By Shannon Butler
It's been awhile since we looked at a building that was once a part of the city’s landscape, but has now been lost to time. Much of the city’s waterfront has been altered over the past century and many buildings, as well as entire neighborhoods, are gone. If you take the time to study the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps and compare them to modern day Google views, you will see areas that were completely wiped out, like Harris Street and Gate Street, partly due to urban renewal. Today we will look at the residence of a former mayor of Poughkeepsie, George Innis, whose home once stood at the center of it all on Main Street.
George Innis was born in Poughkeepsie on July 7, 1822, the son of Aaron Innis and Martha Smith. He grew up at what is commonly referred to as the Hoffman house, a building that still stands at the Upper Landing, near Fallkill Creek. His father and a business partner, James Reynolds, had made a good deal of money in the dyewoods business (extracting natural dyes from wood). George studied at the Poughkeepsie Collegiate Institute and had plans to attend college, but when his father died suddenly in 1838, he took up his father’s part of the firm, which became known as Gifford, Sherman, and Innis.
George showed interest in local politics right from the start, and was a member of the Whig party in the 1840s. By 1852, he was serving as the president of the Village of Poughkeepsie; this was just before the city incorporated. In the Poughkeepsie Journal, a notice proclaimed that he had resigned his role as president on May 24th, to which they added, “We hope to see him mayor of the city next year.” However, it looks as if George had other plans, based on his personal papers in the collections at Locust Grove. In 1854, he went on a grand tour of England and Europe, where he played the role of tourist and enjoyed seeing the sites. He surprised his friends in 1855 when he married Ann Bevier Hasbrouck at her family’s home outside of New Paltz. They had two children together, Martha in 1856, and Hasbrouck in 1859.
In 1857, during this time of growth, George decided to purchase the property at 40 Main Street from the Davies family for $9,000. This purchase included a house that was originally built in the latter half of the 18th century, as well as a large vegetable garden. In 1859, George made improvements to the property by expanding the house in the Italianate style, and adding a greenhouse. In 1947, an article from the Poughkeepsie Journal claimed that the architect of the redesign was Andrew Jackson Downing; however, that’s not possible, given the fact that Downing died in the burning of the steamboat Henry Clay in 1852. The photo of the interior parlor, seen above, was recently misidentified as the parlor of the Young House that once stood on South Hamilton Street (another long lost building); however, it is actually one of the few views of the inside of the house at 40 Main Street (notice the alcove with the four tall windows). The home stood directly across the street from the train station, and in his diaries, George marked down the times the trains came in.
From this home, George contemplated his return to a political office, and ran three successful campaigns to serve as mayor of Poughkeepsie, serving from 1863 until 1868 (the term was two years). The events surrounding the Civil War took up a large portion of his work as mayor, especially when it came to furnishing local troops with equipment and taking care of the wives and children left behind. During this time, he got himself involved in just about every venture that was geared towards the improvement of Poughkeepsie, including serving as a trustee for Vassar College, helping to raise money for the Hudson River State Hospital and serving on the committee of the Poughkeepsie Bridge Company.
The family enjoyed life at their home on Main Street, which they called Rosewood, and even as his children moved on, his grandchildren would come and visit regularly. His daughter married Henry Young, and the couple purchased the old Samuel F.B. Morse house, known as Locust Grove. Even after George died on November 26, 1903, the family continued to use the home in some way. His granddaughter, Annette Young, had intended to preserve the house, as she had with her family’s other properties, Locust Lawn and Locust Grove. However, urban renewal and the City of Poughkeepsie had other plans, and the house was demolished in 1958 to make way for Rinaldi Boulevard.
Special thanks to Ken Snodgrass at Locust Grove for his assistance in this research!
Images:
Rosewood-LG - Photo of the Innis house, Rosewood, late 19th century. Courtesy of the Locust Grove Archives
Rosewood2-LG - Photo of the Innis house, Rosewood, late 19th century. Courtesy of the Locust Grove Archives
Viewfrom-LG - View of the train station and railroad bridge from the Innis House. Courtesy of the Locust Grove Archives
Rosewood1947-PJ - Photo showing the condition of the house in 1947. From the Poughkeepsie Journal Archives.
Interior1947-PJ - View of the interior of the Innis House from 1947. From the Poughkeepsie Journal Archives.
I-I04 - Portrait of George Innis, from the Local History Room Collections, https://mainandmarket.poklib.org/digital/collection/portraits/id/109/rec/2
Resources:
Personal Papers of George Innis, Young Family Papers, Locust Grove Archives, Poughkeepsie NY.
Platt, Edmund. The Eagle’s History of Poughkeepsie. 1905
Poughkeepsie Journal - May 22, 1852, Jul 28, 1864, Nov 27, 1903, Apr 6, 1947, Jul 4, 1965.