Postal Milemarker 83

HPC_milemarker_0000_hs_pm8383 Miles to N. York

Location:

This stone is on the west side of Route 9 in the Town of Poughkeepsie just north of North Gate at Marist College, a quarter-mile north of Fulton Street. Coordinates are 41.726832, -73.932647. The stone is on the property of Marist College and a NYSDOT easement [4].

History:

In 1934, the Dutchess County Historical Society’s Committee on Milestones [1] surveyed “the few remaining brownstone mile posts located on the Albany Post Road” between Wappingers Falls and the Dutchess-Columbia County line. They located milestone “83 Miles to N. York” 1.8 miles north of Poughkeepsie Court House.

In a 1987 Cultural Resources Survey Report [2], the milestone was identified and photographed on the west side of Route 9 along with two other milestones within the project limits. The report stated that “[i]mplementation of road construction as it is presently planned would necessitate the destruction or removal of all three mile markers.” (The report, which cites information from the Dutchess County Driving Tour, incorrectly states that the stones were “capped with fieldstones for protection” during Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration as Governor of New York between 1928 and 1932; however per the DCHS 1935 Year Book, the stones were not protected until their efforts in 1935.)

The stone appears to be unchanged from the 1980s [3] to 2021.

Sources:

[1] Dutchess County Historical Society Year Book, 1935, page 17 “Report of Committee on Milestones Read at Annual Meeting in May, 1935”, https://books.google.com/books?id=E9spAQAAMAAJ

[2] 1987 Cultural Resources Survey Report prepared by the New York State Museum for NYSDOT Project identification number 8040.86 for a project along Route 9 between Marist College and St. Andrews Road, page 65

[3] Marist College Archives & Special Collections on-line exhibit “The Milestones of Dutchess County”, http://library.marist.edu/archives/DCM/index.html [link broken as of 7/14/21]

[4] 8/11/2021 phone conversation between Stephanie Lewison and Justin Butwell, Marist College’s Director of Physical Plant Management