Where's Our Shrine to the Fallen?

Where’s Our Shrine to the Fallen? is an ongoing photographic project that documents the city of Newburgh, New York and the surrounding region over the course of the past decade. Once a booming industrial center on the banks of the Hudson River, Newburgh was one of the first cities in the United States to get television access and fluoridate its water for residents. In the 1960s, the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge opened, siphoning traffic away from downtown and onto the newly completed interstate highway. Downtown businesses were further impacted by the opening of a new shopping mall in the suburbs. Urban renewal delivered the final crippling blow when an entire downtown commercial district of the city was demolished and never rebuilt due to lack of funding. A grassy hillside still stands in its place. The following decades saw the city decimated by poverty, drug addiction, and gang violence. Much of its once-grand architecture lay abandoned and crumbling, and Newburgh was named one of the most dangerous small cities in America on numerous occasions. In recent years, the city has been experiencing gentrification as more affluent residents from New York City flee rising rents for the comparatively cheaper real estate of the Hudson Valley. Many of the abandoned buildings have been renovated or razed, and vacant storefronts are slowly being filled. This project documents Newburgh during a period of significant transition. While newcomers to the city try to remake entire neighborhoods, existing residents struggle to be included in the conversation of what Newburgh will look like in the coming decades of the 21st century.