This Month’s Featured Article

Founded in 2016, the Friends of East Gate was launched with the goal of stabilizing, preserving, and restoring the historic East Gate Toll House, which is located alongside the modern-day State Route 23 in Hillsdale, NY. This organization consists of community members, local civic leaders, and historic preservationists who want to see this building saved while also having a positive impact on the area.

While the FoEG have purchased the building and made it safe, they have a set of important goals moving forward to ensure that the preservation of the toll house can further progress. Their plan includes moving the toll house back from the road and onto a new foundation, which will protect it from any potential collision damage, as well as reconstructing the toll gate and restoring the building’s interior and exterior.

However, this undertaking necessitates crucial fundraising through grants and private donations, as no tax funding is available for the project. FoEG president James Wagman, treasurer Jamie Johnson, trustee Steve Bluestone, trustee Edgar Masters, and former Hillsdale town supervisor and FoEG co-founder Peter Cipkowski have shared what this project would mean for the historical enrichment, economic prosperity, and social vibrance of Hillsdale and the surrounding region, emphasizing the importance of this project coming to fruition.

The toll house’s historic significance

Peter explains that following the Revolutionary War, the rapid growth of the New York City population meant an increased demand for produce, flour, grain, and livestock. Farmers located in what is now Columbia County, NY, and Berkshire County, MA, were able to meet this need, but transportation posed difficulties.

In order to reach the city, farmers had to cart their products to the Hudson River to be shipped south. According to Peter’s exhibit, “All Roads to the River,” Hudson had become the first chartered city after the Declaration of Independence in 1785, and by 1790, fifteen ships departed from the city with exports daily. And for farmers to move their goods by road to begin with was incredibly difficult – at times essentially impossible. At this time, early American roads were “rough and unreliable, often little more than obstacle courses hacked out of the wilderness,” Peter describes.

On March 29, 1799, the New York State legislature created and authorized the Columbia Turnpike Corporation to ensure the establishment of turnpikes that would allow for easier transportation from Hudson all the way to Hartford via Massachusetts. From here, as the first turnpike in the county and the fifth in the state, the Columbia Turnpike was built, essentially following the path of modern-day State Route 23 and 23B. “Before the Civil War, however, the turnpike took the easiest course and resulted in the development of mills, tanneries, blacksmith shops, taverns, and post offices in Hillsdale, Bain’s Corners (Craryville), Hoffman’s Gate (Martindale), and Smokey Hollow (Hollowville),” Peter clarifies.

Proprietors in Hudson recognized how profitable these turnpikes would be, and they contributed private funds to the construction so that “[b]etween 1799 and 1806, five turnpikes were created and stretched out of Hudson like spokes on a wheel,” according to Peter.

Establishing the East Gate

In constructing the Columbia Turnpike, the Corporation was allowed to use existing roads and build three toll houses; spaced about ten miles apart, these were located in Hillsdale (East Gate), Martindale (Middle Gate), and Greenport (West Gate). Experts date the East Gate Toll House to the early 19th century, built in the local vernacular style and potentially replacing an earlier structure in a slightly different location because of the shifting state border. The border between New York and Massachusetts wasn’t settled until 1787, with Hillsdale officially incorporated the following year.

“Several villages along the turnpike benefited from the Turnpike’s existence – and many local farmers now had a way to transport their crops and livestock to Hudson, the area’s largest market city,” illustrates Peter. “Hillsdale, Martindale, Hollowville, and Hudson expanded in part due to the activity and opportunities along the Turnpike. They were among the first villages to establish post offices in the region. Before the railroad came to Columbia County in the 1850s, turnpikes were a viable and reliable way to move goods (crops and livestock) over land.”

Furthermore, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation inspectors and others who examined the property determined that “it is a modest residential structure consistent with the building conventions of the first years of the 19th century.”

This makes sense because ultimately, the toll house was home to the toll keeper and his family, while the toll gate out front prevented travelers from continuing until they paid during active hours. The gate operated from 9am to 9pm, with thorough records of the gate’s activity kept.

According to journals and records from the time, toll keepers “were paid a modest wage in exchange for collecting tolls and maintaining the property. Toll keepers were also free to trade with merchants and local farmers,” Peter points out. “Several old fruit trees still stand on the property in Hillsdale. Property used for toll houses was, however, not usually desirable land.”

Fostering a preservation approach

The creation of the Harlem Valley and Hudson River railroads contributed to the Turnpike’s increasing obsoletion, and Columbia County bought the rights from the Corporation, closing the toll house in 1907 after 108 years of operation. The defunct building then transferred into private ownership, and the Decker family lived there for at least two generations. Eldena Jenssen later acquired the house in 1970 with the intention of preserving the property.

In November 2015, Eldena approached Peter after he gave a talk about Hillsdale’s history. “She offered to sell the property to the Town of Hillsdale or to the Roeliff Jansen Society, neither of which was able to take her up on the offer,” Peter recalls. “However, in partnership with Jamie Johnson and James Wagman, original board members, FoEG was created. And thanks to a generous contribution by Copake Falls resident Edgar Masters, the building was acquired by FoEG. The building was added to the NYS State and National Register of Historic Places in 2016.”

With his immense knowledge of Hillsdale history, Peter has led numerous conversations and presentations about the Turnpike’s past. In fact, his “All Roads to the River” exhibit has been on display at the Roeliff Jansen Historical Society, the Hudson Area Library, and the Columbia County Board of Supervisors. Additionally, FoEG members have raised awareness and funds at local community events to spread the word about the toll house’s restoration.

Unique remnants of the village’s past

As of its acquisition by FoEG in late 2016, the toll house has remained “remarkably intact inside and out,” according to Peter. “Other than cedar shingles that were added over the original clapboard and a small addition on the eastern end, much is original.”

In addition to evidence of decorative molding and plasterwork, two damaged and original fireplaces remain, as do windows, doors, and floorboards. One first floor room and the second floor remains. While dismantled, the materials from the other first floor room have stayed on the property as well.

“This will be, in a lot of ways, a preservation challenge, because there are so many layers of American history there,” says Jamie. In fact, she describes a notable collection of details that underscore a thoughtful preservation and presentation of the building. “There’s the coolest wallpaper from probably the ‘30s or ‘40s with chickens on it – hand-printed wallpaper. There’s a list of phone numbers where the phone used to be on the wall, which I think would be really wonderful to preserve. There’s a beautiful, late-eighteenth or early-nineteenth century fireplace with a bread oven, still intact.”

With these physical, historical elements still in place, it’s all the more important for the structure to be relocated back from the road and fully off of Department of Transportation land. To accomplish this safely, the organization commissioned an historic condition assessment, in addition to an engineering study funded by a Preservation League of NYS Technical Assistance Grant. “The biggest concern of FoEG is its location smackdab on the edge of Route 23, now a busy modern thoroughfare with large trucks and cars speeding only a few feet from the façade of the toll house,” emphasizes Peter.

Planning a bright future for the toll house

Jamie, as a member of the Historic Hillsdale committee alongside James, remembers when Peter approached them about the East Gate Toll House project. “I was really happy to be asked. I didn’t know that much about it except for my work on Historic Hillsdale, and when I learned more about it, I found it really interesting because honestly, I don’t think I ever really thought about what the world was like before railroads,” Jamie explains.

The turnpike system came to the region over fifty years before the railroad did, a sentiment which, to Jamie, makes the preservation such a compelling and worthwhile pursuit.

“This was incorporated at a time when people still thought of the United States as an experiment and weren’t sure what was going to happen,” she observes. “This is a story that’s rarely told. In the beginning of this committee, we reviewed how many visitors historic houses get interest and funding, but this is a totally different animal. This is about the economy, the founding and growth of our country, and the initiative of the people who came here and worked hard.”

The toll house’s story is unique in its scope, but it is representative of a broader shift in the country’s path to development. Peter outlines how early progress in Columbia County and New York State not only increased commerce and developed transportation, but also inspired broader, widespread efforts to connect the dots nationally. “It really was a national catalyst at the federal level: ‘How do we build our country?’ Turnpikes were a component of that story.”

Jamie adds that although she doesn’t have a house in Hillsdale anymore, she feels so connected to and interested in the project that she has remained on the committee. And unlike many common introductions to local history, the toll house offers a special opportunity to shed light on a lesser known, yet pivotal, aspect of early American and early Columbia County history. “I don’t think the current philosophy is to preserve something so that it becomes this beautiful little jewel box. We want to tell more stories than that,” she says.

The organization’s end goal for the building is a historic center and exhibit space, but FoEG recognizes that the aim to restore this property is complex. Ultimately, the organization encourages anyone who’s interested in the project to reach out, get involved, and help shape the Friends of East Gate vision. “While we dream about seeing the structure become a community museum to tell that important story, we will be successful if the building is utilized in any number of ways – from housing to offices,” Peter acknowledges. “Our primary goal is to ensure the building’s longevity.”

To learn more about the Friends of East Gate, their initiatives, and how you can help the organization, please visit friendsofeastgate.org. To donate online by card, please visit friends-of-east-gate.square.site. To donate by mail, please send checks to Friends of East Gate, Inc., P.O. Box 34, Hillsdale, NY, 12529.