What's Planned for Jonesburg

A drive out south of Hudson recently on Route 9 caused me to wonder, as I always do, about the plans for the little row of houses built by Fred W. Jones in the 1880s for his workers at the New York Shell Marble and Coral Company.

Jonesburg in 1926  Photo courtesy Peter Cipkowski

Last winter, Gossips reported that there were building permits tacked to the doors of all the houses, but six months later, no progress appears to have been made. Curious, I decided to ask John Florio, the building inspector for the Town of Greenport, what was happening. He confirmed that permits had been issued for interior demolition and building permits for renovation. He is now in the process of renewing the building permits because a year has passed since they were first issued.

He explained that most of the houses now have new roofs, and work has been done on the foundations, but the project is not progressing very fast because the developer, someone from Dutchess County, wants to ready all the houses at once, and one of them is still occupied.

According to Florio, the houses will be changing in appearance. The plan is to remove the porches, which were the nicest features of the houses as they appeared back in 1926. Lamentably, there is nothing to prevent that from happening. Greenport has no historic preservation laws; it doesn't even have zoning laws. Florio also told Gossips that it hasn't been decided if the original clapboard will be restored, or if the houses will be re-sided.

A welcome change in appearance is that there will be no parking in front of the buildings. All parking will be behind the buildings.
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Correction: This row of houses was not built by Fred W. Jones. Rather it was built by the Ten Broecks, for whom Ten Broeck Lane was named, soon after Jones's death in 1901. At one time, this stand of houses was known as "Ten Broeck Row."