A HISTORY OF GARFIELD PLACE, POUGHKEEPSIE by Dr. Susan Luskin Puretz
Historical research is time consuming and frustrating, but when the pieces finally fall into place, it is its own rare reward. That statement recapitulates the year of 1971 for this author. it was during that time that the major portion of the research was done which lead to the authentication of Garfield Place, Poughkeepsie, New York, as an Historic District. This was a noteworthy accomplishment because Garfield Place is contiguous with an inner city area which will hopefully be protected by the legislation which resulted from the research. By this protection, a functioning part of the city would be allowed to maintain its Victorian residential character within the confines of the city. This would preserve a part of the city's heritage and prevent the area from becoming an anonymous city block, stripped of its uniqueness by the processes of attrition and creeping urban blight. Additionally, this project was a grassroots movement supported by the owners and residents of Garfield Place and is indicative of legislation which can be enacted with residential support and action. On October 4, 1971, the City of Poughkeepsie Common Council officially declared Garfield Place to be an Historic District. In effect, it legalized a claim that began with the publication in 1969 of Landmarks of Dutchess County 1683-1867, Architecture Worth Saving in New York State by the Dutchess County Planning Department in cooperation with the New York State Council on the Arts, and was culminated on July 20, 1972, when the New York State Historic Trust officially nominated Garfield Place to the National Register of Historic Places. Finalization from Washington occured on November 29, 1972. However, before the proposal ever underwent the legal processes involved in creating recognized historic districts and landmarks, literally hundreds of hours were spent in researching the history of the area. This work culminated in the publication of Historic Garfield Place: A Study of a Victorian Street in an Urban Setting, by Susan L. Puretz. The major primary sources for this research were the Deeds on file in the Dutchess County Clerk's Office, the Poughkeepsie City Directories (1843-present), and the City of Poughkeepsie Tax Records (from 1855). From the Deeds, it was ascertained that Garfield Place originally was part of the Van Kleeck farm, c. 1760. In a 1799 map made by Henry Livingston at the time of the incorporation of Poughkeepsie into a village, the "White House" of the Van Kleeck's was indicated. Beginning in 1805, some years after the death of Lawrence Van Kleeck and the division of his property among his five heirs, Bronson French, a Poughkeepsie resident, started acquiring title to this 53 3/4 acre tract. The land then became known as the "French Place." French sold this property in 1836 to a group of businessmen, namely, J. Barnes, C. Barker, G. Conies and R. Varick, for the sum of $25,437.50. At that time additional maps (74 and 84 by Henry Whinfield) of the area
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