What was lost.

Urban Renewal cleared a large part of downtown Newburgh. Here is what it took, and what stood there before.

What was lost

Urban Renewal erased a neighborhood.

Between 1958 and 1970, federal Urban Renewal cleared more than 50 acres of downtown Newburgh. Over 1,300 buildings were torn down, more than 800 families were displaced, and seven streets disappeared. These were people's homes and livelihoods.

1,300+

buildings torn down

50+

acres cleared

entire streets erased

1958–70

years of clearance

Appraisal records from the era describe these neighborhoods in derogatory terms and call them hopeless. That language was used to justify tearing them down.

Among what was lost: the 1853 almshouse, and the Palatine Hotel on Grand Street, demolished in 1970.

“A half-century later, much of Newburgh’s downtown waterfront district remains empty standing as a large swath of grass where intersecting streets once contained buildings.”
NY Heritage, Newburgh Removed collection

Read the NY Heritage collection See other cities See what stood here

Streets in the 1958–1966 appraisal records

Ann
Broad
Broadway
Clinton
Colden
Fifth
First
Front
Grand
High
Hudson
Montgomery
Second
Smith
South Colden
South
South Water
Third
Water

The buildings

What stood here.

City appraisal photographs from 1958 to 1966, taken inside the Urban Renewal zone.

Corner view of the five-story brick Palatine Hotel with round corner towers

Then · 1966

124–132 Grand Street

The Palatine Hotel

One of the finest hotels in the Hudson Valley. Rooms had wide river views and the top floor had an open veranda. It came down in 1970 to make room for a county office building. That building was built somewhere else.

Demolished December 1970

Brick and marble Newburgh Savings Bank with steep gables on a street corner

Then · 1966

40–42 Smith Street

Newburgh Savings Bank

Designed by Calvert Vaux in 1866. The brick and marble building also held City Council chambers upstairs. It lasted barely a century. The final excuse for tearing it down was a planned sewer line underneath it.

Demolished

Then · 1966

Clinton Square

A triangle where Colden, Water and First Streets met. A bronze statue of Governor George Clinton, paid for by local residents, stood here from 1887. When the square was cleared the statue moved to a new Clinton Square at Third Street and Fullerton Avenue.

Cleared for Urban Renewal

Greek Revival church with four tall columns and a lawn in front

Then · 1966

134–150 Grand Street

Dutch Reformed Church

Designed by A.J. Davis and built on high ground at Third and Grand to catch the valley views. Passersby saw it as a striking temple on the hill.

Brick Gothic church front with a large arched window, two cars parked in front

Then · 1966

104–106 Grand Street

Covenanter Church

An 1852 brick front built onto the congregation's 1818 frame church. Urban Renewal called for the building to be removed for a parking lot. The congregation scattered, and the Covenanter church disappeared from Newburgh.

Removed for a parking lot

Ornate brick and brownstone firehouse with arched upper windows

Then · 1958

63 Colden Street

Veteran Firemen's Hall

Built in 1862 by the contractors Little and Kelly in a Victorian Venetian style. By 1958 it served as the social hall of the Veteran Firemen's Association.

Fell to Urban Renewal

Brick Federal Building with a tall clock tower and steep gables at a street corner

Then · 1966

34–42 Montgomery Street

The old Federal Building

Built as the Newburgh Federal Building. It held the main post office, federal and state offices, and a U.S. customs office for the busy port. It sat empty in 1966.

Corner of a plain 1849 church with tall windows and arched doorway

Then · 1958

80–82 Montgomery Street

First Baptist Church

Built in 1849 at Montgomery and Fourth Streets. Later it housed a Presbyterian congregation, Congregation Agudas Achem, and other churches. It ended its days as a storage warehouse.

Brick blacksmith shop with open doors and two women walking past

Then · 1980

60 South Water Street

The blacksmith shop

Newburgh had one blacksmith shop left into the 1960s. Isador Kohler could forge and weld nearly anything in metal, including many of the decorative fences and railings around the city.

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Photos: Newburgh Removed: Urban Renewal in Newburgh, NY, NY Heritage Digital Collections. Captions are summarized from the collection’s descriptions. There are 133 photographs in the full collection.

Browse all 133 photos

See it rebuilt.

Every building above is a candidate for the Minecraft build. Walk through what we have finished so far.

Visit the build

Come build with us.

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Where we are

Newburgh Creates
113 Liberty St
Newburgh, NY 12550

Our program partner and sponsoring organization. Home base for classes and meetups.