One of the adjectives frequently used to describe today’s Newburgh is diverse. Indeed, it is a city where people from many backgrounds live and work together. Journalists point to this city where residents come from far and wide as if it is a bit unusual. Yet, historically, it has always been true. Newburgh never followed the standard history of Hudson River towns – established by the Dutch and expanded by the English who were the masters of the New York colony. Here, on this little two-mile patch of west shore land, refugees from the lower Rhine valley first built a community. The neighbors they encountered were a few native Lenape and a few widely scattered families with English, Scot and Welsh roots who farmed parcels in wilderness conditions. Everyone came seeking a better chance for their families to thrive. The “old world” fought constantly and borders were rarely secure. This “new world” seemed like a hopeful choice for them.

Into the new world came one family from Wales, the Powells. They secured a lease for land on Long Island and started to farm near today’s Bethpage. But, even on a quiet farm across the vast Atlantic Ocean, life wasn’t as safe as they dreamed it would be. First, revolution was brewing in their new land and the English navy appeared on their horizon with dire consequences. The family farm was seized and Henry Powell, head of the household, was captured by the British and held captive for months in horrible conditions until freed in a prisoner exchange. Then, nature was their nearer enemy as a storm on Long Island Sound capsized the sail ferry that Mr. Powell and his oldest son were taking to bring their produce (from a second farm they leased) to market and they both drowned. Left at home, were Mrs. Powell and her younger children. The oldest were Jacob and Thomas, ages sixteen and twelve and they took on the responsibility of the family until their land lease expired. These teens helped their mother shepherd their family north into Orange County where they tried their hands at several jobs to support the family of six. Their resourcefulness paid off and, after a series of small farming and trading ventures, they came to the village of Newburgh and set up shop moving freight along the shore.

The Powell family saga is typical except for one thing in their heritage. The Powells were Quakers. Newburgh wasn’t a Quaker settlement yet they “made friends and influenced people” living their faith in quiet ways. The brothers expanded their enterprises, opening a community bank, The Powell Bank, to help fund Newburgh businesses crippled by the rerouting of traffic in and out of Newburgh after the Erie Canal opened. With other Newburgh villagers, Jacob and Thomas invested in the design and construction of a steam-powered mill (still standing over 180 years later as the Regal Bag Building) that would put hundreds back to work during a crippling recession. They lobbied for and invested in a railroad connection to the new Erie line that could carry goods into and out from Newburgh’s growing shoreline.

The mid-19th century that the Powell family inhabited was being transformed by the age of steam. That technology powered factories and they saw to it that it powered Newburgh transportation too. Their freighting business grew from sailing sloops to steamboats and the Powell line built some of the strongest and most beautiful steamboats on the Hudson.

Newburgh’s Powell Avenue passes the original Powell family homestead – now the north end of the campus of Mount Saint Mary College. Few people know how that place name came to be part of the Newburgh landscape. This Thursday evening is a chance to learn more. Newburgh native, Steven Baltsas, now a research scholar and curatorial fellow at Preservation Long Island, has discovered much more about the roots of a Quaker family who worked their way up from a series of historic adversities to settle and thrive in the village of Newburgh where their contributions should never be forgotten. Mr. Baltsas’s live talk, “Thomas Powell: Long Island Quaker/ Newburgh Capitalist,” will be held in the parlors of the Crawford House, headquarters of the Historical Society of Newburgh, at 7 p.m. Thursday, August 20. Arrive at 6:30 for a complimentary cocktail (or mocktail) before taking your seat.