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Happy birthday, Monticello

Posted 12/13/22

To the editor:

On December 7, 1804, the first house was being completed by the founder of my hometown, Monticello, New York, by John Patterson Jones of Connecticut.  

His ambition to …

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Happy birthday, Monticello

Posted

To the editor:

On December 7, 1804, the first house was being completed by the founder of my hometown, Monticello, New York, by John Patterson Jones of Connecticut. 

His ambition to carve a settlement out of the woods in the Town of Thompson, Ulster County, New York began on 4 September, 1804 with the building of a road that became the Newburgh and Cochecton Turnpike.

 It connected the Hudson River to the Delaware River through Monticello, which got its name from two known sources: the home of President Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) who was President in 1804, and the Latin term for little mountain/ home on the mountain. 

The current highways that follow the old turnpike leaving Newburgh include State Route 17K to Bloomingburg, then Old Route 17 (County Roads 171, 172 and 173) to Monticello, then State Route 17B to Fosterdale, then County Route 114 to Cochecton. 

It's widely known that Sullivan County was created from Ulster County on 27 March 1809. But not known generally is that many people who come from this area still do not know that Monticello was a part of Ulster County. 

In its storied history, Monticello, N.Y. has had many footnotes that have influenced the world over. The founder of the New York Times newspaper – Daniel Bennett St. John – in 1851 was from Monticello. 

So was one of the organizers of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1924, following a study of the need for a national police force. 

In 2009, a financial wizard from Monticello  – Robert Benmosche – saved the collapse of American International Group (AIG). An Air Force Airman who was Chief Steward for three Presidents was from Monticello. 

Three Chief Justices of the New York State Court of Appeals hailed from the area, including the late Judge Lawrene H. Cooke and the late Judge Judith Kaye. 

Monticello is the County Seat. It is host to a world-renowned Hotel (Resorts World Catskills ) and was one of the local hosts of the Woodstock Festival in August, 1969.

 Two-hundred-and-eighteen years of a place on the mountain have seen many great people come and go with an experience that continues to pay forward for now and for years to come. Happy Birthday to my hometown, Monticello, New York. 

Alvin Dumas

Monticello

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