Poughkeepsie, New York

Poughkeepsie (pəˈkɪpsi ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, which is separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it, is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie is in the Hudson River Valley region, midway between the core of the New York metropolitan area and the state capital of Albany. It is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area which belongs to the New York combined statistical area. It is served by the nearby Hudson Valley Regional Airport and Stewart International Airport in Orange County, New York. Poughkeepsie has been called "The Queen City of the Hudson". It was settled in the 17th century by the Dutch and became New York State's second capital shortly after the American Revolution. It was chartered as a city in 1854. Major bridges in the city include the Walkway over the Hudson, a former railroad bridge called the Poughkeepsie Bridge which reopened as a public walkway on October 3, 2009; and the Mid-Hudson Bridge, a major thoroughfare built in 1930 that carries U.S. Route 44 over the Hudson. The city of Poughkeepsie lies in New York's 18th congressional district. The City of Poughkeepsie and neighboring Town of Poughkeepsie are generally viewed as a single place and are commonly referred to collectively as "Poughkeepsie", with a combined population of 74,751 in 2018. Poughkeepsie is situated between the Lower Hudson and the Capital District regions, and the city's economy is stimulated by several major corporations, including IBM. Educational institutions include Marist College, Vassar College, Dutchess Community College and The Culinary Institute of America. The name Poughkeepsie is derived from a word in the Wappinger tribe's Munsee language, roughly U-puku-ipi-sing, meaning 'the reed-covered lodge by the little-water place', referring to a spring or stream feeding into the Hudson River south of the downtown area.