Millerton’s early days brought huge change to the community
The Millerton hotel on Center Street ca. 1910.
Courtesy U.S. Library of Congress
Two men pose with a mile marker noting the distance from Millerton to New York City.Courtesy U.S. Library of Congress
A historical photograph depicts Millerton’s Methodist church on Main Street ca. 1910.Courtesy U.S. Library of Congress
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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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Filmmaker Philip Milano of Dover Plains holds the Scotch U-matic cassette containing his original 1970s documentary about the Harlem Valley Transportation Association.
Aly Morrissey
Philip Milano, the filmmaker and longtime Dover Plains resident, made the film as a student project during his time at New York University.
“It took me about a month to make,” Milano said. “I played all the music myself, lined up the interviews and edited it.”
The 28-minute film chronicles the efforts to retain passenger and freight rail service between New York City and Chatham, New York in the 1960s and 1970s.
Milano was contacted last year by a former Copake Falls resident who wanted to view the film for research. Skeptical that the old Scotch U-matic cassette – a bulky, professional-grade videotape used in the 1970s – would still play, Milano agreed to ship the only existing copy of his movie out west. To his surprise, it was successfully digitized.
Aly Morrissey
The video is slightly grainy with crisp audio. Footage shows the former Saperstein’s building – now Westerlind – and its famed railroad mural, along with shots of the old Sharon and Millerton stations.
In an early scene, a young Holly Nelson – co-founder of Oblong Books – stands in her store and speaks passionately about the loss of rail service and its impact on rural businesses, farms and residents.
“It brings in the whole question of rural powerlessness,” Nelson said, warning that locals would soon become “highway hostages,” forced to drive gas-guzzling cars.
The late Frank Perotti, who served as the supervisor of North East for more than a decade, also appears, speaking about the loss of freight service affecting his dairy farm. “We see the loss in the economy since we’ve lost the service to the railroad,” he said.
The video aired on cable television, which was only available in Manhattan at the time. He watched the premiere from his aunt’s city apartment, surrounded by friends and bottles of wine.
“This must be what the Beatles felt like the first time they heard one of their songs on the radio,” he remembers thinking.
The film was also screened at The Moviehouse in Millerton for a one-night showing.
Though Milano didn’t pursue filmmaking after NYU, he stayed rooted in the area, opening Milano’s Restaurant in Pine Plains, which operated for 14 years. The location is now home to Back Bar Beer Garden.
Nearly 50 years later, Milano says he is content with how history unfolded. “If the trains had stayed, this whole area would look completely different,” he said. “In a way, I’m glad it didn’t happen because I still like bouncing along these scenic back roads. It’s one of the prettiest parts of New York.”
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