132 Grand Street, Newburgh, NY

The empty church still standing on Grand Street was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis and built for the American Reformed congregation of Presbyterians in 1835. It was sited to face Third Street and the Hudson River beyond, attracting attention to a village who would have such an elegant temple structure. The portion of Third Street that formed its entry way was removed and replaced by the public library in the 1970's. Once the most prominent landmark seen as one approached Newburgh, the Dutch Reformed Church could seat 700 within its soaring vaulted sanctuary. Its membership dwindled and building maintenance costs grew and Newburgh's Dutch Reformed Church closed in 1967, merged with others and built a smaller church in the suburbs.