History

Springside is Born – the Vassar-Downing Partnership (1850 – 1852)
In the first half of the 1800s, the site known today as Springside was part of the Allen family farm at the edge of the Poughkeepsie city boundary. In 1850, Matthew Vassar purchased the property and hired Andrew Jackson Downing, the country’s foremost tastemaker and landscape designer, to develop the site as his rural estate – part landscaped pleasure gardens, part working farm.

Entrance to Springside, from Lossing, 1867 (photo: Vassar College Library)

Springside as Matthew Vassar’s Summer Retreat (1852 – Vassar’s death in 1868)
Vassar continued to improve Springside for the rest of his life. In all he spent over $100,000 turning a simple $8,000 farm into a celebrated estate.

Springside over the Next Century (1868 – 1960s)
Vassar had no direct heirs. After his death, John O. Whitehouse purchased Springside, which his son-in-law, E. N. Howell, enhanced as a gentleman’s farm. When Howells went bankrupt in 1901, William Nelson, owner of the Hudson Knolls estate to the south, purchased Springside. The heart of Springside remained in the Nelson family until the 1970s, essentially unchanged for one hundred years after Vassar’s death.

Springside’s Rescue and Restoration (1969 – present)
By the mid-twentieth century, Springside was in serious peril. In early 1968, rezoning requests for commercial and apartment development galvanized preservationists. Their efforts were rewarded when Springside was given National Historic Landmark status in 1969. In 1990, the historic landscape it was officially deeded to Springside Landscape Restoration, the nonprofit organization created in1986 to preserve and restore the site – a mission that continues to pursue today.

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