Stockade District, Kingston, Ulster County

The Kingston Stockade District intersection at Crown and John Streets is the only intersection in the United States where pre-Revolutionary War-era stone houses are located on each of the four corners. The four houses include the Franz P. Roggen House, the Matthew Person House, the Kingston Academy, and the Matthew Jansen House.

The large, two-story stone Jansen House was originally built in the mid 1600’s. The home was destroyed in 1777 with the burning of Kingston by British troops during the American Revolution. The building was then rebuilt in the 1790’s, retaining a portion of the original structure. According to an August 30, 1946 article in The Kingston Freeman, the house was built by “Dr. Mancius of Albany on land purchased from Anneke Jans of Trinity Church, New York. Built for use of the doctor’s younger brother, it was considered one of the mansions of Kingston in its day. However the young doctor never occupied it and it came to the Matthew Jansen family and has since been known as the Matthew Jansen property.

There were two doctors in the Jansen family and the small house to the north of the main structure was added to the main house. Later Senator Hardenbergh and his wife occupied the house and it then became the home of Dr. J. C. Norton, father of the late Clara Norton Reed and Mrs. Reed occupied the premises for many years. Since then it has been used as a furniture store by William Hardenbergh, as a residence property, and a dress shop and also as a youth center for the young people of Kingston. Since the youth center closed the house with twenty-inch limestone walls which are held together with cement brought over from Holland, has remained unoccupied most of the time.”