photos added after March 11

Payne Employee Cottages across route 9-W and other nearby items click on any picture to see enlargement
Built in the period 1912-1915, the cottages housed employees on the estate. Other employees lived in the village of Esopus or in West Park. The original route 9-W followed Black Creek Road, but in 1915 the state took some of Payne's property to set the road on its present course. The cottages were used by Wiltwyck School for Boys as dormitories. After Wiltwyck left Esopus, Lewis McLaren attempted to operate a school for a short period. Then the cottages were turned into apartment housing, the current use.
	<<=== This early photo shows the cottages as they were originally designed for employee housing. Photo courtesy Charles Houghton, President Electric Launch Inc (ELCO)		<<=== This was how the cottages looked when they were occupied by the Wiltwyck School for Boys. Photo taken from the Internet
Colonel Payne built housing for some of his employees, using stone quarried on the property. The original roofs have been broken through to provide another story. They are rented as apartments. They face Black Creek Road. Originally employees could get to the mansion and English Village without crossing route 9-W, as the state road followed Black Creek Road to the village of Esopus. ===>> photo September 2001 by Richard Foy==>>
		<<=== Wiltwyck School for Boys added this brick building which served as the kitchen and dining room. The room was also used for boxing, as PAL or Golden Gloves type activities were encouraged for the young men. Floyd Patterson, a Brooklyn boy, began his ascent to the heavyweight throne in this building. The small garage building and the wood frame addition was designed and constructed by John McClelland when he purchased the site in 1982. photo September 2001 by Richard Foy==>>
After the failure of the McLaren School, the property was sold to Fred Lafko, a Wappingers Falls builder, who sold it 9 Sept 1982 to JAF Partners, who constructed this wood frame building to enlarge the number of apartments. The building was designed by John S. McClelland, one of the JAF partners. ===>> photo September 2001 by Richard Foy==>>
photo December 2001 by Rich Foy	<<=== This old pump house across Black Creek Road from the cottages was included in the land transfer, as it supplied water to the complex. It was condemned in 1981. John McClelland had two wells drilled north of the wood frame building when he built the apartments. There is plenty of water for the complex.	photo December 2001 by Rich Foy	<<=== These are the abutments for a bridge which carried an abandoned road over Black Creek. The road led from what is now the Black Creek Forest Preserve to Black Creek Road, and was abandoned when route 9-W was re-routed. It probably ran through the parking lot for the employee housing.
This bridge designed and built by Julian Burroughs, the superintendent of the Payne estate, sometime around 1915. It is located on Black Creek Road, which was the main Newburgh to Kingston route until the road was straightened by passing through Colonel Payne's property around 1915. ===>	photo September 2001 by Richard Foy	Another view of Julian Burroughs' bridge ===>> photo November 2001 by Victor VanCarpels
photo September 2001 by Richard Foy	<=== The Beaver family cemetery, located along Black Creek Road. The Payne property extended a little past this cemetery. The Beaver family were early settlers who worked farms and industries to the north and west of the Payne properties.		<<=== This is the sign on the retaining wall of Beaver Cemetery adjoining Black Creek Road. The sign is visible from Black Creek Road. photo September 2001 by Richard Foy
Black Creek crosses Black Creek Road at right angles, but there is a smaller feeder creek which follows the road. This creek was dammed to form two lakes, one for a grist mill, the other for a factory which manufactured a combination knife and fork for the Union Troops during the Civil War. There is constant reference to the 'factory lot' in deeds dating the second half of the 19th century ===>>	Some stones from the dam remain, as seen in this photo taken September 2001 by Rich Foy.	These foundations are probably those of the grist mill, but they may also have been those of the factory. ===>> photo September 2001 by Rich Foy
References: interview with Nick Russo, complex manager, November 2003 communication from John McClelland, December 2003 deeds relating to this part of property
most recent revision 5 December 2003
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