In Revolutionary days, East Fishkill was on the route of an important highway from Boston to the Hudson River, traveled by Gen. George Washington, Gen. John Burgoyne, and John Jay. The town separated from Fishkill in 1849 and received its own charter. East Fishkill remained a mainly agricultural community until 1960, when IBM opened a chip-manufacturing plant in town. Then it changed dramatically: the farmland disappeared under housing and commercial development.