History of Rhinebeck

Disclaimer: This is not a full history of Rhinebeck, see the Museum Shop to see what books we have for sale at the Museum that discuss the history of Rhinebeck in detail.

RM.2005.1022 St. Peter’s Lutheran Church (aka Old Stone Church), Route 9, Rhinebeck. Rev. Frederick Quitman was its first minister.

History of the Area
Dutch families first settled the land in the Hudson River Valley around 1686. Rhinebeck and its citizens have contributed to the historical wealth of the nation, farming the land, developing the fabric of the community and playing integral roles in wars from the Revolutionary to those of the 20th century.

RM.2005.1348 Mary Garrettson, daughter of Rev. Freeborn Garrettson and his wife Catharine Livingston, of Rhinebeck. Mary donated land for the Black section of Rhinebeck Cemetery.

Rynbeck: The First Settlement
Henry Beekman, who by royal grant owned most of the present town of Rhinebeck, settled 35 Palatine German families in this area around 1714. Their community, centered around a log church a mile south of the present-day stone edifice, came to be known as Rynbeck.
Business was conducted here until the early 19th century. Its importance diminished as growth and commerce in “The Flatts”, the village three miles to the south, eventually overshadowed this entire early settlement. The incorporation of the Village of Rhinebeck took effect in 1834.

Violet Capital of the World

In the late 19th century, Rhinebeck became the center of the violet growing industry. Violets known for their sweet scent and their many uses were popular the world round throughout history but especially in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The violet industry started in Poughkeepsie and moved north. Greenhouses for violets could be found at many houses around Rhinebeck along with large scale commercial greenhouse operations. Thousands of violets were shipped around the world from the humble town of Rhinebeck to the point where Rhinebeck was known as the violet capital of the world. The violet industry went bust in the 1920s and many of the greenhouse went dormant or scaled back their operations.

There was a resurgence in the violet industry in the 1930s when Eleanor Roosevelt popularized the wearing of violets once more. The industry went bust again and many greenhouses were taken down over the course of the 20th century. The Museum has adopted the violet as part of it’s logo to represent this history.

Selected Images from the Collections