Place:Milan, Dutchess, New York, United States

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NameMilan
TypeTown
Coordinates41.95°N 73.783°W
Located inDutchess, New York, United States
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Milan is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The town is in the northern part of the county and is very rural. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 2,245, slightly down from 2,370 in 2010. Milan is located approximately north of New York City, south of Albany, and west of Boston. It is bordered by Rhinebeck and Red Hook to the west, Pine Plains to the east, Stanford to the southeast, Clinton to the south, and Gallatin to the north by Columbia County. The only major route in the town is the historic Taconic State Parkway, though NY 199 serves as the main local thoroughfare.

Contents

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The area that comprises Milan today was the western part of the Little Nine Partners Patent of 1706. Milan was largely a farming and mill town and remains very rural.

The first settler in the area was Johannes Rowe. The son of a Palatine immigrant, Rowe bought from Robert Livingston, 3rd Lord of the Manor of Livingston, and built a stone house in 1766 on what is now Rowe Road near the Milan Town Hall. The remains of the house were photographed in 1940 for the Historic American Buildings Survey.

Establishment of town and post office

The New York State Legislature voted on March 6, 1818, to create the town of Milan from the western part of the town of North East, to be effective "from and after the last day in March" 1818. The session laws stated that the first town meeting would be held the first Tuesday of April and at the home of Stephen Thorn, who was elected town supervisor along with John F. Bartlett, town clerk.

Two 19th century histories of the town of Milan and Dutchess County (1877 and 1882) state there is no knowledge or evidence as to why the name "Milan" was chosen,[1] but the name Milan had appeared in other areas of the state, and it was not unusual to take European city names at the time. What is now the city of Syracuse was known as "Milan" for a brief period between 1809 and 1812. A settlement south of Syracuse was originally called "Milan" in 1790 before incorporation in 1802 as the town of Locke. An unincorporated village there continued to be referred to as "Milan" but the Milan designation for that post office was changed to "Locke" on July 29, 1817. This cleared the way for the operation of the Milan post office on August 14, 1818, at what is now Case's Corners.


A town "in-between"

The main thoroughfares for the community ran from the Hudson River to Salisbury, Connecticut, and travelers referred to the road as the "turnpike." It later became recognized as the Salisbury Turnpike, and sections of the road still exist today and bear that name.

In addition to farming and local mills in Milan, lead and iron were mined in areas around what is now Millerton, New York, and Salisbury, Connecticut, which was then brought to Livingston's furnaces at Ancram in Columbia County. Milan was "in-between" those towns and the river and as a result had a great deal of important commercial traffic going east–west through the town.[2]

Remains least populous town

The early population peaked in 1840 at 1,745 residents and went into decline until 1930 with only 622 residents. It was the opening of the Erie Canal (1825) and then the development of the railroad and the move to river cities and the western migration that caused the decline. Also, Milan's soil was hilly and rocky and tough to farm. Then following the 1930s and the Great Depression the population grew again, due in part to the construction of the Taconic Parkway, which ended in Milan at the time, and then the post-World War II boom.

The 1840 population level was reached again in 1980, some 140 years later. From the 1980s to the turn of the new century, Milan was one of the fastest-growing towns in Dutchess County.[3] However, it remains the least-populous town in the county.

State historic markers

Partial list of New York State historic markers in Milan:

  • Jackson Corners—Colonial Inn: built about 1773 Stage Inn, doctor's office, hotel, store, post office of Jackson Corners.
  • Jackson Corners—Nobletown Road: running from post road in Livingston, through Gallatin, Ancram, state line, Nobletown, to Barrington, N.H. In use before 1798.
  • Turkey Hill Road—Fulton Homestead: John Fulton, first owner. Deed recorded Oct. 12, 1795 has always been in possession of the Fulton family. In Fulton name Until 1933.
  • Turkey Hill Road—Burial Ground: Chief Crow and other Mohican shacomecos of Moravian faith buried here. Last burial about 1850.

Research Tips

External Links

  • Outstanding guide to Milan family history and genealogy resources (FamilySearch Research Wiki). Birth, marriage, and death records, town histories, cemeteries, churches, newspapers, libraries, and genealogical societies.


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