Henry D Myers.pdf
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Part of Marist College Land History: Myers Parcel
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Myers parcel
Marist College
The Myers parcel refers to the Marist College campus section
south of the Bech parcel. It houses the Mccann Athletic
Center.
see note
1
It was purchased by Henry Duane Myers in
1857 and by Mari st College in 1963.
see note 2
The Myers parcel is less interesting in terms of who owned the
land than for touching on several forgotten industries. It stood
at the northern end of the industrial zone along the river which
supported numerous industries. Edward Bech operated two
iron foundries, but there were many other industries forgotten
in the history of the city and town of Poughkeepsie.
Read the entire essay, or click on item below to go directly to
that section.
List of owners
PoughkeeQsie Silk ComQanv.
PoughkeeQsie Locomotive ComQanv.
Henrv. Duane Mv.ers (1816 - 1887).
acquired
Ice harvesting and storage
Giant Portland Cement ComQanv.
New York Central Railroad
Leveling the field 1963 to 1976
Sewer Treatment Plant
Endnotes
Owners
disposed
1963
Marist College
1913
New York Central RR
1963
1913
Giant Portland Cement Co
1913
1911
Vindex Land Co
1913
1909
William A Redding
1911
1909
Allison
&
Annie Butts
1909
1892
Albert
&
Maria Tower
1909
1892
Hiram Myers
&
Susan Olivet
1892
1857
Henry Duane Myers
1892
1856
Charles C North
1857
1847
George F Tallman
1856
1844
Francis Griffin
1847
1839
Poughkeepsie Locomotive Engine Co
1844
1837
Henry F Talmadge
1839
Poughkeepsie Silk Co
1837
Poughkeepsie Silk Company
The Poughkeepsie Silk Company was one of the first industrial
projects sponsored by the Improvement Party.
see note 3
The
company imported silk from China and wove it into various
articles. It was incorporated in 1835 with its chief building
along the Hudson River. The building was long a center of
manufacturing for a variety of trades. The company even
attempted to cultivate silkworms, growing a tract of mulberry
trees at the intersection of Delafield Street and Post Road (the
latter now called Washington Street.)
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Poughkeepsie Locomotive Company
In 1837 the Silk Company sold a parcel to Henry F Talmadge
who was acting as an agent for the Poughkeepsie Locomotive
Engine Company.
see note 4
The parcel was along the river,
just north of the Whaling Dock and north of the present
Hoffman Street. In 1839 it sold an even larger parcel, again
through Henry F Talmadge.
see notes
The Locomotive
Company was started after the panic of 1837. The company
built a brick building and was capable of producing between
seventy-five and one hundred locomotives and tenders
annually. Timing is important. The railroad from either Albany
or New York City had not reached Poughkeepsie until 1848.
Henry D Myers in an 1884 interview stated the engine
company produced only one locomotive which ran on the Long
Island Railroad for years. It must have been shipped there by
boat.
_
see note
6
The locomotive company land and assets
were purchased by Francis Griffin in a bankruptcy action in
1844.
see note
7
Henry Duane Myers (1816 - 1887)
The sale Charles C North to Henry D Myers shifted transactions
from speculation to usage.
see notes
Henry was a surveyor.
see note
9
From his knowledge of the earlier deeds and
general topography of the area, he negotiated access rights to
his dock along the Hudson River as well as water rights
extending into the Hudson.
see note
10
The deed of sale to Myers as well as several
deeds of sale to Elizabeth McCarty Bech
relating to the land directly north of the
Myers parcel all mention a brickyard, but it
is not clear whether the brickyard was on
the Myers lot or any of the Bech lots. Many
of the industrial buildings along the
Poughkeepsie waterfront were built with
brick, and the Hudson shoreline is dotted
with many long forgotten brickyards. It is
likely that the brickyard cited here used the nearby clay
deposits as raw material, and may have gone out of business
when the useful clay supply was exhausted. It is consistent
with the discovery by Marist College officials in 1960 that the
soil under the current Mccann Baseball field would be
unsuitable to support the three dormitories planned, all of
which were to use the footprint of the Sheahan Dormitory.
see note
11
Ice harvesting and storage
Henry D Myers built an ice storage plant on the dock and for
twenty five years operated the ice business. In an era before
electricity, ice was usually harvested from lakes or from the
Hudson River for sale to the cities along the river, especially
New York City. The Hudson River is an estuary so that salt
wateris present in the Hudson to about Chelsea between
Beacon and Poughkeepsie. Myer's position made it possible to
harvest fresh water ice from the Hudson and ship the ice by
boat or by railroad the cities lower down the river. He secured
the rights to the water near his land so that he might use it for
his ice making.
Ice harvesting was not the only trade for
Henry D Myers. For forty five years he
operated a grocery store along 253 and 255
and 257 Main Street in Poughkeepsie. But his
census records describe him as a surveyor.
The news article concerning his death stated "For many years
he has been employed as a surveyor in and about this city, and
we presume more property lines have been run and marked
out by him than by any other man here."
see note
12
Henry
dropped dead of a heart attack in 1887 while supervising the
harvesting of ice.
In his will, Henry D Myers left the store along Main Street and
the Myers dock to his two children Hiram W. Myers and Susan
Myers Olivet. His will made specific provision for his wife which
provisions were intended to replace her dower rights. This led
to a legal technicality, since a husband might not change his
wife's dower rights. When the time came to sell the property
in 1992, Henry's widow registered her approval of the
arrangement spelled out in Myer's will.
see note
13
With this
technicality out of the way, Hiram and Susan sold the parcel to
Albert Edward Tower and his brother Joseph Tuckerman Tower.
see note
14
Albert Edward Tower, their father, had been partner with
Edward Bech in the iron business. Albert died 24 December
1891, leaving control of the Fallkill Iron Works to his two sons.
The brothers held on to the Myers parcel for seventeen years
for reasons unknown. It is unlikely that either brother wanted
it for his residence, so a better guess is that they foresaw
possibility of northern expansion. Unfortunately this was an
era of the twilight of local foundries, as the discovery of huge
iron deposits in the Mesabi Range in Minnesota and availability
of coal in Pennsylvania spurred the growth of Pittsburgh as the
dominant center for the manufacture iron and steel.
By 1913 the Poughkeepsie Iron Works
ceased operations, and sales were
conducted to dispose of the land. The
Myers dock between the railroad tracks and
the Hudson was sold to Arthur Dutton of
Springfield MA, who developed the largest lumber yard on the
East Coast. His company acted as a wholesaler to smaller
lumber companies.
Giant Portland Cement Company
The Towers brothers (and their wives) sold the Myers property
to Allison Butts, a lawyer in Poughkeepsie for $25,000. After
Allison butts died his widow sold the parcel to William A
Redding. Two years later Redding sold the parcel to Vindex
Land Co, a real estate developer operating out of New York
City. Vindex was seeking deposits of limestone and had
located about ten spots near Poughkeepsie, several along the
route of the Poughkeepsie
&
Eastern RR.
see note
1s
Vindex
sold the collection of sites, including the Myers parcel to Giant
Portland Cement Company.
see note
16
There was no
valuable limestone on the Myers parcel, but Giant Portland was
obliged to purchase it as part of the deal, it quickly sold it to
the New York Central Railroad Company.
see note
17
New York Central Railroad
In 1963 I was alerted to the possibility of
acquiring the parcel as the New York Central
was attempting to dispose of any extra land
for which it had no use. This would relieve
the New York Central of tax liabilities. I
traveled to the headquarters in New York City. During the
course of the negotiations, the agent told me that at one time
the railroad had thought of using the gently sloping land as a
humping station.
see note
1s
When the railroad abandoned
this plan, the land became available.
Although Marist College had no precise plan for use of the
Myers parcel, it made sense to acquire the land for future
development if the price was right. We settled on the purchase
of 10.4 acres (down from 15.7 because the land between the
railroad tracks had been sold to Arthur Dutton) for $7,000 but
with two additional conditions. There were two pedestrian
bridges built by the railroad as part of the agreement with the
Marist Brothers in 1912. The College agreed to the removal of
the northern bridge which had been planned for use by the
juniors on the property north of the Water Works Road to swim
in the Hudson River. That custom ceased with the construction
of the outdoor pool to replace the lake just north of the Water
Works Road. The other pedestrian bridge planned for the
Novitiate and Scholasticate was near the Sheahan, Leo and
Champagnat dormitories and would provide access to the
Martin Boathouse constructed in 1963. The railroad agreed to
leave the bridge in place but the College agreed to maintain
the bridge.
Leveling the field 1963 to 1976
The Myers parcel sloped quickly down to the
level of the New York Central Railroad. In
1963 the state began construction of an
arterial highway to reduce congestion
through the city of Poughkeepsie. This
became the new route Nine, which had fought its way through
the business center of the city.
One problem facing the contractor was the requirement to
remove the remains of an abandoned dump near the northern
end of the proposed route.
see note
19
Jack Gartland, a key
advisor to the President, told me that he had contacted several
old-timers about the dump and they were certain that no very
objectionable materials, such as abandoned autos, were in the
dump. The College agreed to accept the fill from this dump
provided that it received all fill for the length of the project.
Gartland warned that the College ought to send
representatives at unannounced times to be sure that the
general contractor was not selling the good fill elsewhere.
The contractor reduced his costs for transporting the fill by
obtaining permission to cross the tracks of the former
Poughkeepsie
&
Eastern RR with his heavy earth moving
equipment rather than reloading into trucks and then using
public highway to access the college grounds.
Two years earlier (1961) the college
abandoned its plan to locate three
dormitories using the plans for Sheahan on
the southern part of the Bech parcel which
is now the Mccann Baseball field because
the footings would not be stable enough for
construction of three story buildings. But the fill sent in by the
arterial road contractor was excellent fill and was used to raise
the level of the Myers parcel. One negative was that the
Brothers Cemetery was now fifteen feet below eventual level.
When the College developed plans to locate the Mccann
Athletic Center on the Myers parcel, it had available level land
available for construction.
see note 20
The portion of the parcel that eventually wound up in Marist
College possession was in the northern tip, and saw little
development. The topography was not like a visitor views
today. It sloped downwards at approximately the present day
grading of the tracks placed by the Poughkeepsie
&
Eastern
Railroad and was of little commercial value to Griffin, Tallman
or North. They were land speculators
Sewer Treatment Plant
The planning for the Mccann Athletic Center
was developed during 1973-1974. One
hiccup occurred when the City of
Poughkeepsie wanted to use part of Myers
parcel for a sewage treatment plant. The
College might have fought this legally and
delayed construction for several years, but we were given legal
advice that the City of Poughkeepsie would probably invoke
eminent domain. So Brother Nilus Donnelly visited three
upstate locations that had installations with similar
technology. He reported that there were no odor problems.
Concurrent with the transfer of 2.566 acres of the Myers parcel
at the southwest corner, the City transferred substantial land
which had been used for the 1872 water works to the college.
A large concrete filter bed was converted to five tennis courts
that remained in use until construction of the Rotunda and
dormitory additions to Champagnat. The area directly in front
of the water works road as it heads downhill north to where
the water works road enters the tunnel under the railroad was
taken by the College.
see note
21
Now reduced to 7 .834 acres, the Myers
parcel has supported multiple renovations to
the Mccann Athletic Center.
To conclude, the history of the Myers parcel
does not highlight many memorable
individuals, but it does remind us how
industry developed from the Fallkill Creek
north to the lower part of the college territory, much of it along
the Hudson River north of Hoffman Street.
Poughkeepsie Iron Works
Fallkill Iron Company
Poughkeepsie Silk Company
Poughkeepsie Locomotive Engine Company
Dutchess and Poughkeepsie Whaling Companies
Brickyards and brickmaking
Portland cement
Ice harvesting and distribution
Humping station for railroads
Wholesale lumber distribution
Sewage treatment
Endnotes
Note
1.
1857 liber 111 page 365 Charles C North to Henry D Myers.
Note 2. 1963 liber 1102 page 805 New York Central RR to Marist College.
Note 3. See Edmund Platt, The Eagle's History of Poughkeepsie from the Earliest
Settlements 1683 to 1905.
Published by the Dutchess County Historical Society,
Poughkeepsie, New York 1987. P 108. The Party ran candidates for village trustee
in 1835, when Matthew Vassar was elected a trustee and chosen president of the
board. Other notable citizens associated with the Improvement party were
Nathanial P Tallmadge, George P Oakley and Walter Cunningham, the last named
important to the history of the Marist College Barnard parcel. "The party played a
very important part in the development of Poughkeepsie, though its operations
culminated in a great real estate boom which collapsed and left nearly all its
promoters penniless.
.
..
The term Improvement Party seems to have been used to
designate those who favored pushing all sorts of improvements, new streets,
pavements, etc. but was afterwards applied to the promoters of the many
enterprises of the day,."
Besides the Poughkeepsie Silk Company venture, the Improvement Party strongly
supported the Dutchess Whaling Company and the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company,
whose docks were just below the property of the Poughkeepsie Silk Company. See
Platt History of Poughkeepsie, page 135.
Note 4. See deed 5 September 1837 liber 63 page 238 Poughkeepsie Silk Co and
Henry F Tallmadge to Poughkeepsie Locomotive Engine Company. The parcel was
sold for $12,500 and ran 250 feet north and south east of the Wharf and we4st of
Hudson Street.to Hudson Street
Note 5. See deed 19 July 1839 liber 67 page 525 Henry F Tallmadge to
Poughkeepsie Locomotive Engine Co. Parcel between Hudson River and Hudson 250
feet north to south.
Note 6. Edmund Platt History of Poughkeepsie page 137
Note 7. See deed 5 April 1844 liber 77 page 370 Poughkeepsie Locomotive Engine
Co to Francis Griffin.
Note 8. See deed 1857 liber 111 page 365 Charles C North to Henry D Myers. The
parcel described extended from Delafield Street to the Hudson River and ran just
south of the land owned by the Bechs. On the south it was bordered by lands
belong to Dutchess Whaling dock and the former Locomotive Engine Company lot.
Note 9. Coincidentally, Henry D Myers had surveyed the 372 acre section (now
Fairview) for William Davies years before the sale to George A Bech. Much of his
survey work was in the area north of the City of Poughkeepsie limit.
Note 10 See deed 30 Nov 1865 liber 133 page 305 Fallkill Iron Works to Henry D
Myers granting right of way to the Myers dock and deed 26 Mar 1870 liber 181 page
177 People of State of New York to Henry D Myers granting water rights out to the
channel in the Hudson River.
Note 11 See Deed 4 March 1857 liber 111 page 364 Charles C North to
Henry D Myers
Deed 7 February 1867 liber 139 page 252 James
&
Harriet Weeks to Elizabeth
McCarty Bech
Deed 30 November 1868 liber 168 page 464 Robert N Palmer (referee) to
Elizabeth McCarty Bech
Note 12, News article of death of Henry D Myers in the Poughkeepsie Eagle of 24
January 1887.
Note 13.
See deed 15 April 1892 liber 262 page 141 Sarah E Myers to Hiram
Myers and Susan Olivet.
Note 14.
See deed 16 April 1892 liber 262 page '145 Hiram W Myers and
Susan Olivet to Albert and Joseph Towers
Note 15,
In the nineteenth the century the cement of choice was derived from
Rosendale NY. The workers on the Delaware & Hudson Canal discovered these
deposits. The cement was slow to set, but hardened even when under water. It
was used for the foundations of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Poughkeepsie train bridge,
the 154-foot, 27,000-ton pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, the wings of the U.S.
Capitol, the lower 152' of the Washington Monument, the Croton Aqueduct and
dams, the Pennsylvania Railroad tunnels, the New York State Thruway, and
thousands of other public works projects.
By the end of the century a different
type of cement, derived from changed additives to the limestone, set much faster
than Rosendale and received the name Portland cement.
Note 16. See deed 18 April 1913 Vindex Land Co to Giant Portland Cement
Company.
Note 17. See deed 16 October 1913 liber382 page 123 Giant Portland Cement Co
to NY Central & Hudson RR
Note 18. A humping station is a hill with a single track going up one side of the hill
and several tracks on the downside that were controlled by remote switches. If an
engine pushed freight cars up the hill single file, each freight car on its way down
could be directed by the control station to any of the tracks on the downside. The
result would be four or five separate trains that might be directed to different
locations. The closest humping station to New York City was north of Albany.
Note 19. In the early 1960s, Brother Paul Stokes, Academic Dean, used to enjoy
using the rats in the dump for target practice.
Note 20. The College also leveled a hill just south of the Sheahan Dormitory which
provided rock fill.
Note 21. In the 1980s and 1990s the sewage treatment plant began to send
unpleasant odors across the campus, causing serious concern that prospective
students and their parents would be deterred from considering Marist College.
It
was discovered that the treatment plant was storing its sludge outdoors instead of
disposing of it quickly. When this was remediated, the problem seems to have been
solved.
A July 2013 reconstruction of myers.htm. which contains a glitch
Research on this project was conducted from January 2008 through August 2012 by Richard Foy,
assisted by student assistants Paul Contarino and Kayla Benefield.
Most recent revision and spell check July 20, 2013
Marist College
The Myers parcel refers to the Marist College campus section
south of the Bech parcel. It houses the Mccann Athletic
Center.
see note
1
It was purchased by Henry Duane Myers in
1857 and by Mari st College in 1963.
see note 2
The Myers parcel is less interesting in terms of who owned the
land than for touching on several forgotten industries. It stood
at the northern end of the industrial zone along the river which
supported numerous industries. Edward Bech operated two
iron foundries, but there were many other industries forgotten
in the history of the city and town of Poughkeepsie.
Read the entire essay, or click on item below to go directly to
that section.
List of owners
PoughkeeQsie Silk ComQanv.
PoughkeeQsie Locomotive ComQanv.
Henrv. Duane Mv.ers (1816 - 1887).
acquired
Ice harvesting and storage
Giant Portland Cement ComQanv.
New York Central Railroad
Leveling the field 1963 to 1976
Sewer Treatment Plant
Endnotes
Owners
disposed
1963
Marist College
1913
New York Central RR
1963
1913
Giant Portland Cement Co
1913
1911
Vindex Land Co
1913
1909
William A Redding
1911
1909
Allison
&
Annie Butts
1909
1892
Albert
&
Maria Tower
1909
1892
Hiram Myers
&
Susan Olivet
1892
1857
Henry Duane Myers
1892
1856
Charles C North
1857
1847
George F Tallman
1856
1844
Francis Griffin
1847
1839
Poughkeepsie Locomotive Engine Co
1844
1837
Henry F Talmadge
1839
Poughkeepsie Silk Co
1837
Poughkeepsie Silk Company
The Poughkeepsie Silk Company was one of the first industrial
projects sponsored by the Improvement Party.
see note 3
The
company imported silk from China and wove it into various
articles. It was incorporated in 1835 with its chief building
along the Hudson River. The building was long a center of
manufacturing for a variety of trades. The company even
attempted to cultivate silkworms, growing a tract of mulberry
trees at the intersection of Delafield Street and Post Road (the
latter now called Washington Street.)
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Poughkeepsie Locomotive Company
In 1837 the Silk Company sold a parcel to Henry F Talmadge
who was acting as an agent for the Poughkeepsie Locomotive
Engine Company.
see note 4
The parcel was along the river,
just north of the Whaling Dock and north of the present
Hoffman Street. In 1839 it sold an even larger parcel, again
through Henry F Talmadge.
see notes
The Locomotive
Company was started after the panic of 1837. The company
built a brick building and was capable of producing between
seventy-five and one hundred locomotives and tenders
annually. Timing is important. The railroad from either Albany
or New York City had not reached Poughkeepsie until 1848.
Henry D Myers in an 1884 interview stated the engine
company produced only one locomotive which ran on the Long
Island Railroad for years. It must have been shipped there by
boat.
_
see note
6
The locomotive company land and assets
were purchased by Francis Griffin in a bankruptcy action in
1844.
see note
7
Henry Duane Myers (1816 - 1887)
The sale Charles C North to Henry D Myers shifted transactions
from speculation to usage.
see notes
Henry was a surveyor.
see note
9
From his knowledge of the earlier deeds and
general topography of the area, he negotiated access rights to
his dock along the Hudson River as well as water rights
extending into the Hudson.
see note
10
The deed of sale to Myers as well as several
deeds of sale to Elizabeth McCarty Bech
relating to the land directly north of the
Myers parcel all mention a brickyard, but it
is not clear whether the brickyard was on
the Myers lot or any of the Bech lots. Many
of the industrial buildings along the
Poughkeepsie waterfront were built with
brick, and the Hudson shoreline is dotted
with many long forgotten brickyards. It is
likely that the brickyard cited here used the nearby clay
deposits as raw material, and may have gone out of business
when the useful clay supply was exhausted. It is consistent
with the discovery by Marist College officials in 1960 that the
soil under the current Mccann Baseball field would be
unsuitable to support the three dormitories planned, all of
which were to use the footprint of the Sheahan Dormitory.
see note
11
Ice harvesting and storage
Henry D Myers built an ice storage plant on the dock and for
twenty five years operated the ice business. In an era before
electricity, ice was usually harvested from lakes or from the
Hudson River for sale to the cities along the river, especially
New York City. The Hudson River is an estuary so that salt
wateris present in the Hudson to about Chelsea between
Beacon and Poughkeepsie. Myer's position made it possible to
harvest fresh water ice from the Hudson and ship the ice by
boat or by railroad the cities lower down the river. He secured
the rights to the water near his land so that he might use it for
his ice making.
Ice harvesting was not the only trade for
Henry D Myers. For forty five years he
operated a grocery store along 253 and 255
and 257 Main Street in Poughkeepsie. But his
census records describe him as a surveyor.
The news article concerning his death stated "For many years
he has been employed as a surveyor in and about this city, and
we presume more property lines have been run and marked
out by him than by any other man here."
see note
12
Henry
dropped dead of a heart attack in 1887 while supervising the
harvesting of ice.
In his will, Henry D Myers left the store along Main Street and
the Myers dock to his two children Hiram W. Myers and Susan
Myers Olivet. His will made specific provision for his wife which
provisions were intended to replace her dower rights. This led
to a legal technicality, since a husband might not change his
wife's dower rights. When the time came to sell the property
in 1992, Henry's widow registered her approval of the
arrangement spelled out in Myer's will.
see note
13
With this
technicality out of the way, Hiram and Susan sold the parcel to
Albert Edward Tower and his brother Joseph Tuckerman Tower.
see note
14
Albert Edward Tower, their father, had been partner with
Edward Bech in the iron business. Albert died 24 December
1891, leaving control of the Fallkill Iron Works to his two sons.
The brothers held on to the Myers parcel for seventeen years
for reasons unknown. It is unlikely that either brother wanted
it for his residence, so a better guess is that they foresaw
possibility of northern expansion. Unfortunately this was an
era of the twilight of local foundries, as the discovery of huge
iron deposits in the Mesabi Range in Minnesota and availability
of coal in Pennsylvania spurred the growth of Pittsburgh as the
dominant center for the manufacture iron and steel.
By 1913 the Poughkeepsie Iron Works
ceased operations, and sales were
conducted to dispose of the land. The
Myers dock between the railroad tracks and
the Hudson was sold to Arthur Dutton of
Springfield MA, who developed the largest lumber yard on the
East Coast. His company acted as a wholesaler to smaller
lumber companies.
Giant Portland Cement Company
The Towers brothers (and their wives) sold the Myers property
to Allison Butts, a lawyer in Poughkeepsie for $25,000. After
Allison butts died his widow sold the parcel to William A
Redding. Two years later Redding sold the parcel to Vindex
Land Co, a real estate developer operating out of New York
City. Vindex was seeking deposits of limestone and had
located about ten spots near Poughkeepsie, several along the
route of the Poughkeepsie
&
Eastern RR.
see note
1s
Vindex
sold the collection of sites, including the Myers parcel to Giant
Portland Cement Company.
see note
16
There was no
valuable limestone on the Myers parcel, but Giant Portland was
obliged to purchase it as part of the deal, it quickly sold it to
the New York Central Railroad Company.
see note
17
New York Central Railroad
In 1963 I was alerted to the possibility of
acquiring the parcel as the New York Central
was attempting to dispose of any extra land
for which it had no use. This would relieve
the New York Central of tax liabilities. I
traveled to the headquarters in New York City. During the
course of the negotiations, the agent told me that at one time
the railroad had thought of using the gently sloping land as a
humping station.
see note
1s
When the railroad abandoned
this plan, the land became available.
Although Marist College had no precise plan for use of the
Myers parcel, it made sense to acquire the land for future
development if the price was right. We settled on the purchase
of 10.4 acres (down from 15.7 because the land between the
railroad tracks had been sold to Arthur Dutton) for $7,000 but
with two additional conditions. There were two pedestrian
bridges built by the railroad as part of the agreement with the
Marist Brothers in 1912. The College agreed to the removal of
the northern bridge which had been planned for use by the
juniors on the property north of the Water Works Road to swim
in the Hudson River. That custom ceased with the construction
of the outdoor pool to replace the lake just north of the Water
Works Road. The other pedestrian bridge planned for the
Novitiate and Scholasticate was near the Sheahan, Leo and
Champagnat dormitories and would provide access to the
Martin Boathouse constructed in 1963. The railroad agreed to
leave the bridge in place but the College agreed to maintain
the bridge.
Leveling the field 1963 to 1976
The Myers parcel sloped quickly down to the
level of the New York Central Railroad. In
1963 the state began construction of an
arterial highway to reduce congestion
through the city of Poughkeepsie. This
became the new route Nine, which had fought its way through
the business center of the city.
One problem facing the contractor was the requirement to
remove the remains of an abandoned dump near the northern
end of the proposed route.
see note
19
Jack Gartland, a key
advisor to the President, told me that he had contacted several
old-timers about the dump and they were certain that no very
objectionable materials, such as abandoned autos, were in the
dump. The College agreed to accept the fill from this dump
provided that it received all fill for the length of the project.
Gartland warned that the College ought to send
representatives at unannounced times to be sure that the
general contractor was not selling the good fill elsewhere.
The contractor reduced his costs for transporting the fill by
obtaining permission to cross the tracks of the former
Poughkeepsie
&
Eastern RR with his heavy earth moving
equipment rather than reloading into trucks and then using
public highway to access the college grounds.
Two years earlier (1961) the college
abandoned its plan to locate three
dormitories using the plans for Sheahan on
the southern part of the Bech parcel which
is now the Mccann Baseball field because
the footings would not be stable enough for
construction of three story buildings. But the fill sent in by the
arterial road contractor was excellent fill and was used to raise
the level of the Myers parcel. One negative was that the
Brothers Cemetery was now fifteen feet below eventual level.
When the College developed plans to locate the Mccann
Athletic Center on the Myers parcel, it had available level land
available for construction.
see note 20
The portion of the parcel that eventually wound up in Marist
College possession was in the northern tip, and saw little
development. The topography was not like a visitor views
today. It sloped downwards at approximately the present day
grading of the tracks placed by the Poughkeepsie
&
Eastern
Railroad and was of little commercial value to Griffin, Tallman
or North. They were land speculators
Sewer Treatment Plant
The planning for the Mccann Athletic Center
was developed during 1973-1974. One
hiccup occurred when the City of
Poughkeepsie wanted to use part of Myers
parcel for a sewage treatment plant. The
College might have fought this legally and
delayed construction for several years, but we were given legal
advice that the City of Poughkeepsie would probably invoke
eminent domain. So Brother Nilus Donnelly visited three
upstate locations that had installations with similar
technology. He reported that there were no odor problems.
Concurrent with the transfer of 2.566 acres of the Myers parcel
at the southwest corner, the City transferred substantial land
which had been used for the 1872 water works to the college.
A large concrete filter bed was converted to five tennis courts
that remained in use until construction of the Rotunda and
dormitory additions to Champagnat. The area directly in front
of the water works road as it heads downhill north to where
the water works road enters the tunnel under the railroad was
taken by the College.
see note
21
Now reduced to 7 .834 acres, the Myers
parcel has supported multiple renovations to
the Mccann Athletic Center.
To conclude, the history of the Myers parcel
does not highlight many memorable
individuals, but it does remind us how
industry developed from the Fallkill Creek
north to the lower part of the college territory, much of it along
the Hudson River north of Hoffman Street.
Poughkeepsie Iron Works
Fallkill Iron Company
Poughkeepsie Silk Company
Poughkeepsie Locomotive Engine Company
Dutchess and Poughkeepsie Whaling Companies
Brickyards and brickmaking
Portland cement
Ice harvesting and distribution
Humping station for railroads
Wholesale lumber distribution
Sewage treatment
Endnotes
Note
1.
1857 liber 111 page 365 Charles C North to Henry D Myers.
Note 2. 1963 liber 1102 page 805 New York Central RR to Marist College.
Note 3. See Edmund Platt, The Eagle's History of Poughkeepsie from the Earliest
Settlements 1683 to 1905.
Published by the Dutchess County Historical Society,
Poughkeepsie, New York 1987. P 108. The Party ran candidates for village trustee
in 1835, when Matthew Vassar was elected a trustee and chosen president of the
board. Other notable citizens associated with the Improvement party were
Nathanial P Tallmadge, George P Oakley and Walter Cunningham, the last named
important to the history of the Marist College Barnard parcel. "The party played a
very important part in the development of Poughkeepsie, though its operations
culminated in a great real estate boom which collapsed and left nearly all its
promoters penniless.
.
..
The term Improvement Party seems to have been used to
designate those who favored pushing all sorts of improvements, new streets,
pavements, etc. but was afterwards applied to the promoters of the many
enterprises of the day,."
Besides the Poughkeepsie Silk Company venture, the Improvement Party strongly
supported the Dutchess Whaling Company and the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company,
whose docks were just below the property of the Poughkeepsie Silk Company. See
Platt History of Poughkeepsie, page 135.
Note 4. See deed 5 September 1837 liber 63 page 238 Poughkeepsie Silk Co and
Henry F Tallmadge to Poughkeepsie Locomotive Engine Company. The parcel was
sold for $12,500 and ran 250 feet north and south east of the Wharf and we4st of
Hudson Street.to Hudson Street
Note 5. See deed 19 July 1839 liber 67 page 525 Henry F Tallmadge to
Poughkeepsie Locomotive Engine Co. Parcel between Hudson River and Hudson 250
feet north to south.
Note 6. Edmund Platt History of Poughkeepsie page 137
Note 7. See deed 5 April 1844 liber 77 page 370 Poughkeepsie Locomotive Engine
Co to Francis Griffin.
Note 8. See deed 1857 liber 111 page 365 Charles C North to Henry D Myers. The
parcel described extended from Delafield Street to the Hudson River and ran just
south of the land owned by the Bechs. On the south it was bordered by lands
belong to Dutchess Whaling dock and the former Locomotive Engine Company lot.
Note 9. Coincidentally, Henry D Myers had surveyed the 372 acre section (now
Fairview) for William Davies years before the sale to George A Bech. Much of his
survey work was in the area north of the City of Poughkeepsie limit.
Note 10 See deed 30 Nov 1865 liber 133 page 305 Fallkill Iron Works to Henry D
Myers granting right of way to the Myers dock and deed 26 Mar 1870 liber 181 page
177 People of State of New York to Henry D Myers granting water rights out to the
channel in the Hudson River.
Note 11 See Deed 4 March 1857 liber 111 page 364 Charles C North to
Henry D Myers
Deed 7 February 1867 liber 139 page 252 James
&
Harriet Weeks to Elizabeth
McCarty Bech
Deed 30 November 1868 liber 168 page 464 Robert N Palmer (referee) to
Elizabeth McCarty Bech
Note 12, News article of death of Henry D Myers in the Poughkeepsie Eagle of 24
January 1887.
Note 13.
See deed 15 April 1892 liber 262 page 141 Sarah E Myers to Hiram
Myers and Susan Olivet.
Note 14.
See deed 16 April 1892 liber 262 page '145 Hiram W Myers and
Susan Olivet to Albert and Joseph Towers
Note 15,
In the nineteenth the century the cement of choice was derived from
Rosendale NY. The workers on the Delaware & Hudson Canal discovered these
deposits. The cement was slow to set, but hardened even when under water. It
was used for the foundations of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Poughkeepsie train bridge,
the 154-foot, 27,000-ton pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, the wings of the U.S.
Capitol, the lower 152' of the Washington Monument, the Croton Aqueduct and
dams, the Pennsylvania Railroad tunnels, the New York State Thruway, and
thousands of other public works projects.
By the end of the century a different
type of cement, derived from changed additives to the limestone, set much faster
than Rosendale and received the name Portland cement.
Note 16. See deed 18 April 1913 Vindex Land Co to Giant Portland Cement
Company.
Note 17. See deed 16 October 1913 liber382 page 123 Giant Portland Cement Co
to NY Central & Hudson RR
Note 18. A humping station is a hill with a single track going up one side of the hill
and several tracks on the downside that were controlled by remote switches. If an
engine pushed freight cars up the hill single file, each freight car on its way down
could be directed by the control station to any of the tracks on the downside. The
result would be four or five separate trains that might be directed to different
locations. The closest humping station to New York City was north of Albany.
Note 19. In the early 1960s, Brother Paul Stokes, Academic Dean, used to enjoy
using the rats in the dump for target practice.
Note 20. The College also leveled a hill just south of the Sheahan Dormitory which
provided rock fill.
Note 21. In the 1980s and 1990s the sewage treatment plant began to send
unpleasant odors across the campus, causing serious concern that prospective
students and their parents would be deterred from considering Marist College.
It
was discovered that the treatment plant was storing its sludge outdoors instead of
disposing of it quickly. When this was remediated, the problem seems to have been
solved.
A July 2013 reconstruction of myers.htm. which contains a glitch
Research on this project was conducted from January 2008 through August 2012 by Richard Foy,
assisted by student assistants Paul Contarino and Kayla Benefield.
Most recent revision and spell check July 20, 2013