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Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, April 10, 2019
IN THIS ISSUE
Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
City of Newburgh.. . . . . . . . . . . 24
Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Crossword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Letters to the Editor. . . . . . . . . . 8
Meadow Hill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Town of Newburgh. . . . . . . . . . . 25
New Windsor.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Police Blotter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Service Directory. . . . . . . . . . . 28
Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
PUBLIC AGENDA
MONDAY, APRIL 15
City of Newburgh IDA. 6 p.m. City
Council Chambers, 3rd Floor, City
Hall,83 Broadway.
THURSDAY, APRIL 18
Newburgh City Council Work
Session, 6 p.m. City Hall, 83 Broadway.
Town of Newburgh Planning Board. 7
p.m. Town Hall, 1496 Route 300, Town of
Newburgh.
MONDAY, APRIL 22
Newburgh City Council meeting. 7
p.m. City Hall, 83 Broadway.
Town of Newburgh Workshop
meeting, 7 p.m. Town Hall, 1496 Route
300, Town of Newburgh.
THURSDAY, APRIL 25
Town of Newburgh Zoning Board of
Appeals. 7 p.m. Town Hall, 1496 Route
300, Town of Newburgh.
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The Mid Hudson Times (USPS 000-5947) is a weekly
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Times, 300 Stony Brook Court, Newburgh, NY 12550.
Downing Park dedicates historic finial
By LAUREN BERG
T
he
Downing
Park
Planning
Committee officially dedicated the
finial from an Andrew Jackson
Downing house at the Shelter House Café
on April 7. The finial was donated by local
preservationist Mildred DeVito Starin.
The copper hand-crafted finial was
one of four on the roof of William L.
Findlay’s house in Newburgh, now
the current location of the Chadwick
Gardens Apartments. Built in the 1860’s,
the house was designed by Downing and
his protege Calvert Vaux. Vaux, together
with Frederick Olmstead, later designed
Newburgh’s Downing Park in honor
of his late mentor, who died in 1852.
The Findlay house, also known as the
Chadwick mansion, was demolished in
1967. No remnants of the house would
have survived if it wasn’t for Starin.
Starin is well-known for her extensive
research of the 1714 Gomez Mill house,
the oldest surviving American Jewish
homestead located in the town of
Newburgh. She was recently awarded
the 2019 Martha Washington Woman
of History Award at Washington
Headquarters for her preservation work.
When the Findlay house was being
demolished, Starin went into the
construction dumpster and saved a
copper finial from the landfill. Starin was
offered $10,000 from Vassar College for
the architectural find, but she refused.
She felt that the finial should stay in
Newburgh, close to its original location.
She has kept the artifact in her home
all these years, until she agreed to
donate it to the Downing Park Planning
Committee.
“Mildred Starin has always been a
determined person to save the history
of this area,” said Karen McCarthy,
secretary treasurer of the Downing Park
Planning Committee. “We can’t thank
Millie enough for this donation,”
The committee decided to put the finial
on display in the park’s visitor center
and café, the Shelter House. The finial
sits in a custom wooden base made of old
repurposed filing cabinets. According to
Starin’s wishes the finial will remain in
Newburgh, currently just a few blocks
away from the former Downing-designed
house.
“The city of Newburgh owns Downing
Park and this building…If anything
should happen in the future to dissolve
this non-profit committee, that is
Downing Park Planning Committee, rest
Photos by Brian Wolfe
City of Newburgh Historian Mary McTamaney speaking at the dedication ceremony, Sunday
for the historic copper finial from a house designed by Andrew Jackson Downing and Calvert
Vaux.
assured that this beautiful finial will not
go on sale. It will be going to the Historical
Society of the Hudson Highlands,” said
McCarthy.
The committee thanked Mildred with
cut flowers from Downing park, a cookie
and gift certificate to the Shelter House
Café, and framed wildlife photos of bald
eagles by local photographer Dan Tooker.
“We are so lucky that Millie made her
incursion into the property,” said Mary
McTamaney, city of Newburgh historian.
“Because our children need to know the
stories of where we’ve been. I think that
Newburgh spends an awful lot of time
counting what we’ve lost and we don’t
count what we have, and what we can
have again.”
Mildred Starin dedicated the finial to the Downing Park Planning Committee.