Dutchess and Columbia Rail Road Company

Product Details

$150 to $200

Historical Context

The Dutchess and Columbia Railroad was chartered September 4, 1866. It was to run from Fishkill northeast and north to meet the New York and Harlem Railroad at Craryville. Millbrook resident, George H. Brown, was elected president. The road was promoted largely by New York bankers who had financial interests in the town of Washington. Several Dutchess County towns along the proposed route bonded themselves to aid in the construction of the road. Hesitation on the part of Columbia County townships to do likewise, together with the influence of some politicians in the northern section of Dutchess County, caused the promoters change the route to turn east at Pine Plains, going over the mountains to Millerton by way of Bethel, Shekomeko and Winchells. It was also extended to State Line to connect with the Connecticut Western.

Construction began in 1868, and teams of horses pulled wagon loads of rails to be distributed along the right of way from Little Plum Point (Dutchess Junction) through Matteawan, Glenham, Fishkill and Brinckerhoff to near Old Hopewell. Bridges were built over Fishkill Creek and Sprout Creek. After this section was in place more rails would be hauled by trains to complete the line. The line reached north to Pine Plains by July 1, 1869. Construction reached Millerton in the northeast corner of the county in November 1871.

A short four-mile connecting railroad called the Clove Branch was chartered in 1868 and opened in 1869. The CB connected with the D&C near Old Hopewell, and its main purpose was to haul iron ore out of the mine at Sylvan Lake. Later the CB was extended another four miles and ran passenger and freight service to a few customers and an iron furnace in Clove Valley. The president was the same George H. Brown who was President of the D&C RR. Operations were suspended in 1897 and it was abandoned in 1898. traces of the Clove branch right-of-way are stillvisible west of Poughquag, NY, and the iron smelter it served in Clove Valley is still standing.

In November 1871 the Connecticut Western Railroad leased the short part of the D&C from the state line to the New York and Harlem Railroad at Millerton. Also using the line was the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railroad, completed in 1872. The P&E obtained trackage rights over the part D&C line from Stissing Junction north to Pine Plains, in order to connect sections of its own line.

The Putnam & Dutchess Railroad Company, was incorporated in 1871 to construct a road from the New York and Boston Railroad in Carmel to the D&C near Hopewell.

The New York and Boston was incorporated in 1869 to construct a railroad from the Harlem River northerly to Lake Mahopac, near Brewster.

On November 18, 1872 these two roads were consolidated with the D&C as the New York, Boston & Northern Railroad Company with plans to run track from New York City north into Vermont and on to Montreal.

The D&C was sold on August 5, 1876 and reorganized January 25, 1877 as the Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut Railroad.

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