The History of Orange County New York

by Unknown

Benjamin Woodward and Dr. Benjamin Newkirk are credited with the establishment of the place in May, 1807. On the eighth day of that month, after the "raising bee" was over, James Finch, the old settler, called the assembly to order and made a very enthusiastic speech, during which he christened the place "Mount Hope" with proper ceremony.

Otisville was settled in 1816 by Isaac Otis, a merchant from New York, and named for him. There were but three houses on the upper street, and probably but little more than a dozen buildings comprised the entire village when the Erie Railroad was opened on November 3, 1846.

The officials of the road who arrived on the first train dined at the hotel of Ambrose W. Green, who for many years was one of the leading citizens of Otisville. At this time, 1846, Dr. Avery Cook lived and had his office near where the depot stands. Galen Otis owned the only store which stood where he later built a large square house. Ezra Coleman lived and had his wagon-making shop where Dr. Writer now lives. Samuel K. Wheat was the harness-maker, and lived where later Judson Van Duzer lived. Stanford Harding was the blacksmith, and Squire Baker had a cooper shop. Harvey R. Cadwell, a member of Assembly in 1862, owned the farm on the north, and Smith Loomis, father of Supervisor Charles Loomis, owned the farm on the western boundary of the village.

The schoolhouse in 1840 was nearly a mile south of the village on the plains, the present site of the cemetery. A church was also there. This same year Algernon Sidney Dodge, son of Benjamin Dodge, of Mount Hope, came to Otisville and leased the store of Galen Otis. Alsop Woodward Dodge, son of Algernon Sidney Dodge, now resides in Middletown, and from him we learned some of the facts contained here.

Ambrose Woodward Green, mentioned above, was born in the town of Greenville in 1813. His father was Charles S. Green, and his grandfather was Daniel Green, a soldier of the Revolution from Orange County.

Ambrose W. Green settled in Otisville in 1835, and for a time carried on the tailoring business, which he discontinued, and built the Washington Hotel, now the Greenleaf Hotel, conducting it for some time in connection with other business.

Before the Erie came to Otisville, Mr. Green owned a market wagon route to Newburgh, going twice a week by way of Bloomingburg. While Otisville remained the western terminal of the Erie, Mr. Green also owned a stage line to Forestburgh, Sullivan County, connecting with lines into Pennsylvania for Honesdale and other western points. He was interested in building the Otisville and Wurtsboro turnpike. Mr. Green sold the Washington Hotel and about 1850 built the hotel near the railroad track. While conducting this hotel, he was engaged in the lumber and coal business. From 1863 to 1870 he was extensively interested in the lead mining operations on Shawangunk Mountain. The decline in the value of lead after our Civil War caused the mines to be discontinued, and Mr. Green later sold his hotel and removed to a farm a couple of miles north of Otisville, where he died in July, 1888.

The coming of the Erie boomed Otisville for the next few years. A Methodist and a Presbyterian church were built and a little later a Catholic church. Several stores and many dwellings were erected. Market wagons came here twice a week with farmers' produce for shipment to New York. Previous to the building of the Midland Railroad hundreds of teams throughout the winter, while the Delaware and Hudson Canal was closed, came to Otisville from Sullivan and western Ulster Counties, with leather from the tanneries, and returned with the green hides for tanning. For many years, until the introduction of refrigerator cars, Otisville was the western terminal of the milk train.

George Strickland and Joel D. Northrup, residents of Otisville, were the conductors—the latter for many years. The Orange County Express for several years went no further west than Otisville. The gravel and construction train for this section, with nearly a hundred employees, had its headquarters at Otisville. Until coal was used as the fuel for the engines of the Erie, Otisville for many years was the principal point where the thousands of cords of wood were received which the Erie consumed yearly. This wood was all sawed by hand, and many men were employed. Many citizens of Otisville found various kinds of employment with the Erie during these years, and much of the prosperity of the village came from the dollars left here by the monthly pay-car of the Erie.