Urban Renewal, Suburban Development (1947-1999)  A flood control project to protect Kingston Plaza included burying the Tannery Brook just before it reached the Esopus Creek. Other sections of the Tannery Brook were buried and piped to make room for new development, and many historic buildings were demolished to create new parking lots.

Tannery Brook - Storm Water Drain. 1946. NYS Post War Public Works Planning Commission. City of Kingston Engineering Archives.

The 1950s brought IBM and suburban development in and around Kingston, and the 1960s brought urban renewal. The character of Kingston’s business district changed, with increased chain stores and a reliance on cars. Many historic buildings were demolished to create parking lots to support these businesses. The DeWaal Tavern, which had been renowned for its dance floor since 1804, was demolished in 1963 to create the North Front Street municipal parking lots.

Kingston Plaza was built in the lowlands along the Esopus Creek, where the Native Americans and colonists had cultivated crops. The Esopus Creek’s worst recorded flood was in 1955, and in 1978 the Army Corps of Engineers constructed a large-scale flood control project to protect the plaza. They buried part of the Tannery Brook, and it now enters the Esopus Creek through a flap gate at Drainage Structure No. 2.

Upstream, additional sections of the Tannery Brook were buried in pieces to make room for new development. By 1975, Marc Fried described the Tannery Brook as “… the tiny stream that now flows largely through underground culverts along the gully between Green Street and Washington Avenue…” Today, the last glimpse of the Tannery Brook before it disappears underground is at the Ulster County Family Court parking lot on Lucas Avenue.

In 1993, the portion of the Tannery Brook that flows along Linderman Avenue (from Twin Ponds to Washington Avenue) was disconnected from the rest of the stream to alleviate flooding. This water instead travels to the Twaalfskill Creek via storm sewers in the Washington Avenue tunnel. Water can still overflow into the original Tannery Brook stream channel during floods.

“An area of the city known especially to oldtimers as Higginsville is to gain a diner by next fall, it was learned today from the records of Building Inspector Joseph F. Smith... The diner is to be installed and operated by a corporation, the Stadium Diner Inc. and will be known as The Stadium Diner.

The Reis property is also the site of the Rondout-Woodstock Oil Co. Inc. On the land years ago was the Mullen tobacco plant, which had been a landmark in the area for generations in the vicinity of the intersection of North Front Street and Washington Avenue. A large area of the present property had been eroded through the years by the flow of the Tannery Brook and it was filled in several years ago. The diner is expected to be ready for operation early in September.”

— “To Install Diner on Reis Land at 127 N. Front St.” Kingston Daily Freeman, Kingston, NY. June 20, 1962.