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Boston Corner, New York
Hamlet
Location in New York
Coordinates: 42°03′N 73°31′W / 42.050°N 73.517°W / 42.050; -73.517
Country	United States
State	New York
County	Columbia
Town	Ancram
Incorporated	1838
Ceded	January 11th, 1855

Boston Corner is a hamlet of the town of Ancram in Columbia County, New York, United States and the town of Northeast in Dutchess County. The District of Boston Corner was incorporated by Massachusetts in 1838 from a tract of unincorporated land west of the town of Mount Washington, Massachusetts, and was ceded from Massachusetts to New York on January 11th, 1855, because its geographical isolation from the rest of Massachusetts made maintaining law and order difficult.

Three railroads—New York Central's Harlem Line, the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railway, and the Rhinebeck and Connecticut Railroad—once served the hamlet. The New York Central stop was called Boston Corners station. All lines have since been abandoned.

History

1878 description

Boston Corners is a small hamlet situated at the junction of the three railroads running through the town. It contains one hotel, one store, one blacksmith-shop, a fine depot, and about a dozen dwellings, of which nearly half are in the town of North East, in Dutchess County. The name was given to the locality when the State of Massachusetts owned the triangular tract of land lying west of the Taghkanic mountains. The mountain formed an almost impassable barrier between this spot and the seat of civil authority, and it became a sort of "city of refuge" for criminals and outlaws of all classes, who fled to it to escape from the reach of the officers of the law. On this account it also became a resort of prize-fighters, who could here carry out their brutal and inhuman purposes secure from the interference of the authorities. The celebrated fight between John Morrissey and Yankee Sullivan occurred here. For these reasons it finally became necessary to make some change to enable the civil authorities to enforce the laws protective of peace and property, and in December 1848, the inhabitants petitioned to be annexed to the State of New York. The State of Massachusetts consented in May 1853. The cession was accepted by New York, July 21, 1853; confirmed by Congress, Jan. 3, 1855; and the corner was annexed to Ancram NY, April 13, 1857.

The first hotel-keeper here was a man named Albison, who also kept a store. His building was on the site of the present hotel, and was torn down in 1857–58, and rebuilt by Abram I. Vosburgh, whose son M. B. Vosburgh, is the present proprietor. On a brick was found the date of the erection, but it is not remembered, and the brick is lost. Albison also owned a grist-mill, a carding-machine, a fulling and cloth-dressing mill, and a saw-mill, all located on the brook near the present depot. These buildings were abandoned and torn down many years ago, the last one being demolished by the New York and Harlem railroad in 1852. This property was also owned among others by Horace Langdon, Jacob Decker, Andris Van Deusen, James Freeman, and Milo Barnum, father of William H. Barnum, the present United States senator from Connecticut, who was born here.

David Williams started the first blacksmith-shop about 1818. He was a Welshman and came from New Jersey. His shop was on the corner near the line of the town of North East.

Smith Vosburgh kept the first store, near the depot, at the place now kept by Eugene McIntyre.

— Ellis, Capt. Franklin, "Boston Corners and Weed Mine, Ancram, Columbia County, New York". History of Columbia County, New York. 1878. p. 407.

Although the above description implies the Morrissey/Sullivan fight (and resulting riot) was a primary cause for the annexation, those events actually took place on October 12, 1853, twelve weeks after the cession was agreed to by both states but more than a year before Congress made the transfer official.

References

1. Massachusetts, General Court. An Act to incorporate the District of Boston Corner. 1838 Mass. Acts 403, Ch. 112. https://archive.org/details/actsresolvespass3738mass/page/403/

External links

• The Battle of Boston Corners

v t e Municipalities and communities of Dutchess County, New York, United States
County seat: Poughkeepsie
Cities	Beacon Poughkeepsie
Towns	Amenia Beekman Clinton Dover East Fishkill Fishkill Hyde Park LaGrange Milan North East Pawling Pine Plains Pleasant Valley Poughkeepsie Red Hook Rhinebeck Stanford Union Vale Wappinger Washington
Villages	Fishkill Millbrook Millerton Pawling Red Hook Rhinebeck Tivoli Wappingers Falls
CDPs	Amenia Arlington Bard College Barrytown Brinckerhoff Chelsea Cove Crown Heights Dover Plains Fairview Freedom Plains Haviland Hillside Lake Hopewell Junction Hyde Park MacDonnell Heights Marist College Merritt Park Myers Corner New Hackensack New Hamburg Pine Plains Pleasant Valley Red Oaks Mill Rhinecliff Salt Point Shorehaven Spackenkill Staatsburg Titusville Upper Red Hook Vassar College Wassaic Wingdale
Other hamlets	Annandale-on-Hudson Bangall Boston Corner‡ Castle Point Chelsea Glenham Holmes Linden Acres Lithgow Mabbettsville Oniontown Pleasant Plains Quaker Hill Rock City Shekomeko Silvernails Sylvan Lake Van Keurens Verbank
Former communities	New Guinea Community Site
Footnotes	‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties
New York portal United States portal

v t e Municipalities and communities of Columbia County, New York, United States
County seat: Hudson
City	Hudson
Towns	Ancram Austerlitz Canaan Chatham Claverack Clermont Copake Gallatin Germantown Ghent Greenport Hillsdale Kinderhook Livingston New Lebanon Stockport Stuyvesant Taghkanic
Villages	Chatham Kinderhook Philmont Valatie
CDPs	Claverack-Red Mills Copake Copake Falls Copake Lake Germantown Ghent Lorenz Park Niverville Stottville Taconic Shores
Other hamlets	Ancramdale Boston Corner‡ Columbiaville Craryville East Chatham Elizaville Hollowville Mellenville North Chatham Old Chatham Spencertown Stuyvesant Falls West Copake West Lebanon
Footnotes	‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties
New York portal United States portal

42°03′N 73°31′W / 42.050°N 73.517°W / 42.050; -73.517

• Hamlets in New York (state)
• North East, New York
• Hamlets in Columbia County, New York
• Hamlets in Dutchess County, New York
• Border irregularities of the United States
• 1855 establishments in New York (state)