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The City of Port Jervis offers a number of tourist destinations within the city limits. They include the following: Port
Jervis Firemen's Museum The Port Jervis Firemen's Museum is currently under construction and scheduled to be opened in the summer of 1997. The restoration of the old firehouse and the rehabilitation is being undertaken by the Port Jervis Tourism Board and Port Jervis Fire Museum Committee. The building is located at 27 Orange Street and volunteers are doing all of the work.
Gillinder
Glass Museum As one of the oldest glass companies in the United States, Gillinder is a name well known. Now, for the first time, you are invited to visit our factory and experience Gillinder Glass being created. Enjoy watching skilled glass craftsmen at work. The time-honored techniques used to handcraft each piece of glass are the same as those used by Gillinder Glass for more than a century. Feel the excitement on the factory floor and the heat from the large furnaces as you watch molten glass being handled and transformed into beautiful, useful and decorative glass objects. As you browse through our glass museum in our turn-of-the-century plant you will learn about the history of local glass making as well as Gillinder Glass' proud heritage. Our factory store includes many glass items produced from the original designs and molds in the Gillinder archives as well as some new favorites. Collectible then ... and now. We look forward to meeting you and we will do our best to make sure you enjoy your visit. Admission: There is a
charge for tours. Store Hours: Monday through Friday 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, weekends seasonal. Store hours subject to change without notice. Access: The Museum/Shop area is accessible to everyone. Easy parking available. Location: Right where the states of NY, NJ and PA meet. Corners of Erie and Liberty Streets, Port Jervis, NY 12771. Exit 1 Interstate Route 84, follow East and West Main Street through Port Jervis, less than 3 miles to the corner of West Main and Liberty Streets. Turn right on Liberty - one block to factory. Routes 6, 209, 42 and 97 all meet on West Main Street in Port Jervis, NY at Homer's Coffee Shop. Follow West Main Street approximately 1 mile to Liberty Street.
Port
Jervis Erie Depot Museum It is surprising and disheartening that only railroad building that still survives in this old railroad town and that is the Port Jervis Erie Depot. There have been three railroad depots in Port Jervis since the first trains came to the area in the late 1840s. The first station was a wooden frame structure at the bottom of Pike Street. The second station, constructed of brick and stone, was built at 13-19 Jersey Avenue and opened on July 8, 1889. Its existence was short-lived, however, when it burned to the ground on December 26, 1890, along with the division's offices in an adjacent building. The current, larger, station was built on the same site. Work commenced in June 1891, and was overseen by the contracting firm of Gratton and Jennings of Buffalo, New York and probably designed by an Erie architect. The station was opened for passenger and freight service on February 2, 1892. At the time of construction, the station was considered, by contemporary newspaper accounts, a credit to the Erie Railroad Company and a "decided ornament to Port Jervis." The two-story brick building is a mixture of the popular architecture of the period. One architectural historian described it as Second Empire Style with Japanese influence. Another historian characterized it as an example of the Romanesque Revival Style, popular in large metropolitan areas in the late 19th century. In addition, there are elements of the Queen Anne Style which was utilized widely in the Port Jervis area. Contemporary newspapers called it Gothic. Some sources described the interior of the building as "lacking a striking effect, though excellence in workmanship was obvious." The building fell into disrepair in the 1970s after it was closed by the Erie Lackawanna and there was even some discussion of demolishing it. After a seven-year effort by the Minisink Valley Historical Society, the Depot Preservation Society and the Port Jervis Development Corporation, now known as the Progress Development Corporation, the depot is once again open and will hopefully serve again as the nerve center of the central business district and as a reminder of the importance of the railroad industry. It is now owned by Richard McKeeby and Leonard Miglianaco, two local developers. The Depot Preservation Society maintains a museum in the old waiting room and it is open during the summer months. For more information about the Erie Depot and the Depot Preservation Society, Click Here to visit their web page. To contact the Depot Preservation Society you can call 973-293-3721, 845-856-7069, or 845-856-2227. You can also contact them by email at dps@minisink.org.
Port
Jervis Free Library One of the most important legacies of the Gilded Age in Port Jervis is the Carnegie Library at 138 Pike Street. There has been a library in Port Jervis since 1835, when state legislation allowed for the creation of school district libraries. Efforts to enhance the library began in 1848 along with the creation of the Port Jervis Literary Association in 1865, whose main purpose was to provide for a public library and reading room. As a result of this longstanding interest in a public library, Port Jervis became home to a Carnegie Library, the only one in Orange County and the surrounding five-county region. Now known as the Port Jervis Free Library, it was organized in August 1892, the first in New York State under the Free Library Law of 1892. Up until 1903 the library was located on the second floor of the Farnum Building on lower Pike Street. By 1893, the library had outgrown its space and in 1899, efforts were begun by prominent businessmen to construct a library building in the village. Early on, it became apparent it would be too expensive to erect such a building with local funds only. After a long and dedicated effort library advocates convinced steel magnate Andrew Carnegie to donate funds towards its construction. With a contribution of land made by local businessman Peter Farnum, and a substantial donation of $30,000 by Carnegie, the building of a library became possible. In February 1901, local residents were, according to the local newspapers, "electrified" by the announcement of Carnegie and Farnum's donations. The library was designed by W. S. Ackerman of the New York City architectural firm of Ackerman and Ross and was built by local contractor Lorenzo Wood. The cornerstone was laid in 1902 and opening ceremonies took place in 1903. The firm had also designed Carnegie libraries for Washington, D.C.; Atlanta, Georgia; San Diego, California; East Orange, New Jersey and Utica, New York. It was dedicated during the height of one of America's greatest and most famous philanthropies that ultimately amounted to $40 million. It is one of 1,679 libraries given to 1,412 towns and cities across America. Today it is one of only a few hundred Carneige libraries that survive and are still used for their original purpose or some other municipal function. Carnegie, known as the "Patron Saint of Libraries," is supposed to have said that, "The Library building is built to last." And, indeed it has. The library was the first in Orange County to have a seperate children's reading room and it was annually a leader in the state in acquiring new books, ranking in the top 30 per cent. It was the first library in the state to establish a permanent maintenance fund, a condition for the Carnegie donation. By 1903 there were 14,000 books in the collection, with 1,000 books being added per annum. A contemporary library report concludes that the "volumes of the best thought of the brightest minds of the world, ever ready to talk to us in the best of language" were available for loan, and that mission remains to this day. The library has a complete collection of the works of Stephen Crane and an excellent collection of materials related to him. In addition, a portrait of him hangs in the reference room. This building is also home to the Minsink Valley Historical Society which has an important collection of local history materials including photographs, books, pamphlets, files and materials related to Crane.
Veteran's
Memorial Park at Orange Square The city's first and arguably its most important park was enhanced greatly during the Gilded Age. Veteran's Memorial Park at Orange Square, located at the corner of Broome and Pike streets, was donated by the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company to the city in the early decades of the 19th century. It was named to honor the county, and was located in the center of the bustling canal village, though the center of town would ultimately move to the area of Jersey Avenue and Front Street. The square was designed with a series of paths emanating from a central circle where a fountain was located, a pattern retained in the current design. An impressive, multi-tiered fountain, located in the center of the park, was later moved to a location near Sussex Street. At the center of Orange Square today is a monument dedicated on July 5, 1886, in the presence of some 10,000 people to the veterans of the Civil War. It was donated by Diana Farnum who left $8,000 for its construction in her will. Her two sons provided an additional $2,000. A parade that had 850 participants and was three miles long marched to the square for the dedication ceremony. The local newspaper called it the "greatest day that Port Jervis ever had." The monument is 45 feet high and 14 feet square at ground level. At the base of the monument are four representations of the branches of services at the time: the infantry, calvary, artillery and navy. The soldier at its apex is 7 feet tall and weighs 1 1/2 tons. The entire monument stands on a bed of bluestone and masonry that is 10 feet deep. The architect was E.F. Carr of the firm of Frederick and Field, and when dedicated it was considered to be one of the finest and largest monuments in southeastern New York State. Contemporary accounts describe it as one of the most beautiful and finely finished monuments the firm ever designed. At the base of this newly erected monument, Stephen Crane interviewed veterans of the famed 124th New York Regiment, known as the "Orange Blossoms," and from those interviews formed the basis of his acclaimed novel The Red Badge of Courage. In 1974, a major restoration was undertaken to repair and clean the monument after it had been exposed to railroad soot and the perils of the environment for almost a century.
 Port Jervis Turntable The Port Jervis turntable
has a diameter of 115 feet and the bridge, or the part of the
structure that holds the locomotive, is approximately 19 feet
wide. Previously, it was turned by two 40 horsepower, 440 volt,
3 phase electric motors that were powered from a connection at
the top of the gantry. The most recent locomotive that was turned
on it weighed 440 tons, or 880,000 pounds, fully loaded with
water and coal. It is the largest operating
turntable in the United States. There are a number of other turntables
in the region, including at least three in New Jersey, two in
New England, two in New York, and four in Pennsylvania. Some
of them are not operable and others are not in strategic locations
where they can be used as this one is. The first turntable used
here in Port Jervis was built sometime before 1872. From at least
1872 until 1903 there were two turntables in the Erie yards and
shops here. The second turntable was located just beyond where
the Burger King is now. It was dismantled and is said to have
been used as a bridge to cross the Erie Main Line at the end
of Shin Hollow Road in Huguenot. The bridge of this turntable
probably dates to the early 1900s. It is believed that the bridge
was enlarged in the 1930s when the 3300 series steam locomotives,
also known as the Berkshires, were introduced on the Erie. The
turning rail, or the circular piece of rail in the base of the
pit, was last replaced by the Abeex Company of Chicago in 1948.
Some repair work was done to the concrete in the 1940s. It is believed that the turntable was last used in 1987 until the steam excursions were undertaken by Iron Horse Rambles in the fall of 1996. The remains of the roundhouse that surrounded the turntable was burned by an arsonist in 1987 and ordered demolished in 1988. Roundhouses were large structures used by the railroad in which steam engines were maintained.
Fort Decker The stone house was built in 1760 and burned by Joseph Brant and his Indian raiders during a Revolutionary War raid in 1779. It is the museum of the Minisink Valley Historical Society and is open to the public Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. through October. The house was rebuilt in 1793 by Martinus Decker and served as a hotel and tavern during the years when the Delaware and Hudson Canal was being built. John B. Jervis, one of the canal's chief engineers and the man for whom Port Jervis is named, stayed here in the 1820s. After that the house served as a private residence until 1965 when Minisink Valley Historical Society bought it and developed it as a museum and center for its activities. It is open to the public on Saturdays beginning in June and continuing until the end of September and also for the Christmas holiday season.
Mahackamack
Churchyard This churchyard, owned by the Deerpark Reformed Church of Port Jervis, New York, is one of the oldest graveyards in present-day Orange County, New York. There are about 300 people buried here, many of whom were the earliest settlers in this area. The earliest burials date from the 1740s and continue until the 1850s. There are a number of Revolutionary War veterans buried here, including Martinus Decker, the man who built Fort Decker, a fortified house still standing at 127 West Main Street, Port Jervis. This graveyard is currently being restored through the efforts of the Deerpark Reformed Church, the Minisink Valley Historical Society, the City of Port Jervis and many friends throughout the area. For further information call the church at (845) 856-1946 or the society at (845) 856-2375. Donations are being accepted for this historic preservation project and can be sent to the Minisink Valley Historical Society at Post Office Box 659, Port Jervis, New York 12771.
Laurel Grove Cemetery This cemetery may have been the first in Orange County to be designed by a landscape architect, a trend that became popular in the 1850s. It was designed by B.F. Hathaway and the roads and plantings still reflect his artistic design. Please treat this place reverently and do not litter as the cemetery is undergoing a major renovation effort to restore the grounds to their former beauty. Some 15,000 people are buried here and there are an extraordinary and diverse number of monuments, tombstones and mausoleums representing the "golden age" of mortuary art in the late 19th century.
Tri-States Monument One of the city's most famous landmarks is the Tri-States Rock where a person can stand on three states at one time. The rock is located just under the Interstate Route 84 bridge. This is also the site where a 100-year boundary dispute between the colonies of East and West Jersey and New York was finally resolved in 1769. At this location, Philadelphia astronomer David Rittenhouse took the measurements that were the basis for the western termination point of the land boundary between the two colonies. In the 1880s, it was discovered that many of the monuments from the 1774 marking of the boundary, had disappeared and a new effort was made to mark the line. The witness monument located here is one of the official markers now recognized by both states, the United States Congress and the Federal Government. It also marks the end of the New Jersey and New York boundary line. The Delaware River winds its way past the monument to Delaware Bay, some 255 miles to the south. The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area begins 8 miles south of here, and the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River begins 6 miles to the north. Both areas are managed by the National Park Service. The Neversink River, a world class trout stream, merges with the Delaware at this point. It originates in the Catskill Mountains, many miles away.
Elks-Brox Park As you proceed along West Main Street you pass beneath Point Peter and Mount William. They are on the edge of the large Appalachian Plateau that extends across the southern tier of New York State. Above, on the plateau, is the city-owned Elks-Brox Park with picnic areas, bathrooms and trails. It was during the Gilded Age, from 1880-1920, that the entire nation began to yearn for open spaces that were fast disappearing as the west was being settled. Noted Wisconsin historian Frederick Jackson Turner lamented the closing of the nation's last frontiers.
It was during this time that the National Park system and Forest Reserves were being created by the U.S. Congress and the Catskill and Adirondack preserves were being created by New York State. Port Jervis has long associated itself with the Catskill and Shawangunk mountains. Its proximity to the forested wild areas was cause for great self promotion. In one brochure, it was called the "Scenic Queen of the Shawangunk Range." It was also during the Gilded Age that the largest park in the city was developed, the Elks-Charles Brox Memorial Park, located on what was then called the Twin Mountain Tract, or Point Peter and Mount William. As early as 1911, local citizens became concerned with the future of the property that overlooked the city and had an important view of the Shawangunk and Kittatinny mountains, along with the Delaware and Neversink river valleys. At that time, the owner, Almira St. John Mills had just died, and the property was about to be disposed of by her estate. Port Jervis residents turned down a proposal to buy it, by a vote of 191-123, but immediately after the vote, Port Jervis Lodge No. 645 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks began discussions to purchase the property. In 1914, the Elks, seeing the possibilities of the development of the area as a public park, raised the necessary funds to purchase the tract under the leadership of the Rev. William J. Donohue, then pastor of the Most Sacred Heart Church. The property was named Elks Park. In the years that followed, Skyline Drive, a four-mile road that ran along the crest of the two mountains, was built and other improvements to the park were made. In 1932, Sarah Belle Thorne made a substantial donation in memory of her brother-in-law, Charles Brox, and the property was conveyed from the Elks to the city and became known as the Elks-Brox Memorial Park. In later years, part of it was used as a Girl Scout Camp and as late as the 1980s, a public campground. In 1996 the park was reopened and new picnic areas, trails, and bathrooms were constructed. Of all city's parks, none is as beautiful or serves as such a focal point of interest as the Elks-Brox Park with its panoramic vistas of the Neversink Valley.
Riverside Park The Riverside Park begins at the end of River Street. The city has a long-range plan to develop this property in a number of ways including the construction of additional sports facilities, boating and fishing access areas and the creation of additional trails and picnic areas. The area was once a roadbed for the Erie Railroad.
West End Beach West End Beach is owned and operated by the city and is open during the summer with lifeguards on duty. Also available are picnic facilities, a basketball court and baseball field. Public access is available for boaters and fishermen.
The
Historic Tree Grove at Fort Decker The entire history of
our country can be seen in the rings of one tree. Some species
of trees, like the giant sequoias and bristlecone pines, can
live to be 6,000 years old. In fact, trees are the only living
witnesses to the signing of the United States Constitution 200
years ago. During its writing in 1787, Convention members gathered
under the cool shade of a mulberry tree in Philadelphia while
debating this historic document. Many of our founding fathers
were avid tree planters including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson
and Benjamin Franklin. Our local tree grove project began when former Councilman Janis E. Brown, on behalf of the City of Port Jervis, applied to take part in the American Forestry Association's Famous and Historic Tree Grove project. With a donation from Laurel Grove Greenhouses, seedlings from the historic trees were purchased and maintained at the greenhouses until the spring of 1989 when they were planted at Fort Decker, a 1793 stone house that serves as the Minisink Valley Historical Society's museum. Since that time, several other trees have been planted in the grove.
Williamsburg Southern Catalpa The Southern Catalpa is located on the north side of the Fort Decker Compound. Catalpa trees line the Palace Green in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. They were planted in the early 1930s as the restoration of that national landmark was getting underway. Thomas Jefferson, in his plan of the Governor's Palace, noted "the rows of trees 100 feet apart." While Jefferson did not mention the species, the translator of a manuscript journal kept by General de Lauferdeiere gives this entry for July 1782: "The Governor of Virginia also had in Williamsburg a very fine palace, built at the extremity of a handsome street planted with catalpas."
The Black Locust is planted at the outside corner of the Fort Decker Compound near the firehouse. This tree began as a sapling taken from the locusts planted at Carter's Grove to commemorate the centennial celebration of the American victory at Yorktown in 1881 by Edward G. Booth, Sr., who had only recently acquired this James River Plantation eight miles southeast of Williamsburg. In 1876, Booth was also involved in the centennial celebrations in Philadelphia. Apparently, the planting of a locust grove became something of a tradition for the celebration of independence.
The Wye Oak comes from
the largest White Oak in the United States, and has been the
National Champion since the beginning of the American Forestry
Association's National Big Trees Program in 1940. Wye Mills,
Maryland, is the original location of this magnificent tree,
and it dates from 1672 and probably before. The town is named
for a water-powered mill that ground flour in colonial days.
Estimated to be in excess of 400 years of age, the oak was there
long before the village. The sapling from that tree is planted
in the back corner of the Fort Decker Compound. White Plains Sycamore The original White Plains Sycamore, a registered historic tree, stands close to a house used as a headquarters by General George Washington at White Plains, New York, and shades the bedroom where the general and his wife slept. The Battle of White Plains was fought on October 28, 1776 and again during the summer of 1778. There are two of these trees on the compound, side by side, one next to the city of Port Jervis's firehouse and the other next to the Robert Kleinstuber House. The latter tree was planted on Arbor Day in 1989 as part of Port Jervis's Tree City program.
Tulip Tree The Tulip Tree in front
of Fort Decker was planted in memory of the late Dr. Daniel P.
Schultz, a board member of the Minisink Valley Historical Society
and a beloved doctor in Port Jervis for many years. It was planted
on Arbor Day in 1990 and is a typical 18th centry period tree
that was found in this area and is known for its straight column,
sturdiness and leaves and spring flowers which resemble tulips.
Jackson White
Oak "The Tree That Owns Itself" is now in its second generation in Athens, Georgia. In 1820, William H. Jackson willed the original white oak, "for and in consideration of the great love I bear this tree, entire possession of itself and of all land within 8 feet of the tree on all sides." The tree died in 1942. One of its offspring was set in the same spot to become the second "Tree that Owns Itself," the only tree in the world inheriting the land on which its forebear stood. There is a sapling of this tree on the Fort Decker Compound between Fort Decker and the Kleinstuber House near the flagpole. Japanese Cherry
Tree Trees of this type line
the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., and were a gift from the
people of Japan to the people of our nation earlier in this century.
A cherry tree, donated by Alma LaRue, is planted in front of
the Kleinstuber House and was dedicated to the people of Port
Jervis in honor of the 20th anniversary of Earth Day. Sugar Maple The sugar maple is next
to the sycamore by the firehouse and was planted to commemorate
the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Minisink Valley
Historical Society in 1989. Sugar maples are known for their
production of maple syrup and was, in earlier times, an excellent
firewood.
Port Jervis Memorial Rose Garden A white flowering dogwood
was planted across the street from Fort Decker to commemorate
Arbor Day in 1991. The park was then upgraded through the efforts
of the Minisink Valley Historical Society, the City of Port Jervis
and a number of individuals and businesses. In 1995, the Port Jervis
Memorial Rose Garden was recreated through the efforts of Kathleen
Shortell, a councilman from the 1st Ward. Jackson and Perkins,
a company known nationally for its roses donated the plants that
are now in the garden. This garden replaces the city's original
memorial rose garden that was on Canal Street and fell into disrepair
and was finally eliminated when a new firehouse was constructed
on the location. There are now several hundred roses that bloom all summer, much to the delight of city residents and visitors alike. For further information regarding volunteering to help maintain the garden or for making donations one contact Kathy Shortell at the Port Jervis Municipal Building at 845-858-4017. |
Copyright © The Minisink Valley Historical Society. All rights reserved.
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