KINGSTON
LOCATION
Kingston is located along the Hudson River Ulster County, New York. The Catskill Mountains lie in the western edge of the county.

Principal villages near Kingston include Hurley & Wilbur.
HISTORY
Origins
Ulster County was originally settled by Dutch immigrants to New Amsterdam.

17th Century
1614: Dutch establish first settlement in the area - a trading post. The post is immediately destroyed by the local Native Americans.

1652: Dutch from Albany establish a walled village on the site of modern Kingston - first called Esopus.

1653: Dutch purchase land from the Esopus, a tribe of the Delaware Nation.

1655: Dutch again driven out by Indian uprising.

1658: Peter Stuyvesant, Governor of the Dutch colony, brings soldiers up and builds a stockade at Esopus for new settlers to live in (31 May). The palisades stand eight feet above the ground and protect what is now an area of about eight square blocks. Village of Rondout established.

1659: Through some misunderstandings, Indians and Esopus colonists begin armed conflict.

1660: A treaty is signed, ending the first Esopus War (15 July). Domine Hermannus Blom becomes the first minister of the Dutch Church of Esopus (Kingston). He records the first record of the church, a marriage ceremony (03 October).

1661: Stuyvesant renames Esopus 'Wiltwyck' (Wild District). First independent local government formed (16 May).

1662: Emigrants from Kingston form the New Dorp (New Village) - site of present day Old Hurley.

1663: Indians attack New Dorp (07 June). On the same day, Wiltwyck is also attacked and nearly desroyed. With help from Albany, the Ulster county Indians are completely wiped out.

1664: King Charles II grants his brother James, the Duke of York, all the lands between the Connecticut and the Delaware Rivers. Stuyvesant refuses to give up New Netherlands, but most of the settlers realize that resistance is futile, and persuade Stuyvesant to yield. England renames the Colony 'New York'. Wiltwyck also renamed - Kingston.

1667: A new charter is given to the settlers of the Kingston area. Local government is placed in the hands of twelve trustees, five of whom form the court.

1683: Ulster County becomes one of the first 10 New York counties (01 November).

1684: Original court buildings erected.

18th Century
1732: New court buildings erected.

1777: In September, John Jay and other leading patriots meet in a stone house in Kingston to declare the province a sovereign state. They establish the first New York State Senate. In a nearby building, the first State Assembly meets. Kingston becomes New York State's first capital. One month later, Kingston is burned to the ground by the British (16 October).

19th Century
1805: Tobias Van Buren appointed president of the board of directors at a meeting held at the house of Evert Bogardus, innkeeper (11 May). This marks the beginning of modern Kingston.

1807: Robert Fulton pilots his steamship, Clermont, north up the Hudson River (from New York City to Albany), making the run of 150 miles against the current in a then-stunning 32 hours.

1816: Government structure reformed.

1828: The Delaware & Hudson Canal Company opened a new canal, which brought coal from Carbondale, PA, to downtown Kingston and then on to New York City.

1840: The population of Rondout reaches 1500. There are 200 houses, two churches, six hotels and taverns, 25 stores, three freighting companies, a tobacco factory, a gristmill, four boatyards, two dry docks, and the main offices of the Delaware and Hudson lined the banks of the Rondout Creek.

1855: Rondout's population reaches 6,000 residents, finally surpassing the village of Kingston.

1868: Saint Joseph's Roman Catholic Parish is founded.

1872: Villages of Rondout and Kingston combined - City of Kingston formed.

1875: Stone from the Hurley area quarries is cut for the Brooklyn Bridge.

1899: The D&H Canal is closed.

20th Century
1917: Ashokan Reservoir completed. Villages north and west of Hurley submerged.

1932: Only a few small industrial companies still operate in the river town of Rondout.

SOURCES

LINKS
Kingston, NY, History
New York State History & Genealogy
Timeline of New York History