About: Poestenkill, New York

Poestenkill is a town in Rensselaer County, New York, United States. The population was 4,530 at the 2010 census. The town is southeast of Troy and is centrally located in the county. The town is named after the Poesten Kill, an important stream in the area.The phrase poesten kil (with only one l) is traditionally said to be Dutch for "foaming water" or "foaming creek".While kil is, indeed, Dutch for "water" or "creek", Dutch dictionaries do not support the claim of poest meaning "foam".It seems more likely that the creek was named after the nickname Poest for the 17th-century local farmer and miller Jan Barentsen Wemp, who had a pimple (poest) or had difficulty breathing (poesten = to breathe); he owned a farm and a mill on the Poestenkil creek.