Garfield Place Historic District

Garfield Place is a tree-lined residential street on a hill above the Hudson Valley in Poughkeepsie. The historic district runs from Montgomery Street to Franklin Street and includes about twenty-five dwellings and several outbuildings. Most houses date from the mid-nineteenth century, with a few from the early twentieth. They range from simple gabled structures to elaborate buildings with towers, brackets, cupolas, porches and mansard roofs. The land was part of the Little Commons and was laid out as building lots after 1836 by a group of partners. Building began in 1852, when partner George Corlies built a home to show the lifestyle the neighborhood offered. The street, once South Liberty Street, was renamed Garfield Place in 1881. Its residents included merchants, physicians, lawyers, bankers and manufacturers, and the district shows the social and economic life of Poughkeepsie in that period. Surviving features include a wooden kiosk from about 1861 and a carriage house.