As early as 1614, the Dutch had set up a factorij (trading post) at Ponckhockie, at the junction of the Rondout Creek and the Hudson River.

They traded European goods with the Lenape and Mohican for the furs their trappers collected.

However, historians believe the two cultures had drastically different conceptions of property and land use, causing tension between the two groups.

In the spring of 1658, Peter Stuyvesant, Director-General of New Amsterdam, ordered the consolidation and fortification of the settlement on high ground in what today is Uptown Kingston.

[4] In 1661, the Dutch granted a charter for the settlement as a separate municipality; Stuyvesant named it Wiltwijck (Wiltwyck).

Ultimately, the Richard Nicolls/Esopus Indian Treaty (1665) resulted in lasting peace between the natives and settlers.

According to the treaty, the Esopus "in the names of themselves and theire heirs forever, give, Grant, Alienate, and Confirme all their Right and Interest, Claime or demand, to a certaine Parcell of Land" including the city of Kingston and extending to modern Kerhonkson.

[7] Many descendants of the Esopus people who inhabited the area became remnant members of several other related, displaced tribes.

Some in the diaspora are among the federally recognized Stockbridge–Munsee Community, who moved from New York to Shawano County, Wisconsin; the Munsee-Delaware of the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada, established after the Revolution by the Crown for its Iroquois and other Indian allies; and the Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation (located primarily in the highland of the New York-New Jersey border area).

Wiltwyck was one of three large Hudson River settlements in New Netherland, the other two being Beverwyck, now Albany; and New Amsterdam, now New York City.

In 1669, the English renamed Wiltwyck as Kingston, in honor of the family seat of Governor Lovelace's mother.

By the time the British arrived, the residents and government officials had removed to Hurley, New York.

Kingston celebrates and re-enacts the 1777 burning of the city by the British every other year in a citywide theatrical staging of the event that begins at the Rondout.

In the early 1800s, four sloops plied the river, carrying passengers and freight from Kingston to New York.

By 1829, river steamers made the trip to Manhattan in a little over twelve hours, usually travelling by night.

Natural cement deposits were found throughout the valley, and in 1844 quarrying began in the "Ponchockie" section of Rondout.

It was preserved in straw all year and ice chunks served as an early method of refrigeration.

Meanwhile, the Midtown area is known for its early 20th century industries and is home to the Ulster Performing Arts Center and the historic City Hall building.

[18] Midtown is the largest of Kingston's neighborhoods, home to Kingston High School, an original Carnegie Library that is currently part of the high school, and both campuses of HealthAlliance Hospital, part of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network; HealthAlliance Broadway Campus (formerly The Kingston Hospital) and HealthAlliance Mary's Avenue Campus (formerly Benedictine Hospital).

The historic covered storefront walks, known as the Pike Plan, were recently reinforced and modernized with skylights.

A controversial restoration of 1970s-era canopies was marred by the sudden appearance of painted red goats on planters just prior to the neighborhood's rededication.

Kingston Stockade FC play their home games at Dietz Stadium.

[21] In 1921, one time major league player Dutch Schirick organized a semi-professional team, the Colonels, in Kingston, New York.

Major league teams would, on occasion, play exhibition games against the Kingston Colonels, and would sometimes recruit local talent.

The city's Hasbrouck Park was created in 1920; it is 45 acres (18 ha) in area and includes a nature trail.

[30] The Kingston Center of SUNY Ulster (KCSU) is a branch of the county's community college that offers programs, courses and certifications at a convenient Midtown location.

KCSU is the new home for Police Basic Training and also offers human services, criminal justice and the general education courses required by the State of New York to satisfy the liberal arts core of an A.A. or A.S.

CSX Transportation operates freight rail service through Kingston on the River Line Subdivision.

The New York State Thruway, carrying the Interstate 87 designation through this section, runs through the western part of the city.

[36] Residents of the city and surrounding areas are served by the two hospital campuses of HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley, a 315-bed healthcare system: HealthAlliance is part of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network, a 10-hospital, 1,700-bed Hudson Valley-wide healthcare system.