Uptown Port Jervis Tour Preview

1

Site of Deer Park Creamery

Site of Deer Park Creamery

2

Constitution Square

Constitution Square is the name of the intersection at Sussex and Hammond Streets. Notice the plaques on the corners for Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and the women and veterans of America. This intersection has and continues to be the center of municipal government. The original city hall was housed in the former Imperial Hotel, pictured here. Today the sign for city hall that was above the doorway, now hangs in the council chambers.

3

Site of the Farnum Building and Post Office

On the north side of Pike Street around Farmer's Market Square stood this ornate 19th century building. The Farnum-Masonic Building was built in 1882 by Peter Farnum. It was home to the National Bank, the post office, the Port Jervis Union and the Masonic temple.

4

Site of the Opera House

At the southeast corner of Hammond and Pike Streets was the Old Opera Building. The opera house was run by George Lea in the late 19th century. Lea, a Frenchborn Englishman was a successful Port Jervis businessman who ran a drugstore here. In 1856, Lea ran the first full page newspaper ad. The ad was run in the New York Herald for his show at the Chinese Assembly Room after the first night was a flop. He paid $212 and the show quickly made a profit after it ran. While in Port Jervis, Lea had a very successful $1 Port Jervis to New York City excursion on the railroad. In 1971, snow on the roof caused much of the opera house building to collapse, killing four people and causing injury to others. The remains of the building, then over a hundred years old, were soon removed. Today the modern building that replaces it is noticable with its murals of local scenes created by Moishe Moskvitchev. Just east of the Opera House on Pike Street was a theater. Its original structure was called the "new theater", not to be confused with the theater/opera house behind on Sussex Street. The later theater on Pike became known as the Strand and the State Theater. The theater was a popular institution in Port Jervis for decades and saw bands perform there in the 1980's, such as Anthrax and Metallica.

5

Tri-States Railroad Museum

The Tri-States Railroad Museum on Pike Street is a small exhibition space in the lobby of this building with display cases and artifacts relating to the railroad history. There are plans for a more permenant home for the museum's collection at the future Port Jervis Transportation Museum at the Erie turntable.

6

Carnegie Library

The Port Jervis Free Library was organized in 1892. Until 1903, it was located on the second floor of the nearby Farnum Building. The new library opened in 1903 and was designed by William S. Ackerman. In 2016, the library opened a permanent photographic exhibit on Stephen Crane.

7

Site of Old Stone Mill

This site along a small outlet stream for the canal was home to a grist mill, also called the Dr. Ball Mill. The structure remained there until a fire destroyed it in the 1990's. Today, there are no signs of the mill or silk factory that was once located here.

8

Site of Nathan Skinner Wagon Factory

Nathan Skinner Wagon Factory, pictured in the 1880s

9

Union House

This inn along the canal was known as the Union House, the Penney Hotel, the Gumaer House, the Colonial Inn and the Olde Canal Inn.

10

Port Jervis Fire Museum

The Fire Museum at 8 Orange Street is housed in the old Maghogomock Hook & Ladder Company building. The museum includes artifacts from the city's fire department including a horse-drawn pumper from 1894. The museum opened in 2007 for the 157th annual Inspection Day Parade, the oldest continuous parade in the US.

11

Hotel Minisink

Hotel Minisink was built in 1924 to accomodate tourists to the area. Today the building, which looks similar to the way it looked when it was a hotel, has been converted to apartments.

12

Orange Square Veterans Memorial

On July 5, 1886, this statue dedicated to honor the 124th Regiment "Orange Blossoms" Company F in front of a crowd of 10,000 people. In 2020, a grant was approved to refurbish the monument.

13

Drew Methodist Church

In 1878, writer and abolitionist, Jonathan Townley Crane and Mary Helen Peck Crane and their nine children moved from Paterson, New Jersey to Port Jervis. Crane served as pastor for the Drew Methodist Church until his death in 1880. A six and a half year old Stephen Crane, along with his brother and future lawyer, William Howe Crane, his sister and writer and teacher, Agnes Elizabeth Crane and his brother Luther Peck Crane, future brakeman and flagman for the Erie Railroad, lived with their family at the parsonage. The original church was destroyed by a windstorm in 1893. The second church was destoryed by a fire nearly one hundred years later. The current structure was built in 1999. The Drew House, the parish house (pictured to the left), was built in 1920 and has since been sold by the church. Today it is a guest house, the Victorian at Orange Square.

14

Site of the Tavern and Home of Peter Kuykendall

This hill was the site of the house and tavern of Peter Kuykendall, which was burned by Brant's Raider on July 20, 1779. Joseph Brant was a Mohawk chief and captain in the British army. Peter Kuykendall is the namesake of Point Peter as well as Peter's Rift + Ledge in the Delaware River.