Main Street to Mainframes

Clyde C. Griffen, Harvey K. Flad

Description

The history of growth, decline, and revitalization in Poughkeepsie, New York, parallels that of many other small northeastern cities. Main Street to Mainframes tells the story of Poughkeepsie's transformation over the past three centuries—from an agricultural market town, to a small city with a diversified economy centered on Main Street, to an urban region dependent on the success of one corporation—and how this transformation has affected the lives and landscape of its inhabitants. As it adjusted to major changes in agriculture, transportation, and industry, Poughkeepsie was also shaped by the forces and tensions of immigration and race. The voices of immigrant and migrant newcomers, from the Germans, Irish, and African Americans of the nineteenth century to the Italians, Poles, and Latinos of the twentieth, enliven the narrative and offer personal perspectives on the social and demographic shifts that have taken place over the years. The book also places Poughkeepsie in the context of the mid–Hudson Valley's other cities—Kingston, Newburgh, and Hudson—as they competed from the colonial period onward. Finally, the book examines recent revitalization efforts based on tourism, culture, and the arts.

More than just a local history, Main Street to Mainframes addresses important issues in urban and regional planning, community development, and sociology. Like a palimpsest, Poughkeepsie shows how past landscapes live on in the present, and how, over time, popular perceptions both shape and reflect urban and rural realities.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I. Before 1900

1. The Valley Setting

2. Poughkeepsie Grows from Village to City

3. Improvements and Conflicts in the Late Nineteenth Century

Part II. A Diversified Industrial Economy and Society

4. The Cityscape at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

5. A New Wave of Immigrants Changes the Citizenry

6. Municipal Reform and Urban Planning

7. Changes to the Space Economy Between the Wars

8. Business and Labor in the 1920s and 1930s

9. Depression in FDR’s Home County

Part III. IBM Remakes the Region as Its Largest Employer

10. Technological Revolution Transforms the Region: IBM

11. IBM Triumphs with the 360 Mainframe Computer

12. The Quest for Inner-City Revitalization: Urban Renewal

13. Social Planning—The Model Cities Experiment

14. Issues and Causes of the 1960s

15. Change in Higher Education in the Valley

16. IBM Downsizes, but the Valley Recovers

Part IV. Postindustrial Poughkeepsie and the Valley

17. The Nonprofit Service Sector Grows in Importance

18. Main Street Struggles to Return Amid Suburban Sprawl

19. Civic Identity and Social Change in the 1990s

20. City and Region at the End of the Twentieth Century

21. Main Street and the Twenty-first-Century Cultural Landscape

Epilogue Main Street Revisited

Notes

Annotated Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Local history
• Historical geography
• Region
• History of the Americas
• Regional

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 25 mars 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438426365
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 9 Mo

Extrait

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main street to mainframes

LANDSCAPE AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN POUGHKEEPSIE

H A RV E Y K . F L A D & C LY D E G R I F F E N

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Main Street to Mainframes

SUNY SERI ES, AN AMERI CAN REGI ON: STUDI ES I N THE HUDSON VALLEY

THOMAS S. WERMU TH, EDI TOR

main street to MAINFRAMES

LANDSCAPE AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN POUGHKEEPSIE

HARVEY K. FLAD and CLYDE GRIFFEN

e e excelsioreditions AN IMPRINT OF STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS

The Lucy Maynard Salmon Research Fund of Vassar College provided support for this publication.

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2009 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production and book design, Laurie Searl Marketing, Susan M. Petrie

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Flad, Harvey K., 1938– Main street to mainframes : landscape and social change in Poughkeepsie / Harvey K. Flad and Clyde Griffen. p. cm. — (An American region : studies in the Hudson Valley) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4384-2613-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Poughkeepsie (N.Y.)—History. 2. Poughkeepsie (N.Y.)—Economic conditions. 3. Poughkeepsie (N.Y.)—Social conditions. I. Griffen, Clyde, 1929– II. Title. F129.P9F53 2009 974.7'33—dc22 2008042638

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Mary Flad and Sally Griffen

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L IST OF I LLUSTRATIONS

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

I NTRODUCTION

O NE

T WO

T HREE

F OUR

F IVE

S IX

Contents

PA R T I . B EF O R E 1 9 0 0

The Valley Setting

Poughkeepsie Grows from Village to City

Improvements and Conflicts in the Late Nineteenth Century

PA R T I I . A D I V ER S I F I ED I N D U S T R I A L E CO N O M Y A N D S O C I E T Y

The Cityscape at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

A New Wave of Immigrants Changes the Citizenry

Municipal Reform and Urban Planning

xi

xiii

1

13

27

43

63

81

99

PA R T I V. P O S T I N D U S T R I A L P O U G H K EEP S I E A N D T H E VA LLE Y

CONTENTS

T EN

T WELVE

S EVEN

viii

N INE

Issues and Causes of the 1960s

Depression in FDR’s Home County

The Quest for Inner-City Revitalization: Urban Renewal

259

243

Change in Higher Education in the Valley

S IXTEEN

171

191

207

137

151

121

F OURTEEN

F IF TEEN

T HIRTEEN

307

293

229

273

IBM Triumphs with the 360 Mainframe Computer

IBM Downsizes, but the Valley Recovers

The Nonprofit Service Sector Grows in Importance

E LEVEN

Technological Revolution Transforms the Region: IBM

PA R T I I I . I B M R EM A K E S T H E R E G I O N A S I T S L A R G E S T EM P L OY ER

E IGHT

Social Planning: The Model Cities Experiment

S EVENTEEN

E IGHTEEN

Changes to the Space Economy Between the Wars

Business and Labor in the 1920s and 1930s

Main Street Struggles to Return Amid Suburban Sprawl