Poughkeepsie serves as the county seat of Dutchess County. Poughkeepsie is known as "The Queen City of the Hudson." Poughkeepsie is the principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area, which includes all of Dutchess and Orange counties.
Poughkeepsie Schools - The Poughkeepsie City School District is the public K-12 school system serving approximately 5,000 students. The Oakwood Friends School is a co-ed 6–12 boarding school serving approximately 145 students. It is the oldest college preparatory school in the New York State. Other private schools in the area include Tabernacle Christian Academy
Poughkeepsie Demographics - As of the census of 2010, there were 32,736 people residing in 13,153 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 53% White, 36% Black or African American and 11% Hispanic.
Poughkeepsie Transportation - Poughkeepsie sits at the junction of the north-south US 9 and east-west US 44 and NY 55 highways.
Rail commuter service to New York City is provided at the Metro-North station by the MTA's Metro-North Railroad. Poughkeepsie is the northern terminus of Metro-North's Hudson Line. Amtrak also serves the station, along the Hudson River south to New York City's Pennsylvania Station and north along the river to Albany-Rensselaer station and points further north and west. Amtrak trains serving Poughkeepsie are the Adirondack, Empire Service, and Maple Leaf.
Additionally, Amtrak's New York-Chicago train, the Lake Shore Limited, the successor to the fabled 20th Century Limited, serves this station when coming eastbound from Chicago.
About The History of Poughkeepsie, New York
The site of Poughkeepsie was purchased from Native Americans in 1686 by Robert Sanders, an Englishman, and Myndert Harmense Van Den Bogaerdt, a New Netherland-born Dutchman. The first settlers were the families of Barent Baltus Van Kleeck and Hendrick Jans van Oosterom. The settlement grew quickly, and the Reformed Church of Poughkeepsie was established by 1720. The community was set off from the Town of Poughkeepsie when it became an incorporated village in 1799. The City of Poughkeepsie was chartered in 1854. Outside of municipal designations, the City and Town of Poughkeepsie are generally viewed as a single place and are commonly referred to collectively as Poughkeepsie, with a current combined population of approximately 75,000.