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Mid Hudson Times , Wednesday , August 31 , 2016

PUBLIC AGENDA

THURSDAY , SEPTEMBER 1 Town of Newburgh Planning Board , 7 p . m . Town Hall , 1496 Route 300 , Town of Newburgh .

TUESDAY , SEPTEMBER 6

City of Newburgh Planning Board Work Session , 10 a . m . City Hall , 83 Broadway . Newburgh Town Board , 7 p . m . Town Hall , 1496 Route 300 , Town of Newburgh .

WEDNESDAY , SEPTEMBER 7 New Windsor Town Board , 7 p . m . Town Hall , 555 Union Ave ., New Windsor .

HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

The office of the Mid Hudson Times will be closed on Monday , Sept . 5 in observance of Labor Day . Deadline for all classified advertising and legal notices is Friday , Sept . 2 at 4 p . m . All other deadlines remain the same .

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The Mid Hudson Times , ( USPS 000-5947 ) is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday at Newburgh , N . Y . 12550 , with offices at 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , N . Y . . Single copy : $ 1 at newsstand . By mail in Orange , Ulster or Sullivan Counties : $ 40 annually , $ 44 out of county . Periodicals permit at Newburgh , N . Y . POSTMASTER : Send address changes to Mid Hudson Times , 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , N . Y . 12550

By SHANTAL RILEY sriley @ tcnewspapers . com

“ Did you know that , at one time , New York State had more slaves than Georgia and New York ’ s largest concentration of slaves was right here in the Hudson Valley ?” she asked . “ One of these slaves was George Alsdorf , who became a free man in 1827 .”

Tashae Smith posed the question as part of a walking tour exploring the history of the City of Newburgh and one of its foremost African-American families in the 19th Century .

“ In Washington ’ s Shadow : An African- American Walking Tour ” was organized by Smith , a Newburgh native and Manhattanville College student who led about 100 people through the city ’ s East End on Saturday . Smith and the walkingtour group gathered in front of the site of Aldorf ’ s former family home at 262 Washington Street . Aldorf purchased the house in the mid-19th Century and the building served as a “ safe house ,” providing refuge for runaway slaves . “ They were part of a secret network of stops along the Underground Railroad ,” Smith said .

According to the tour narrative , such safe houses hid fugitive slaves until they had an opportunity to move further north . The Underground Railroad is believed to have delivered thousands of people out of slavery , with former slaves like Harriet Tubman leading them out of the south and to freedom in northern states and Canada .

The state codified the end of slavery in 1827 , explained city Historian Mary McTamaney in one of the audio recordings accessible at information panels mounted at stops along the tour .

Many former slaves with marketable skills from working on farms came to Newburgh . “ You could hang up your sign and be in business for yourself because the community was growing quickly in the 19th Century ,” McTamaney said .

The Alsdorfs were a good example , establishing a men ’ s clothing store , a catering business , a ladies ’ hair salon , a bakery and a music school on Liberty Street . “ The Alsdorfs were the groundbreaking , African-American family in the City of Newburgh ,” said McTamaney .

The Alsdorf Hall academy of music

Tashae Smith stands in front of the former Alsdorf Hall school of music and dance on Liberty Street .

and dance was built in 1915 . Opened by Ulysses and Simon Alsdorf , the school was located at 93 Liberty Street . Around the corner was another tour stop , the A . M . E . Zion Church on Washington Street .

“ We are standing in front of the very first African-American church in Newburgh ,” said Smith . She gestured to an outdoor plaque commemorating a visit to the church by author , abolitionist , publisher and statesman Frederick Douglass in 1870 .

The last stop on the tour was the city ’ s former Colored School , which was located in the parking lot of the city Activity Center . The school was closed in 1873 , when city schools were desegregated thanks to a petition by Dubois Alsdorf .

“ He petitioned the city ’ s Board of Education to admit his sons to the all-white Grammar School # 1 ,” Smith explained . “ He based his argument on the federal Civil Rights Act of ( 1866 ) that

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