Gazetteer and Business Directory of Ulster County, N. Y./1871-1872/Rosendale

ROSENDALE was formed from Marbletown, New Paltz and Hurley, April 26, 1844. It is an interior town, lying east of the center of the County. The surface is a rolling and broken upland, the highest summits being from 200 to 500 feet above the valleys. Rondout Creek flows north-east through the town near the center, receiving Coxingkill from the south, and Cottlekill from the north. The Delaware and Hudson Canal extends along the Rondout Creek. The soil is chiefly a sandy loam. In the north-west part of the town are several small lakes, called the Binnewaters. Cement is extensively manufactured throughout the town. The Wallkill Valley R.R. extends through the whole length of the town. In the south-west part are three caves, in a ledge of rocks of the Shawangunk Mountains, where ice is found at all times of the year.

Rosendale. (p.v.) situated on the creek and canal, near the center of the town, contains three churches, viz., Reformed, Baptist and Roman Catholic; two hotels, two stores, a school, two blacksmith shops, three wagon shoes, an undertaker, coal yard, a harness shop, a shoe shop, two milliners, a meat market, a cement kiln and about 550 inhabitants. The W.V. R.R. crosses the creek at this place on a bridge 900 feet long and 140 feet above the water.

Lawrenceville, named in honor of Mr. Watson E. Lawrence, is situated on the creek, about a mile above Rosendale, and contains two cement manufactories and about 400 inhabitants.

The Rosendale Cement Company's Mills at this place, have a capacity for manufacturing about 350 barrels daily, and give employment to about 60 men. This is the pioneer company in the manufacture of cement, and was established by Mr. Watson E. Lawrence, who now resides in New York.

Lawrenceville Cement Co. have a capacity for manufacturing about 125,000 barrels each season, giving employment to about 130 men. The mills are on the Delaware and Hudson Canal.

Bruceville, in the west part of the town, on Rondout Creek, about two and a half miles from Rosendale, contains a store, a cement mill and fifteen dwellings.

The Bruceville Cement Manufactory makes about 30,000 barrels each season, and gives employment to about 35 hands. The mills have a capacity for about 300 barrels per day. James H. Van Demark is the proprietor.

A mineral spring at this place receives some patronage.

Rosendale Plains is a hamlet about one and a fourth miles south of Rosendale, and contains a hotel, a blacksmith shop, a trotting course and ten dwellings.

LeFevre Falls, (p.v.) formerly known as Rock Lock, is situated about a mile below Rosendale, and contains a store, three hotels, two cement manufactories and about thirty dwellings.

The New York Cement Company, at this place, manufacture about 500 barrels of cement per day and about 100,000 barrels during the season.

Martin & Clearwater's Cement Works have a capacity for making 80,000 barrels per season, and give employment to about one hundred men.

Whiteport, in the north-east part of the town, is about four miles north from Rosendale, and about the same distance south-west of Rondout. It contains the Newark & Rosendale Lime and Cement Works and a population of about 1,500, including what is known as Hickory Bush. The village has been built up almost wholly by the Cement Works. They manufacture about 800 barrels per day, and have a capacity for 1,000 barrels. The barrels are all made here and their cement is transported to tide water over a horse railroad. They employ about 180 men. The quarries are entered by tunnels, two of which are 200 feet in length each, and one seventy feet. They have a perpendicular depth of about 120 to 140 feet. They have seventeen kilns, fifteen of which are in constant use. It is ground in a mill containing twelve runs of three feet stones, the power being a fifty horse-power water wheel and two 100 horse-power engines.

The Lawrence Cement Company was established in 1848. Their works are about a mile south of Whiteport. They manufacture about 550 barrels per day, and give employment to about 100 men. Their cement is quarried and burned here, and transported over a horse railroad to Eddyville, where it is ground and shipped.

Creek Locks, (p.v) in the east part of the town, where the canal locks into the creek, contains two stores, a grocery, a school and about 25 dwellings. The Hudson River Cement Works, located on the Hudson River, a few miles above Rondout, have an extensive quarry near Creek Locks, where they give employment to about fifty men. The stone is conveyed from the quarry about three-eights of a mile on an inclined plain railway, the descending cars drawing up the ascending ones. The Warner Lime and Cement Co. of Troy, have a quarry and kilns in this town, where they give employment to fifteen men.

The first settlement of this town was made about 1700. It received its name from the old “Rosendale Farm” where an inn was kept in 1711. The place is now owned by Mrs. M.C. Cornell. It was the residence of Col. Rutzer, one of the patentees. The house is of stone and was for a long time the office of the Loan Commissioner of the County. General Washington visited the County in June 1783, when Mrs. Washington and Governor and Mrs. Clinton were entertained in this house by Col. Hardenburgh. As this town had no separate organization until 1844, its early history is blended with that of adjacent towns from which it was taken.

“Gordon's Gazetteer” published in 1836, says the village of Rosendale contains ten or twelve dwellings and a hydraulic cement factory, owned by W.E. Lawrence, and giving employment to from 100 to 200 hands, and producing 500 casks daily.

The Reformed Church was the first organized in the town. Rev. J. McFarland was the first pastor. Their house of worship was erected in 1843; it will seat 300 and cost $2,500. The present membership is 82. Rev. M.F. Libeneau is the pastor.

The New School Baptist Church was organized by Lewis Raymond with 26 members. The first pastor was David Mores. Their house of worship was erected in 1841; it will seat 350 and cost $1,600. Its present value is $3,500. The present membership is 70, and the pastor is Rev. D. Van Fredenburgh.

The population in 1870 was 3,625, and its area 11,299 acres, with an assessed value of $442,920.

There are seven school districts, employing nine teachers. The number of children of school age is 1,256; the number attending school, 775; the average attendance, 347, and the value of school houses and sites, $7,850.