The building that houses Upstate Films in Rhinebeck is an important and historic landmark for many reasons. Among them, the Starr Institute opened with its new building in 1862, a time when America’s deadliest war, the Civil War, had no end in sight. As the United States headed for its centennial in 1876, the country was torn apart by the issue of slavery. The 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln as President created the spark that resulted in a war that caused the deaths of 2% of the US population, the equivalent of 7 million people today.  Lincoln had famously said in his 1858 “A House Divided” speech, that the US would become all slave, or all free, but could not remain divided. This is what was at stake.

In spite of the dark clouds, Rhinebeck’s local leaders and residents remained resolute in their determination to build a local society of learning and culture. Rhinebeck’s Mary Miller and William Kelly were the donor and leader, respectively, of what became the Starr Institute. The Institute came to hold a library with a reading room, recreation rooms, a dining room, and public spaces including the theater this is today Upstate Films.

Technological revolutions, industrial growth, and immigration unprecedented in scale and diversity, added new dimensions to what had largely been an agricultural economy. In particular, the 1850s construction of the train between New York City and Albany, brought many working class Irish who were impoverished, and Catholic. At the same time, women were demanding a larger role in society.

Rhinebeck’s widowed Mary Miller gave land and funding to start the Institute in the name of her late husband, the US Congressman, William Starr.  Born in Rhinebeck, her maternal grandfather was General Philip Schuyler of Albany. She grew up at the Schuyler estate, The Grove. Rhinebeck’s William Kelly lived on the river estate known as Ellerslie. He became the first President of the Board of the Institute and held that role until his death in 1871. He was, at the same time, and in the same spirit of community improvement, Chairman of the Board of the newly formed Vassar Female College, known today as Vassar College which was opening at the same time.

As reported on the front page of the New York Times, Lincoln was on his way to his first inauguration in Washington DC in February of 1861 when he had the train make a rare stop. At Rhinebeck station Lincoln picked up Kelly, who was an important leader in the opposition political party. Despite their opposing political views, they both were determined to create the institutions that would improve society at the other end of the war, so that ideas and gifts like that of Mary Miller would prevail. Between them, the two men ensured that the US Capitol dome would be complete when the Union was reconstituted, and a women’s college and institute of learning and culture would prevail.