Discover Marlboro: The Rink Building

The Rink Building, as it was referred to from its earliest days, was built in 1884 by Theodore H. Kniffin. It was built on the former site of a grist mill belonging to Major Lewis Dubois. Over the years, it has been home to numerous factories and businesses, including a blacksmith shop, a variety of mills, a button factory, a courtroom, storage space for fruit packages, a roller rink and the town’s newspaper in the 1880s, and “was frequently used for political gatherings and dances during the 1920s.”

According to William Plank’s book, The History of Marlborough, in 1905, the Empire City Pearl Button Company opened its doors here, “stamping out buttons from mother of pearl shells imported from Australia and the South Pacific.” The company paid such a high wage that “farmers resented the loss of help which went to the button factory.” The “uncertainty about the water supply during the summer seasons [which the factory received its power from] led to the closing of the plant in 1909.”

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During the late 1920s, the Rink Building became home to a coat and suit factory, and in more recent times a cabinet factory. Today, it is home to the Falcon, a popular music venue and restaurant in the Hudson Valley.

Sources:

Amodeo. E., Pagnotta, J. & Cosgrove, J. (2012). Images of America: Marlborough (p. 47). Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.

Cochrane, C. (1887). The History of the Town of Marlborough, Ulster County, New York: From the First Settlement in 1712, by Capt. Wm. Bond, to 1887 (p. 9, 12, 62). Poughkeepsie, NY: W.F. Boshart.

“Marlborough.” (1926). The Kingston Daily Freeman.

“Marlborough.” (1928). The Kingston Daily Freeman.

“Marlborough.” (1930). The Kingston Daily Freeman.

Plank, W. (1959). History of the Town of Marlborough (pgs. 7-8). Marlborough, NY: The Fifty-Niner.

"What is Going on in Marlborough." (1884). The Kingston Daily Freeman.