
This Project relates to People who Worked and lived in the "Village of Monticello", located in Thompson, Sullivan County, within the Catskills region of New York, United States. It is the seat for the town of Thompson, and the county seat of Sullivan County. The population was 7,173 at the 2020 census. The village was named after the residence of Thomas Jefferson.
The village is located in the central part of Thompson, adjacent to New York Route 17 and 17B. Monticello is the largest village in the county in both population and area. It is roughly located at the half-way point between Binghamton, New York and New York City along NY 17.
In 1801, Samuel F. Jones was given the task of finding a route for the Newburgh and Cochecton Turnpike to connect The Hudson and Delaware Rivers. While he marked the path through what was then Orange and Ulster counties he saw an opportunity to build a village on the turnpike. Samuel convinced his younger brother, John Patterson Jones, to buy a 1861-acre tract of land that would be bisected by the turnpike so they could build this new village. In 1803, John and 11 other men started work on a sawmill, and other infrastructure to help them build the village. The group left the area during the winter but would return in the early months of 1804 to continue their work. In spring of the same year the route for the turnpike was finalized and the two brothers started to plan the village. After the plan was completed, the first tree was chopped down by John September 4, 1804, on the property that would later become his house. The village grew from there, having 20 houses by 1813 and being officially incorporated on April 20, 1830.
On the evening of August 10, 1909, a major fire started in the Broadway district of Monticello. The fire started in a local power station and quickly spread from building to building, engulfing the whole of Broadway street in flames. Local fire departments were scrambled to stop the fire, quickly containing the fire and stopping its spread to residential areas. By the time the dust had settled, 40 buildings had been reduced to ash, causing roughly 1 million dollars in damages. Luckily, no one was killed in the fire and the village soon rebuilt.
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