The village is located on the main line of the Erie Railroad, and has direct connection with New England cities by way of the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R. It is also the terminus of the Montgomery & Erie, the Goshen & Deckertown, and the Lehigh & New England Railroads. It is handsomely laid out with broad, well-kept and well-shaded streets of smooth macadam. It has three public school buildings, and Garr Institute, a parochial school, conducted under the direction of St. John's Church. It has six churches: The First Presbyterian, organized in 1720; St. James' Episcopal, dating back to 1796; St. John the Evangelist, Roman Catholic, founded in 1820; the Methodist Episcopal, organized in 1847; the A. U. M. P. Church, and Olivet Chapel, a Presbyterian colored mission. It has two national banks and a savings bank, two newspapers, gas and electric lighting companies, a waterworks system, and first-class hotels and clubs. Its fire department is made up of three volunteer companies, Cataract Engine and Hose, organized in 1843; Dikeman Hose, organized in 1872, and Minisink Hook and Ladder, organized in 1906, upon the disbanding of Elliott H. and L., which was organized in 1871. Leading to the village from almost every direction are improved roads, maintained under State supervision. [Illustration: George F. Gregg.] No mention of the town, past or present, would be complete, without reference to the trotting-horse industry. It began in 1803, when Imp. Messenger, acknowledged head of the trotting family, stood at Goshen Down through all the years trotting horses were bred and raised there, and even in this day and generation the horse interests are chief among the interests of the town. In the center of the village is located the finest half-mile track in the country and many famous horses are trained there. Every foot of its ground is historic. In the far-gone years red men roamed its landscape and predatory beasts lurked in the shadows of its primeval timber lands. It was one of the early settlements made on that vast tract to which Governor Nicolls referred when he wrote in 1664: "The lands which I intend shall be first planted are those upon the west bank of Hudson's River." Shortly after the first settlement a bounty was placed on wolves and the Governor recommended its payment to the House of Lords. Chapter 302 of the laws of 1715, was an act for the destroying of wolves in this section. This act expired July 21, 1717, and on October 29, 1742, the General Assembly found it necessary to pass a law placing a bounty of a shilling and sixpence on "wolves, whelps and panthers." Noah Webster, of dictionary renown, taught the first academy in Goshen. Dewitt Clinton attended school there, and William H. Seward studied law in the office of Judge Duer. The first newspaper of the county, _The Goshen Repository,_ was published at Goshen in 1788, by David Mandeville.