Walden, New York

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Village of Walden
Walden with the Hudson Highlands beyond
Walden location within the state and New York Metropolitan Area
Coordinates: 41°33′41″N, 74°11′22″W
Country	United States of America
State	New York
County	Orange
Town	Montgomery
Settled	1736
Incorporated	1855
Government
- Type	Council-manager
- Mayor	Becky Pearson
- Village Manager	James Politi
Area
- City	2.1 sq mi (5.3 km²)
- Land	2 sq mi (5.1 km²)
- Water	0.1 sq mi (0.2 km²)
Elevation	~260 ft (~79 m)
Population (2000)
- City	6,164
- Density	3,129.6/sq mi (1,208.1/km²)
Time zone	EST (UTC)
ZIP Code	12586
Area code(s)	845
Website: http://www.villageofwalden.org/

Walden is a village located in the Town of Montgomery in Orange County, New York. The population was 6,164 at the 2000 census.

Contents 1 Geography 2 Demographics 3 History 4 Government 5 External links

[edit] Geography

Walden is located at 41°33′41″N, 74°11′22″W (41.561268, -74.189442)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 5.3 km² (2.0 mi²). 5.1 km² (2.0 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (3.90%) is water.

The village is bisected by the Wallkill River. There are two waterfalls and dams on the river within the village limits, known as the Great and Little Falls; and two auto bridges, the Walden Veterans' Memorial Bridge (known colloquially as the High Bridge, which carries NY 52, known in the village as West Main Street) and Low (Oak Street) bridges).

Route 52 crosses the town from east to west, and NY 208 from north to south. The two share a brief block in the center of town.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 6,164 people, 2,197 households, and 1,577 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,208.1/km² (3,129.6/mi²). There were 2,352 housing units at an average density of 461.0/km² (1,194.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 90.61% White, 3.83% African American, 0.36% Native American, 0.63% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 2.69% from other races, and 1.87% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.34% of the population.

There were 2,197 households out of which 40.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.9% were married couples living together, 14.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.2% were non-families. 22.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.29.

In the village the population was spread out with 30.2% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 20.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 92.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.4 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $43,507, and the median income for a family was $49,316. Males had a median income of $37,929 versus $25,701 for females. The per capita income for the village was $18,485. About 5.5% of families and 9.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.1% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] History

The area around present-day Walden was purchased in 1736 by Alexander Kidd, and settlers of Scots-Irish, English and German descent started arriving not long afterwards. It was the first settlement west of the Wallkill River, known at the time as Kidd's Town.

In the 1820s, a successful New York shipper named Jacob Walden convinced some of his business partners to finance the construction of woolen mills on the river, attracted by the Great Falls as a source of power and the railroad connections at nearby Maybrook. He dammed the Wallkill above the falls, creating a power station that remains in use today, and his mill was a success.

Other wool-makers followed as the Industrial Revolution picked up steam and the growing population center became known instead as Walden's Mills. Most of them failed a few decades later, but their influence was such that the village incorporated in 1855 as Walden.

The village fathers needed to replace the mills as a source of employment, and began encouraging knife manufacturers to relocate from nearby Dutchess County to the vacant buildings, where the New York Knife Company made much of the cutlery employed by the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War.

After the war, other knifemakers came to Walden, too, and the village became colloquially known as Knifetown. Other industrial concerns, making products as diverse as engines and women's underwear, also set up shop.

In the early 1890s, President Grover Cleveland lowered tariffs on many imported goods, including knives. Competitively priced German cutlery began to flood the American market, and together with the Panic of 1893 and the economic slowdown that followed for several years, the knife companies and their owners went heavily into debt and it looked for a while as if they might not survive.

But in 1897 President William McKinley, a personal friend of Robert Bradley of the U.S. Knife Company, pushed through the Dingley Tariff that restored the status quo ante. The knifemakers returned to profitability and were able to pay off their debts; and in gratitude Bradley had a statue of McKinley erected that remains in Walden today.

In the 1910s the facilities at the dam began to be primarily used for power and less for industry.

Walden's Main Street was the site of an active retail trade which included Millsbaugh's Furniture as well as Roosa's Jewelers, both still in business. Lustig's Department Store, established by Carl Lustig in 1883, was the mainstay of Main Street until its closing in 1986.

In the late 1920s, one of the largest Ku Klux Klan gatherings outside the South in that era took place outside Walden.

The Depression was hard on many of the village's economic concerns, but the knifemakers persisted. However, after World War II they gradually became less prominent and moved as the rail connections they had depended on were replaced by trucking on the growing Interstate Highways. The last company making knives in the village, Imperial Schrade, closed down its factory after a 1957 fire and moved to nearby Ellenville afterwards, where it lasted until 2004. The ruins of the factory still stand behind Walden's most visible economic giant, the Thruway Markets retail complex.

Today, Walden retains some light industry and much of its working-class feel, enough for the village to have gotten into a spat with WPDH-FM disc jockey The Wolf in the late 1990s over his constant joking on- and off-air joking about Walden as a redneck town.

[edit] Government

As a village of the Town of Montgomery, Walden residents are taxpayers and electors in both.

The village has seven elected officials, a village board comprised of the mayor and six nonpartisan trustees, as per the New York State Village Law. Most of the executive functions are handled by the village manager, who serves at the board's pleasure.

Walden has had this system of government since 1964. A 1972 referendum to return to a strong-mayor system was defeated.

The village has its own police force, which provides 24-hour protection for residents; a public works department which maintains roads, water and sewer lines; a skatepark in Bradley Park which was built in Fall 2006 due to the on going complaints from older residents about all the skateboarders, a recreation department which maintains several parks within the village, including one with a pond in which swimming is permitted; and a village court presided over by an elected justice. Fire protection is provided for the village and surrounding fire district by the Walden Fire Department.

[edit] External links

• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 41.561268° -74.189442°
  • Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA