As a terminal port on the Hudson River, not only was Rondout vital to the transport of Pennsylvania coal, but also to the transport of Ulster County bluestone, and locally manufactured cement and brick. Shipbuilding-first sail, then steamboat--and work associated with the canal, the stone quarries and the brick and cement yards attracted a great number of Irish and German immigrants and Blacks from the South and Canada. The waterfront became progressively more congested, and warehouses, stables and workers' homes were squeezed into the small blocks on the rocky hillside.
Incorporated as a village in 1849, by the 1870's Rondout had emerged as a densely populated and highly charged commercial center. Passenger and freight railways were built to accommodate the demand for improved inland transportation. Streamlined steamers such as the Mary Powell increased their size and speed capacity, and brought hundreds of tourists to the popular Kingston Point amusement park. As a result, despite the decline of trade along the Delaware and Hudson Canal, Rondout prospered well into the 20th Century.
However, when shipping and leisure travel via the highway system became efficient and profitable, Rondout's commercial prominence began to fade. In tile 1960's, faced with aged housing and depressed business conditions, Rondout experienced the upheaval of the Urban Renewal clearance process. This resulted in the razing of a section of the neighborhood in order to build several apartment complexes, a new city hall and the expansion of a state highway into an arterial.
Today, revitalization efforts in other sections of Rondout are being made by individuals and community-based groups. Although the effects of the Urban Renewal process are quite dramatic, the surviving section reveals a great deal about the character of a growing 19th Century American town.
1. Built as the Sampson Opera House in 1875, it is now known as the Freeman building. The retail business of Sampson and Ellis on the first floor was known for its sophistication and unique sales techniques (i.e. employing monkeys to entertain children while parents shopped). Destroyed by fire and rebuilt, the top floor originally exhibited a mansard roof and tower and housed a public theater.
2. Mansion House (comer Broadway and West Strand). Built in 1854 by Major George Von Beck on the site of the original, the stone house of William Swart. The luxury hotel of its day and an important stopping-off place for stagecoach and steamer passengers. It also provided housing for canallers, probably on a less deluxe basis. Famed for its saloon.
3. West Strand. Brick, row-type residential buildings with cast iron and plate glass commercial storefronts. They typify the Italianate style in Rondout with round-arched windows and heavily bracketed cornices.
4. Company Hill Path. Led to the three story bluestone office building of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. It overlooks their main place of operation, the Island Dock.
5. Rondout Creek Bridge. In 1921, fifty years after the need for a bridge across the Rondout was established, this suspension bridge was erected. Near the end of construction, cracks appeared in the bands that held the main cables together. The specialized repair was made by Mrs. Catherine Nelson, an expert electrical welder from New Jersey. Rondouters were amazed to see a young woman perform what was regarded as a man's job.
6. Trinity United Methodist Church and Parsonage, Wurts St. This congregation was organized in 1833 and worshiped in less permanent structures until this Gothic Revival style church was erected in 1868. The architectural plans and construction were the responsibility of Turck and Burhans, local carpenters. In 1877, an impressive Eramens and Howard tracker organ was installed, which has remained virtually intact.
7. 85 Abeel St., 107 Abeel St., 11-13 Hone St., 15 Hone St. These buildings were constructed during the early urbanization of Rondout. On lots purchased from the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, owners tried to display their good taste by erecting homes of the newest trend, combining Federal and Greek Revival elements. 15 Hone St., a splendid Greek Revival saved from change by the Friends of Historic Kingston, exemplifies this vernacular treatment.
8. Tubby Row was named for its builder/painter, Joseph Tubby of Rondout. Originally intended for employees of the Hone Street brewery (located on the site of the vacant lot behind Tubby Row) they were rented for $350 a year. Completed in 1870 they offered white marble fireplaces, pale parquet floors and a stunning view of the Rondout Creek.
9. Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church and Parsonage. Designed by Henry Engelbert and built in 1874-75 for the German speaking Lutheran congregation.
10. President's Place. Situated on a bluff over looking the Rondout Creek, this site was originally the home of the President of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. Originally known as President's Hill.
11. First Baptist Church Corner of Wurts and Spring Sts. Built in 1861 for $15,000, it was considered then to be "plain Romanesque Revival" style. Mason work by bias Von Nostrand of Kingston and carpentry by Stephen Staples of Rondout. The parsonage was erected in 1863 by Turck and Burhans at a cost of about $5,000, masonry completed by John Gill. The land for both was donated by church member Thomas Cornell. Used during the 1960's by the Rondout Presbyterian Congregation; now privately owned and undergoing extensive rehabilitation.
12. St. Peter's Catholic Church. Property purchased for $5,000, from Dogherty estate. In 1871 plans for the structure were prepared by Henry Engelbert (a New York architect). At the time it was the largest church in the village, and was built of North River brick for $25,000. It was first described as being in the "Gothic style" with buttresses and a spire, later as the Romanesque style. Turck and Burhans of Rondout avert contracted to do the carpentry work and Gill and Larkin to do tile masonry.
13. Adams St. Named Adams St. prior to 1851 probably for property owner John Adams. Building of the 2 and 3 story brick row houses and private homes began in the 1850's. They are distinguished by simple Greek Revival entrances and later porch and piazza additions.
14. St. Mary's -Broadway. This congregation was organized in 1835, mainly for Irish working class families. The church was erected in 1848, in the Gothic Revival style of architect Patrick Kelley. Several major exterior and interior alterations have taken place since then, the last being in 1920. This church spawned almost all of the county's Roman Catholic churches.
15. City Hall. Relocated from central Broadway to lower Broadway as a statement of the City's confidence in downtown renewal. Broadway East-- Early 1970's, replacement housing, a major phase of Kingston's Urban Renewal program.
16. Broadway. Three and four story brick row-type commercial buildings. Cast iron and large plate glass store fronts showing Rondout Iron Works columns.
17. St. Marks A.M.E. Church was constructed in 1861 as the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit. The building appears to have remained in continuous use as a house of worship, occupied by Ahaveth Israel Synagogue in 1926, and sold in 1966 to St. Mark's A.M.E. Church. The church is a load bearing masonry structure built of squared and coursed rubble and native limestone. The-core of the building is rectangular in shape, with a three story bell tower.
18. Redeemer Lutheran Church is located at the corner of Wurts and Rogers street. This congregation was organized in 1897. It grew out of the largely German speaking Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, for the purpose of forming an English speaking congregation. The church was erected in 1912 at a cost of $43,000. Masonry was completed by John Mcculler.
19. Kingston Catholic School, located at the corner of Broadway and McEntee streets. The schools development began in 1868 when St. Mary's Free School opened on the corner of McEntee and Union Avenue. In 1889 St. Peters school on Adams street was en-trusted to the Sisters of Christian Charity. In 1970 Both St. Peter's and St. Mary's were combined to form Kingston Catholic School. The St. Peter's building houses Kindergarten through grade 4 and St. Mary's Building holds grades 5 through 8. In 1989 Kingston Catholic School becomes one school with the closing of St. Peter's building, and has pupils in kindergarten through grade 8.
20. Cornell Park Named after wealthy business owner, Thomas Cornell, who lived in a mansion adjacent to the park on Wurts street. Originally the grounds of the park contained a garden and hot houses, and also an underground storage place for vegetables. Today the upper level of the park features a splendid monument to the veterans of our country, erected in 1943. The top is highlighted by an Eagle obtained from a tug of the Cornell Steamboat co. The urns in front of the present monument, once graced the original home of Thomas Cornell. The lower level contains playground equipments which was purchased through federal Community Development funds in the 1970's.