Editing Port Jervis, New York (section)

==History==

The first fully developed European settlement in the area was established by Dutch and English colonists c.1690, and a land grant of {{Convert|1200|acre|ha}} was formalized on October 14, 1697. The settlement was originally known as '''Mahackamack''', after a [[Lenape]] word. It was raided and burned in 1779 during the [[American Revolutionary War]], by British and Mohawk forces under the command of [[Mohawk people|Mohawk]] leader [[Joseph Brant]] before the [[Battle of Minisink]]. Over the next two decades, residents rebuilt the settlement. They developed more roadways to better connect Mahackamack with the eastern parts of Orange County.

After the [[Delaware and Hudson Canal]] was opened in 1828, providing transportation of coal from northeastern Pennsylvania to New York and New England via the [[Hudson River]], trade attracted money and further development to the area.<ref>[http://minisink.org/delhud.html "D&H Canal & Gravity Railroad"], Minisink Valley Historical Society</ref> A village was incorporated on May 11, 1853.<ref name=":0" /> It was renamed as Port Jervis in the mid-19th century, after [[John B. Jervis|John Bloomfield Jervis]], chief engineer of the D&H Canal. Port Jervis grew steadily into the 1900s, and on July 26, 1907, it became a city.

[[File:Erie Depot Port Jervis entrance.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Port Jervis station (Erie Railroad)|Erie Depot]], built in 1892, was the largest station on the [[Erie Railroad]]'s Delaware Division. The Erie ceased long-distance passenger service in 1970. The depot was recently restored and houses some retail shops.]]

===Coming of the railroad===
The first rail line to run through Port Jervis was the [[New York & Erie Railroad]], which in 1832 was chartered to run from [[Piermont, New York]], on the [[Hudson River]] in [[Rockland County, New York|Rockland County]], to [[Lake Erie]].  Ground was broken in 1835, but construction was delayed by a [[Panic of 1837|nationwide financial panic]], and did not start again until 1838.  The line was completed in 1851, and the first passenger train &ndash; with [[Millard Fillmore|President Millard Fillmore]] and former [[United States Senator]] [[Daniel Webster]] on board &ndash; came through the city on May 14.  The railroad went through a number of name changes, becoming the [[Erie Railroad]] in 1897.<ref name=rr>[http://www.minisink.org/rrpjhis.html "Railroads of Port Jervis"]. Minisink Valley Historical Society website</ref>

A second railroad, the Port Jervis and Monticello Railroad, later leased to the [[New York, Ontario and Western Railway]] (O&W), opened in 1868, running northeast out of the city, and eventually connecting to [[Kingston, New York]], [[Weehawken, New Jersey]] and eastern connections.<ref name=rr />

Like the D&H Canal, the railroads brought new prosperity to Port Jervis in the form of increased trade and investment in the community from the outside. However, the competition by the railroad, which could deliver products faster, hastened the decline of the canal, which ceased operation in 1898. The railroads were the basis of the city's economy for the coming decades.  Port Jervis became Erie's division center between [[Jersey City, New Jersey]] and [[Susquehanna, Pennsylvania]], and by 1922, 20 passenger trains went through the city every day. More than 2,500 Erie RR employees made their homes there.<ref name=age />

The railroads began to decline after the [[Great Depression]].<ref name=age>[http://www.minisink.org/histpj.html "Port Jervis and the Gilded Age"], Minisink Valley Historical Society</ref> A shift in transportation accelerated after World War II with the federal subsidy of the [[Interstate Highway System]] and increased competition from trucking companies.  One of the first [[Class I railroad]]s to shut down was the O&W, on March 29, 1957, leaving Port Jervis totally reliant on the Erie. A few years later, in 1960, the Erie, also on a shaky financial footing, merged with [[Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad]] to become the [[Erie Lackawanna]].  Railroad restructuring continued and in 1976, the Erie Lackawana became part of [[Conrail]], along with a number of other struggling railroads, such as the [[Penn Central Railroad|Penn Central]].<ref name=rr />  Since the breakup of Conrail, the trackage around Port Jervis has been controlled by [[Norfolk Southern]]. The decline of the railroads was an economic blow to Port Jervis. The city has struggled to find a new economic basis.

===Lynching and Racist incidents===
On June 2, 1892, [[Robert Lewis (lynching victim)|Robert Lewis]], an African American, was [[Lynching in the United States|lynched]], hanged on Main Street in Port Jervis by a mob after being accused of participation in an assault on a white woman.<ref name="Lynching at Port Jervis. – Robert Jackson, a colored man, hanged by a mob"  >{{cite web |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/06/03/104132685.pdf|title= Lynching at Port Jervis. – Robert Jackson, a colored man, hanged by a mob |work=[[New York Times]]|date=June 3, 1892 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| title=Bob Lewis’ Encounter with the ‘Great Death:’ Port Jervis’ Entrance into the ‘United States of Lyncherdom | url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1025&context=ho_pubs | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908063928/http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1025&context=ho_pubs | archive-date=2017-09-08}}</ref> A grand jury indicted nine people for assault and rioting rather than Lewis's lynching.<ref name="Port Jervis Lynching indictments"  >{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/06/30/104138410.pdf|title=Port Jervis Lynching indictments |newspaper=New York Times|date=June 30, 1892 }}</ref> Some literary critics argue that this event influenced [[Stephen Crane]]'s 1898 novella ''[[The Monster (novella)|The Monster]]''. Crane lived in Port Jervis from 1878 until 1883 and frequently visited the area from 1891 to 1897.<ref>Wertheim, Stanley. ''A Stephen Crane Encyclopedia''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-313-29692-8}}. p. 195</ref>

In the mid-1920s some residents in the area formed a [[Ku Klux Klan]] chapter, in the period of the KKK's early 20th-century revival. They burned crosses on Point Peter, the mountain peak that overlooks the city.<ref name="Boys get ‘K.K.K.’ warning">{{cite web |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/08/13/107066826.pdf|title=Boys get 'K.K.K.' Warning – Port Jervis Youths are Ordered to restore crosses to Point Peter|work=[[New York Times]]|date=August 13, 1922 }}</ref>

[[File:Port Jervis, NY crop.jpg|thumb|center|675x675px|A view of Port Jervis showing the [[Mid-Delaware Bridge]] to [[Matamoras, Pennsylvania]] on the far right and [[New Jersey]]'s [[High Point (New Jersey)|High Point]] on the [[Kittatinny Ridge]] on the far left]]
[[Image:Port Jervis Parade July 14 2007.jpg|thumb|The parade on July 14, 2007, celebrating the 100th year as a city]]

===Geological history===
The city's location at the confluence of the Delaware and Neversink rivers has made it subject to occasional flooding. There was flooding during the 1955 [[Hurricane Diane]], and a flood-related rumor started a panic in the population. This incident was studied and a 1958 report issued by the [[United States National Research Council|National Research Council]]: "The Effects of a Threatening Rumor on a Disaster-Stricken Community".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110720011941/http://orsted.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9552&page=1 "The Effects of a Threatening Rumor on a Disaster-Stricken Community "]. National Research Council (NRC). (1958) Retrieved January 13, 2011.</ref>

In addition to the rivers having flooded during periods of heavy rainfall, at times ice jams have effectively dammed the Delaware, also causing flooding. In 1875 ice floes destroyed the bridge to [[Matamoras, Pennsylvania]].<ref name=age /> In 1981 a large ice floe resulted in the highest water crest measured to date at the [[National Weather Service]]'s [[Matamoras, Pennsylvania|Matamoras]] [[river gauge]] {{Convert|26.6|ft|m}}.<ref>Weyandt, Kimberly. [http://www.riverreporter.com/issues/04-09-30/news-floodhistory.html "Flooding is old news"]. ''The River Reporter'' (September 30 – October 6, 2004). Retrieved March 5, 2011.<br /><br />However, the NWS' list of [http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/crests.php?wfo=bgm&gage=mtmp1 "Historical Crests"] for the river at Matamoras/Port Jervis shows a peak of {{Convert|25.5|ft|m}} in 1904, and no record peak in 1981 at all.</ref>

[[File:2014-08-28 16 34 04 View northwest from the north corner of the base of High Point Monument in High Point State Park, New Jersey.JPG|thumb|left|View of Port Jervis from [[High Point (New Jersey)|High Point, New Jersey]]]]