Stephen Blauweiss and Karen Berelowitz tell the origin story of New York’s first capital city in the recently published The Story of Historic Kingston, a kind of documentary film in book form. (With Lynn Woods, Blauweiss codirected Lost Rondout, documenting urban renewal’s effect on the city’s waterfront neighborhood.) Over 950 photos, maps, and drawings are spread across 475 pages in the book, weaving together a town history that dates back to the Ice Age. The book is broken into two parts—the Ulster County section takes readers through the land’s earliest recorded history through the mid-20th century. It also includes details about the construction of some of the area’s iconic landmarks, including the Wurts Street Bridge and the James Taylor Knox-designed post office, which was torn down in 1969 and replaced with a Jack in the Box. Historic Kingston, the book’s second section, takes a deeper look at the city’s neighborhoods, detailing life in the city through historic photographs and ephemera.
—Brian K. Mahoney

Opened in 1897, the Kingston Point Park was designed by Downing Vaux and included lush gardens as well as a Ferris wheel, carousel, movie theater, dance hall, and convention center. Photo courtesy Library of Congress
Colonial trolley near City Hall, circa 1900 (Friends of Historic Kingston)
Hutton Brickyard, seen here in 1939, operated continuously from 1865 until 1980, one of many brickyards in the region that produced up to one billion bricks a year, mainly used for construction in New York City (Library of Congress).
The Hudson River Day Line docking at Kingston Point Park circa 1910. Prior to World War I, visitors to the park reached 8,000 per day. Photo courtesy Friends of Historic Kingston
The old Kingston Post Office, demolished in 1969 (private collection)
Lower Broadway in the Rondout, circa 1906 (Jack Matthews Collection)
Shopkeepers sweep Wall Street after the rain, 1874 (Friends of Historic Kingston)
The Shanty Army-Navy Store on the corner of North Front and Fair streets was torn down in the ‘60s (Gene Dauner)
A crowd waiting to board the train at Union Station, 1944 (Bob Haines Collection)
Wall Street in 1966 and now (Friends of Historic Kingston)
Woolworth Building on Wall Street, mid-’60s (Friends of Historic Kingston)

Brian is the editorial director for the Chronogram Media family of publications. He lives in Kingston with his partner Lee Anne and the rapscallion mutt Clancy.