Amrita Club - History

History

The club was founded in 1873 for local businessmen and professionals, with future neighbor and prominent local lawyer Frank Hasbrouck as one of the charter members. It excluded Catholics, African-Americans and Jews, and soon became synonymous with the city's elite. In 1905, local historian Edmund Platt described as "the first club of any importance". "Much of Poughkeepsie's growth was decided at the Amrita Club's dinner table", writes Carolyn Burke in her biography of Lee Miller, whose father was a member during her childhood.

It met either in rented rooms or refurbished older buildings until it decided to build its own clubhouse in 1912. It cost the club $100,000 ($2.23 million in 2008 dollars.)

Over the course of the 20th century, the club's influence waned as the city grew more diverse and its industrial base declined. In the 1980s it eventually disbanded and the building became city property. Unoccupied, it decayed until 1999 when Decision Technologies International (DTI), a software consulting firm based in nearby Wappinger, reached a deal with the city to renovate the building and use it as its headquarters. The city committed $800,000 in urban-redevelopment grants to help the company.

In 2002, almost a year and a half after DTI had last withdrawn funds from the account, the city moved to foreclose on the property since it believed DTI was not serious about redeveloping it and it had been approached by others who were. DTI insisted it was serious, and after first threatening to contest any action vigorously, agreed to waive certain defenses in exchange for a 30-day reprieve. The city formally commenced foreclosure actions early in 2003, with DTI's founder, Idoni Matthews, promising a court fight. In October it began work again, but the city would not withdraw the action.