EPIP Profile: Kimlin Cider Mill

Project Name: Kimlin Cider Mill Acquisition, Poughkeepsie
Borrower: Cider Mill Friends of Open Space and Historic Preservation, Inc.
Loan Date: 2008
Project Description: An EPIP loan to support the purchase of the Kimlin Cider Mill and 1.8 acres of surrounding buffer land in the town of Poughkeepsie by the nonprofit Cider Mill Friends of Open Space and Historic Preservation, Inc. to keep the building from being demolished for a residential subdivision. The group is working to restore the mill and open the land to passive recreation for community residents.

Situated on approximately two acres of land in the midst of a residential subdivision on the southern outskirts of the city of Poughkeepsie, the Cider Mill is the last vestige of what was once a larger agricultural property owned by the Kimlin Family.

The Mill is a distinctive 20th century commercial and social landmark, essentially intact to the period of 1925-1935 when the owner, Ralph R. Kimlin, expanded an old barn into a cider mill and public attraction. Mr. Kimlin sought vigorously to protect the building and the traditional farm life that was fast disappearing around him, and since 2001, the Cider Mill Friends have continued the fight to acquire and protect the property. The Preservation League is delighted to support their efforts.

The Cider Mill was once popular with local residents, school children, and students from nearby Vassar College, who would venture there for fresh-pressed cider and donuts, but has been uninhabited since 1990. Long-term plans for the Mill and surrounding 1.8 acres are to provide the public with direct access to a restored cider mill, a native landscape, rural history, agriculture, and low-intensity passive recreation.

According to Cider Mill Friends, the Mill is the last of its kind in the area, housed in a rambling frame structure with exuberant decorative features in wood and stone. The Mill has been listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, and was recently designated as a Town of Poughkeepsie Historic Landmark.