No Longer Standing: Buildings of Poughkeepsie – The George Innis House
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 [...]