Village of Washingtonville History
 Washingtonville was first settled in 1731. Growth was slow for the next seventy-five years. In 1809 John Jacques, a boot and shoemaker, set up his shop in this tiny settlement of nine houses then known as Little York. Jacques would later establish Brotherhood Winery, the oldest continuously operating winery in the United States, in 1839.
In its earlier years, Washingtonville was called Matthews Field, even before it became known as Little York. Apart of the Rip Van Dam patent, it was sold to Vincent Matthews in 1721. Matthews, was the second settler of the region although the first white settler. Its earliest known inhabitant was an Indian by the name of Moringamus, whose wigwam or tepee was once pitched in back of where the Coleman bottled-gas plant is located now.
 The Moffat Library, a Registered Historic Place built by Samuel's son David as a gift to his hometown. Samuel Moffat built a trading post on the village square in 1811 at the junction of the New Windsor and Blooming Grove Turnpike with the Goshen Road (His son David later endowed Moffat Library on the spot). The hamlet began to prosper with a tannery, grist and plaster mills. A hotel was needed and Samuel Moffat built his Washington Tavern in 1818. The same year Samuel and John Jacques bestowed the village with a new name, Washingtonville, in honor of the late general-first president of the United States who we are told came through and watered his horse at the trough which had been located under the big tree in the center of the village.
 Washingtonville grew after the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railway built its branch through the village in 1850. Even though the railway tracks have been removed, the remains of the railroad building are located behind the present day Agway Store. Incorporated in 1895, the Village had become an important dairying center with two creameries, Borden's (presently known as bus garage) and the Farmers Cooperative Market (South Street), groceries, a bank, feed and lumber dealers, wagon shops, furniture makers and a hub shop prospered. Its greatest growth in that time occurred in the seventh and eighth decades.
 C.R. Shons opened up a cooperative on Depot Street, where the old red building still stands, and he also had a large orchard on Goshen Avenue. Thomas Fulton's grist mill, now the site of Agway, was destroyed by fire in the early 1900s. Hugh Lunney had his slaughter house on Goshen Avenue, near where the Spear Printing Company plant is today, and he also had a large ice houGATse beside the point to Coopers Creek, harvesting ice from the pond in the winter for commercial use.
 Borden's Creamery maintained a bottling plant and its refrigerator cars, loaded with milk, were shipped to Greycourt (Harriman) on either the Erie freight or passenger runs. This firm cut its ice from the small pond south of its creamery, storing it in the ice house on the east side of the plant.
Recently, From the evening of Sunday, April 15 to Tuesday, April 17, 2007 the nearby Moodna Creek overflowed into downtown Washingtonville. Nearby May's Field resembled a lake with 3-4 feet of water. A similar flooding occurred in 1955. These floodings were the results of a powerful Nor'easter that slammed the North-eastern U.S.
A notable former citizen of Washingtonville includes Scott Pioli of the New England Patriots franchise.
Source: Special Thanks to E.J. McLaughlin, III Village Historian Much of the Historical images and text were borrowed from his book "Tales from the Watering Trough"
When an image or text from his book is included on a page, the page will be marked with this image 
|
