directing to original research and
commentary from the history community
timeline
Sources: Penn State scan in Hathi Trust of Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester, History of Ulster County, 1880, viewable; searchable on line; not available for full download (available to Partners only);
Library of Congress scan in Hathi Trust of Benjamin Myer Brink, Early History of Saugerties, 1905, viewable; searchable on line; available as a PDF download;
Yale University scan in Hathi Trust of Alphonso T. Clearwater, History of Ulster County, 1905, viewable; searchable on line; available as a PDF download;
Library of Congress scan in Hathi Trust of Marius Schoonmaker, History of Kingston New York, 1888, viewable; searchable on line; available as a PDF download;
Gutenberg project transcription ebook of Cadwallader Colden, The History of the Five Indian Nations of Canada Part I (1727), Part II (1747), viewable on line
1609, Sept. 25th Henry Hudson's first mate, Robert Juet, summarized in his journal a resource survey of what is believed to be the land inland from the outlet of the Esopus Creek at Saugerties
1669, April 9th
Settlement within present Saugerties is documented for the first time in a mention of the footpath to Albany and the Platte Kill Creek as an area described for establishing a Precinct of Kingston around Dutch Settlement (Ruby)
1677, April 27th (after)
a side treaty made after the official Andros Treaty when the Indians said they had not included their Flatbush lands east of the Esopus that they called Tendeyachemech, from Turkey Point to Barclay Heights
1687, May 31st
The Meales and Hayes patents, surveyed in 1685 as Albany county land, are granted with the description that they are located in the "Sagiers"
1687, May 19th
Saugerties falls within the great Kingston Patent that is granted for all land east of the Catskill base to the Hudson River from the Ulster county border with Albany county south to the New Paltz patent
1687, Nov. 27th
The first settlers in Saugerties are documented in the deed to John and Hannah Wood out of the Meales and Hayes patent for land they had already settled along the south bank of the Esopus within the present day Esopus Bend Conservancy
1688, May 27th
Half of present day Saugerties becomes part of a royal charter given for governing the territory granted as the Kingston Patent when it is incorporated as the Town of Kingston
1710-11
The large Palatine immigration into West Camp that resulted in the settlement of the part of Saugerties that was in Albany County being absorbed into the Town of Kingston
1765
homesteads and roads of Saugerties are surveyed along the boundary line between Ulster and Albany counties from the Sawyer Creek outlet through the Woodstock valley by William Cockburn
1777, Oct.
British fleet anchored in the Hudson channel north of the Esopus shoals burned and shelled riverfront interests of the Livingstons at the landings of Saugerties
1803, March
The Trustees of the Corporation of Kingston voted to divide the Kingston Patent's common lands into lots and sell them to resident freeholders of the colonial Town of Kingston
1811, April 5
The land of the Town of Kingston north of the Platte Kill and the second and seventh classes of Kingston Commons lots are incorporated as the Town of Saugerties
1825, Aug. 9
The ledger book of Henry Barclay records contracts paying John Wurts $28,840 and John Bolton $15,000 to construct his dam, waterworks and mills in Saugerties at the same time these contractors are beginning the D&H canal
1825, Sept. 27 to Dec. 30
The ledger book of Henry Barclay lists contracts to pay a total of $24,910 to Isaac T. Perry as the drives and machinery for America's first machine to produce a continuous web of paper is installed and made operational in Saugerties
1827, Sept. 29
Contracts, agreements and deeds record West Point Foundry principles buying Henry Barclay's developed iron works and all the land that is now Cantine Island
1827, March
John Kiersted laid out the Livingston and Barclay division and also his own land south of Main street, naming the original streets and lot numbers of the village of Saugerties
1828
A charter is given for the Saugerties and Woodstock turnpike company to improve the old Livingston road from the village of Saugerties to Shandaken
1828, April
John Simmons is employed to develop double puddling furnaces at the iron works and the first purified iron in America is made at Saugerties
1831, April 26
The village of Saugerties is incorporated as Ulster by Henry Barclay merging his mill interests at Ury on the rim of Barclay Heights with the town's business interests centered on the Main and Market terminus of the turnpike
1831
The Town's manufacturing and industrial interests begin with Silas Brainard's commercial bluestone quarrying in Centerville, Matthew Laflin's gunpowder manufacturing on the Platte Kill falls at Fish Creek and Edward Clark's white lead paint manufacturing at the Glenerie falls.
1835, Oct. 29
beginning entry in Edward Clark's letter book for his Great Falls Manufacturing Company that chronicles his business over a seven year period giving a first hand account of business life in Saugerties
1835
James Eights runs a transit from atop the Catskills through the Glenerie falls to the Hudson river below Glasco for publication in the January, 1836 issue of The Zodiac, a science and arts magazine, as one of the earliest geological surveys in America
1837
The steamboat Commodore Vanderbilt, is the first to enter the Esopus to Barclay's docks and begin scheduled service from the village of Saugerties
1840, Feb.
The original Barclay bridge was destroyed and replaced with the longest Burr arch bridge in New York, built by Ralph Bigelow who had built Trinity church a decade before
1844
Renwick and Battelle first arrive in Saugerties to take over Edward Clark's white lead works at Glenerie and operate it as the Ulster White Lead Works.
1850
The steam ferry "Airline" begins regular service from Saugerties village to the warehouses at Tivoli Landing carrying goods for the steamboats and soon after, the railroad
1853
John B. Sheffield takes over management of the Barclay family paper mill after Henry Barclay's death in 1851, making it into J. B. Sheffield and Company in 1858
1858, Feb.
Henry Barclay's 1825 stone dam broke and was replaced under an agreement between the paper mill and iron works that gave Ulster Iron Works priority rights to the power and removed the rights of mills on the opposite side of the new dam
1872, June
Barclay's original paper mill burned and a new mill replaced it built by William R. Sheffield, becoming the first of several new Sheffield buildings built up to 1888
1875, Jan. - Dec.
The Pearl is published in 12 monthly issues with three photographs of local scenes taken by Edward Jurnegan pasted in each copy and writings by Leon Barritt primarily on the Saugerties history and period observations
1877, June
The Long Dock opens on lands patented to Joseph B. Sheffield from the State of New York specifically for construction and use of a public transportation facility
1883, July
The 1881 right-of-way purchases for a north extension of the Wallkill R.R. are traded to the West Shore R.R. and construction through Saugerties is completed
1884
The iron works shut down and its land and buildings and water rights are sold to W. R. Sheffield by William Mulligan
1886
William Henry Parsons replaces the iron works with a mill for an experimental process to make wood pulp for paper making
1887
Water from the reservoir in Blue Mountain begins to be piped into the village and crosses the bridge to supply water pressure to hydrants at the mills
1887
the first Sanborn Insurance maps are made for the Village of Saugerties in a period of transition from water power to steam and electricity and from river transportation to the railroad
1888
Martin Cantine's coating mill is built and the Sheffield's "bindery" is built initiating the industries that will be Saugerties mainstays for the next 90 years
1891
An electricity generating plant at the old Baptist church on Partition street delivered the first electricity for use in the village
1895
The Ulster White Lead Works is bought by the lead trust, is shut down with all of its equipment moved to lead trust producers in the west
1899-1906
The Ulster White Lead Company property is the site of a proposed dam by the Roanoke Water Company (1899), a crafts colony by Boston investors (1902), and a hydroelectric dam by John Sands (1904) until the legislature gives New York City the water rights to the Esopus Creek for the Ashokan Reservoir in 1906 taking away its water advantages
1902
Edwin Gould takes over the iron works first right to water power and transfers them to Martin Cantine for electric generation after a court settlement gave ownership of the mill pond and bed of the Esopus and second right to the water power to the Sheffield family trust.
1914
The Tissue Factory is built by Martin Cantine alongside the West Shore R. R. tracks as the first mill in Saugerties not related to water power or water transportation
1929
The third dam in the village, replacing the wood dam built in 1858, is made of concrete and designed by engineers at the Diamond Paper Mill, and declared by co-builder Martin Cantine to be more for aesthetic and recreational use of the pond than for power
1939
Harvey Fite purchases the Ben Myers quarry and begins Opus 40
1942
The route of a super highway across New York is placed on maps for the first time and Saugerties is marked as an initial section to be developed, called the "Catskill Thruway"
1948
the part of the Martin Cantine Valley Farm in the village that was sold to Knaust Brothers in 1936 is developed by them as the first expansion of housing since the 1880's
1951, July 4
The section of the thruway from State Rt. 212 and Rt. 32 at Saugerties to Brick Schoolhouse Road at State Rt. 23 near Catskill opens to regular automobile use
1957
The new Mount Marion school and the high school open as Saugerties begins planning for a residential base that over the next two decades doubles its population.
1969-1989
The paper mill shuts down (1969) and is demolished; the Cantine mill shuts down and burns to the ground (1978) and the F. L. Russell Bindery moves to the town, is sold and finally closed down, ending a hundred and sixty years of local industry
1984
The Main and Partition Streets National Register Historic District is created
1990, August 4th
The Saugerties lighthouse restoration is completed after it had been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979
1994, August
The 25th Anniversary of the Woodstock Festival is the first use of the Winston Farm as a concert site and attracts record crowds and international attention to Saugerties
2000
The Saugerties Historical Society purchases the Kiersted House and it becomes a National Register historic property
2003
The part of the Valley Farm outside the village is developed by Horseshows In The Sun (HITS) and Saugerties begins applying a Comprehensive Plan as a tourist destination
