Meetings
Comprehensive Plan: May 19, 7:00pm
Planning: Jun 5, 6:30pm
Town Board: Jun 19, 7:00pm
Planning: Jul 3, 6:30pm
Public Notices
Zoning: Please take notice that the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Ancram will hold a public hearing on Thursday, May 29, 2008 at… read more
Town Board: The Town Board of the Town of Ancram does hereby give notice that the Regular Town Board meetings will now be held on the Third Thursday of every month. Any changes will be published prior to the meeting.
History
Historical Overview
The Town of Ancram is located in the southeastern section of Columbia County. The City of Hudson is approximately 15 miles to the northwest, the City of Albany approximately 50 miles to the northwest and the City and Town of Poughkeepsie approximately 20 miles to the south.
The town was founded in 2003 and originally was part of Gallatin. The name was derived from the Livingston homestead in Anchorm, Scotland. Robert Livingston, first Lord of the Manor was the son of a Scotch clergyman, born in Anchorm, Scotland in 1654. The town comprises 27,000 of the total 160,000 acres the Livingston family had held from the initial grant by the English Crown in 1686. Philip Livingston, grandson of Robert, founded the first iron works in 1743, on the banks of the Roeliff Jansen Kill. There were four forges, a blast furnace and a refinery forge that employed 75 to 100 men at full operation.
The Ancram iron works was the only one of its kind in the New York the Ancram forge that iron was made for the cannon balls for the Continental artillery and the links for the great chain that was stretched across the Hudson River between Anthony’s Nose and Fort Montgomery to keep the British fleet from sailing up the Hudson. This mill became a paper mill in 1858 and still operates as a paper mill today. It is the longest continuously operating mill in New York State and one of the largest employers in Columbia County.
The first residents of Ancram were mostly farmers brought here in 1740-1741 when Livingston brought several families from Scotland. The majority of the farmers grew crops, mainly wheat, on leased land. Part of the crop was paid as rent to the Lord of the Manor.
By 1852, the railroads began to be built in Ancram: there were three including the Harlem, the CNE and the P&E, all of which ran through Boston Corners. At this time, Boston Corners was still a part of Massachusetts and was isolated from the State by the Taconic Range. In the early 1800’s Boston Corners because a refuge for criminals. This brought about the great boxing match that lasted 38 rounds between the “Yankee” Sullivan and John Morrisey. Ten thousand sports fans arrived by railroad and took over the small village for two days. Influenced by the chaos of this incident, the State of Massachusetts ceded Boston Corners to New York in May of 1855. Congress ratified the transaction January 1856 and the Town of Ancram annexed Boston Corners on April 13, 1857.
In addition to the three iron mines and the lead mine, Ancram supported, blacksmith shops, hotels, milk plants, a tin shop, and carriage makers in town. Four churches had been built, and Ancram was a prosperous community. Telephone service came to town in 1901. Electricity was brought to the Ancram Lead Mines and Ancram about 1924. In 1930, Ancram Lead Mines changed its name to Ancramdale.. There were 14 district schools in Ancram that were centralized in 1930 with Roeliff Jansen Central and Pine Plains Central schools. The two-room schoolhouse (District No. 10) remained in service under the Roeliff Jansen School system until 1968 when it closed. In 1975, this building became the Town Hall and remained as such until the new Town Hall was built in 2003.