Cold Spring, New York | |
|---|---|
Village | |
 Main Street in Cold Spring, part of theCold Spring Historic District | |
 Seal | |
 Location of Cold Spring inPutnam County and of Putnam County inNew York | |
| Coordinates:41°25′8″N73°57′16″W / 41.41889°N 73.95444°W /41.41889; -73.95444 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| County | Putnam |
| Incorporated | 1846 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Kathleen E. Foley |
| Area | |
• Total | 0.60 sq mi (1.55 km2) |
| • Land | 0.59 sq mi (1.54 km2) |
| • Water | 0.0039 sq mi (0.01 km2) 0.91% |
| Elevation | 108 ft (33 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 1,986 |
| • Density | 3,345.0/sq mi (1,291.51/km2) |
| Postal code | 10516 |
| Area code | 845 |
| FIPS code | 36-16936 |
| Website | coldspringny |
Cold Spring is avillage in the town ofPhilipstown inPutnam County, New York, United States. The population was 1,986 at the 2020 census.[2] It borders the smaller village ofNelsonville and the hamlets ofGarrison andNorth Highlands. The central area of the village is on theNational Register of Historic Places as theCold Spring Historic District due to its many well-preserved 19th-century buildings, constructed to accommodate workers at the nearbyWest Point Foundry (itself a Registered Historic Place today). The town is the birthplace of GeneralGouverneur K. Warren, who was an important figure in theUnion Army during theCivil War. The village, located in theHudson Highlands, sits at the deepest point of the Hudson River, directly across fromWest Point. Cold Spring serves as a weekend getaway for many residents ofNew York City.
Commuter service to New York City is available via theCold Spring train station, served byMetro-North Railroad. The train journey is approximately one hour, ten minutes toGrand Central Terminal.
On July 15, 1691, Dortlandt and Sybrant secured a deed to the tract fromWappinger leaders, totaling as much as much as 17,480 acres (according to recent historical analysis)[3] along the eastern bank of the Hudson River from the peak onAnthony's Nose to (and including)Pollepel Island, and east to a marked tree which would establish the tract's eastern border.[3] This tract contained a large portion of modern-dayPhillipstown, NY, including the entire the Village of Cold Spring.
While many land transactions in colonial America were disputed by settlers and natives, the original lands deeded to Dortlandt and Sybrant (containing the Village of Cold Spring) appear to have been legitimately obtained with the consent of the Wappinger. This is evidenced by testimony from Wappinger leaderDaniel Nimham, who, in 1765, sought the assistance of the New York Common Council (and eventually the British Crown) in resolving land disputes over land claimed both by the heirs ofAdolph Philipse and Wappinger natives. In this testimony, Nimham states that Wappinger ancestors had sold a tract of "Low Lands on that Part of the Peeks kill [north of modern-day Annsville Creek]... and also a pine swamp containing... a few Acres called Kichtondacongh and a piece of low Land lying Southeasterly from Kichtondacongh called Paukeminshingh."[3] Nimham goes on to contest the sale of any land beyond this initial tract deeded by the Wappinger to Dortlandt and Sybrant, however, recognizes the initial transaction of land (including present-day Cold Spring) as legitimately ceded by the Wappinger to the Dutch.[4]
The first permanent settler in the village of Cold Spring was Merrick Williams in 1730. In 1772, a highway master was chosen for the road from Cold Spring to the Post Road from New York to Albany. Prior to Williams presence, the land was woodlands. A small trading hamlet grew alongside the river by the early 1800s.[5] A couple of sloops made regular weekly trips from Cold Spring to New York, carrying wood and some country produce, which came over this model road from the east. Those trips by sloop usually took a week.
In 1818,Gouverneur Kemble established theWest Point Foundry oppositeWest Point to produce artillery pieces for the United States Government. The nearby mountains contained veins of ore, and were covered with timber for fuel. A brook provided hydropower, and the Hudson a ready shipping outlet. In 1843, the Foundry built theUSS Spencer, the first iron ship built in the U.S.[6] With the influx of workers at the Foundry, local housing, businesses and churches increased, and Cold Spring was incorporated as a village in 1846. The first President of the Village was Joshua Haight. The Foundry became famous for its production ofParrott rifles and other munitions during theCivil War, when the foundry grew to a sprawling 100-acre complex employing 1,400. It also manufactured cast iron steam engines for locomotives, gears, and produced much of the pipework for New York's water system. The rise of steel making and the declining demand for cast iron after the Civil War caused the Foundry to cease operations in 1911.[7] Many artifacts from the Foundry's history can be viewed at the Putnam History Museum on Chestnut Street. Built in 1830, the building was originally a one-room schoolhouse for the Foundry's teenage apprentices and the children of employees.[8]
On January 22, 1896, local businessmen of Cold Spring formed a fire brigade known as the Cold Spring Hose Company, No.1. A horse-drawn hook and ladder was donated in 1899.[9] The Municipal Building, designed by Louis Mekeel, was constructed in 1926 to house the company's first firetruck, an American LaFrance. The company, renamed Cold Spring Fire Company No.1 in 1900, serves the Villages of Cold Spring, Nelsonville and a district in the Town of Philipstown.[10]
Mr. Willis Buckner, a former slave from the South, was a driver and groom forSusan andAnna Bartlett Warner at their farm onConstitution Island. Mr. Buckner taught Sunday School at the Methodist Church.[9] In the early decades of the 20th century, blacks who stayed in this part of New York state migrated away from rural towns to nearby cities with waterfront manufacturing such as Peekskill, Beacon, Newburgh and Ossining. During the 1920s, theKu Klux Klan had a presence in Cold Spring[11] as well as Fishkill and Nelsonville.
Pete Seeger formed the Clearwater organization, an environmental group dedicated to advances in sewer treatment, industrial waste disposal, and addressing the discharge of major pollutants into the Hudson.In 1970, the sloopClearwater docked for a songfest at Cold Spring. As Seeger appeared on stage to thank the audience for coming, fifteen drunks stood up waving little American flags, yelling “Throw the Commies out.” That night someone cut the sloop's moorings and there were threats to torch the boat. All of this created tension within the Clearwater organization.[12]
Towards the latter part of the nineteenth century artists, writers and prominent families came to Cold Spring, and mansions were built along Morris Avenue, including "Undercliff," the home of publisherGeorge Pope Morris, and "Craigside," the home of Julia and GeneralDaniel Butterfield.[5] To the south,West Point Foundry employees Dr. Frederick Lente built "The Grove,"Robert Parker Parrott built "Plumbush," andHudson River School painterThomas P. Rossiter built "Fair Lawn."[citation needed]
The village is bordered by theHudson River to the west, and is bound by theHudson Highlands State Park to the north, whereMount Taurus andBreakneck Ridge rise out of the banks of the Hudson and form two basically parallel ridges that track each other inland. The valley between them has an abandoned dairy farm, two lakes, and a camp.
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.60 square miles (1.55 km2), of which 0.59 square miles (1.54 km2) is land and 0.004 square miles (0.01 km2), or 0.91%, is water.[13]
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | 2,770 | — | |
| 1870 | 3,086 | 11.4% | |
| 1880 | 2,111 | −31.6% | |
| 1900 | 2,067 | — | |
| 1910 | 2,549 | 23.3% | |
| 1920 | 1,433 | −43.8% | |
| 1930 | 1,784 | 24.5% | |
| 1940 | 1,897 | 6.3% | |
| 1950 | 1,788 | −5.7% | |
| 1960 | 2,083 | 16.5% | |
| 1970 | 2,083 | 0.0% | |
| 1980 | 2,161 | 3.7% | |
| 1990 | 1,998 | −7.5% | |
| 2000 | 1,983 | −0.8% | |
| 2010 | 2,013 | 1.5% | |
| 2020 | 1,986 | −1.3% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[14] | |||
As of thecensus[15] of 2020, there were 1,986 people, 834 households, and 834 families residing in the village. The population density was 3,300 inhabitants per square mile (1,300/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 94%White, 0.49%African American, 0.44%Native American, 3.05%Asian, 2.12% fromother races, and 0.08% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 0.07% of the population.
Out of the 834 households, 25.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.9% weremarried couples living together. The average household size was 2.13 and the average family size was 3.0.
The median income for a household in the village was $98,056 (an increase of 83.7% from 2010), and the median income for a family was $135,500 (an increase of 78.2% from 2010). About 8.4% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 13.8% of those under age 18 and 4.4% of those age 65 or over.
The Foundry Preserve Trail is located here.[citation needed]
The Julia L. Butterfield Memorial Library was established in Cold Spring in 1913.[16]
Magazzino Italian Art is a museum focused on Postwar and Contemporary Italian Art[17][18] and features a herd ofSardinian donkeys.[19]
In 1826, Union Church was built. By mutual agreement the Presbyterians used the building in the morning and the other religious groups in the afternoon. In 1830, the Baptists constructed a church on land donated bySamuel L. Gouverneur.[citation needed] The first Methodist church was built in 1833.[20] The building was sold in 1870, and a new brick Italianate structure was built in 1868.[9] The Dutch Reformed Church was built around 1855 in Neoclassical style. The building was later replaced by the Julia L. Butterfield Library.[citation needed]
Many of the workers at the Foundry were Irish immigrants. Our Lady of Loretto church was constructed in 1833 of locally made red brick covered with stucco. The church was abandoned in 1906 and fell into disrepair. It was repaired and re-dedicated in 1977.[21]
Saint Mary's in the Highlands church was incorporated in 1840. A second larger church was built in 1867, designed in theVictorian Gothic style by architect and vestry memberGeorge Edward Harney.[22]
Cold Spring is home to theHaldane Central School District.[23] The school is located at 15 Craigside Drive and teaches students grades K-12.[24] The school received a blue ribbon award in 2017 from the U.S. Department of Education.[25]
Cold Spring has two weekly newspapers:Highlands Current,[26] founded in 2010, andPutnam County News and Recorder, founded in 1868.
Municipalities and communities ofPutnam County, New York,United States | ||
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| Towns |  | |
| Villages | ||
| CDPs | ||
| Other hamlets | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
| Geographic | |
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| Other | |
