John Haines, hat manufacturer, 1795; Richard and Joseph Albertson, shoe making, before the Revolution; Cooper, tailor, at the close of the war; Joseph Reeves, watchmaker, 1798, took up whip-making in 1804, and was followed in watch-making by George Gorden and Ebenezer Ayres; Hugh Spier, cabinet-maker and undertaker, 1798; Selah Reeve, earthenware manufacturer, 1799; James Patterson, tin plate worker and coppersmith, 1797; Mrs. DeGrove, baking, 1791, and succeeded by John and Joseph Hoffman; Peter Bannen, soap and candle making, 1804, preceded by Abel Belknap; Matthew DuBois, tobacconist, 1799; James Renwick distiller, 1790; John Cooper, father of the famous Peter Cooper, ale brewer, 1794; Benjamin Roe, saddle and harness maker, before 1800; Phineas Howell, tanner, before 1800; Sylvester Roe, painting and glazing, 1804; Henry B. Carpenter, iron and brass foundry, 1821; Richard B. Phillips, brush manufacturer, 1831, preceded by Daniel Berrian; Henry B. Ames, fancy and family soaps, 1852; stock company, with Hiram Bennett, president, cotton goods manufactory, 1844; George Gardner, Jason Rogers, William Seymour, Richard Hill, earliest ship builders, and Walter Burling, Daniel Bailey, Wm. Holmes, Samuel Wright, earliest ship carpenters; Drs. Isaac Brown and Robert Morrison, regular physicians in 1776; Phineas Bowman, first lawyer, settled in Newburgh at close of Revolution, and his contemporary lawyers were Thomas Cooper, Solomon Slight and Jonathan Fisk; Lucius Carey; first newspaper, Newburgh Packet, 1775, bought by David Denniston, and name changed to Mirror; E. W. Gray, first daily, News, 1856; Hezekiah Watkins, schoolmaster, 1752; John Nathan, teacher during Revolution and founder of "Hutchin's Family Almanac"; Rev. Jonathan Freeman and Sylvanus Haight, private school, 1801.
When the second war with England came, Newburgh was paying nearly one-fourth of the taxes of the county. Again she was prominent in zeal for the national cause. A convention was held in which it was resolved to resist "the attacks of domestic enemies and the insolent aggressions of foreign powers." Local military companies were ordered on duty at Staten Island, and later Newburgh was made temporarily the rendezvous for grenadiers, light infantry and riflemen of the 34th Brigade. Its citizens celebrated Perry's victory on Lake Erie with enthusiasm. The embargo act detained Newburgh vessels, among others, in foreign ports, and Newburgh merchantmen were captured and confined in Dartmour prison.
Colden's first dock was built in 1730. Isaac Belknap sailed a sloop from Newburgh before the Revolution which made trips to the West Indies. William Harding, Richard Buckingham and Lewis Clark also sailed sloops before the war, and later conveyed troops on them for the Revolutionists. As early as 1798 there were four lines of sloops from Newburgh.
In the thirties Newburgh's river and land trade was very large. The streets were frequently blocked for hours with farmers' loaded wagons. The completion of the Erie canal diverted the most of this trade, and later the Delaware and Hudson canal cut off another source of wealth. Then the construction of the Erie Railroad from Goshen to Piermont, and its subsequent extension in other directions, finished the old transportation business of Newburgh, and it has taken many years to bring about the present prosperity, with railroads extending from many directions, large and varied manufactures, superior public institutions and other conditions to correspond.
AFTER INCORPORATION.
The village of Newburgh was incorporated March 25, 1800, by an Act of the Legislature, and in May seven trustees, three assessors, three fire wardens, a collector and a treasurer, were elected. John Anderson was chosen president of the board of trustees. In 1801, the Newburgh and Colchester turnpike was incorporated, with a capital of $125,000. "Both measures," says Ruttenber, "were largely instrumental in influencing the prosperity of the village." The latter, by opening a new route of travel westward, brought a trade which in the main had previously reached the Hudson by way of New Windsor, as up to that time nearly all the wagon roads led to this place. The turnpike so reversed conditions, by giving to the western part of Orange County and Sullivan County a better and shorter route of travel, that Newburgh came up and New Windsor went down, and the merchants of the latter place moved their stocks of goods to Newburgh. Other turnpikes followed, and the village grew rapidly. From the close of the Revolutionary War to 1825 its population increased 1,100 in each decade, and its commerce was proportionately extended. Connecting turnpikes stretched to Canandaigua Lake, and were traversed by lines of stages, and a steamer on Cayuga Lake facilitated travel. Subsequently connections with Buffalo permitted a trip of sixty-five hours between that place and New York, and this was advertised as "the shortest and most expeditious route from the Hudson River to the western country."
INTERESTING PUBLIC EVENTS.
The city of Newburgh was incorporated in 1865. Of its patriotic celebrations two were of surpassing enthusiasm and interest. These were the Centennial celebration of 1876 and the Centennial celebrating the close of the Revolutionary War, of October 18, 1883. In the former there was a great nocturnal parade, and the noise and commotion were unprecedented in Newburgh from cannon firing, engine whistling, fireworks, band playing, songs and shouts. At Washington's headquarters the procession paused awhile and sang, "My Country 'tis of Thee."
The celebration of 1883 was less noisy, but more imposing. The memorial monument or "Tower of Victory," at Washington's headquarters, had been completed at a cost of $67,000, and the event was of national and State as well as local significance. Congress had appropriated $25,000, the State Legislature $15,000, the Common Council of Newburgh $7,500, and the citizens of Newburgh had subscribed $5,000. Many thousands of people came from far and near on railroads, steamboats and wagons. The river front was lined with steamers. The procession of the military, firemen, and societies was three miles long, and included quite forty brass bands and a score of drum corps. It was headed by a company of New York City police, and within it rode Peter Ward, mayor of Newburgh; Joel T. Headley, president of the Washington Headquarters Commission; Thomas Bayard, president of the day; William M. Evarts, orator, and William Bruce, poet. The inscription on the monument gives the sufficient reason for the parade and accompanying ceremonies: