The town of New Paltz was founded in 1678 by French Huguenots by both patent from the governor and purchase from the local Esopus tribe of the Lenape people. The Huguenots were religious refugees who had immigrated via Mannheim in the German Palatinate, where they had settled after fleeing France during religious persecution. They settled in the area of the present-day village of New Paltz and established their own local government. The size of the town increased with annexation from surrounding regions in 1775 and 1809. In 1842, part of New Paltz was removed to form the Town of Esopus. More of New Paltz was removed in order to form the towns of Rosendale, Lloyd, and Gardiner.
New Paltz is accessible by a number of different roads. Interstate 87 is the main thoroughfare and passes through in the eastern part and houses Exit 18 for Route 299. State routes that traverse through are Route 32, Route 208, and Route 299. The nearest train station is about away, in Poughkeepsie. Both Amtrak and Metro-North trains serve Poughkeepsie. Adirondack Trailways also provides bus transportation from New Paltz into various locations across multiple states.
Education
New Paltz has 4 public schools, K-12 and is home to a college in the SUNY system.
The town is governed by a town council composed of four at-large members and a supervisor who serve for four years. The highway superintendent and the town clerk also serve four year terms. There is also a Village of New Paltz within the town governed by a mayor and a board of trustees.
As of the census of 2016, there were 14,108 people, 4,455 households, and 2,347 families residing in the town. The population density was 378.4 inhabitants per square mile. There were 4,679 housing units at an average density of 138.0 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 82.16% white, 5.99% black or African American, 0.20% Native American, 4.06 Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 4.93% from other races, and 2.62% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.22% of the population. There were 4,455 households out of which 26.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.4% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.3% were non-families. 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.99. In the town, the population was spread out with 16.9% under the age of 18, 31.4% from 18 to 24, 23.7% from 25 to 44, 19.0% from 45 to 64, and 9.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.0 males. The median income for a household in the town was $40,542, and the median income for a family was $55,537. Males had a median income of $38,250 versus $26,629 for females. The per capita income for the town was $18,436. About 6.8% of families and 18.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.9% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over.
