Abandoned home for the poor in NY

Poughkeepsie Almshouse and City Infirmary, Poughkeepsie New York

Date added: June 06, 2023 Categories:

Poughkeepsie was first settled in 1687 by two men, Baltus Van Kleek and Hendrick Ostrom, who leased land from the original patentees. Gradually other people moved to the area, sawmills were erected, and a village grew at what is now the intersection of Main and Market Streets. Growth was slow. Although Poughkeepsie was named the county seat in 1717, in 1771, nearly a hundred years after the original settlement, it still had not more than forty houses.

With the Revolutionary War came increased importance and activity. Two frigates authorized by the Continental Congress were built in Poughkeepsie during the war, and after the burning of Kingston in 1777, Poughkeepsie became the state capital for a time. Three sessions of the legislature were held and in 1788, New York ratified its constitution there.

After the war many of the lawyers and other professionals who had gathered remained, and Poughkeepsie became an acknowledged social and legal center. Development was rapid and by 1799, when it was incorporated as a village, Poughkeepsie had become a prominent river town and commercial center with five river landings and was home port for eight large sloops.

In the two decades following the War of 1812 Poughkeepsie experienced another period of rapid growth which culminated in the establishment of the Poughkeepsie Improvement Party in 1830. This group of powerful and farsighted individuals played a tremendous role in building up the city. New streets were laid out, old ones improved and large sections of farmland on the north side were broken up for development. This was the time of the Poughkeepsie Whaling Company and the Poughkeepsie Silk Company, to name a few of the many new industries which provided work and drew people to the area.

A financial panic in 1837 caused the failure of many of the Improvement Party projects, but businesses continued to develop and the village to grow. Poughkeepsie became famous for its many academies.

In 1850, the first free school was opened. In 1851 the Hudson Valley Railroad reached Poughkeepsie, promoted privately by a group of Poughkeepsie businessmen. In 1854 Poughkeepsie was incorporated as a city and the first charter was written. In 1861 Vassar College was begun. The Civil War slowed things down, but following the war came five years of the most rapid growth in Poughkeepsie's history.

The second half of the nineteenth century in Poughkeepsie and New York: State was a time of burgeoning social concern. Many public and privately established institutions date from this period: The Hudson River State Hospital was begun in 1871, a charity organization was founded in 1879, the Gallaudet Home for the Deaf was built in 1885. Philanthropists used locally made fortunes to benefit the city time and time again. The record of Matthew Vassar and his nephews is remarkable: Vassar College (1861), Vassar Home for Aged Men (1880), Vassar Institute (1882), Vassar Brothers Hospital (1884). The history of Poughkeepsie's social services and of the almshouse and City Infirmary fit into this background.

As early as 1778 New York law required that towns and cities in the state provide their own services for the poor. Not until 1821 in Poughkeepsie was there any official attempt to institute formal services. At this time, a time of great prosperity in the city's history, "the Overseers of the Poor of the town of Poughkeepsie were authorized … to be signified at the annual town meeting … to purchase … in trust for the use of said town, at such place in the said town as the Overseers … Should deem proper, a tract of land for the purpose of erecting and building thereon a house of industry …" The cost to the town was $5,000.00. It is interesting to note that the "proper place," the site of the present almshouse at 20 Maple Street, was well removed from the center of town.

By 1831, the "House of Industry" had been constructed, for at this time the Superintendent of the Poor of Dutchess County purchased the "parcel of land and premises with the buildings commonly known and called the Poor House or House of Industry" from the Overseers of the Poor of Poughkeepsie with the intention "to erect a county poor house for the reception of the poor of Dutchess County." It is not certain whether or not a new structure was built on the property. Maps of 1834 and 1867 show the site covered with buildings. The proliferation of buildings no doubt reflects the fact that in 1851 there were between 400 and 500 residents.

In 1844, Dorothea Dix made a tour of the state's poorhouses to investigate the treatment of the insane, and the Dutchess County House was given high marks, but over the years conditions must have deteriorated. A January 14^th, 1869 article describing the almshouse refers to the old poorhouse as the "disgraceful looking shanty."

In 1863 care of the poor in the county was again split and the newly formed "Commissioners of the Alms House and City of Poughkeepsie" bought back the poorhouse with its grounds from the County. This building burned down in 1868 and the city wasted no time in commissioning the present building. The scale and material of the almshouse building reflect the prosperity of the times and also the growing concern for social ills. The almshouse opened early in 1869. The building is an outstanding example of nineteenth-century institutional architecture. Its design, in the Italianate style, is relatively unadorned as its function would suggest, but its proportions, detailing and roof lines make it a very graceful and balanced composition.

A page from the Accounts of the Alms House Commissioners of the City of Poughkeepsie, January 1863 - March 1872 headed "Building Account" details cash outlays for the new building and provides the names of its architect, mason and carpenter.

The Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle, Poughkeepsie's newspaper of the day, followed the progress of its construction from an announcement on May 14^th, 1868 that the plans for the building were on show in a local shop window, to an account of grand opening tours for the Common Council and ladies attached to various educational institutions. A detailed description of the new building, considered by all to be grand and very up-to-date, appeared on January 14^th, 1869.

J.A. Wood, architect of the almshouse, was a prominent name in Hudson Valley architecture in the 1860s-1880s. His first recorded building is Avery Hall at Vassar College (1866), followed by the Poughkeepsie Almshouse. In Poughkeepsie he later designed the Vassar Home for Aged Men (1880) and the Vassar Institute (1882). In Kingston he was responsible for a number of buildings including an almshouse very similar to Poughkeepsie's (1872, now annex to the County Office Building), the Armory (1879, now Municipal Auditorium), and the Loughran House (1873, now part of the Senate House). In Newburgh, the Armory (1880) and the Free Library (1876) are his designs.

Sometime in the early 1880's he shifted his work to the South, building a number of hotels and houses in Thomasville, Brunswick and Savannah Georgia. In 1891 he completed the spectacular Hotel Tampa Bay in Tampa, Florida.

This impressive string of buildings marks him as an architect of national interest. The details of his life are an enigma however. Whether he originated in Poughkeepsie or New York City is unclear.

From 1866 - 1872 he advertised in the Poughkeepsie City Directory with an office address at 35 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, and he is listed as boarding at various hotels. By 1882, if not before, he had an office in New York City at 120 Broadway and in 1885 was listed in the City Directory of New York as "John Wood, architect, 76 Chambers Street, Home, Poughkeepsie, NY." However, no record exists in Poughkeepsie of him at that time.

From the time of its construction until 1972 when it was vacated, the almshouse building was associated with its original function, that of caring for the poor and needy of the city of Poughkeepsie.

In 1907 the city was presented with an infirmary to serve the "City Home" residents. The city was unable to find funds for the needed facility, so William W. Smith came to the rescue and donated the building. Mr. Smith, of Smith Brothers Cough Drops, was a local benefactor in the tradition of the Vassar family, who had taken an active interest in Poughkeepsie for some time. In 1884 he donated the money to build a YMCA; in 1892 he bought College Hill and presented it to the city for a park; in 1905 he was a generous donor to the First Presbyterian Church Building Fund.

William Smith had been interested in the almshouse for some time and had come to realize how much the sick patients at the almshouse needed to be separated from other inmates. After trying unsuccessfully to persuade the nearly bankrupt city government to raise money for the project, he offered to donate the building himself. He, together with the Superintendent of the almshouse, worked out the plans for the interior and then handed over the job to the architect, Percival Lloyd, who designed the exterior and made working drawings for the project.

Percival Lloyd was a prominent local architect responsible for a number of Poughkeepsie buildings of the early 1900's including the First Presbyterian Church and the Poughkeepsie Trust Company, now an annex to the County Courthouse. The infirmary is one of Poughkeepsie's scarce examples of Colonial Revival civic architecture.

The rear addition of the infirmary was completed in 1936 as a WPA project. A plaque inside gives the architect's name as John P. Draney and the contractor as L.H. Swenson Co, Ltd.

Until 1972 the infirmary continued to operate in its original function. At that time city and county social services were merged and elderly patients in the infirmary were dispersed to nursing homes in the county. In January 1973 the City Annex of the Dutchess County Department of Social Services moved to the newly refurbished building. In October 1977 Social Services vacated the building.

Building Description

The Poughkeepsie Almshouse and City Infirmary are located on almost seven acres of level land on the eastern edge of the city. The parcel is located in a residential area bounded on the south by Maple Street, on the north and east by Corlies Manor Apartments and on the west (along Pershing Avenue) by a city pocket park and houses ranging in date from early through the mid-twentieth century. The site has seven structures; the original main building of the almshouse, the infirmary, and five outbuildings.

The almshouse is constructed of brick with wood trim. The central, three-story, seven-bay main block is flanked by matching two-story, five-bay wings which are set slightly forward of the main block. The entire building rests on a high basement and is covered with a low-pitched, gable roof. The porches, windows and brick cornices are also detailed in the Italianate style. The central portion and each of the wings has a central entrance. The front and sides of the building are essentially unchanged. A two-story wooden porch on the east end was removed in 1958 when three-story steel fire escapes were added to the east end and the north sides. This porch and a second-story porch on the west end must have been added in the early twentieth century as they are not present in an 1899 photo. The small protrusions on the north side of the central section, now housing restrooms, postdate the original construction. A long wooden corridor (now demolished) extending from the north side of the building once led to a brick annex constructed in 1893 and a four-story brick building completed in 1898. Both were torn down about 1960. A new chimney stack was attached to the north wall of the east wing in 1964. Only two of the many original chimneys remain.

The interior is extremely plain in keeping with the function of the building. Wide wooden staircases leading to all floors are located at either end of the central section. A third small staircase leading from the first to the second floor is located in the west wing. Pressed sheet iron ceilings remain throughout. Most of the original wooden doors and frames remain. On the third floor, many of the original plaster walls with old earth-tone paint are still intact. The original yellow pine floors have been covered with linoleum.

The west wing was designed as an apartment for the almshouse superintendent and for that reason has slightly more decorative details, including the second-floor porch and the separate back entrance. The only mantels were in this wing. On the first floor, a bricked in fireplace trimmed with wood remains. A description of the the interior as originally laid out appeared in the Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle of January 14^th, 1869, at the time the building was first open for public inspection.

The main building is steam heated, originally by coal-fired boilers in the basement of the now demolished annex. New boilers were installed in 1964 and the fuel was changed to oil. Electric light was installed in 1897. By 1899, the building had running water from the city water system and a sanitary drainage system connected with city sewers. The building originally had a large metal tank in the attic of each wing for the collection of rainwater from the roof. Overflow was conducted in pipes to cisterns in the rear of the building. These tanks are still in place.

Minor alterations have occurred over the years, but the basic pattern of many small rooms remains the same. The last major alteration took place in 1969 when the first and second floors of the building were adapted for offices. Some of the larger rooms were partitioned at that time and many of the original plaster walls were covered with modern paneling. However, the plaster walls remain intact under the paneling.

The City Infirmary, a large brick and stone structure sited just east and slightly behind the almshouse, was constructed in 1907 and enlarged in 1936. The two-story, classically detailed structure is capped with a simple cornice and a hipped roof. A central dormer emerges from each of the four plains of the roof. The facade is dominated by a two-story, flat-roofed, semicircular portico supported by two columns at each front corner and one engaged column at each rear corner. The portico is capped with a wooden balustrade. In 1936, a large addition was built as a separate building immediately to the rear of the 1907 structure. A plaque inside reads: "City Infirmary, Erected 1936. John P. Draney, Architect. L.H. Swenson Co. Ltd., General Contractors. P.W.A." It is unclear whether the two buildings were originally joined, but apparently in the 1950's a two-story brick connector was built essentially turning the two buildings into one.

Very few alterations have been made to either building. The front steps of the earlier building were removed early in 1978. A historic photo from about 1935 shows both the flat section of the roof and the portico roof topped with wooden balustrades. The former was removed at some point before 1965.

In the 1907 building, a fine wooden staircase leads from one side of the front entrance hall to a similar entrance hall on the second floor. A built-in wooden bench backs onto the stairs on the first floor. A corridor in line with the front door leads straight back through the old building on each floor and continues on the same axis to the back of the 1936 addition. Rooms of varying sizes open off both sides of this corridor on both the first and second floors. The walls are plastered throughout. The plastering in the old section is finished with rounded corners. The floor in the old section has been covered with linoleum. In the new section, the hall and some of the rooms still have their original tile flooring. All doors are original wood. Both the first and second-floor front doors of the old section have classical detailing in the fan and side lights.

The building is presently steam heated by an oil furnace. The original fuel was coal. All the mechanical systems are original.

The interiors of both the 1907 and 1936 sections remain essentially untouched by later alterations. Aside from two partitions in the new building, no interior walls have been added or removed. Bathrooms retain their original tiles and fixtures. The bathtub from the first-floor southwest bathroom was removed recently. New light fixtures and flooring were installed in the late 1950s.

In 1972, the infirmary was closed, patients were removed to other facilities and the building was refurbished for offices. Changes at that time appear to have been minimal.

Four brick outbuildings and a wooden shed are also located on the property. A brick carriage house (A) and barn/stable (B) are located in the northwest corner of the present property. Both appear to have been built in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Directly behind the almshouse is a single-story, brick laundry (C), which is attached to the main building by a covered passageway. Behind the infirmary is a brick, combination barn and ice house, probably built around 1900 to 1915. A small, rectangular wooden shed (E), stands just north of the almshouse. Its original use is presently unknown and it is now in deteriorated condition and unused.