Casperkill Watershed Oral History Project

This 2000 map shows the altered course of Raymond Avenue as a result of the 1965 realignment, which caused the sacrifice of trees and the filling in of about 75 feet of Vassar Lake.

Raymond Avenue hasn’t always had the center median and roundabouts it is outfitted with today. Rather, it has undergone several transformations over the past century.  While most local residents will remember the controversial 2007 renovation, fewer will recall the equally contentious reconstruction that took place in the 1960’s.

Prior to the 1960’s, Raymond Avenue was a curved, two-lane road flanked by trees and shrubbery. In 1961, however, the New York State Highway Department began planning a radical reconstruction. Raymond Avenue was to be realigned and expanded and Hooker Avenue was to be widened, so as to accommodate increasing road traffic in the Town and City of Poughkeepsie. These plans were met with disapproval on the part of Vassar College authorities, who feared the changes would have a negative impact on the aesthetics and safety of the campus. The following excerpt from an October 1961 resolution issued by the Board of Trustees sheds light on the college’s concerns:

…such a reconstruction would (a) create a major traffic barrier between the academic buildings and student residences to the east and the faculty residences and Alumnae house to the west, (b) would create hazards to students, to faculty and to faculty families in their normal and necessary access to one another, (c) would involve congestion and danger at the main and service entrances to the College, (d) would materially and adversely affect the further development of the Faculty Housing Area south of Vassar Lake, (e) would involve the destruction, and render impossible the replacement of many shade trees along Raymond Avenue, and (f) would, by projecting a major traffic artery through the campus, destroy the working pattern, the amenities and the traditional homogeneity which has developed over a period of one hundred years…

These risks were taken very seriously by the Board of Trustees, who a year later agreed that “everything possible will be done to negotiate a more satisfactory solution than presented in these plans including, if necessary, conference with principal state officials.“ At the same time, however, they were aware that the State Highway Department had the power to carry out its plans regardless of the position taken by the college.

Eventually, in 1964, the reconstruction plans were finalized with only minor changes to the original.  Interestingly, one of the items of greatest concern to the Board of Trustees was the removal of all trees on the east side of Raymond Avenue. In order to address this, it was agreed that new plantings were to be done by the State with the approval of the college. It was stressed that “the greatest care must be taken in the selection and proper planting of trees and bushes with particular foresight as to their future growth.”

In 2007, Raymond Avenue was turned back into a two-lane road, this time with a center median, a sidewalk and three roundabouts. First proposed in the year 2000, the project was designed by the Department of Transportation in response to concerns regarding the safety and efficiency of Raymond Ave. The median and roundabouts were to allow for more pedestrian-friendly traffic, while keeping the flow of vehicles constant.

The 2007 reconstruction plan, a pilot project in new traffic design that could be expanded if successful, was also met with disapproval, this time by local residents who feared that the roundabouts would divert traffic into nearby neighborhoods. These suspicions were eventually disproven and the project completed. And although some bemoan the lack of bicycle-friendly infrastructure, the overall result is slower traffic and safer conditions for pedestrians.

Sources:

February 1961- October 1964 Vassar College Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes, Vassar Special Collections

Sutherland, Lauren. “Raymond Ave construction debate continues,” The Miscellany News, March 3, 2006

Nigro, Jenny. “Mixed Reviews for Revamped Raymond Avenue Construction,” The Miscellany News, February 1, 2007

Image credits:

“Overlay of 1925 landscape and 2000 landscape” by Dorothy Wurman, 2000

S. Rosen-Amy, The Miscellany News, 2006