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Newburgh was first settled in 1709 by German Lutherans, who named it Palatine Parish by Quassic. Decades later, people of English and Scottish descent moved in and in 1752 the thriving community was renamed Newburgh.
HISTORIC NEWBURGH
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Newburgh continued to grow. A century later, the 1880s brought a Gilded Age with industries that included woolens, silks, paper, felt hats, soap, steam boilers, ice machines, pumps, perfumes, moving-picture screens, furniture, carpets, shirt waists, lawn mowers, foundries, tanneries, leatherette works and more.
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As a nexus of innovation, it was the home of the first Edison power plant, making it the first American city to be electrified and the second to have electric street lamps. Newburgh had telephone service as early as 1879. RCA tested its first mass-market television sets in Newburgh in 1939.
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As headquarters of the Continental Army, Newburgh played a crucial role in America's founding.
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Newburgh was hit hard in the late 60s and early 70s as industry moved south. White flight decimated the downtown area. Urban renewal destroyed much of the city’s historic waterfront area that was centered on Water Street, including the stunning and majestic Palatine Hotel pictured below.
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By the 1950s the city was so safe, prosperous and clean that Look Magazine named it the "All American City."
For more pictures of Vintage Newburgh from the mid 1800s to the mid 1900s, re-visit this page: we hope to have a gallery set up below with more of the 200 pictures we have collected.
Revisiting the past with an eye on the future.
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A half century later, today's Water Street is bordered by a lawn on the west and a restaurant mall on the east. But the bones of much of the approximately 2 square mile historic district of the city, the second largest in New York State, remain, presenting tremendous opportunities for renewal and rebirth.
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