Upper-Mill Street Historic District

Upper Mill Street in Poughkeepsie is a six-acre district of brick and frame buildings stretching from the center plaza to Catharine Street. It developed as the fashionable address of factory owners, standing apart from the mill workers' cottages of lower Mill Street. Early houses show Greek Revival character, and several were later updated or joined by elaborate Second Empire, Queen Anne and Eastlake residences, including twin and row houses. Speculator John Gager built a number of the later dwellings and held them as lottery prizes. Two brick churches add variety: a Gothic Revival church from 1849 and a Romanesque Revival church from 1859 designed by James H. Dudley, the only known architect-designed building. During the late nineteenth century the street rivaled Academy Street and Garfield Place as the north side's best avenue. Most houses have since become professional offices, and only two buildings are modern intrusions. The district was listed as a well-preserved collection of residential architecture from that era.