In June 1962, IBM purchased 450 acres in the Town of East Fishkill, which includes the village of Hopewell Junction and is next door to the village of Wappingers Falls. Almost overnight, the entire area became a company town, as IBM hired thousands of people in what was, at one time, the largest microchip manufacturing center in the world.
The ensuing years of IBM’s downsizing forever altered the economic landscape of the region, but the villages of Hopewell Junction and Wappingers Falls have evolved from their roots to embrace the next chapter in their respective stories. “It’s become much wealthier and affluent than it was when IBM first moved in,” explains Malcolm Mills, director of East Fishkill Historical Society. “It’s almost become a dormitory town for New York City and Westchester.”
Steeped in History
Hopewell Junction owes its existence to an 1873 decision to drop a railroad depot in the middle of what was then empty land. The village grew up around the depot, becoming a center of locomotive repair in the 1880s and eventually growing into a larger population center during the heyday of the railroads.
But the community has not forgotten its roots. In 1995, a group of locals began work on the restoration of the original depot building with the hopes of keeping the past alive. “We are trying to create a museum that will tell the story of Hopewell as it began,” says Paul Stich, the museum chairman of the Hopewell Depot Restoration, who has lived in Hopewell Junction for 40 years.
Post-IBM Rebirth
Even though IBM is no longer the only player in town, it retains a strong presence in the region. “I always considered IBM to be more or less our anchor store,” says John Hickman, supervisor for the Town of East Fishkill, which includes Hopewell Junction. “We have a lot of businesses, a lot of vendors that work for IBM on or off the site.”
Still, IBM alone is no longer enough to sustain the village, and their troubles threatened the town. “When IBM downsized in the `90s, we expected that the whole village was going to die and we were going to have a serious problem,” says Stich. “Didn’t happen. Those young couples from Peekskill and Ossining bought the houses that were being vacated by the IBMers who were being bought out for their retirement. All of a sudden, we have a whole new generation living here.”
Hopewell Junction’s proximity to the Taconic Parkway allows residents to commute into New York City, making it a destination for families looking for room to grow. The influx of people moving in from Westchester and Putnam Counties has turned Hopewell Junction into a family town. The turnaround was so extreme that it was nationally recognized when the village was ranked #31 on Money magazine’s Most Desirable Places to Live for 2005. “We’re very happy with what we feel is the quality of life here,” says Hickman.
A Recreation Haven
Central to that quality of life, and one of the major draws for families, is the immense amount of importance and attention paid to recreational opportunities. “I would say that those who’ve moved into town in the last 25 years are very interested in the recreation facilities for their children,” says Mills.
“One thing the town has always been proud of [is that] we have a lot of different fields and facilities,” says Hickman. “It seems a lot of people have moved here for the quality of life, for the sports.” The Town of East Fishkill has eight different recreation sites, including a swim park, a roller hockey rink, a skate park, six baseball/softball fields, and a large sports complex complete with basketball courts, volleyball courts, and a fully lit utility field for football, soccer, or lacrosse. In all, five outdoor town fields have lights.
One project near and dear to Hopewell Junction is the expansion of the Rail Trail, a walking trail that follows one of the old railroad lines. It begins a few hundred yards from the site of the Hopewell Junction Depot restoration project and, once work is completed on a bridge over a section of Route 55, will lead 12.5 miles to the Walkway Over the Hudson; the bridge is expected to be completed this fall. The completed Rail Trail, and the access to miles of nature along its route, fits right in with the town’s objective to maintain a rustic atmosphere even while transforming into a suburb of New York City. “One of the things that we’ve been working on for the last few years is an open space preservation plan,” says Hickman. “One of the things I don’t want to lose is the beauty of the town. This really is a beautiful town and we’re working hard to maintain that old country type of charm.”
A Tale of Two Villages
Travel about eight miles west from Hopewell Junction, either on Route 376 or along Old Hopewell Road, and you will arrive in the village of Wappingers Falls, another former IBM company town. The village is unusual—it actually exists in parts of two different towns, Wappinger and Poughkeepsie, and if you race past it on the massive, six-lane Route 9 lined with strip malls and big-box stores, you might never even know you’re driving through such a special, picturesque community.
“We’re pretty challenged here to keep that Main Street feeling going because we’re so close to Route 9,” says Matt Alexander, mayor of Wappingers Falls. “But we’re very dedicated to keeping that lifestyle here.” For those looking for the real Wappingers Falls, simply turn in on Route 9A and enter another world.
A Walk Down Main Street USA
“Many people speculate that the village was the setting for It’s a Wonderful Life,” says Mayor Alexander. “We definitely want to keep that atmosphere going. We want to maintain that Hudson River mill town feel.”
Wappingers Falls is a walking town. A focus on smart, mixed-use development has led to the village becoming the second most densely populated municipality in Dutchess County. People live above local shops in the center of town and walk to stores, schools, churches and other services. “There are a lot of people who are moving to Wappingers Falls because they want a walkable, sustainable community,” says Alexander. “They can have their own business and be in the center of everything in Dutchess County.”
“It’s a very pleasant village. People seem to be comfortable here,” says Jane Pells, a resident of Wappingers Falls since 1969. “When I moved here and worked at IBM, Route 9 was a two-lane road and you used to have to get out in the morning and run the geese off the road so you could get through and go to work. Wappinger Falls is still the comfortable place it was when I moved here.”
A Waterfront Village
Though Wappingers Falls is not on the Hudson River, it has a strong connection to open water. “The other thing that’s nice about Wappingers Falls is our access to our waterfront,” says Mayor Alexander. “We have a lake, we have Wappinger Creek that goes upstream of the lake. We have waterfalls, a gorge, then there’s the tidal Hudson River Estuary, which is the lower Wappinger Creek. Our entire village is considered by us to be a waterfront community.”
Kayaking is popular in the village, as it offers multiple levels of difficulty and speed in such a small area, from slow and lazy on Wappinger Lake to quicker and more energetic kayaking along lower Wappinger Creek and even faster rapids on Upper Wappinger Creek. The diversity of the village’s waterfront opportunities has kickstarted a bourgeoning industry. “Dutchess County tourism is a very profitable, pride-producing industry for this area,” says Pells.
An International Gem
All of this has made Wappingers Falls a popular destination for residents and businesses. “We have a pretty diversified group of employers for the citizens of our village and they work all over the place,” says Alexander. In addition to those who commute into New York City, plenty of residents work in Poughkeepsie, Westchester County, even across the Hudson River at West Point.
Alexander considers Wappinger Falls the population center of Dutchess County, being equidistant to most of the more developed sections of the county. Its central location has also helped it grow a diverse, multicultural population. At 26.2 percent Latino, it has the largest percentage of Latino residents in any Dutchess County community, but there are also large numbers of different Asian and European cultures within the village. “The community is very international,” says Christine Pattantyus, Children’s Librarian at Grinnell Library in Wappingers Falls. “There are a lot of families from different areas.”
While Hopewell Junction and Wappingers Falls have shed their company-town roots, they have also managed to successfully straddle the fence between maintaining the small-town feel and values of their roots and welcoming the next generation of young families who have moved from the city into Dutchess County.
Resources
Artcraft Camera and Digital
Cake and Coffee Shop
Locust Grove Historic Estate
Earth Angels
Leo’s Restaurant & Pizzeria
Mexicali Blue
Spirit Root Services
This article appears in October 2013.
