Poughkeepsie, NY news and local guide

Poughkeepsie was spared fighting during the Revolution and became New York's second capital after the British burned Kingston. In 1788 the state's ratifying convention, including Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and George Clinton, met at the courthouse on Market Street and ratified the U.S. Constitution, making New York the eleventh state to join the union. The community was set off from the town of Poughkeepsie as an incorporated village on March 27, 1799, and was chartered as a city on March 28, 1854. In the 19th century Poughkeepsie was a major center of whale rendering, and its industries flourished through shipping, millinery, paper mills and several breweries along the Hudson, some owned by Matthew Vassar, founder of Vassar College. Wealthy families such as the Astors, Rogerses and Vanderbilts built grand country homes nearby for the beauty of the river valley, among them the Vanderbilt Mansion a few miles up the Hudson. Sources Wikipedia: Poughkeepsie, New York