KINGSTON – The city celebrated its 150th anniversary at Kingston City Hall on Friday. In 1872 the villages of Kingston, Rondout, and Wilbur merged to form the City of Kingston.
Kingston City Hall, across from Kingston High School on Broadway, is located on the former border that separated the villages of Kingston and Rondout.
Rondout at that time had a larger population generated by the village’s shipping might, via the D&H canal and river traffic, after the Civil War, and that led to its prosperity.
“The Village of Rondout wanted to become a city,” said Taylor Bruck, Kingston’s historian, “and the Village of Kingston was a bit jealous of that.”
Both wanted their own police force, but neither had the needed resources, and a merger was sought as a solution.
“So they thought a merger might be a good idea, and they debated about in court for about two years about what the name of it would be because the Village of Rondout said this should be the City of Rondout, we have more money and a bigger population an so on,” said Bruck,” but it was really about getting ready to get some municipal infrastructure, and both of them thought it was a waste to do it separately, so let’s do it together.”
A time capsule, with artifacts from the present, has been created, and it will be entombed deep inside City Hall.
“It will be placed in what we call our secret basement,” said Mayor Steve Noble. “We’ve placed it securely away to be able to make sure for the next 150 years from now, we’ll be able to open it up again and be able to let people know what life was like in the City of Kingston in 2022.”
