Wappingers Falls is a village in Dutchess County, New York. The community was named for the cascade in Wappingers Creek. A portion of the village is in the town of Wappinger and the other part is in the town of Poughkeepsie, with Wappingers Creek forming the dividing line between the towns.
The Wappingers Falls Historic District includes downtown, several adjacent residential neighborhoods, and Mesier Park & Homestead. Mesier Park has been a public park since ca. 1891, and hosts many annual events that focus around the band stand and tree lined paths of the park.
The Village of Wappingers Falls also holds claim to New York State's 6th oldest library, the Grinnell Library.[1]
History
The Wappinger People were a loose confederation of tribes living from the eastern banks of the Hudson River, from modern northern Dutchess County NY, south into Westchester County, and eastward into north-central Connecticut into the Connecticut River valley south to the Long Island Sound. They spoke an eastern-Algonkian Native American language. Culturally they are closely related to the Lenape People (Delaware Indians) to the west and south of Wappinger lands; also related to the Mahican People to their immediate north and to the Metoac Peoples of Long Island. “Wappinger” means “easterner” in most Algonkian languages.[2]
The area was part of the Rombout Patent. In the year of 1741, two Dutchmen, Nicholas and Adolphus Brewer, purchased 750 acres of land around the falls and they built the first stone house in the village near the present Mill Street. They were millers and millwrights who brought their machinery with them. In 1742, the Brewers built a mill on the east side of Wappingers Creek. In July that year, Adolphus was killed by lightning and thus became the first man to be buried in the graveyard behind the current Zion Episcopal Church.[3] The village of Wappingers Falls was incorporated in 1871 and included the adjacent community of Channingville.
The local waterfall was important for early industrial development and included 13 factories in the early 1800s.[4]
In 1885 the Franklindale Cotton Mill, which employed about 130 people, was destroyed by fire; and later, during President Cleveland’s second administration, the Independent Comb Factory on the corner of Fulton and Prospect Streets was forced to close. The repeal of the tariff made it impossible for the company to compete with German-made combs. [5]
Geography
Wappingers Falls, is situated at the head of navigation on Wappinger creek, about two miles above its confluence with the Hudson.[6] According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.2 square miles (3.1 km2), of which, 1.1 square miles (2.8 km2) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km2) of it (4.96%) is water.
Wappingers Creek flows through the village. The Wappingers Falls post office serves both the Village of Wappingers Falls and the Town of Wappinger (as well as portions of Fishkill, East Fishkill, Poughkeepsie and Lagrange) under the ZIP code: "Wappingers Falls, NY 12590". US 9 passes through the village, as well as NY 9D.
Demographics
As of the 2010 census, the total population of the village was 5,522. The racial makeup of the village was 72.5% White, 7.4% African American, 0.03% Native American, 4.8% Asian, 10.2% from other races, and 4.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 26.2% of the population. The median age was 35.5 years.
The median income for a household in the village was $39,123, and the median income for a family was $50,000. Males had a median income of $38,147 versus $26,607 for females. The per capita income for the village was $20,491. About 10.4% of families and 12.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.1% of those under age 18 and 14.3% of those age 65 or over.
First Presbyterian Church, Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, United Methodist Church of Wappingers Falls, Zion Episcopal Church, and St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church.
Entertainment and the arts
County Players Falls Theater, a volunteer, non-profit community theatre is located on West Main Street in the Village, in the former Academy Theater building.
