Vassar road trip
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Visiting the sick – one of the corporal works of mercy that was drummed into us in Catholic School – seems to occur more often as my friends, but not me, age. On a recent Sunday I traveled to Poughkeepsie to the Vassar Brothers Hospital.
My high school friend, Jerry, had just suffered a heart attack. I went to visit him to kid him back to health. When I arrived at 10am, I was told he was having a procedure to place a stint in his chest. I should come back after noon.
I used this opportunity to retrace my steps or rather my tire treads back to Route 9 where I sped pass a sign that I didn’t get a good look at. I found it again and parked just a few yards from the sign in a Holiday express parking lot.
So that’s the origin of Poughkeepsie name. I challenge anyone to pronounce it.
I continued my search for signs by following the road to the right rather than stay on the main thoroughfare. I was rewarded with this sign out of nowhere –
That’s a nice quote. But why is it here? And who is A.J. Downing? Some sign official must have thought the same thing because nearby was this sign –
Hmm… This is going to be a serendipitous morning. I bet my day will be more involved with Vassar than I thought. I looked up A. J. Downing and indeed he was a big shot landscape architect. He designed the grounds for the White House and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. But he really liked to design cottages. And he did so for Matthew Vassar.
According to the history of Springside, there was more to this estate than the gatekeeper’s cottage that I photographed here. There were: “a cottage, barn, carriage-house, ice-house, and dairy room, granary, an aviary for wild and domestic fowls, an apiary, a spacious conservatory and neat gardener’s cottage, and a log cabin on the more prosaic portions of the domain, where meadows and fields of grain may be seen, were erected.”
As I walked into Springside, I saw a statue. It could only be Matthew Vassar –
Another sign proclaimed that Springside was a National Landmark.
I was really interested in this Vassar fellow and I now wanted to check out two more places associated with him. His house in town and Vassar College.
Of course, I got lost. But if you look around, there will always be a plaque or a statue to photograph. I parked my car to look up the house address again. I looked out my window and there was a plaque.
The year 1687 caught my eye. In fact, Baltus was in the new world even earlier. Records show that he left The Netherlands for the New Netherlands in 1654. He landed and married in Flatbush (Brooklyn) and later moved to Albany, then to Hackensack, New Jersey, and finally to Poughkeepsie. Historians consider him to be the founder of both Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County. He built the first stone house here and gave land for the first church. You’d think there would be more than just this plaque to remember him.
Before I got back into my car, I saw a statue at the top of the street. Of course, I had to go look.
Good old Christopher Columbus looking for new lands to explore in front of the Italian Center. I wonder how many Statues of this Genoa sailor there are in the U.S.?
Back in my car armed with a new address, I headed down the street. And lo and behold another statue
With a name like Dongan, I know he is not Dutch, but Irish. But why is he here? The inscription says he was the governor of New York from 1683 to 1688. That’s a bit misleading. I discovered that he was the first Royal governor appointed by the English. He was also given an estate on Staten Island for his work. Poughkeepsie hadn’t been founded yet. So why did New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt dedicate this statue to him in 1930? One reason might have been to recognize his diplomatic talents in securing the New York State bountdries by settling disputes with Canada, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Or maybe, it’s just because he was the first Governor of New York If anyone knows of a better reason please email me at ontheroadtohistory@gmail.com
Finally, I found Matthew Vassar’s house on Vassar and Main.
The sign isn’t entirely correct. Here’s some facts I found:
· The Home was built by Vassar’s nephews on the site of his old house
· Designed for 50 men, it was initially home to six who met the criteria of being at least 65 years old, Protestant and residents of New York State.
· In the 1970’s, it became the property of the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center, which has used the lower floor for galleries, public and private events, and rented out the upper floors as office space for other local non-profit organizations
Now I wanted to know how he made his money. Further research reveals that he made beer and sold it. In fact, in 1814 he had the largest brewery of its kind in the 18 states of the United States. He even had a fleet of ships to bring his product to the thirsty towns up and down the Hudson River.
I still have time to swing by Vassar College and take a picture, maybe find a sign.
