AS I REMEMBER Frank V. Mylod *
Sixty years ago in Poughkeepsie, a boy's entertainment was no better than his own imagination but he had quite a territory to cover in those days in search of adventure. The Hudson River vvas the western limit of the territory we roamed and it provided a variety of diversions. Much of that boundary has changed drast;cally since those early days and, for any recollection of how things were then, we must now resort to meffiory. We early learned that the river alternately flowed north and south, changing every six hours giving high tide and low tide. Our tour north along the shore begins at the old Main Street dock which projected into the river directly in line with the street. The north half of the dock was open and ran along the piles of the ferry slip. The south half was covered. There was an old hotel build ing on the south side of the street adjoining the dock and extending back along the shore. The Jacob Tremper, The Martin and other freight boats tied up along the wharf and took on their cargo here. The Day Line boats and the Jl1ary Powell also landed at the Main Street dock. On one occasion, the iron steamboat Sirius docked to take on a crowd of mothers and eager children for a sail do,,·n the river as the guests of Robert W. Chandler \\·ho was running for Dutchess County Sheriff. ( He also had a clambake for the farm vote and became known as "Sheriff Bob.") From time to time we Yvere "resident engineers," brought to the �cene to plan the recovery of one of the trolley cars which had run off the end of the dock into the river. All that remains now .at the foot of Main Street is a narrow pier used mostly by heirs of the perennial fish ermen. Whether thev still tie their lines to an umbrella rib with a bell on the end, I do not know. Hard by the old Main Street dock was the ferry slip used by the Brinkerhoff and in later years also by the Poughkeepsie, the first electric ferry boat. The slip's bulkhead could be raised or lowered against the main deck of the ferry to compensate for the rise and fall of the tide. The chain controlling the device rattled music all its own and signalled the prompt rush of wagons and people coming ashore. The only com petition the ferry had at the time was Cashdollar's launch which ran across to "The Oaks," a mile or so below the Highland landing. To request passage in the launch which was moored on the west shore, a white flag was run up a flagpole on Main Street dock. To signal Cashdollar at night, a lantern was run up the pole. The building of the Mid-Hudson Bridge of course eliminated the need for ferries and also eliminated the luxury of riding all afternoon on the upper deck of the Brinkerhoff for ten cents. 'Frank V. Mylod is a life-long resident of Poughkeepsie. He is a Trustee and Secretary of the Historical Society and is the Historian of the City of Poughkeepsie.
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