U-puku-ipi-sing

U-puku-ipi-sing, the name from which Poughkeepsie derives, is associated with a small spring near the Hudson River. The name has been interpreted as a reed-covered lodge by a little water place. Wappinger people lived in the surrounding country before English and Dutch settlers acquired land here in the late seventeenth century.

Poughkeepsie grew into a river town and served as New York's capital after Kingston was burned during the American Revolution. In the summer of 1788 the state's delegates gathered at the courthouse to debate the proposed United States Constitution. Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and Governor George Clinton were among them. Their discussions continued for more than a month before New York voted to ratify it on 26 July, becoming the eleventh state to do so.