Mary McTamaney

The financial and social fortunes of Newburgh have flowed through our community like the tides of the Hudson River at our gate. Over the 315 years of our history, Newburgh has been a leader and a follower; a powerhouse of commerce and industry and a seeker of alms; the center of reasoned debate and the place where unified messages are hard to decipher. This past month, our city was on the receiving end of a hard blow from the external government agencies that control some of our fortunes. Our local Social Security Office was suddenly closed on July 18th and our citizens were told that they could seek services online or travel to Wallkill or Poughkeepsie to see a government agent.

Fortunately, the regional legislators who advocate for us responded with dismay and anger at the sudden shift of an important facility. Newburgh’s state, county and federal representatives immediately went into action. They arranged for Social Security services to be offered by personnel in a mobile CARES van to be parked once each week at the ever-generous Newburgh Armory Unity Center on South William Street.

What a shift of perspective Newburghers must embrace to balance our current status with the one we know existed in our history. Contrast the van that is parked once-a-week to serve our residents and the Federal Building that stood at the corner of Montgomery and Second Street in my grandparents‘ day. The imposing building shown here was constructed in 1875. It was lobbied through Congress and personally approved and signed off on by the Secretaries of the Treasury and of the Interior as well as President Ulysses S. Grant, who had visited Newburgh personally at the request of our Mayor, George Clark.

Old Newburghers called the brick building the Post Office but it held more than that. Its lower floors were a beautiful and spacious post office facility but it held federal offices upstairs. One was a U.S. Customs Office. Newburgh was such a busy commercial port that it lobbied for and gained approval for its own customs house. All the movement of goods through Newburgh, including goods from Canada and across the Atlantic, made our city a prime location for a port of entry. In Newburgh’s busiest commercial years from the late 1870’s through the 1920’s, it was just that. Legislation allowed ships to by-pass New York City and arrive at Newburgh docks to be inspected and unloaded by customs agents based in our own Newburgh Customs House. The same was true of local goods being shipped abroad.

Its location on steep Second Street was in a direct line from the train, ferry and steamboat docks to the courthouse and cultural corridor of Grand Street. Numerous law offices and banks were located within this neighborhood, including the Columbus Trust Company, a bank chartered in 1893 and developed to handle special monetary transactions, particularly international banking and letters of credit accepted by overseas institutions.

From the upstairs windows of the old Federal Building, federal employees looked out on an amazingly busy waterfront offering goods and services and employment to thousands.

The passage of time has changed the world of banking and commerce, including international commerce, in ways that will never again need a regional customs house. Yet, it can still provide Newburgh with both bragging rights and sincere pride that it was such a powerhouse city.