Newburgh NY - Industrialization, Revitalization and Crime

From Mick Melvin:

I travel often from Connecticut to Pennsylvania to visit family and friends. I take Route 84 west to New York on most trips to avoid going through NYC. I have to cross the Newburgh Bridge in New York as I make my way down. I stopped in the town of Newburgh on one trip to get some gas, which sparked my interest in the town. I made a plan to stop there on a recent visit to see my father on Good Friday and I’m glad I stopped through.

I did a bit of research beforehand to get a lay of the land. I spotted a factory along the Hudson River so I figured it would be a good spot to start. The factory was once the site of The Newburgh Steam Mills on North Water St. The building was built in the mid 1800’s and brought a lot of business and employment to the area. The factory, which processed cotton, employed over 300 employees. As this was my first time in the area, I only took a few shots of the building from the street side, but I found out later that I could have walked behind the building also. (Next time!)

The building was bought and transformed into a lawnmower factory in the late 1800’s after the decline of cotton manufacturing. The Chadborn & Coldwell Manufacturing Company of Newburgh operated into the 1940’s before eventually merging with Toro brand lawnmowers. The building was once again sold and transformed into the Regal Bag Company. The company ran the business from the property for almost 73 years and sold it in 2024.

The building now contains businesses on the 5th and 6th floors. On the 6th floor, there is a company that makes backdrops for Broadway shows. The fifth floor has many spaces for artists and artist studios. Fun fact - the building is listed in Ripley’s Believe It or Not! as the only building that has its main entrance on the 6th floor.

After taking a few shots, I ventured closer to the marina to check out some sites along the Hudson River. There were other brick buildings that also looked to be former factories/businesses. Most of the buildings have been transformed into restaurants. The weather was nice for an early spring day, which brought a pretty good amount of people to the area. I’m sure that the area will be much busier with the weather getting warmer. I’ll have to go back later in the spring or summer to see.

My curiosity for something more “Backside” drew me even closer to the water. To my delight, I spotted a few old vessels docked along the shore. I don’t know what these vessels were used for or how long they were left there, but it lets us know there was some shipping activity along this part of the Hudson River.

Being so close to the shore gave me a great view of the town of Beacon across the river. The Newburgh-Beacon ferry can be taken from the marina back and forth across the Hudson River connecting Newburgh and Beacon, N.Y. The ferries only run on weekdays as a rush-hour service for commuters to NYC. Ferries are timed to connect at Beacon with Metro-North trains to and from Grand Central.

I will definitely be back to take more shots in this interesting town. My research of the town led me to the fact that Newburgh is in the top 10 of cities in the U.S. in violent crime. I will have to be careful when taking a trip further into the town. The town is in the process of revitalizing the area as it is reported that there is much blight like a lot of towns in the U.S. I’m anxious to view some of the old architecture and layout of downtown Newburgh. I will keep you all posted. Wish me luck!

In SoWa, Connecting Past and Present at Reed's Block

From That Same Old Guy:

Located in Boston's art-centric SoWa neighborhood, the former Reed's Block building is immense and has a cool, vibrant history that connects nicely to its present-day functions.

"Reed's Block is probably the earliest example in Boston of a building designed specifically to house a variety of small industrial firms," according to this 1995 South End Historical Society Newsletter. Completed in 1881, the building is 634 feet long, 50 feet wide and four stories tall.

Among the early tenants of Reed's Block were a piano manufacturer and a buttonhole machinery company, per the historical society's newsletter. In all, there were roughly 40 small manufacturing companies here in the building's heyday. While there don't appear to be any manufacturers here today, there are several art galleries -- Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, Fountain Street Gallery, Galatea Fine Art, Alpha Gallery -- in addition to artist agency Canvas Fine Arts, other businesses and some apartments. I have no idea what went on here before the galleries took over many years ago. I'm guessing there were other small businesses and possibly some period of time when Reed's Block may have been empty.

The number of galleries isn't surprising, given that SoWa (South of Washington) has long been home to artists of all sorts, from painters and sculptors to those working in ceramics, clothing and furniture, as well as boutiques, funky restaurants and vintage shops. The neighborhood is home to the SoWa Open Market, where 175 creative types of all sorts sell their wares amid food trucks and musicians each Sunday from May to October.

From the official SoWa web site:

"If Boston was a person, SoWa would be its creative side. Its independent streak. Its curiosity. Because here imagination has created a corner of the city filled with the eclectic and the unexpected. Where one-of-a-kind restaurants, galleries, and small business are run by one-of-a-kind people. Where food is sold by farmers, beer sold from barns, and art is sold where art is made. People don’t just visit SoWa. They live it. They taste it. They experience it. Explore your creative side. Explore SoWa."

I've only been to the SoWa Market once, but I hope to get there on a more regular basis. For more about this artsy area of Boston's South End, see June 29, 2019, "Back Streets, Oh Boy."

SECOND UPDATE: Your Standard Empty Plant

From Dave Brigham:

Ten years ago the Standard-Thomson factory in Waltham, Mass., went quiet. A manufacturer of automotive thermostats, the company moved its operations to other plants in the U.S. and Mexico. After scaling back operations for some time, Standard-Thomson had only 86 employees left here by the end. Some of them transferred to other company facilities (see November 21, 2015, "Your Standard Empty Plant"). In early 2016, a Chicago real estate developer, Hilco Redevelopment Partners, announced a plan to spend $30 million to revitalize three brick-and-beam buildings from the 1940's on the site (see November 4, 2017, "UPDATE: Your Standard Empty Plant").

Now known as The Gauge, in a nod to the site's past history, the property looks really good, and is available for lease. There are 130,000 square feet of office and R&D space, according to Hilco.

I'm really happy this site was redeveloped, rather than torn down. This is the second time I've posted a second update to a post (see March 2, 2013, "Rebuilding the Lost City: SECOND UPDATE," about a redevelopment project just a little more than a mile away from the former Standard plant.).