New Paltz () is an incorporated U.S.

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

in Ulster County, New York. The population was 14,003 at the 2010 U.S. Census. The town is located in the southeastern part of the county and is south of Kingston. New Paltz contains a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

, also with the name New Paltz. The town is named for ''Palz'' (), the

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...

name of the Palatinate, called ''Pfalz'' () in

standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (not to be confused with High German dialects, more precisely Upper German dialects) (german: Standardhochdeutsch, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the standardized variety ...

. Due to the presence of what is now the

State University of New York at New Paltz The State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz) is a public university in New Paltz, New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, a secondary institution founded in 1828 and reorganized as an ...

, it has been a

college town A college town or university town is a community (often a separate town or city, but in some cases a town/city neighborhood or a district) that is dominated by its university population. The university may be large, or there may be several sma ...

for over 150 years.

History

The town of New Paltz was founded in 1678 by French

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster B ...

by both patent from the governor and purchase from the local Esopus tribe of the

Lenape people The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...

. Prior to the purchase of New Paltz during the 17th century, the Esopus tribe had been pressured off much of their land which is now present day Ulster and Sullivan counties, because of conflicts known as the Esopus Wars.The Huguenots were religious

refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

from France who had immigrated via

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

in the German Palatinate, where they had settled after fleeing France during religious persecution. They settled in the area of the present-day village of New Paltz (on what is now known as Huguenot Street Historic District) and established their own local government. The size of the town increased with annexation from surrounding regions in 1775 and 1809. In 1842, part of New Paltz was removed to form the Town of Esopus. More of New Paltz was removed in order to form the towns of Rosendale (1844), Lloyd (1845), and Gardiner (1853).

Geography

The

Wallkill River The Wallkill River, a tributary of the Hudson, drains Lake Mohawk in Sparta, New Jersey, flowing from there generally northeasterly U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed Oct ...

flows northward through New Paltz on its way to join the Rondout Creek, which in turn feeds into the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

. A portion of the Shawangunk Ridge is in the town.

Transportation

New Paltz is accessible by a number of different roads. Interstate 87 (the

New York State Thruway , direction_a = South , terminus_a = {{Jct, state=NY, I, 95 at the The Bronx, Bronx–Yonkers, New York City line , junction = {{plainlist, * {{jct, state=NY, I, 287, Parkway, Saw Mill, NY, 119 in Elmsford, New York, Elmsford * {{jct, state=NY, ...

) is the main thoroughfare and passes through in the eastern part and houses Exit 18 for Route 299. State routes that traverse through are Route 32, Route 208, and Route 299. The nearest train station is about away, in Poughkeepsie. Both

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

and

Metro-North Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public authority_of_the__is_a_type_of_Nonprofit_organization">nonprofit_corporation_char ...

trains serve Poughkeepsie.

Adirondack Trailways Trailways of New York is one of the largest privately held transportation companies based in New York State. It employs over 450 people and carries passengers more than 80 million miles annually. TrailwaysNY, as it is known, operates over 150 tr ...

also provides bus transportation from New Paltz into various locations across multiple states. The western terminus of the Hudson Valley Rail Trail is located here. The hiking/biking path eventually crosses the Walkway Over The Hudson and becomes the

Dutchess Rail Trail The Dutchess Rail Trail is a rail trail that stretches from the former Hopewell Junction train depot, north to the Poughkeepsie entrance of the Walkway over the Hudson. It's a shared use rail trail open for pedestrians and bicyclers. The Dutche ...

that ends in Hopewell Junction.

Education

New Paltz has four public schools (K-12) and is home to a college in the SUNY system: *Duzine Elementary School (K-2) *Lenape Elementary School (3-5) *New Paltz Middle School (6-8) *

New Paltz High School New Paltz Central High School is situated in the town of New Paltz in New York, on South Putt Corners Road. It serves students in grades 9- 12 from the New Paltz Central School District, which serves most of New Paltz and Gardiner, New York, a ...

(9-12) *

The town is also home to several private schools, including Mountain Laurel Waldorf School (Pre-K through Grade 8), Montessori of New Paltz (Pre-K through Grade 3), and Huguenot Street Cooperative Nursery School (Pre-K).

Government

The town is governed by a town council, composed of four at-large members and a supervisor. There is also a village of New Paltz within the town, governed by a mayor and a board of trustees.

Sister city

Niimi is a city located in northwestern Okayama Prefecture, Japan. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 30,583 (14,628 males, 15,955 females), with 12,857 households and a population density of 39 persons per km2. The total ...

Okayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture borders Tottori Prefecture to the ...

, Japan

Notable people

* Abe Attell, boxing champion * Terry Austin, comic book artist *

Benjamin F. Church Benjamin F. Church (1807–1887) was a pioneer carpenter and builder in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, listed among the city's first settlers of 1835. He helped to construct one of the city's first two big hotels and built a Greek Revival temple-sty ...

, pioneer * Charles Davis, NFL player and television commentator * Peter Dinklage, actor. *

Lewis DuBois Lewis DuBois (1744 – March 4, 1824) was an American Revolutionary War commander. A descendant of Louis Dubois, who founded the early Huguenot settlement of New Paltz, which is preserved today as Historic Huguenot Street (Huguenot Street Historic ...

, military commander in the Continental Army * Louis DuBois, Huguenot colonist * Sandy Duncan, Broadway and television actor * Ronald Enroth (born 1938), Professor of Sociology at Westmont College."Student of the Week; Ronald Enroth Plans to Become a Teacher; Like History, Writing, Traveling and Books"
'' Poughkeepsie Journal'', December 2, 1955. Accessed June 26, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Set on becoming a teacher, Ronald M. Enroth, 17, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Enroth, New Paltz, has been selected by the faculty as New Paltz High School's 'Student of the Week'. Born in Weehawken, N. J., Ronald was raised in Ridgefield, N. J., and attended the Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, N. J., prior to moving to New Paltz two years ago." * Vladimir Feltsman, piano teacher * Mary Gordon, novelist *

Hasbrouck family The Hasbrouck family was an early immigrant family to Ulster County, New York, and helped found New Paltz, New York. The Hasbrouck family were French Huguenots who fled persecution in France by moving to Germany, and then the United States. T ...

, one of the founding families of New Paltz * Jay Le Fevre, former US Congress member *

Dana Lyons Dana Lyons is an American folk and alternative rock musician, who wrote and performed the 1996 comedic folk song "Cows With Guns". Life He was born in Kingston, New York, grew up in Niskayuna, New York, and graduated from Swarthmore College in 1 ...

, musician * Floyd Patterson, heavyweight boxing champion * Sydney Schanberg, former journalist at the New York Times and professor at

* Keith Schiller, law enforcement officer and security expert * John Turturro, Hollywood actor * Andrew Yang, founder of Venture for America and 2020 candidate for U.S. president

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of 2016, there were 14,108 people, 4,455 households, and 2,347 families residing in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was 378.4 inhabitants per square mile (146.1/km²). There were 4,679 housing units at an average density of 138.0 per square mile (53.3/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 82.16% (10,541)

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 5.99% (768)

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.20% (25) Native American, 4.06 (520) Asian, 0.05% (6)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 4.93% (632) from other races, and 2.62% (336) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 8.22% (1,054) of the population. There were 4,455 households, out of which 26.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.4% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.3% were non-families. 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.99. In the town, the population was spread out, with 16.9% under the age of 18, 31.4% from 18 to 24, 23.7% from 25 to 44, 19.0% from 45 to 64, and 9.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.0 males. The median income for a household in the town was $40,542, and the median income for a family was $55,537. Males had a median income of $38,250 versus $26,629 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the town was $18,436. About 6.8% of families and 18.6% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 8.9% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over.

Historic places

Minnewaska State Park The Minnewaska State Park Preserve is a preserve located on the Shawangunk Ridge in Ulster County, New York on US 44/ NY 55, west of New York State Route 299. The park, which features scenic overlooks of the nearby Catskill Mountains, is pri ...

Elting Memorial Library Elting Memorial Library is the public library that serves the residents of the village and town of New Paltz, New York. It is located at 93 Main Street (also NY 32 and 299) in the village's downtown area. In addition to a collection typical of mos ...

* Huguenot Street Historic District * Mohonk Mountain House

References

External links

Town of New Paltz, N.Y.

Village of New Paltz, N.Y.
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Paltz (Town), New York Huguenot history in the United States Shawangunks Wallkill River French North America Palatine German settlement in New York (state) Towns in Ulster County, New York Populated places established in 1678 1678 establishments in the Province of New York Towns in the New York metropolitan area