Constructed in 1853 as a bank, this brick building has been a bank, a town hall, a private residence, and a dry goods store. It was built in 1853. In 1857 it was the home of the National Bank of Fishkill. A second bank, the Fishkill Savings Institute, rented space in the building. The National Bank failed in the 1870s in the post-civil war depression, but the small Fishkill Savings Institute prospered. Fishkill Saving Institute moved a few doors to the east on Main Street, to where Wells Fargo is today, and became the Fishkill Savings Bank.
When the National Bank failed, the property passed to private hands for many years. It was owned by Herman Dean, editor of the Fishkill Weekly Times, whose father James Dean had been Fishkill’s postmaster. Herman Dean had a dry goods store on the 1st floor. The upper floor was a residential apartment which later was used as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) headquarters.
The town bought the building in 1945. It served as the town hall until the opening of our new town hall in 1989. The walls of this building are 18-inches thick for the original bank’s security. The mansard roof, also known as a French roof, is a 4 sided gambrel style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with a lower slope punctured by dormer windows at a steeper angle than the upper the roof which creates an additional floor of habitable space such as a garret (small attic). The upper slope of the roof may not be visible from street level when viewed from close proximity to the building. Iron shutters on the outside date to banking days when they were closed every night for security reasons.
When the National Bank failed, the property passed to private hands for many years. It was owned by Herman Dean, editor of the Fishkill Weekly Times, whose father James Dean had been Fishkill’s postmaster. Herman Dean had a dry goods store on the 1st floor. The upper floor was a residential apartment which later was used as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) headquarters.
The town bought the building in 1945. It served as the town hall until the opening of our new town hall in 1989. The walls of this building are 18-inches thick for the original bank’s security. The mansard roof, also known as a French roof, is a 4 sided gambrel style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with a lower slope punctured by dormer windows at a steeper angle than the upper the roof which creates an additional floor of habitable space such as a garret (small attic). The upper slope of the roof may not be visible from street level when viewed from close proximity to the building. Iron shutters on the outside date to banking days when they were closed every night for security reasons.