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"Preservation"
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Cheers and sighs — both greeted the destruction of the picturesque but decaying Victorian buildings near the intersection of Main and James Street in Rosendale.
For history buffs this building was a corner stone in Rosendale’s history. The old structure was the first sight of Rosendale for many visitors, and it greeted them with both the rusticity of the old Western town and a taste of Victorian grandeur. Yes, it was a fire trap and a health hazard with its old wood and privies draining directly into the Rondout Creek, but it also had a rambling, spacious beauty accentuated with once delightful waterfront verandas.
It has a rich and spicy heritage highlighted by the famed gin mill Richard O’Neil kept there from before the turn of the century into the prohibition period.
In Rosendale, the past could not triumph over the future. Rosendale had two choices: to recreate or to destroy and rebuild. It chose the latter. Last week the wrecking crane went to work tumbling this building to make way for the flood control construction. Now only the ruins remain.
The above article is reprinted from the Rondout Valley Times, Aug. 7, 1969, Vol. 6 No. 32.
It is obvious from the accompanying photos that the destruction part was carried out. Today the site is a small pocket park with a bench and a few shade trees. It might be of interest to Rosendale residents as well as visitors to place a interpretive sign at this spot.
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