Originally know as Carpenter’s Point, a landing point for timber raftsmen on the Delaware River. Renamed in 1827, Port Jervis after becoming a port on the Delaware and Hudson Canal (1828-98). It was a main engine terminal facility and headquarters fro the Delaware Division of the Erie Railroad, the site of railroad’s yard and maintenance facilities.
Port Jervis location at the junction of three states, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania; bordering the Delaware River and situated to the east of the Appalachian plateau and at the foot of the Shawangunk Mountains; it has long been a transportation nexus and hub for manufacturing. It became home to several glass factories during the late 1800s. In 1908, 82 industries establishments employed many workers producing glassware, saws, silk, gloves and mittens and shirts. The railroad yards and shops remained a significant industry in the city until 1960s.
Today, Front Street is lined with antique shops, a bookstore, places to eat and meet. Some light manufacturing still exists in the area, but tourism is a growing factor in the city’s economy. There is a wonderful walking tour on the Delaware River Heritage Trail that take one past many historical sites, beautiful gardens and gorgeous view of the Delaware River. Keep you eye out for the markers.
Points of Interest
Fort Decker
125-133 West Main Street – 914-856-2375
The stone house was built in 1760 and burned by Joseph Brant and his Indian raiders during a Revolutionary War raid in 1779. It is the museum of the Minisink Valley Historical Society and is open to the public on the last Saturday of the month from 1 to 4 p.m. from May through November and by appointment. The house was rebuilt in 1793 by Martinus Decker and served as a hotel and tavern during the years when the Delaware and Hudson Canal was being built. John B. Jervis, one of the canal’s chief engineers and the man for whom Port Jervis is named, stayed here in the mid-1820s.
After that the house served as a private residence until 1970 when Minisink Valley Historical Society bought it and developed it as a museum and center for its activities
Gillinder Glass is one of the oldest glass manufacturers in the country. The company´s specialty is to create individual moulds and products for its glassware customers. Their line of products include items for the aviation field, landscape lighting, general industrial and commercial use.
Port Jervis Turntable
Port Plaza – Pike Street & Underpass
The Port Jervis turntable has a diameter of 115 feet and the bridge, or the part of the structure that holds the locomotive, is approximately 19 feet wide. Previously, it was turned by two 40 horsepower, 440 volt, 3 phase electric motors that were powered from a connection at the top of the gantry. The most recent locomotive that was turned on it weighed 440 tons, or 880,000 pounds, fully loaded with water and coal. It is the largest operating turntable in the United States.
Riverside Park
The Riverside Park begins at the end of River Street. The city has a long-range plan to develop this property in a number of ways including the construction of additional sports facilities, boating and fishing access areas and the creation of additional trails and picnic areas. The area was once a roadbed for the Erie Railroad.
West End Beach
West End Beach is owned and operated by the city and is open during the summer with lifeguards on duty. Also available are picnic facilities, a basketball court and baseball field. Public access is available for boaters and fishermen.
Veteran’s Memorial Park at Orange Square
Pike & Sussex Streets
The square was designed with a series of paths emanating from a central circle where a fountain was located, a pattern retained in the current design. An impressive, multi-tiered fountain, located in the center of the park, was later moved to a location near Sussex Street. At the center of Orange Square today is a monument dedicated on July 5, 1886, in the presence of some 10,000 people to the veterans of the Civil War.
Laurel Grove Cemetery
East Main Street
This cemetery may have been the first in Orange County to be designed by a landscape architect, a trend that became popular in the 1850s. It was designed by B.F. Hathaway and the roads and plantings still reflect his artistic design. Please treat this place reverently and do not litter as the cemetery is undergoing a major renovation effort to restore the grounds to their former beauty. Some 15,000 people are buried here and there are an extraordinary and diverse number of monuments, tombstones and mausoleums representing the “golden age” of mortuary art in the late 19th century.
Tri-States Monument
Junction of Neversink and Delaware rivers, Laurel Grove Cemetery
One of the city’s most famous landmarks is the Tri-States Rock where a person can stand on three states at one time. The rock is located just under the Interstate Route 84 bridge. This is also the site where a 100-year boundary dispute between the colonies of East and West Jersey and New York was finally resolved in 1769. At this location, Philadelphia astronomer David Rittenhouse took the measurements that were the basis for the western termination point of the land boundary between the two colonies.
Elks-Brox Park
Point Peter and Mount William
Entrance on Route 97 westbound side of road
It was also during the Gilded Age that the largest park in the city was developed, the Elks-Charles Brox Memorial Park, located on what was then called the Twin Mountain Tract, or Point Peter and Mount William. As early as 1911, local citizens became concerned with the future of the property that overlooked the city and had an important view of the Shawangunk and Kittatinny mountains, along with the Delaware and Neversink river valleys. At that time, the owner, Almira St. John Mills had just died, and the property was about to be disposed of by her estate. Port Jervis residents turned down a proposal to buy it, by a vote of 191-123, but immediately after the vote, Port Jervis Lodge No. 645 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks began discussions to purchase the property.
In 1914, the Elks, seeing the possibilities of the development of the area as a public park, raised the necessary funds to purchase the tract under the leadership of the Rev. William J. Donohue, then pastor of the Most Sacred Heart Church. The property was named Elks Park. In the years that followed, Skyline Drive, a four-mile road that ran along the crest of the two mountains, was built and other improvements to the park were made. In 1932, Sarah Belle Thorne made a substantial donation in memory of her brother-in-law, Charles Brox, and the property was conveyed from the Elks to the city and became known as the Elks-Brox Memorial Park.
In later years, part of it was used as a Girl Scout Camp and as late as the 1980s, a public campground. In 1996 the park was reopened and new picnic areas, trails, and bathrooms were constructed. Of all city’s parks, none is as beautiful or serves as such a focal point of interest as the Elks-Brox Park with its panoramic vistas of the Neversink Valley.
Some of the content provided is courtesty of The City of Port Jervis, New York.