Newburgh (Images of America: New York)

While passing through Newburgh Bay in 1609, explorer Henry Hudson's shipmate noted that the locale would be ideal for a village.

True to his prediction, some 200 years later Newburgh was incorporated as a village and has since become the Queen City of the Hudson. It is a city of historical reputation. Here, Gen. George Washington awarded the first Purple Heart and wrote his famous letter refusing to become a king. The Newburgh site known today as Washington'sHeadquarters is America's first historic preservationbuilding--the 1750 Hasbrouck House. Newburgh provides a glimpse into the city's past, with chapters that tell the story of a city of industry and innovation. Newburgh had telephone service as early as 1879 and was the second city to have a street illumined by an electric light bulb. Its East End contains the largest historic district in the state, covering a total of 445 acres from the Hudson riverfront westward. Within the district are rare examples of Greek Revival, Federal, Italianate, and Second Empire designs..

Author Kevin Barrett, Newburgh's city historian, provides keen insight to accompany his selection of photographs that date from 1860 to the present and include rare images of the estate of Andrew Jackson Downing, who is known as the father of American landscape design. Newburgh presents a pictorial history that proclaims the beauty and abundance of the city's heritage as it has been preserved from earliest times, through urban renewal, up to the present-day renaissance.