Program

NYS Historic, Pomeroy Education Program

Subject

House, People

Location

170 Titusville Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603, USA

Lat/Long

41.665298487943, -73.871532489573

Grant Recipient

Arlington High School

Elias Titus was born in Dutchess County in 1805. His father owned two wool mills in Washington Hollow. By the early 1830s, Titus and his brothers acquired a former grist mill in LaGrange and converted it into a wool manufacturing factory. His brothers eventually sold their shares, and by 1850, Titus operated the factory with business partner Silas Sweet. Following Sweet’s retirement, Titus ran the mill with his sons. By 1867, the family property included a mill, a factory building, and four nearby homes. This cluster was named Titusville after the family, becoming known as the Hamlet of Titusville by 1876, a designation that remains on maps today.

In 1864, Titus expanded operations by opening a second factory in Rochdale to produce flannel. By 1873, the two factories employed at least 130 people and produced an estimated 100,000 yards of cloth annually, primarily black doeskin and white flannel, much of which was shipped to New York City.

Titus traveled to California twice around the age of 70 to conduct business. He died in 1880 at the Titusville factory. The Rochdale factory burned down in 1883, and the Titusville factory was destroyed by fire in 1897. His home, believed to have been built in 1832, is the only remaining building from the complex as of 2026.