What were you doing this time last year? How about the year before? Don’t know? Former City of Poughkeepsie Mayor Nancy Cozean might. After all, she and a dedicated group of volunteers know precisely what city residents were doing a century ago.
Cozean is the chair of the city’s Hudson-Fulton Quadricentennial Committee – which began under her administration. On May 19, she and City Historian George Lukacs presented their progress to the Common Council.
“It’s going to be wonderful for the City of Poughkeepsie to take part in this celebration which stretches all the way from New York City to Lake Champlain,” Cozean said during the May 19 meeting at city hall. “We’ve begun to plan for the event by looking at the city’s history, and now we’re looking at its future.”
Next year marks the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s trip up the Hudson River. The year was 1609, and Hudson, along with a mixed crew of Dutch and English, sailed his ship, the Half Moon, up the river in an attempt to find a quicker route to China; instead, they found Albany. Hudson was credited with the discovery, and today the river bears his name.
Nearly two centuries later United States engineer and inventor Robert Fulton developed the Clermont – a steamboat which launched from the dock of the Paulus Hook Ferry on Aug. 17, 1807. Despite detractors, the ship made its way past Poughkeepsie to Albany, proving critics wrong. Steamboat traffic along the river increased, helping Poughkeepsie become a major industrial center.
In 1909 the Queen City, along with other riverfront communities, helped celebrate Hudson and Fulton’s river discoveries.
Getting excited over history
“Poughkeepsie has thrived as a result of its location on the river,” said Lukacs, “and this is our opportunity to get people excited over the City of Poughkeepsie’s history.”
Preparation for the 1909 event began in 1908, at the Nelson House on Market Street. The event spanned five days – the longest celebration of any riverfront municipality, with the exception of New York City. The October celebration included events throughout the city, as well as fireworks, a parade, theater performances and the illumination of the city – a significant event at the time.
According to Cozean, next year’s celebration will be a lot like the first.
“We’re going back to 1909, and we’re finding that we’re going to do a lot of things that they did. We’re just replicating the events that occurred back then,” she said.
There is one fundamental difference though – rather than a four-day celebration, the Hudson-Fulton Quadricentennial celebration will begin in July and end in October. The summer-long event will feature a myriad of activities including Dutch heritage day, with the blessing of the waters by a Native American, and two legacy events – the dedication of the Revolutionary War shipyards, as well as the dedication of the Hoffman House. The event is expected to culminate in the official opening of Walkway Over the Hudson.
“You’ll be hearing more about this as we’re frantically getting our activities together. We have a lot of work ahead of us. While it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be a lot of work,” said Cozean.