One hundred years ago, the city of Poughkeepsie was
a bustling marketplace for the mid-Hudson Valley,
while the town of Poughkeepsie was essentially rural and substantially smaller than the city. Two world wars and the arrival of IBM reversed the roles, at least in part. The town grew larger than the city and soon became the center of retail business for the county. Four- and six-lane highways replaced
trolleys and trains. The city, however,...