THE HUCKLEBUSH LINE by Keith MacPhail During the latter part of the nineteenth century, Dutchess County along with the rest of the United States entered a period of rapid industrial and agricultural development. In order to support this new growth, a network of independent railroads was incorporated throughout the county and the nation. The following is a brief history of one such independent railroad which served northern Dutchess County and western Connecticut. The Hucklebush Line was a local nickname attached to the Rhinebeck and Connecticut Railroad which originated at Rhinecliff, New York, ran to State Line and eventually terminated in Hartford, Connecticut. The Rhinebeck and Connecticut Railroad Company was incorporated under the general railroad laws of New York State on June 29, 1870. The Company was organized by the owners of the Roundout and Oswego Railroad with the certificate of incorporation dated April 25, 1870, being filed with the Secretary of the State of New York on June 29, 1870. The officers and trustees of the railroad, according to an 1873 document describing the Western Terminus (Rhinecliff), were as follows: Edwin Martin, President; Anthony Benson, Secretary-Treasurer; Thomas Cornell; Richard G. Townshend; H. Shoomaker, William B. Platt; Ambrose Wager; James P. Gould, Chief Engineer; and James H. Jones, Superintendent. The original plan was to construct a railroad from Roundout, New York on the West bank of the Hudson River to the Connecticut State Line near Millerton and to further build a bridge across the Hudson from Roundout, New York to Rhinecliff, New York, connecting this Railroad with the Roundout and Oswego Railroad (Ulster-Delaware) thus creating a continuous line from the Great Lakes at Oswego to the manufacturing districts of the East. Of course, the proposed bridge was never constructed and plans were altered to construct the railroad from Rhinecliff, New York to the Connecticut State Line near Millerton, a distance of 41.6 miles. A survey of the right-of-way began in December 1870. However, due to a delay in the raising of funds, actual construction of the road did not begin until October of 1871. Some townships through which the line was to pass voted financial assistance to the Company while others did not. It is interesting to note that an original survey planned the right-of-way to the Village of Rhinebeck to pass through Springbrook Farms a portion of which is now occupied by the Dutchess County Fairgrounds. Due to community resistance, this route was changed in favor of the right-of-way which ran northwest of present-day Route 9. In 1874, twenty-eight miles of mainline were completed, extending the railroad from Rhinecliff on the Hudson to a point between Ancram and Copake, New York. The remaining 7.2 miles to Boston Corners were completed and opened to the public on April 4, 1875. Connections between Boston Corners and State Line, New York, a distance of 6.4 miles, were made over the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railroad. On April 12, 1875, a lease was made by Jacob P. Carpenter of the Poughkeepsie and Eastern to secure the use of Poughkeepsie and
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