The Greatest Highway in the World / Historical, Industrial and Descriptive Information of the Towns, Cities and Country Passed Through Between New York and Chicago Via the New York Central Lines. Based on the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

by New York Central Railroad Company

88 M. RHINECLIFF, Pop. 1,300.

(Train 51 passes at 10:32; No. 3, 10:56; No. 41, 3:07; No. 25, 4:46; No. 19, 9:39. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 7:13; No. 26, 7:31; No. 16, 1:37; No. 22, 3:09.)

Across the river from Rhinecliff is Kingston (Pop. 26,688), most of which lies on a plateau 150 ft. above the river. Rondout, once a separate town, is now a part of the city of Kingston, the center of which lies 3 M. inland. To the northwest is the noble scenery of the Catskills, to the southwest are the Shawangunk Mts. and Lake Mohonk, and in the distance on our right (that is, on the Rhinecliff side) are the Berkshire Hills.

Kingston is one of the oldest towns in the state. In 1658 a stockade was built here by order of Gov. Peter Stuyvesant, and although the Dutch had built a fort here as early as 1614, it is from this event that the founding of the city is generally dated. The town suffered a number of murderous Indian attacks before it was taken over by the British in 1664.

The early history of Kingston reached a climax during the Revolution, when the British under Sir John Vaughan sacked the town and burned the buildings Oct. 17, 1777. The "Senate House"* erected in 1676, was the meeting-place of the first State Senate during the early months of 1777. At the time of the British occupation the interior was burnt but the walls were left standing. The building is now the property of the state and is used as a colonial museum. The present Court House, built in 1818, stands on the site of the old Court House, where New York's first governor, George Clinton, was inaugurated, and in which Chief Justice John Jay held the first term of the N.Y. Supreme Court in Sept. 1777.

The 'Senate House' (1676), Kingston, N.Y.

Erected in 1676 as a private residence, the "Senate House" was one of the few buildings left standing when the British sacked the town of Kingston in October, 1777. It had been the meeting place of the first State Senate in the earlier part of that year. The house is now maintained as a colonial museum.

John Jay (1745-1829), son of Peter Jay, a successful N.Y. merchant, had a notable career. He was Chairman of the Commission which drafted the N.Y. State Constitution in 1777. In the same year he was made Chief Justice of the State. In negotiating peace with Great Britain (1783) he acted with Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Jefferson and Henry Laurens, and he is credited with having been influential in obtaining favorable terms for the former colonies. In 1789 Washington appointed him chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, in which capacity he served for six years. In the meantime, 1794, he negotiated the famous Jay Treaty with Great Britain, which averted a dangerous crisis in the relations between the two countries, and settled such questions as the withdrawal of British troops from the northwestern frontier, compensation for the seizure of American vessels during the Franco-British war of 1793, and the refusal of the British up to that time to enter into a commercial treaty with the U.S. From 1795 to 1798 he served as Governor of N.Y. Daniel Webster said: "When the spotless ermine of the judicial robe fell on John Jay, it touched nothing less spotless than itself."

Less than a mile beyond Rhinecliff we pass "Ferncliff," the beautiful country-place of Vincent Astor, son of the late John Jacob Astor III, who lost his life in the "Titanic" disaster. The large white building on a hill nearby is the Astor squash court.

John Jacob Astor III (1864-1912) was the son of William B. Astor II. The latter was the son of William B. Astor (1792-1875), known as "the landlord of New York," because of his extensive real estate holdings in New York City. He was the son of the founder of the Astor fortune, John Jacob Astor (1763-1828). The latter was born near Heidelberg, Germany, worked for a time in London, came to N.Y.C. and took up fur trading, in which he amassed an enormous fortune, the largest up to that time made by any American.

Steps in the Development of the Steam-boat

The top figure represents a boat of the 15th Century propelled by paddle wheels. Below is a steam tug, the design of Jonathan Hulls, who received a patent on his invention from the British government in 1736. It appears that some time later, in 1802, Robert Fulton, who was then in England, actually rode in a tug of similar design built by William Symington. Fulton, however, was the first to construct a steam-boat in the modern sense of the term. The illustrations used above were taken from the Supplement to the Sixth Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.

Six miles above Rhinecliff we pass Anandale on the right, the former home of Gen. Richard Montgomery (b. 1736), who was killed Dec. 31, 1775, while conducting the American attack on Quebec.

It is not always remembered that the Americans undertook an expedition against Quebec during the first year of the Revolutionary War. Gen. Montgomery was joined near Quebec by Benedict Arnold, then a colonel, and they pushed on towards their objective with barely 800 men. The assault met a complete defeat; almost at the first discharge, Montgomery was killed, and many of his men were taken prisoners. In 1818 Mrs. Montgomery, then a gray-haired widow, sat alone on the porch of the house while the remains of Gen. Montgomery were brought down the Hudson on the steamer "Richmond" with great funeral pomp. A monument has been erected in St. Paul's Chapel, N.Y.C., where his remains were finally interred. General and Mrs. Montgomery, who was a daughter of Robert R. Livingston, had been married only two years when he went away on his expedition.

Just north of Tivoli (98 M.) is the site of the Manor House of the Livingston family, "Clermont," after which Robert Fulton named his first steamboat.

The Livingston Manor comprised the greater part of what are now Dutchess and Columbia Counties. The founder of the family was Robert Livingston (1654-1725) who was born at Ancrum, Scotland, emigrated to America about 1673 and received these manorial grants in 1686. He was a member of the N.Y. Assembly for several terms. The Livingston Manor was involved in anti-rent troubles which began in the Rensselaer Manor.