The Story of Urban Renewal Revisited in Lecture

By Journalist Dr. Ms. Jones

NEWBURGH – On Thursday, July 17th the Historical Society of Newburgh Bay & The Highlands held their monthly Cocktail & Collections Series. It was held at The Newburgh Heritage Center.

“The Historical Society does a Third Thursday lecture series that we call Cocktails & Collections. There’s the cocktails [and] something about collections. Our goal has been for two years to tease [people] out on a weekday night, so that [they] see something that we don’t normally reveal that’s in a drawer, in a cupboard, on the shelf, and tell [them] it’s story. And increasingly, we’re finding new stories because researchers come to us and start digging in our archives and find even more than we knew we had,” said Mary R. McTamaney, City Historian.

This month’s presentation was nostalgic. Presenter Nick Edward, the Neighborhood Stabilization Coordinator, reminded the community what was lost and what remains as they gathered for ‘After Urban Renewal.’ This topic sparked significant interest due to the lasting impact on the community. Between 1962 and 1974, 120 acres of waterfront land were cleared for redevelopment causing the displacement of 15,000 residents and the demolition of over 1,100 buildings, including significant African American homes, churches, businesses, and cultural centers. This considerably impacted the fabric of Newburgh.

“I kind of like to imagine it as maybe the Galleria Mall in Middletown, maybe the Galleria in Poughkeepsie. I would even venture to say maybe even the Commons, the Woodbury Commons… Newburgh had everything that you could think of… The city had five movie theaters, two roller skating rinks, 15 auto showrooms, dozens of barber shops, 50 clothing stores,” said Edwards who has been collecting oral stories from residents for several years.

The project has been funded by the National Park Service (NPS) African American Civil Rights Program Grant which funds projects that preserves history related to the African American struggle to gain equal rights as citizens in the 1900s. The goal of the project is to collect history through oral interviews and archival research. The community chimed in during Edward’s presentation to share what they remembered. Tom Costa discussed Newburgh’s thriving African American community in the mid-1800s, highlighting the influx of Southern Blacks. He criticized urban renewal for removing tax-generating properties and jobs, emphasizing the loss of $135 million in tax revenue.

“Newburgh had a thriving middle class African American community back in the mid-1800s… You have the Alsdorf Studio across from Washington’s Headquarters. The name is still there. When I was young, was when we had the influx of the Southern Blacks escaping the racism down south coming up here and everybody pretty much lived well together back then and there were jobs and there were the factories… This urban renewal, or as my dad called it “Urban Removal”… took away the rateables… tax revenue… all of those houses that they knocked down were paying taxes. You build public housing; they don’t pay taxes. [How] is the city going to maintain everything?” said Costa, a founding member of the Newburgh Preservation Association and former Vice President of the Historical Society.

Jiji Johnson, a veteran Navy spouse, discussed her efforts to revive the Newburgh ferry service, which was canceled due to land ownership and MTA control issues. She emphasized the need to address gentrification and its impact on Hispanics and military families. Johnson highlighted the lack of parking infrastructure in Beacon, contrasting it with Newburgh’s availability.

“My biggest push right now is the ferry… I was very upset to hear that they canceled it… I was hoping that maybe we could turn the ferry to a historical ferry, where people are learning about the history, traveling back and forth… [Also] to stop what’s happening now with ICE. ICE is another form of the urban renewal. It’s on a whole ‘nother different spectrum and dealing with the Hispanics… What happens to their land when they’re kicked out of the country. What happens to the property? They’re doing the same exact thing all over again,” said Johnson who plans to start a YouTube channel to raise awareness and combat gentrification aiming to preserve Newburgh’s historical and cultural heritage.
Deliverable One, the research report, is completed with the grant. The city just hired a Historic Preservationist to update the nomination form on the National Historic Registry of Historic Places within the East-End Historic District to include African American history. Another goal is to hire an Educational Consultant to write a K-12 curriculum.

Journalist Ms. Jones