Poughkeepsie/pəˈkɪpsiː/ (pə-KIP-see), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, is a city in the state of New York, United States, which serves as the county seat of Dutchess County. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 32,736. Poughkeepsie is located in the Hudson Valley midway between New York City and Albany, and is part of the New York metropolitan area. The name derives from a word in the Wappinger language, roughly U-puku-ipi-sing, meaning "the reed-covered lodge by the little-water place," referring to a spring or stream feeding into the Hudson River south of the present downtown area.
Poughkeepsie is known as "The Queen City of the Hudson". It was originally settled in the 17th century by the Dutch and became New York's second capital shortly after the American Revolution. It was chartered as a city in 1854. Major bridges in the city include the Poughkeepsie Bridge, a former railroad bridge now serving as a public walkway, which opened on October 3, 2009, and the Mid-Hudson Bridge, a major thoroughfare built in 1930 that carries U.S. Route 44 (concurrent with State Route 55) over the Hudson. The city of Poughkeepsie lies in New York's 18th congressional district.