Black cultural center to be sited in New Paltz’s Oliver House
Annie Oliver House, 5 Broadhead Avenue, New Paltz, NY
A house on Broadhead Avenue in New Paltz that was once slated for demolition will be preserved and converted into a cultural center under a plan submitted by Esi Lewis, an attorney who will also be joining the Town Council in January. The house, one of the few remaining ones built by Jacob Wynkoop in the latter part of the 19th century, was home to Civil War veteran Richard Oliver and Oliver’s wife Ann, who was widowed due to malaria to which the soldier succumbed. Black residents of New Paltz formed a vibrant community at the time, but that history was largely unknown when the proposal to build a Stewart’s on the lot that included both this house and a gas station of ill repute was first advanced.
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