Newburgh Heritage

Armchair traveling

By Mary McTamaney
Posted 3/19/20

We are getting serious about the community spread of Covid-19, the new virus strain that, as yet, has no vaccine or anti-viral medication to conquer it. My husband and I, in the crosshairs of …

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Newburgh Heritage

Armchair traveling

Posted

We are getting serious about the community spread of Covid-19, the new virus strain that, as yet, has no vaccine or anti-viral medication to conquer it. My husband and I, in the crosshairs of vulnerability in our seventies, are at home doing many – and accomplishing a few – of the projects we have promised to do. We have yet to tune in to the music streaming playlist that Rita Wilson (quarantined in Australia with her husband Tom Hanks) curated for us all – a playlist with the perfect name of “Quarantunes.”

We saw our first robin and ventured out to the yard to watch for the rest of his clan. When the sun is warming, we sit out on the patio and imagine where the cars and trucks are going as they cross the bridge. Since we have promised each other to be as safe as possible, we have limited our trips to a handful of emergencies and lots of “armchair” ventures. This is one.

Over a half century ago, there was no giant hectic intersection at the northern border of the City of Newburgh. Roads pretty much followed the paths that were originally laid out to move commerce in and out of the little Village of Newburgh. North Plank Road was one. It connected Water Street on the Hudson shoreline with the farms out in the township. Route 9W was another. It was an early 20th century “highway” built to make a straighter, smoother path north to connect towns. It quickly replaced the winding Old Albany Post Road, that still has many segments branching off today’s 9W. My sister lives just off Route 9 in Plattsburgh, NY south of the Canadian border. When her children were small and we took them into New York City, they were amazed that from Times Square we could site all the way up Broadway and know that following that street would take us to their corner seven hours north. Broadway, at the foot of Manhattan is where Route 9 begins and it eventually includes a main artery for most west shore communities including both Newburgh and Plattsburgh.

The pictures here were all taken in 1949. This Route 9W is something I saw from the backseat of my parents’ 1938 Pontiac. There was yet no thought of the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge or Route 84 coming to widen, divide and cross the roadways. These views show the segments of Route 9W just north of the city line. Robinson Avenue officially ended and the route became a number not a street. Where old North Plank Road crossed, a gas station sat at each side of the intersection. On the northeast corner was a Tydol station and on the northwest corner was an Esso. The Tydol station was bigger and more modern, a stucco structure with a steep metal roof that emulated Spanish tile. It had two service bays, the bigger one for repairing trucks, and four gas pumps. The Esso station was a typical little bungalow style station of the 1930’s with one pair of pumps. In their day, each station was “full service” and the owner came out to fill your tank, check your oil and clean your windshields. No driver would be found crouching next to an air pump filling his own tires. You needed to go back to your corner grocery to get a candy bar or a gallon of milk to take home. Gas stations were automobile service only.

Route 9W in 1949 was a two-lane concrete road and the seams of each concrete slab showed and were heard beneath your tires. The third picture shows 9W just north of the N. Plank Road intersection. A commuter bus is heading north toward Marlboro and Highland past three billboards, and the dirt parking lot in the foreground leads to the D’Agostino plant nursery where rows of evergreens ready to sell for spring planting can be seen beside the semi-enclosed nursery shelter. Nothing appears on the horizon in 1949 making a dramatic contrast to that busy traffic spot today.