Early History
John Green purchased land from the DeLancey patent and probably settled the area around 1744. Due to its location between other pre-existing locations, the name of Middletown was adopted, but later changed to South Middletown to avoid confusion with another nearby location. Eventually the word "south" was dropped, giving the current name when the community became a village in 1848. The village was incorporated as a city in 1888.
The First Congregational Church of Middletown, established in 1785, has the highest spire downtown. It can be argued that the construction of the church marks the beginning of Middletown's existence as a village. The current building was constructed in 1872.
Read more about this topic: Middletown, Orange County, New York, History and Economy
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or history:
“No doubt they rose up early to observe
The rite of May.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The visual is sorely undervalued in modern scholarship. Art history has attained only a fraction of the conceptual sophistication of literary criticism.... Drunk with self-love, criticism has hugely overestimated the centrality of language to western culture. It has failed to see the electrifying sign language of images.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)