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Why is this site called "Melzingah"?

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asked 2012-12-13 09:14:02 -0500

ken
198 ● 7 ● 17 ● 40
http://melzingah.com/

What does it mean? Why didn't you call it "Beacon Questions & Answers"?

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It's named after Joe Melzingah, strange online bard.

(I keed, I keed)

Ben Royce ( 2012-12-17 03:35:42 -0500 )edit

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answered 2012-12-13 09:56:01 -0500

aurora
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updated 2012-12-14 16:27:39 -0500

The village was originally referred to as "Fishkill Landing," a name which stemmed from what the Dutch called it, "Vis Kyl" (Fish Creek). Fishkill became known for the town inland, and so "Fishkill-on-the-Hudson" needed its own name. I was told it was in the early 1900's that naming the city Melzingah was suggested. The name Melzingah came from the local Indians; however, the committee that chose the name rushed the voting process, and the name only stuck for a few months. Every one made fun of it, out-of-towners rejected it and local businesses were irritated by the name. This site was named for Beacon's history; it's where we come from, hence the tag line, "Beacon's Lost Community."

The mountain got its name, Mount Beacon, because it was utilized for signaling Patriots during the Revolutionary War. The neighboring village (correction thanks to Pat) was melzingah, and because of its rapid industrial development, this river village? wanted to distinguish itself as an urban city, separate from melzingah. Despite the new name "The City of Beacon", this part of the county was still known as melzingah, but that changed when the city began to evolve into a vacation getaway for New Yorkers.

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answered 2012-12-14 09:51:23 -0500

Pat
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updated 2012-12-14 09:57:28 -0500

I really don't think that's accurate, Aurora.

melzingah wasn't a town, it was a village and it freely merged with the Village of Fishkill Landing who was at a time a powerful river port that was not under any pressure to change. Back then you had villages and towns with similar names (even today the Village of Fishkill is in the Town of Fishkill. Cornwall on the Hudson is still within the Town of Cornwall).

I may be wrong, but the name Melzingah was only a option to be voted on but was changed out after it was made fun of by the NYC media. The villages were powerful economic engines and did not want to be considered a joke if they merged, only stronger.

I will agree that people used melzingah as a location within Beacon after that. My grandparents would call the part in Beacon that was Glenham Glenham, but only the way one would call a specific area. My great aunts and grandmother worked at the mills at Groveville, but would call it Groveville and Beacon in the same sentence.

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I certainly don't claim to be a historian! And you would know more on the subject than I. This is the information as I have gathered over the years. It's like that game Telephone.

I didn't know there was a difference between Town and Village! Care to share?

aurora ( 2012-12-14 10:59:22 -0500 )edit

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Hahaha, "telephone"....sure, a village is a clustered community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to tens of thousands. It can be incorporated or not. A Town is the next stage up and can have a village within it's boundaries. It's a municipal corporation.

Pat ( 2012-12-14 11:29:25 -0500 )edit

I read recently in the NY Times archives that the name "Melzingah" was voted upon and approved. I will try to dig up the article and post a link here.

ken ( 2012-12-14 14:29:56 -0500 )edit

Did by chance, Pat, your great aunts and grandmother live in the buildings that housed the the mill workers? I grew up in those buildings and am the property manager there =] We like to refer to it as Landgrove, as Groveville has had such a bad rap in the past.

aurora ( 2012-12-14 16:26:38 -0500 )edit

I found this from the Howland Cultural Center site: "..The committee recommended the new city be called "Melzingah" after the local Indian tribe. Voters approved, but the New York City newspapers ridiculed that choice, another referendum was called, and Beacon won by a small majority." Sorry Aurora!

Pat ( 2012-12-15 00:30:41 -0500 )edit

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