New Hampton is to-day
of less importance than it was in former days.
Denton, named from the family that founded it, has been subject to
much the same influences as New Hampton. It is about three-quarters
of a mile southwest of the latter place. Once there were drug stores,
hotels and a vigorous church there. Under the local option law there
have been no licenses for hotels issued in Wawayanda for the past
twenty-five years. The business of Denton has, like other villages,
drifted away from it.
Centerville, now called South Centerville, was named from its central
location in the old town of Minisink. Its trade has, much like that
of other villages in proximity to Middletown, very much lessened of
late years.
Slate Hill is one of the very early settled places in this town. It
was before the days of post-offices called Brookfield. Some say that
this name was adapted from the circumstance of a brook winding around
the village.
Ridgeberry, named from the high ridge east of it, famous for berries,
was an early settled place and once had two hotels, two stores, two
churches and was quite a business place. Owing to the same causes
which have taken away the trade of many other villages, Ridgeberry
has now only one good store.
The Old School Baptist Church at Slate Hill deserves more than a
passing notice. Built over 100 years ago it stands there to-day as it
was built, but its congregation has nearly melted away. We give it a
more extended notice elsewhere. The Methodists have a chapel in the
village and conduct services weekly. The Presbyterians have purchased
a site for a church in the village and it is only a question of time
when an edifice will be built upon it. Millsburg on Boudinot's Creek,
and Gardnersville on Rutger's Creek, are shorn to a great extent of
their former glory. The Manning Company has feed and saw mills at the
latter place, while in the former place the mills of Frank Mead are
its distinguishing features.
The first town meeting held in the town after its organization was at
the hotel of D. C. Hallock in Brookfield-Slate Hill in the spring of
1850. This was in the building now occupied by Kinney Skinner as a
store. The other hotel, then kept in the place, was on the opposite
corner now owned by Dr. F. D. Myers as a private dwelling. That hotel
was then kept by William Bell. There was then no fence in the space
between the hotels and the square was often the scene of lively
scraps in the good old days.
An Indian, Keghgekapowell, one of the granters of the Evans patent
under Governor Dongan, was commonly called by the whites "Jo-Gee."
After signing away his rights to the lands under that patent he moved
to the foot of the hill, about a mile and a half west of what is now
Brookfield-Slate Hill, and resided there for some years. The hill in
the rear of his wigwam became known as "Jo-Gee" from that
circumstance. A spring by his wigwam furnished him water, and an
apple tree which he is said to have set there, bore fruit for several
generations after his departure. The fruit was of a peculiar variety
and excellent. He is reported to have been a good old man and kept up
his friendship for the whites until a party of his tribe came on a
visit and coaxed him to go away with them, which was the last seen of
him in this town.
The manufacture of pot and pearl ashes was an important industry in
the early history of the town. Benjamin Smith was engaged in it
during and after the Revolution.
Tanneries were once of much importance in the industries of the town.
There were at least two in Greenville at one time, one in Minisink,
and a large one for those times, in Brookfield-Slate Hill, in the
eighteenth century. The one in Slate Hill was where Elijah Cock now
has his Creamery and where Samuel Hornbeck resides. The last
proprietor of it was Holloway W. Stephens. He was a justice of the
peace in 1851.
In those early days it took a full year to tan a cow skin, an art now
performed in a few days.
There is not a tannery in existence in this locality now.
Besides tanning, previously mentioned, two other important industries
have passed out of existence in these towns--milling and distilling.
When the white settlers first invaded this country they did as the
Indians did, pounded their corn and grain into flour by means of
wooden mortars and stone pestles which the Indians taught them to
use; but in a short time grist mills were erected and a little later
milling grew to be a great part of the work of part of the
population. Large mills were at one time in Gardnersville,
Dolsontown, Waterloo Mills, Unionville, Brookfield, and Millsburg.
Old millers remembered were: The Gardners, Christian Schultz, Peter
Kimber, John Racine, James C. and Adirondam Austin. The course of
trade has now caused all the flour to be purchased of western
millers, and the old mills are now closed or simply used to grind
cow and horse feed. Frank Mead's, at Millsburg, is now the only
flouring mill in the town. In those first days whiskey was a common
beverage in almost every family, and when visitors came it was
considered a breach of hospitality to neglect to set out a glass of
it for the guests. It sold then, as we find from old account books,
at about seventy-five cents a gallon. Distilleries abounded
everywhere. But there came a time when taxes were laid heavily on
distillers, and the price of liquor was put up by the action of the
taxes. In consequence the distilleries dropped out one by one, until
now only one remains in Wawayanda, near Centreville; and one in
Minisink, near Johnson's.
WAWAYANDA CHURCHES.
The Baptist church of Brookfield (now Slate Hill) executed a
certificate of organization at the house of Lebbeu Lathrop, which,
we have been informed, was then in the village, December 15, 1791.
Isaac Finch, John Fenton and Benjamin Smith were the trustees.
Previous to that date several members had, in July, 1783, stated to
the Warwick church, in an application, that they lived west of the
Wallkill and desired to be set off as a separate church. August 28,
1783, Elder Benedict, of Warwick, with two brethren named Sillshee,
came west of the Wallkill, baptized seven members, and constituted
the church. A brother named Clark was ordained the next day to preach
for the new church. The meetings of the congregation were held at
private houses and in barns to suit convenience until 1792.
In December, 1791. John Hallock, whose lands extended from his
residence, a mile south of Ridgeberry, across the flats and to
Brookfield, deeded a lot to the church for its use. In 1792 the new
meeting house was erected on the lot. In those days the difference
between the meaning of church (an organization for religious worship)
and the building used for meeting purposes was clearly defined, and
the edifice was called a meeting house invariably. The building at
first was without a steeple and just as it stands to this day,
except it now has a steeple. The steeple was added to it in 1828. The
church interior is to-day just as it was first built and should be
preserved as an excellent specimen of old-time architecture.
A Congregational church was organized in Ridgeberry in 1792, which
held until 1817, when it was changed to Presbyterian. The regular
organization of the church dates from November 27, 1805, when a
certificate of it was filed at the house of Jonathan Bailey in
Ridgeberry.
The next oldest church organization to Ridgeberry was the
Presbyterian as Centerville. This was incorporated April 5, 1827. The
church edifice was built and dedicated in 1829.
The Presbyterian church of Denton was organized and dedicated in
1839.
The Methodist Episcopal church, at what is now called South
Centerville, was incorporated September 8, 1873.
CHAPTER XXXI.
TOWN OF WOODBURY.
The town of Woodbury is located in the southeast section of Orange
County. Bounded on the north by the towns of Blooming Grove and
Cornwall, on the east by the town of Highland, on the south by
Rockland County and the town of Tuxedo, while the town of Monroe
forms its western boundary. It has an area of 23,839 acres, and the
title to the soil is mainly derived through the Chesekook patent. The
assessed valuation of real estate in the town in 1907 was $802,371.
_Topography._--A striking feature of the town is the continuous
valley extending from the northern to the southern boundary which
divides the town into nearly equal parts, and which has been made the
line of the Newburgh short-cut branch of the Erie railroad, and of
the new State road. Through this valley flows Woodbury Creek
northward, uniting in the town of Cornwall with Moodna Creek. Not far
south of the sources of Woodbury Creek are the headwaters of the
Ramapo, which flows southward through the town of Tuxedo. The summit
between these two valleys is low, and the rivulets of the two streams
flowing in opposite directions are found very near to each other. The
eastern portion of the town is drained by Popolopen Creek in the town
of Highlands. Numerous ponds of surpassing beauty are within the town
limits, of which Cromwell, Forest and Cranberry Lakes are the
largest.
The Schunnemunk Mountains, appropriately described as the "high hills
to the west of the Highlands," extend along the northwestern boundary
of the town and are divided longitudinally by the boundary line of
Blooming Grove and Woodbury. This was the original dividing line
between the Wawayanda and Chesekook patents, and also one of the
monuments in the line of the Evans patent. This range has an
elevation of from 1,300 to 1,600 feet. Eastward across the valley
filling out to a section of the southeast border of the county and
forming a portion of the Highlands, is a battlement of mountainous
elevations, including Pine Hill, Black Cap, Cranberry Hill,
Stockbridge, Stevens, Goshen, Letter-rock and Black Mountains.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
The southeastern portion of Orange County was settled mostly from the
Eastern States and Long Island. The families were generally of
English ancestry. All accounts of Revolutionary times indicate a
population of considerable numbers in this territory. The Chesekook
patent was granted in 1702, and there was no settlement for some
years following that date. The Smiths were in this region as early as
1727, and the name Smith's Clove near the present village of Highland
Mills appears in the town records of Cornwall of 1765. The records of
Cornwall having been preserved, the following names are taken from
them as having belonged to what is now the territory of Woodbury.
Solomon Cromwell and Jonathan Hallock were among the earliest
settlers. John Earle in 1765 was a chosen fence-viewer for Woodbury
Clove. He lived near Highland Mills. His sons were Peter, John and
Solomon. Isaac and John Lamoreux are both mentioned in Cornwall
records before the Revolution. Thomas Smith was overseer of highways
in 1765. William Thorn was a justice of the peace in 1770 and lived
at Highland Mills. Captain Austin Smith was chosen assessor in 1775.
Nicholas Townsend came from Long Island previous to the Revolution.
Tobias Weygant was a town officer of Monroe at the first town meeting
in 1799. Jonathan Taylor, one of the first school commissioners,
lived near Highland Mills, and Linus Rider lived on the "Ridge" west
of the same hamlet. Patrick Ford lived near Woodbury Falls. His son,
David Ford, was the father of ten children, of whom Charles T. was
the eldest. Further reference to the early settlement of this
locality is made in the historical sketch of the old town of Monroe.
ORGANIZATION.
In the year 1863 a movement was set on foot to divide the town of
Monroe into three towns. A petition was sent to the board of
supervisors, which was granted at its usual meeting. The names of the
new towns were respectively Monroe, Highland and Southfield. Monroe
held its town meeting March 22, 1864, electing Chauncey B. Knight,
supervisor. Highland did likewise, choosing its old favorite, Morgan
Shuit. The town of Southfield organized in the same manner, elected
Josiah Patterson, supervisor. This triple division was at length
disapproved, and in 1865 the Legislature was asked to overrule the
action of the board and reorganize the old town of Monroe. This
movement was successful.
December 19, 1889, the board of supervisors, upon representation of
the diverse interests of different parts of the town, resolved to
redivide the same into three parts. The three new towns erected were
named respectively, Monroe, Woodbury and Tuxedo. The lines were run
so as to give Monroe 12,101 acres, Woodbury 23,839 acres and Tuxedo
27,839 acres. It was further resolved that the division of the town
should be made on the old lines, but that the names Woodbury and
Tuxedo should be substituted for Highland and Southfield. The reason
advanced for this re-division was that the town was too large and its
interests too diverse for harmonious government. In January, 1890,
John A. Patterson represented the newly created town of Woodbury in
the board of supervisors. James Seaman was the second supervisor from
this town, Alexander Thompson the third, and William E. Ferguson, who
was elected November, 1907, the fourth. The town hall is located at
Highland Mills, where the present town clerk, B. S. Pembleton,
resides. The assessors in 1907 are Charles Jones and William Wilson,
of Highland Mills, and Richard Bullwinkle, of Central Valley. The
highway commissioners are E. C. Cunningham, of Central Valley, N. B.
Hunter, of Highland Mills, and John H. Hunter, of Woodbury Falls. The
justices of the peace are W. M. Gildersleeve and John Rodgers, of
Central Valley, Amos W. Sutherland, of Highland Mills, and Charles E.
Hand, of Mountainville. The town is divided into four school
districts, of which the Free School at Central Valley is the most
important. A new school building is in course of construction at
Highland Mills at a cost of $18,000. Places of worship include the
Friends' churches at Woodbury Falls and Highland Mills, a Methodist
Episcopal church at Highland Mills and another of the same
denomination at Central Valley. A Roman Catholic church is now being
erected midway between Central Valley and Highland Mills. The Society
of Friends had a meeting house in Cornwall, built before 1788, and
it was the only meeting house or church in that town until 1825. The
meeting house at Smith's Clove was built in 1799. After the
separation of the society in 1828, a meeting house one and a half
miles easterly of Highland Mills was built. The first Methodist
Episcopal church in the old town of Monroe was organized and duly
incorporated May 2, 1829, and a church edifice soon afterward erected
at Highland Mills.
[Illustration: Charles T. Ford.]
VILLAGES.