Names and Places in the Town of LaGrange

NAMES AND PLACES IN THE TOWN OF LAGRANGE

Edmund Van Wyck

During a conversation with some fellow residents of the Town of LaGrange I happened to mention some area by names familiar to me. Promptly came the query, "Now where in the world is that place?". So that the new friends of our Town will know what we old timers are talking about, I have located a few of these "places" geographically.

Freedom Plains. This is the name by which the broad, flat lands on either side of Route 55 were called after the formation of the Town of Freedom in 1821. Sprout Creek runs the length of the area, but the name today is more or less localized in the vicinity of the Presbyterian Church. The name continued after the town became LaGrange in 1826.

Titusville. The Titus family established a woolen mill along this section of the Wappingers Creek in 1825. The "vine" consisted of four proprietor's houses, five or six multiple family frame dwellings which housed the mill hands, a school house and a chapel. The mill burned just before 1900, the workers' houses soon fell in disrepair and were torn down, the school was abandoned and the chapel was moved to Manchester.

Sprout Creek, Noxon. The little piece of highway between the north end of Robinson Lane and the bridge over the Sprout on the present Noxon Road was known at various times as "Sprout Creek" and "Noxon". It boasted a tavern, the building now owned by the artist Emile Walters, a store, a post office and a doctor. "Noxon" derives its identify from the Noxon family which lived there until the early 1900's.

Manchester Bridge. This name originally referred to the complex of brick houses below the road just west of Route 55 which recently have been demolished. When the Bradbury, Priestly and Robinson paper mill was in operation, there was a two story four-family stone house on the opposite side of the old road. Also there were two frame houses on the bank of the head race behind the brick houses and two more on the lane that led to the mill on the south. A bell in the cupola of the boiler room was rung every day at twenty minutes past eleven o'clock so that the wives would know when to put .the potatoes on for dinner. It was known, of course, as the "potatoe bell". The mill burned down on December 29, 1880, and the name has now migrated eastward to include a commercial area in LaGrange and still further eastward a mile or two to "Manchester Heights".

Meddaugh Town, Overlook. Meddaugh Town was the name of the settlement around the junction of the present Overlook and Cramer Roads. Formerly the name was pronounced "Meddick", then about fifty years ago it began to be called "Overlook". "Domine" Phillips lived in the house on the

corner and Julian Bloomer had a general store down by the brook. John Logan had a carriage, wagonmaking and paint shop, and there was a school house just across the road. There were a half dozen or more houses along Cramer Road.

Morey's Corner. East of Route 82, where Noxon, Cross and Upton Roads all come together, was the place known as Morey's Corners. Morey was a busy man. He had a grist mill, a fulling mill, a distillery, and a few other little things going for him, not forgetting of course a tavern. The "town" of Morey's Corners moved to the west when the Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Rail Road was built. And in planning the new metropolis of Morey's Corners a lot was set aside for the erection of a bank. Dreams, dreams!

Moores Mills. In the early 1750's the Moore family first settled on the old Oswego Road and established a grist mill which was operated by the original settler and his descendents for nearly 200 years. The village of Moores Mills had a store, a school house and later on a railroad station. And the Quakeress Susan Moore's famous Floral Home, a boarding house was at Moores Mills.

Billings, Billings Gap. Billings was distinguished perhaps because it did not have a school house. It did have a store, a boot and shoe maker, a very flourshing feed and grist mill, and in later years a processing plant. Billings Gap was the water gap west of Billings where both the road and the brook break through between the hills on either hand.

Van Benschoten Hill. Beginning at Apple Valley on Route 55, Van Benschoten Hill tops at Redl's junk yard. The Van Benschoten family were the original settlers along there and owned both sides of the road which was then known as the Oswego Road.

Jewell's Hill. East of Van Benschoten Hill was the last step before you came out on the Freedom Plains Road. The old road is not even close to the new one, for it same out on Lauer Road north of the present intersection. It turned left to pass in front of the Phillips house and the Little Red School House. This part of the highway is now Dr. Fink Road. Dr. Fink practiced medicine in the Town for many years. He lived and had his office where Ralph Burdick now resides.

Todd Hill Road. LaFayette Todd lived on this road and built the house where the Blake family are living today.

While many roads in LaGrange were named for a family that lived there, many others were named because of a steep hill on the road. The hills were a real factor in the life of the Town. In the first place the roads, both up and down, were hard to maintain because of constant wear and tear and

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the washing away during the wet weather. Whether you were hauling hogs, hay or humans, it was necessary to load according to the hills that had to be climbed and the ability of your draft animals to haul your wagon. The Owego Road is without doubt the oldest named road in the Township. It crossed the Wappingers via DuBois Bridge which was near the large Greenvale Farms house, through the Creek meadows to the east, and then up the bank to the Titusville Road opposite the Rothenburgh horn; formerly the Storm place in 1821. Owego Road followed Titusville Road over Merry Hill, which used to be Murray Hill, until it came to Apple Valley at the foot of Van Benschoten Hill, over that hill to Freedom Plains, and Billings Gap to Billings. From Billings the road turned north to Moores Mills, then east to Oswego Village which was once part of LaGrange, now Union Vale.

Sanke Hill is the rocky, cedar covered hill a little east of the Parkway south of Route 55, where they cross at Freedom Plains. It has the reputation of being infested with copperheads, a matter I have never investigated.

Pond Gut is a little, narrow fiat bottomed valley at the northern end of the "Plains", near the present Hunt Club 110. It encloses the outlet brook of Tyrrell Lake. The Pond Gut Road, now deadended, formerly continued through the Innis free property to Tyrrell Road, and there used to be a road from it to the west which came out on Downing Road at the foot of the steep hill.

An Ordinance Relating to Public Health, Cleanliness, and Obstructing, Encumbering and Misusing the Streets, Passed May 25, 1847.

Sec. 2. No person shall obstruct the walks laid across the public streets in the City of Poughkeepsie, by placing or stopping his or her carriage upon or across any of the walks . . . under penalty of one dollar fine for each offence. Sec. 10. Any persons, during any holliday who shall collect in numbers in any street for the purpose of joining dancing or any other amusement, shall forfit ten dollars for every offence. Sec. 23. No physician or other person shall inoculate any person for the small pox, under the penalty of twenty-five dollars for each inoculation