It is also home to some of the city's poorest neighborhoods, and historic preservation groups have expressed concern about many important properties being lost to urban blight and neglect.

Industrial properties, both vacant and in use, are concentrated closer to the river, while the higher neighborhoods are mostly residential, with some institutional buildings such as schools and churches scattered throughout.

In Washington Heights, the blocks near the southeastern corner of the district, where views of the river open up, there are houses in many Victorian styles reflecting the rapid subdivision and development of that area between 1886 and 1900.

[2] The houses on and near Parmenter Street, one block west of Washington's Headquarters, are the only part of Newburgh that still reflects the village character of the settlement from the turn of the 19th century.

[2] The oldest property in the district and the city, Jonathan Hasbrouck's 1750 stone house, is today the center of Washington's Headquarters State Historic Site, recognizing the general's residence here during the years between British surrender at Yorktown and final withdrawal from the American colonies in 1783.

[5] The city has recognized the historic district in its zoning, required architectural review of any significant construction within it, and initiated and encouraged many efforts to redevelop portions of it.

[7] In April 2017 a $15 million "scattered site" development project using a combination of state/federal Low Income Housing and Historic Tax Credits was underway.