Still left uncompleted at what is again known as City Hall is some $500,000 in roof repairs in the tower, which had leaked into the council chambers. Earlier, granite front steps installed in 2000 had to be replaced. Also to be finished are three $15,000 lunettes in the council chambers, one of which will be dedicated to Ed Ford.
City Hall. (Photo: Dan Barton)
Next in the lecture series: Author and historian Marc Fried will lecture on Kingston founder Christopher “Kit” Davits and the early Rondout at the Senate House Museum on Fair Street, on Friday, Sept. 20 at 5:30 p.m. The public is welcome.
City hall dates:
Significant dates in the history of the Kingston City Hall:
March 29, 1872: The state assembly approves legislation to merge the villages of Rondout and Kingston into a new city called Kingston.
April 16, 1872: The first election in the new city calls for a mayor and nine wards with two aldermen in each.
May, 1873: The Common Council approves purchase of a hilltop lot on Broadway from the O’Reilly family. Construction starts on a new city hall. Project cost is estimated at $100,000.
May 21, 1875: The first meeting of the Kingston Common Council in the new City Hall.
June 4, 1927: Fire erupts in the attic. The building is gutted. Common Council authorizes up to $200,000 for restoration.
May 7, 1929: Common Council meets for the first time in the restored, modernized city hall.
November 1971: City Hall is designated a National Historic Site.
January-February 1972: City abandons BroadwayCity Hall for a new one on Garraghan Drive in Rondout. Construction costs estimated at $1 million.
April 27, 1998: Common Council authorizes $6.1 million in bonds to restore old city hall.
May 21, 2000: Refurbished city hall is formally dedicated. Construction costs exceed $7.3 million (with federal and state grants). Police department and city court remain at Garraghan Drive.
Hugh Reynolds was the Freeman’s City Hall reporter from 1967 to 1976 and covered most of the stories on the relocation and reconstruction of the city hall during that period.
