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History · Vails Gate

2 of Vails Gate’s places are on the National Register

Most of Vails Gate was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1969.

2on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
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Photo: The original uploader was Daniel Case at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0

What stands out about Vails Gate’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Vails Gate are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Vails Gate’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Vails Gate’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Vails Gate came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Vails Gate.

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The locale has always been referred to as a neighborhood of New Windsor. In the 19th century, it became known as Vail's Gate, after John D. Vail, a former postmaster and keeper of the Blooming Grove Turnpike tollgate. For the same reason, it was also earlier called Tooker's Gate.

Vail served as the first postmaster of the New Windsor post office, established on April 10, 1850, being named the Mortonville Post Office. The name was finally changed to Vails Gate Post Office, which led to the apostrophe permanently dropping from the name. Efforts to change the name of the hamlet to Mortonville, after the Morton family, residents of the Ellison House, never occurred.

ChaptersHistoric sites

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the National Register

2 historic places in Vails Gate

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmark
1
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Vails Gate

Nobody well known was born in Vails Gate itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

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Gore VidalAmerican writer · b. 1925
David PetraeusU.S. Army general and public official · b. 1952
James PattersonAmerican author · b. 1947
Charles DurningAmerican actor · b. 1923
Alfred Thayer MaanUnited States Navy admiral and historian · b. 1840
Geraldine FerraroAmerican politician · b. 1935
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Firthcliffe11 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNew Windsor8 historic placesB+Cornwall36 historic placesA+

Questions about Vails Gate’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.