Main Street bustles with new businesses this summer
Meg Musgrove, left, and Jessica Rose Lee opened Rosemary Rose Finery on May 1.
Aly Morrissey
Shoppers crowd Jones & Daughters’ new space on Millerton’s Main Street for the boutique’s grand opening on Friday, May 29.Aly Morrissey
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Dick Hermans in the Oblong Bookstore on Millerton’s Main Street in 1985.
Provided
Second-generation co-owner Suzanna Hermans, daughter of Oblong’s founder Dick Hermans, said the event was more than just a party.
“We wanted to celebrate our friends, neighbors and generations of customers who have kept us here for 50 years,” she said. “It’s a thank-you to the people of Millerton, in particular, without whom we’d never be here.”
The store’s history was highlighted and celebrated leading up to the birthday bash.
Oblong co-founder Dick Hermans originally opened the store in 1975 with a vision of creating a welcoming space for lovers of good books and music. With a $10,000 loan, he and founding partner Holly Nelson opened their first 400-square-foot shop on Main Street — now home to the soon-to-open Black Rabbit dispensary.
As the business grew, Oblong expanded into Harold’s Apparel — now Cottage+Camp — in 1981, and eventually purchased its current building. To this day, staff remember walking the books across the street by hand during the move.
The current home of Oblong Books in Millerton was an antiques store before Dick Hermans moved in. Provided
Oblong Jr. — a children’s bookstore located next to Oblong in what was once a shoemaker’s storefront – came later, as did their second location in Rhinebeck.
Over 50 years, Oblong navigated shifts in technology, consumer behavior and the broader economy.
In the 1990s, the rise of big-box chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders contributed to a steep decline in independent bookstores across the country. Then, the emergence of eBooks and Amazon further threatened smaller shops.
More recently, bookstores are facing the threat of censorship and efforts to limit access to books.
Through it all, Suzanna Hermans says it has been the support of the local community that helps Oblong weather these industry-wide changes.
“One thing that spans the whole length of it is our incredible staff that has worked for us over these last 50 years,” she says.
Since its founding, Oblong has employed more than 200 people — many of whom have stayed for five to 40 years. “Folks tend to stay a long time, which is an incredible testament to their admiration for bookselling,” she says. “But we also work really hard to be a great place to work.”
Over the decades, Oblong has also become a destination for top-tier literary events featuring celebrity authors, local favorites and emerging voices.
“We love our authors,” Hermans says. “We’ve built up a reputation that you can send your best-touring authors here to the Hudson Valley and they’re going to sell their books at our events.”
Though much has changed over the years, the heart of Oblong Books remains the same: books, music and community.
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Millerton Fire Co. members monitor a fire at the Brown Cup Diner on Route 22. The diner would later be completely destroyed by the fire.
Archive photo
At the time, building codes didn’t exist and materials were much more flammable. Densely populated communities like the newly-formed Millerton could face devastation if a fire broke out and spread through the community.
That fear materialized in January 1891, Vandebogart said, when the Millerton Hotel near the intersection of John Street and Center Street caught fire. Village residents banded together with buckets to try to douse the flames, but the effort wasn’t enough to save the building. The incident highlighted a need for an organized fire company with proper firefighting equipment.
The fire company officially formed in January 1892, after village trustees met at the Millerton National Bank and voted to create a local fire company. Trustees later elected to name the company the E.H. Thompson Hose Company in honor of the bank’s president, who provided the venue for the trustees’ early meetings.
A truck lies on its side after losing control and striking the barrier at the “checkerboard corner” on Route 22 south of the intersection with Route 44. Archive photo
The newly-formed hose company soon purchased a horse-drawn hose cart, complete with a 500-foot hose, wrenches and 28 pails for carrying water. An additional horse-driven cart carried nine ladders.
The fire company’s first official home was a building that still stands at the corner of Dutchess Avenue and Century Boulevard in Millerton, neighboring the building that houses EcoBuilders and Moore & Moore Printing. That building was constructed in 1902 and named the E.H. Thompson Fire House to further honor the Millerton National Bank’s president.
Millerton’s fire department slowly grew, expanding its equipment collection until a new firehouse was necessary and constructed in 1962. That building on Century Boulevard still serves as the company’s main firehouse today and is currently undergoing renovations to its exterior.
Firefighters have had to staff the firehouse 24/7 on multiple occasions during the village’s history — including in 1969 when a massive snowstorm shut down Route 22 for two days and two nights.
People crowded the firehouse for a warm place to stay as the snowstorm stranded travelers and forced some locals out of their homes. Everyone was stuck until large snow blowers arrived from Poughkeepsie to clear Route 22.
But Vandebogart said the fire company faces more profound challenges than just fighting fires. Changing demographics in the area and increased training standards have created challenges for the volunteer organization.
“Everything is modeled for career,” Vandebogart said, highlighting a shift over recent decades toward professional emergency medical services and firefighters nationwide. As that shift has occurred, safety standards and training requirements have risen across the board, placing a larger burden on volunteers.
A volunteer firefighter monitors an active blaze.Archive photo
Another challenge is attracting new members. In 2017, the Millerton Fire Company ran a program known as “Explorers,” which allowed teenagers from 14 and up to participate in volunteer work at the firehouse.
But that program folded due to staffing issues, and the North East Fire District Board of Commissioners has proposed a policy limiting volunteer participation to those no younger than 16 at its regular meeting on Tuesday, April 21.
Vandebogart said the rising cost of living in the region further exacerbates recruitment challenges. As costs increase, younger generations of Millertonians have become less likely to stay in the community to build a life.
“Membership kind of ebbs and flows,” Vandebogart said. “It is hard to keep young people around here.”
Looking toward the future, Vandebogart said the fire company hopes to avoid having to transition to professional firefighting for as long as possible.
“We’re just trying to keep it volunteer,” Vandebogart said.
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