[4] New Paltz was founded in 1678 by French Huguenots settlers, including Louis DuBois, who had taken refuge in Mannheim, Germany, for a brief period of time, being married there in 1655, before emigrating to the Dutch colony of New Netherland in 1660 with his family.

Records of the New Paltz Reformed Church, which was formed in 1683, show the name of the settlement was first expressed not in German, nor in English, but in French: Nouveau Palatinat.

[citation needed] The community was governed by a kind of corporation called the Duzine, referring to the twelve partners who acquired the royal patent.

That form of government continued well past the time of the American Revolution, by special action of the New York State legislature.

The commercial center serving the agricultural base was located on the east shore of the Wallkill River, in the area where the first settlers had built their shelters.

There, the church, schools, blacksmith, seamstresses, and stores flourished for the benefit of farmers who required goods such as seed, tools, clothing, and food not available on all farms, including alcoholic beverages.

The secession of the town of Lloyd and parts of Shawangunk, Esopus, and Gardiner, between 1843 and 1853, reduced New Paltz to its present size.

Higher education has been one of the main concerns of the community since the 1830s, with facilities on Huguenot and North Front streets.

Late in the nineteenth century, the college was built in the area of Plattekill Avenue and Manheim Boulevard, where the State University of New York at New Paltz now stands.

The Wallkill Valley Railroad reached New Paltz by 1870, and provided passenger service through the town until 1937.

Many different types of restaurants are located in New Paltz, including several that have earned high ratings from both local and national critics, making it a destination for those seeking a variety of good food.

The four trustees on the village board are Alexandria Wojcik (elected in 2019 and 2023 via zero-dollar campaigns;[citation needed] serving as deputy mayor), William Murray, Stana Weisburd, and Stevie Susta.

Rehabilitation of the sewer system, which has been found to overflow raw sewage onto local streets and into the Wallkill, is expected under a consent order agreed to in 2003.

[7] In 2004, then-Mayor Jason West helped catapult the village into the national spotlight[8] as one of two locations in early 2004 to marry same-sex couples.

The Women in Black have a small-but-active chapter in New Paltz that has been protesting in front of Elting Memorial Library weekly since November 2001.

[9] In 2024, over 200 activists rallied at the library to demonstrate their "outrage" over the arrest of over 100 students at SUNY New Paltz who had created a Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

[16] The modern New Paltz Times, which had no continuity with the 19th-century paper of the same name, was published weekly until 2020, when it was merged into Hudson Valley One.

This event, paid for through the village, town, and SUNY New Paltz, celebrated the differences among people through food, spoken word poetry, artistic endeavors and theatrical performance.

A river race using home made boats that was started in 1955 by Delta Kappa fraternity at SUNY New Paltz.

The study's suggestions included turning Main Street into a one-way route and improving bicycle and pedestrian access.