Town of Germantown


Thomas Shannon, Town Historian
Phone: 518-537-3600
Email: germantownhistory@gmail.com
Website

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Photographs

Germantown Central School. Opened in September, 1924. The flagpole in this photo was "Captain Phil's Flagpole," taken from the Seth Low tugboat which pulled the original USS Monitor to Hampton Roads in 1862. 

Half-Moon Anchorage, North Germantown.  Stood from 1879-1958.

Half-Moon Anchorage, North Germantown.  Stood from 1879-1958.

Aftermath of the great fire that started on Nov. 14th, 1923. Eight buildings on both sides of Main Street were destroyed. Germantown National Bank, which opened in 1922, can be seen on the left. Central House, which miraculously survived the fire, on the right.

Cheviot House Stables with Germantown Ice Company House in background. The hamlet now called Cheviot boasted a hotel, passenger train service, cider mill, wine works, cooperage, and a 1,000 foot steamboat dock in this era.

Central House, Main Street, Germantown.  Built 1876 by George Rockefeller.  

The German Reformed Sanctity Church Parsonage, built 1767.  Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it contains a multitude of Palatine, Dutch, and African-American history. Home of the Germantown History Department.

Dr. William B. Platner's House.  Still standing today, unrecognizably altered, on Route 9G a few lots south of Palatine Park Road. 

The Mountain View House, located on the northwest corner of Route 9G and Main Street. A resort hotel, it was initially built in 1864 as the Riverside Seminary. Burned down in 1910. 

Lower Main Street. Known as "Germantown Station" while passenger service was maintained, 1858-1961. The last NY Central station, site of Germantown Ice Co. house, and the Hudson Valley Cold Storage Co. can be seen in this photo.

New gates at the Second Reformed Cemetery. The former churchyard reorganized as a rural cemetery in the decades after the second Reformed church building was replaced by the current building, on Church Avenue, in 1880. 

Historical Documents

Applications for eight of the ten early roadside NYS historic markers in Germantown. All submitted by Henry R. Lawrence.

Germantown HistoricSignApplications1934H.R.Lawrence.pdf

Applications for the 1767 Parsonage and Site of East Camp roadside NYS historic markers. Submitted by Henry R. Lawrence.

Parsonage/CheviotNYSmarkers.pdf

Town Talks Series with Germantown Library

Roeliff Jansen Kill

Tour of the Reformed Cemetery

 John D. Rockefeller's Germantown Roots

Lost Graveyards of Germantown

Notable Palatine Descendants

Lower Main Street

History of Cheviot