Kingston Stockade District | |
Location | Kingston, NY |
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Coordinates | 41°56′1″N 74°1′10″W / 41.93361°N 74.01944°W |
Area | 32 acres (13 ha)[1] |
Built | 17th-19th centuries[1] |
NRHP reference No. | 75001231 |
Added to NRHP | 1975 |
The Kingston Stockade District is an eight-block area in the western section of Kingston, New York, United States, commonly referred to as Uptown Kingston. It is the original site of the mid-17th century Dutch settlement of Wiltwyck, which was later renamed Kingston when it passed to English control.
It is the only one of three original Dutch settlements in New York surrounded by stockades where the outline of the stockade is still evident due to the raised ground. Within the area are many historic buildings from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, including the original Ulster County courthouse, the Senate House where the state of New York was established in 1777, and the Old Dutch Church designed by Minard Lafever, a National Historic Landmark. Some survived the burning of Kingston by British forces during the Revolutionary War. The intersection of Crown and John streets has Colonial-era Dutch stone houses on all four corners, the only intersection in the country where this is so.
In 1970 the area in the vicinity of the Senate House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Clinton Avenue Historic District. Five years later, as the historic value of the entire uptown area became apparent, the larger Stockade District was created, subsuming the original one. The formal recognition of its historic importance has led to contentious battles in local government over proposals to redevelop the area.