Middletown courthouse to bear Angelo J. Ingrassia’s name

Middletown’s new city courthouse will bear the name of the Honorable Angelo J. Ingrassia after the Common Council voted unanimously on May 18, giving the building a local identity before it opens in the next few months. The decision ties a coming civic project to a man who served Orange County as district attorney, county court judge and chief administrative judge of the Ninth Judicial District.

The naming matters because this is not a symbolic annex. Middletown City Court now operates at 2 James Street in Middletown, and the new courthouse will become the place where the city’s core justice business is handled, including civil cases up to $15,000, misdemeanors, lesser offenses and arraignments for felony defendants. For residents, attorneys, jurors, defendants and court staff, the Ingrassia name will be attached to the daily workings of the local court system every time they enter the building.

Ingrassia, who died in Middletown on March 21, 2013, at age 89, was a lifelong Middletown-area resident who had raised his family in the city since 1958. His obituary identified him as a World War II Army veteran, and his service was recognized by the New York State Senate in 2013. That resolution noted that he had served as a Special Master to the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, from 2001 to 2006, and it also pointed to his involvement with the Howells Fire Department, Middletown Elks Club Lodge 1097 and American Legion Post 151.

The courthouse naming also reflects the wider reach of Ingrassia’s career. The Ninth Judicial District spans Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties, and the Times Herald-Record described him in 2013 as a legal legend who served as administrative judge for that region. By choosing his name for the new Middletown courthouse, the council linked the building to a legal figure who was rooted in the city but worked across a major mult-county court system. For Orange County, the result is a courthouse that will serve a practical public function while also carrying forward a name already familiar in the county’s legal history.