Kingston, New York

This article is about the city. For the nearby town named Kingston, see Kingston (town), New York.

Kingston
City
Stockade District
Seal
Location in Ulster County and the state of New York.
Coordinates: 41°55′30″N 74°0′00″W
Country	United States
State	New York
County	Ulster
Government
• Mayor	Steve Noble (D)
• Common Council	Members' List At-Large Member: • James L. Noble, Jr. (D) • W1: Lynn Eckert (D, Majority Leader) • W2: Douglas Koop (D) • W3: Reynolds Scott-Childress (D) • W4: Christina Dawson (D) • W5: William Carey (D) • W6: Anthony Davis (D) • W7: Mary Ann Mills (D) • W8: Steven Schabot (D) • W9: Deborah Brown (R, Minority Leader)
Area
• City	8.77 sq mi (22.71 km2)
• Land	7.48 sq mi (19.38 km2)
• Water	1.29 sq mi (3.33 km2)
Elevation	476 ft (145 m)
Population  (2010)
• City	23,893
• Estimate  (2018)	22,950
• Density	3,102.11/sq mi (1,197.68/km2)
• Metro	177,749
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP codes	12401-12402
Area code	845
FIPS code	36-39727
GNIS feature ID	0979119
Website	City of Kingston, New York

Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is 91 miles (146 km) north of New York City and 59 miles (95 km) south of Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with the New York metropolitan area by the United States Census Bureau, It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British on October 13, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga. In the 19th century, the city became an important transport hub after the discovery of natural cement in the region, and had both railroad and canal connections. Passenger rail service has since ceased, and many of the older buildings are part of three historic districts, including the Stockade District uptown, the Midtown Neighborhood Broadway Corridor, and the Rondout-West Strand Historic District downtown.

History

Pictorial map, 1875

Kingston Point, 1899

Humans are believed to have been settled on the land that is today Kingston for at least 13,000 years. Before colonization, the two main tribes on the land were the Esopus (a tribe of the Lenape) and the Mohicans. Also called the Delaware Indians, the Lenape originally resided in the Delaware River Valley before their territory extended into the Lower Hudson River Valley (including the southern parts of Kingston), parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Eastern Delaware. The exact population of the Lenape is unknown but estimated to have been around 10,000 people in 1600. In the Kingston area, the Lenape spoke a specific dialect called Munsee. The Esopus existed peacefully with their northern Mohican neighbors who occupied the land of Northern Kingston into parts of Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The tribes traded, protected one another from attack, and recognized common interests for land protection, but never formed a broader, more official alliance like other nations in the area.

Both tribes lived in small communities of relatives ranging in groups from 10-100 people, moving seasonally. Diverse and developed agricultural practices allowed the community to have a diet consisting of many types of corn, beans, squash, hickory, nuts, and berries, plus various types of game, including elk, deer, rabbits, turkey, raccoons, waterfowl, bears, and fish.

Colonial History

As early as 1614, the Dutch had set up a factorij (trading post) at Ponckhockie, at the junction of the Rondout Creek and the Hudson River. The first recorded permanent settler in what would become the city of Kingston, was Thomas Chambers, who came from the area of Rensselaerswyck in 1653. The place was called Esopus after the local Esopus tribe.

In 1654, European settlers began buying land in what now is Kingston from the Esopus Indians. Tension between the two cultures rose quickly. Common sources of friction between Dutch settlers and the Esopus included settlers' livestock trampling Indian cornfields, disputes over trade and the impact of Dutch brandy on Indians, who, prior to the whites' arrival, had no experience with liquor. In the spring of 1658, Peter Stuyvesant, Director-General of New Amsterdam, ordered the consolidation and fortification of the settlement on high ground in what today is Uptown Kingston. The building of the Stockade, bolstered conflict between the two colliding cultures resulting in the Esopus Wars.

In 1661 the settlement was granted a charter as a separate municipality; Stuyvesant named it Wiltwijck (Wiltwyck). It was not until 1663 that the Dutch ended the four-year conflict with the Esopus through a coalition of Dutch settlers, Wappinger and Mohawk. Wiltwyck was one of three large Hudson River settlements in New Netherland, the other two being Beverwyck, now Albany, and New Amsterdam, now New York City. With the English seizure of New Netherland in 1664, relations between the Dutch settlers and the English soldiers garrisoned there were often strained. In 1669, Wiltwyck was renamed Kingston, in honor of the family seat of Governor Lovelace's mother. In 1683, citizens of Kingston petition the Kingston court to buy more land from the Esopus people. Officials from Ulster county maintained contact with the Esopus until 1727. Many descendents of the Esopus people who inhabited the area are now members of several other related displaced tribes. Some in the diaspora are among the Stockbridge–Munsee Community (Shawano County, Wisconsin), the Munsee-Delaware (Ontario, Canada), in addition to some in the Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation (New York & New Jersey).

In 1777, Kingston became the first capital of New York. During the summer of 1777, when the New York State constitution was written, New York City was occupied by British troops and Albany (then the second largest settlement in New York and capital of the newly independent State of New York) was under threat of attack by the British. The seat of government was moved to Kingston, which was deemed safer. However, the British never reached Albany, having been stopped at Saratoga, but they did reach Kingston. On October 13, 1777, the city was burned by British troops moving up river from New York City, and disembarking at the mouth of the Rondout Creek at "Ponckhockie". The denizens of Kingston knew of the oncoming fleet. By the time the British arrived, the residents and government officials had removed to Hurley, New York. The area was a major granary for the colonies at the time, so the British burned large amounts of wheat and all but one or two of the buildings. Kingston celebrates and re-enacts the 1777 burning of the city by the British every other year (2019 is the next "burning" of Kingston), in a citywide theatrical staging of the event that begins at the Rondout.

Kingston was incorporated as a village on April 6, 1805. In the early 1800s, four sloops plied the river from Kingston to New York. By 1829, steamers made the trip to Manhattan in a little over twelve hours, usually travelling by night. Columbus Point (now known as Kingston Point) was the river landing for Kingston and stage lines ran from the village to the Point. The Dutch cultural influence in Kingston remained strong through the end of the nineteenth century.

Rondout

A 19th-century Bluestone shipping depot on the Rondout Creek

Parts of the Rondout neighborhood still have historic architecture.

Main article: Rondout, New York

Rondout was a small farming village until 1825, when construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal from Rondout to Honesdale, Pennsylvania, brought an influx of laborers. When they completed the canal in 1828, Rondout became an important tidewater coal terminal. Natural cement deposits were found throughout the valley, and in 1844 quarrying began in the "Ponchockie" section of Rondout. The Newark Lime and Cement Company shipped cement throughout the United States, a thriving business until the invention of cheaper, quicker drying Portland Cement. Large warehouses of ice sat beside the Hudson River from which the ice was cut during the winter and preserved all year for early refrigeration. Large brick making factories were also close to this shipping hub. Rondout's central location as a shipping hub ended with the advent of railroads which ran through Rondout and Kingston but could transport their loads through the city without stopping.

Wilbur

Wilbur (aka Twaalfskill) was a hamlet upstream from Rondout where the Twaalskill met the Rondout Creek. There was a sloop landing there and it later became the center for the shipment of bluestone to create the sidewalks of New York City.

Kingston officially became a city on May 29, 1872, with the merger of the villages of Rondout and Kingston, and the hamlet of Wilbur.

Historic churches

Recently restored steeple in Downtown Kingston, New York

Kingston is home to many historic churches. The oldest church is the First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Kingston which was organized in 1659. Referred to as The Old Dutch Church, it is in uptown Kingston. Many of the city's historic churches are on Wurts street (6 in one block), including the recently-restored Hudson Valley Wedding Chapel that was built in 1867 and is now a chapel hosting weddings. Another church in the Rondout is at 72 Spring Street. Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church was founded in 1842. The original church building at the corner of Hunter Street and Ravine Street burned to the ground in the late 1850s. The current church on Spring Street was built in 1874.

St. John's Episcopal Church

St. John's Episcopal Church was named for St. John the Evangelist. It was founded in 1832, on June 24,, the feast of St. John the Baptist. Therefore both are considered patrons of the parish. Rev. Reuben Sherwood of Saugerties was the first rector. The first church was built on Wall Street and opened November 24, 1835. In 1926, the property was sold to the Up-to-Date clothing company, and the church dismantled and relocated to Albany Ave. In 1992, St. John's established "Angel Food East", a ministry that delivers food prepared at the church kitchen to persons in need throughout Ulster County.

Church of the Holy Cross

In 1891, Lewis T. Wattson, rector of St. John's, established the Church of the Holy Cross as a mission of St. John's, to serve working-class families living near the West Shore Railroad. Holy Cross had a more Anglo-Catholic tradition and a particular mission to the poor. Since then Holy Cross/Santa Cruz has become a bilingual multicultural Episcopal parish.

St. Joseph's RC

St. Joseph's Parish began in 1863 as a one-room mission school to serve the children of the Wilbur area, founded by Father Felix Farrelly, pastor of St. Mary's Parish in Rondout. The building was later sold to the city of Kingston in 1871.

In 1867, Rev. James Coyne was appointed pastor of St. Mary's in Rondout. The following year he established St. Joseph's in Kingston. He purchased the Young Men's Gymnasium on the corner of Fair and Bowery Streets. The first Mass was said on September 21, 1868 by Rev. James Dougherty, an alumnus of St. Mary's parochial school. Dougherty became the first pastor of St. Joseph's parish. Dougherty is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery.

As the chapel was deemed too small, the former Kingston Armory at the corner of Wall and Main Streets was purchased. The new church was dedicated on July 26, 1869. In 1877 Jockey Hill was made a mission of St. Joseph's. In 1962 a mission was established in Hurley.

In 1893, the church underwent a major renovation, including the installation of the side altars. The new church front was completed in 1898. The interior was renovated in 1905.

The frame building on the Bowery was turned into a schoolhouse. This was replaced in 1905 with the acquisition of the former mansion of Judge Alton B. Parker at 1 Pearl Street for a new St. Joseph's School and Convent. The Fair Street school building continued to be used as the parish hall until the property was sold in 1911. Also in 1911 a site for a larger school and convent was secured and 1 Pearl Street was sold. In 1943 the Sisters of St. Ursula replaced the Sisters of Charity at the school.

In February 1962, construction began on the current St Joseph School which housed eight additional classrooms. Old St. Joseph School was renamed the Msgr. Stephen Connolly Bldg. A plaque donated by the Holy Name Society in honor of Father John Broidy, the pastor who oversaw construction of the building in 1912, is on the right front of the building.

Geography and culture

Kingston has three recognized area neighborhoods. The Uptown Stockade Area, The Midtown Area, and The Downtown Waterfront Area. The Uptown Stockade District was the first capital of New York State. Meanwhile, the Midtown area is known for its early 20th century industries and is home to the Ulster Performing Arts Center and the historic City Hall building.

The downtown area, once the village of Rondout and now the Rondout-West Strand Historic District, borders the Rondout Creek and includes a recently redeveloped waterfront. The creek empties into the Hudson River through a large, protected tidal area which was the terminus of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, built to haul coal from Pennsylvania to New York City.

The Rondout neighborhood is known for its artists' community and its many art galleries; in 2007 Business Week online named it as among "America's best places for artists." It is also the site of a number of festivals, including the Kingston Jazz Festival and the Artists Soapbox Derby.

Midtown is the largest of Kingston's neighborhoods, home to Kingston High School and both campuses of HealthAlliance Hospital, part of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network; HealthAlliance Broadway Campus (formerly The Kingston Hospital) and HealthAlliance Mary's Avenue Campus (formerly Benedictine Hospital).

While the Uptown area is noted for its "antique" feeling, the overhangs attached to buildings along Wall and North Front streets were added to historic buildings in the late 1970s and are not authentically part of the 19th century Victorian architecture. The historic covered storefront walks, known as the Pike Plan, were recently reinforced and modernized with skylights. In the Stockade district of Uptown, many 17th century stone buildings remain. Among these is the Senate House, which was built in the 1670s and was used as the state capitol during the revolution. Many of these old buildings were burned by the British Oct. 17, 1777, and restored later. A controversial restoration of 1970s-era canopies was marred by the sudden appearance of painted red goats on planters just prior to the neighborhood's rededication. This part of the city is also the location of the Ulster County Office Building.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 8.6 square miles (22.4 km²), of which 7.3 square miles (19.0 km²) is land and 1.3 square miles (3.4 km²), or 15.03%, is water. The city is on the west bank of the Hudson River. Neighboring towns include Hurley, Saugerties, Rhinebeck, and Red Hook.

The city's Hasbrouck Park was created in 1920; it includes a 45 acres (18 ha) area and includes a nature trail.

• 
  Roofed sidewalks in the Stockade District uptown
• 
  Historic Commercial Buildings In Kingston
• 
  Downtown Kingston NY, called The Rondout
• 
  Kingston, New York with the Rondout Creek feeding into the Hudson River in the foreground and the Ashokan Reservoir in the distance
• 
  the Rondout, south of uptown Kingston

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1870	6,315		—
1880	18,344		190.5%
1890	21,261		15.9%
1900	24,535		15.4%
1910	25,908		5.6%
1920	26,688		3.0%
1930	28,088		5.2%
1940	28,589		1.8%
1950	28,817		0.8%
1960	29,260		1.5%
1970	25,544		−12.7%
1980	24,481		−4.2%
1990	23,095		−5.7%
2000	23,456		1.6%
2010	23,893		1.9%
2018 (est.)	22,950		−3.9%
U.S. Decennial Census

As of the 2010 census, the city had 23,887 people, 9,844 households, and 5,498 families. The population density was 3,189.5 persons per square mile (1,232.2/km²). There were 10,637 housing units at an average density of 1,446.4 houses per square mile (558.8/km²). The city's racial makeup was 73.2% White, 14.6% Black or African American, 0.50% Native American, 1.80% Asian, 1.90% from other races, and 5.00% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 13.4% of the population.

As of the 2000 census there were 9,871 households out of which 27.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.2% were married couples living together, 15.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.3% were non-families. 36.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 3.02.

In the city, the population was spread out with 23.9% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 17.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.1 males.

The city's median household income was $31,594, and the median family income was $41,806. Males had a median income of $31,634 versus $25,364 for females. The city's per capita income was $18,662, with 12.4% of families and 15.8% of the population below the poverty line, including 23.5% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over.

Sports

The Kingston Tigers are the city high school's sports teams.

Kingston Stockade FC is a men's semi-professional soccer club that competes in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) in the 4th division of the US soccer pyramid. Kingston Stockade FC play their home games at Dietz Stadium.

In 1921, one time major league player Dutch Schirick organized a semi-professional team, the Colonels, in Kingston, New York. Major league teams would, on occasion, play exhibition games against the Kingston Colonels, and would sometimes recruit local talent. Bud Culloton became a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Government

City Hall

The government of Kingston consists of a mayor and city council known as the Common Council. The Common Council consists of 10 members, nine of which are elected from wards while one is elected at large. The mayor is elected in a citywide vote every four years.

Steve Noble was elected to the mayoral post in 2015.

List of Mayors:

Name	Years Served	Notes
James Girard Lindsley	1872-1877	Lindsley Street named for him
William Lounsbery	1878-1879	Lounsbery Place named for him
Charles Bray	1880-1885
Nelson Stephens	1886-1887
John Newkirk	1888-1889
John E. Kraft	1890-1891
David Kennedy	1892-1895
Henry E. Wieber	1896-1897
William D. Brinnier	1898-1899
James E. Phinney	1900-1901
Morris Block	1902-1905
A. Wesley Thompson	1906-1907	Resigned on May 21, 1907
Walter P. Crane	1907-1909	Crane Street named for grandfather, Walter B. Crane
Roscoe Irwin	1910-1913
Palmer H. Canfield	1914-1921	Canfield Street named for grandfather, Palmer A. Canfield Sr.
Walter P. Crane	1922-1923
Morris Block	1924-1926	Died in Office, November 7, 1926
Edgar J. Dempsey	1926-1931
Eugene B. Carey	1932-1933
Harry B. Walker	1934	Resigned January 11, 1934
Conrad J. Heiselman	1934-1941
William F. Edelmuth	1942-1947
Oscar V. Newkirk	1948-1953
Frederick H. Stang	1954-1957
Edwin F. Radel	1958-1961
John J. Schwenk	1962-1965	Schwenk Drive named for him
Raymond W. Garraghan	1966-1969	Garraghan Drive named for him
Francis R. Koenig	1970-1979	Koenig Boulveard named for him
Donald E. Quick	1980-1983
Peter J. Mancuso	1984-1985
Richard "Dick" White	1986-1989
John P. Heitzman	1990-1991
John A. Amarello	1992-1993
Thomas R. "T.R." Gallo	1994-2002	Died in Office, January 21, 2002
James M. Sottile	2002-2011
Shayne R. Gallo	2012-2015	Brother of T.R. Gallo
Steve T. Noble	2016–Present

Education

• The Kingston City School District contains seven elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school.
• Kingston High School is the city's public high school
• Most students at John A. Coleman Catholic High School reside within the Kingston city school district.

The Kingston Center of SUNY Ulster (KCSU) is a branch of the county's community college that offers programs, courses and certifications at a convenient Midtown location. KCSU is the new home for Police Basic Training and also offers human services, criminal justice and the general education courses required by the State of New York to satisfy the liberal arts core of an A.A. or A.S. degree.

Media

• Newspapers
  • Kingston-based: Daily Freeman, Kingston Times
  • Outside Kingston: Art Times, Poughkeepsie Journal, Times-Herald Record (Middletown)
  • See also: List of newspapers in New York in the 18th-century: Kingston
• Television: Time Warner Cable Kingston Area Public-access television cable TV channel 23
• Radio
  • Kingston-based: WGHQ (920 AM), WKNY (1490 AM), WKXP (94.3 FM)
  • Outside Kingston: WFGB (89.7 FM), WBPM (92.9 FM, Saugerties), WKZE-FM (98.1, Salisbury, Connecticut/Rhinebeck, New York), WDST (100.1 FM, Woodstock).
• Magazines: Chronogram, Trends Journal
• Music festivals: O+ Festival
• Blogs: Kingston Creative, and Kingston Happenings

Infrastructure

Transportation

Kingston CitiBus provides service within the city and to Port Ewen.

Commuter service is available by bus to New York City daily via Trailways of New York. The 90-mile trip takes roughly two hours by motor coach.

Passenger railroad service to Kingston itself was discontinued in 1958 when the New York Central Railroad ended service on the West Shore Railroad. However, about 11 miles (20 km) away is the Rhinecliff-Kingston Amtrak station, and 17 miles (30 km) away is the Poughkeepsie Amtrak/Metro-North station. CSX Transportation operates freight rail service through Kingston on the River Line Subdivision. There is also a small rail yard of about 7 tracks in Kingston.

The Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, carrying New York State Route 199, is the nearest bridge traversing the Hudson River at 4.32 miles (6.95 km) to the north. U.S. Highway 9W runs north-south through the city. The New York State Thruway, also known at this section as Interstate 87, runs through the western part of the city.

The area is served by Kingston-Ulster airport (20N), located at the western base of the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge. The nearest major airports to Kingston are Stewart International Airport 39 miles (62.8 km) south in Newburgh, and Albany International Airport approximately 65 mi (105 km) north. The three major metropolitan airports for New York City - John F. Kennedy International approximately 93 mi (150 km) south, Newark Liberty International approximately 86 mi (138 km) south, and LaGuardia Airport approximately 80 mi (129 km) south.

City-owned CitiBus system (headquarters at 420 Broadway) provides city bus service and Ulster County Area Transit (UCAT) provides service to points elsewhere in Ulster County. Route A travels between Kingston Plaza and Riverfront, B between Albany Avenue and Fairview Avenue, and C between Golden Hill and Port Ewen.

On the first Saturday of every month an "art bus" is available for a fare of $1. The bus, usually a CitiBus tourist trolley, takes passengers on a guided tour of the art galleries of Kingston. Kingston's art galleries all have openings on the first Saturday of the month.

Weekend water taxi service between Kingston and Rhinecliff, New York is available May through October for $10 round-trip. Some trips stop at the Rondout Light; a tour is available for an additional $5.

Kingston historically was an important transportation center for the region. The Hudson River, Rondout Creek and Delaware and Hudson Canal were important commercial waterways. At one time, Kingston was served by four railroad companies and two trolley lines. Kingston was designated as a New York State Heritage Area with a transportation theme and the Hudson River Maritime Museum and Trolley Museum of New York are on the waterfront. Also, the Catskill Mountain Railroad, a scenic railroad company, runs trains from Kingston on the former Ulster and Delaware right of way.

A map of Kingston's biggest attractions mashed up with proposed bike lanes, complete streets connections and rail trails.

As of 2016, over a dozen separate ongoing projects were being coordinated between the Kingston Land Trust, Kingston City Government and Ulster County Government, connecting all three of Kingston's neighborhoods with a combination of rail trails, bike lanes and Complete Streets connections.

Healthcare

Residents of the city and surrounding areas are served by the two hospital campuses of HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley, a 315-bed healthcare system:

• HealthAlliance Hospital: Broadway Campus (formerly Kingston Hospital)
• HealthAlliance Hospital: Mary's Avenue Campus (formerly Benedictine Hospital)

HealthAlliance is part of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network, a 10-hospital, 1,700-bed Hudson Valley-wide healthcare system.

There are also multiple urgent care sites, private practice offices and laboratories in the city and surrounding area.

Notable people

Main article: List of people from Kingston, New York

External links

• City of Kingston, New York