History of Poughkeepsie Part 3 (1940-2000)

Here is the final installment of the history outline.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome. Next time: a Poughkeepsie quiz!

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 History of Poughkeepsie Year-by-Year Part 3

1943 -- Fitchett Brothers' Dairy opened a new processing plant. (The business continued until 1987.)

1944 -- The Windsor Hotel was destroyed by fire. The outside temperature was so cold that the firefighters’ unsuccessful efforts to hose down the flames resulted in icicles that covered the entire building.

1944 -- The Dudley Memorial on College Hill burned.  It was later rebuilt.   

1946 -- Marian College became a four-year college.  In 1960, it was renamed Marist College with an enrollment of 250 students.

1947 -- Sarah Gibson Blanding became the first woman president of Vassar. 

During the late 1940s and into the 1950s, the increased traffic could not flow through Poughkeepsie without encountering major delays.

1950 – Eleanor Roosevelt narrated Peter and the Wolf at the Bardavon. Click to hear.

1955 -- Smith Street flooded.

1958 -- The Poughkeepsie Plaza, Poughkeepsie’s first shopping center, opened. 

1960s -- Marlon Brando played at the Hyde Park Playhouse and would frequent Happy Jack's Bar on North Bridge Street.   

1960s -- The Vassar Brothers Institute (given to the city by Matthew Vassar Jr. and John Guy Vassar) was renovated to serve as a place for art exhibits, concerts and theatrical performances.

1960s -- Urban Renewal money poured into Poughkeepsie. The arterials were constructed, and some older buildings and neighborhoods were razed. 

1964 -- A strong arts coalition was developed in Poughkeepsie. 

1968 -- Matthew Vassar's Springside estate was threatened by condominium development.  Activists saved the area while allowing some condominiums.

1968 -- The Rip Van Winkle House was opened. It was hoped that mixed income housing would help "phase out poverty and unwanted misery."

1970 -- Dutchess Plaza Shopping Center on Route 9 opened.

During the 1970s there was a public campaign to save the Bardavon Theater from demolition. There were plans to raze the building and use the site as a parking lot. In 1977 concerned citizens were successful in getting it placed on the National Registry of Historical Places. It was renamed The Bardavon 1869 Opera House.

1971 -- The Union Street area was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

1974 – A fire had damaged the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge, and it was no longer used. 

1973 – A section of Middle Main was closed to vehicular traffic so the area could become a pedestrian shopping plaza.  It was named “Main Mall” and was dedicated.

1975 – The city civic center was opened.

1975 -- Bowdoin Park was created.  The park land was once river estates, then the Children's Aid Society's summer camp. 

1975 -- The Wallace Company Department Store closed. Shopping centers were taking the place of department stores. Downtown was the center of economic activity.

1980s --  The sloop Clearwater, financed by Pete Seeger, sailed the Hudson and began environmental studies. Story.

1982 -- The Maybrook Line freight service between Poughkeepsie and Hopewell Junction was discontinued.

1983 -- Metro-North railway service to Poughkeepsie began.

During the 1990s IBM made a series of dramatic moves to downsize. Jobs were lost. People moved away. This caused a serious downward slide in the Dutchess County economy.



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