The Early Republic (1777-1871) Kingston transitioned from an agricultural village to a city, and the Tannery Brook increasingly supported industries. Tanneries were adjacent to the brook at North Front St. and Saint James St.
View of Kingston. 1819. John Vanderlyn. Senate House State Historic Site Kingston, NY Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
Ye Olde Kingston. 1896. Picturesque Ulster by Richard Lionel de Lisser.
In 1777, Kingston was New York State’s first capital, and by 1805 Kingston was incorporated as a village. This period marked Kingston’s transition from an agricultural village to an urban city, with a commercial center developing along North Front and Wall Streets. Several industries established themselves along the Tannery Brook, including three tanneries. The tannery on North Front Street is mentioned as early as 1806 and was active for at least 80 years. The original mill pond built in 1661 was drained in 1807 due to a typhoid fever epidemic.
The Delaware & Hudson Canal opened on the Rondout Creek in 1826-1828, primarily to ship coal from Pennsylvania to New York City. The Village of Rondout grew quickly, and the Village of Kingston also expanded. The canal reinforced the importance of waterways to support industries.
New roads were built beyond the original Stockade area, and several crossed over the Tannery Brook. Pearl Street was extended west past Green Street in 1805, and this section was originally called Big Vly Lane after the Tannery Brook’s marshy valley (Dutch “vlai”). Lucas Turnpike (later Avenue) was laid out in 1807. Railroad tracks also crossed the Tannery Brook in the lowlands near the Esopus Creek. Although agriculture continued on the outskirts of the village, it began to be replaced by residential development, especially after Washington Avenue was constructed in 1870. Housing patterns changed, large parcels began to be subdivided, and rented units became more common.
Combined Map of Rondout, Kingston, & Wilbur. 1870. Geo. P. Sanford; F.W. Beers & Co. Friends of Historic Kingston.
Digitized version of Combined Map of Rondout, Kingston, & Wilbur. 1870. Geo. P. Sanford; F.W. Beers & Co. Friends of Historic Kingston.
“In the early part of this century Kingston was visited with a great affliction in the prevalence of a malarial fever, frequently assuming a typhoid character. It was particularly prevalent in the western section of the village, in the vicinity of Green and North Front Streets... They became satisfied that the prevalence of the disease was attributable to the mill-pond attached to Benjamin Borgardus’s mill. The mill-pond covered the hollow west of Green Street from North Front Street on the north to a point below the present location of Lucas Avenue on the south. It was fed by two streams, the one coming in from the south and the other from the west.
The village directors in 1806, a little more than a year after the organization of the village, under the powers conferred upon them in regard to the nuisances and their abatement, on the 8th day of November passed an ordinance declaring ‘that the Mill Pond lying in the west part of the village of Kingston, in the possession of Benjamin Bogardus, is a nuisance, and also the brook leading into the same...’ And the directors further ordained ‘that the said Pond be drained within thirteen days.’ They also required the channel of the brook for the full extent to Du Bois’s tan-yard ‘to be cleaned out so as to allow free passage of the water,: within the same time, under penalty of $25 for every forty-eight hours that it was neglected.’”
— Marius Schoonmaker. 1888. The History of Kingston, New York: From Its Early Settlement to the Year 1820. Burr Print House, Kingston, NY.
Map of Ulster County, New York: from actual surveys. 1858. J.H. French; Taintor, Dawson, & Co. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.
We can compare historic maps to see changes in the Tannery Brook's path through Kingston over time.
The Tannery Brook flows north through Uptown Kingston, toward the Esopus Creek.
